Page 33 of Maybe, Probably (Love Me, Maybe #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Harper

I t feels like I’m in the warmest cocoon and it is lovely .

God, I don’t remember when I got these sheets, but I’m forever thankful for them.

As I attempt to stretch, I register the weight around my midsection.

My eyes fly open, and as I look around, it dawns on me.

I’m at Xavier’s parents ski lodge. Which means…

I look down, and see a muscular tattooed arm wrapped around me.

Before I can appreciate the artwork, my bladder begins to scream at me, demanding relief.

Slowly and carefully, I grab his hand, moving it behind me to release my body from his grasp.

I slowly slip out of bed and quickly grab some leggings, a baggy sweater, bra and some underwear.

Then I make my way to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it.

Placing my clothes on the vanity, I go through my morning routine, not skipping a single step.

Braiding my hair, I quickly brush my teeth before unlocking the door.

As I open it, I immediately spin around, a yelp echoing in the space.

“Oh my fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“Shit.” I hear a thump, and then shuffling from behind me. “Okay, you can turn around.”

My cheeks and neck flush as I face him. He’s got on a pair of loose basketball shorts with a grey Henley shirt. Much more clothing than when I opened the bathroom door. I was not expecting to see Xavier’s full ass. “I am so sorry.” I apologize, bringing my hands to cover my face.

“No, it’s okay. I figured you were going to be in there for a bit, so I thought I’d change quickly. It’s poor timing on my part.” When I peek through my fingers, he’s got his arms crossed over his chest, and he’s looking at me with his head tilted.

I pull my hands away from my face, rocking on my toes. “So. I was about to head down and get something to eat. Did you want to join me?” I slowly start walking to the bedroom door, while I wait for him to answer.

“Nah, you go ahead. I’m going to get a quick workout before I eat. I meant to wake up earlier, but I slept like the dead last night.” He’s sitting on the bed now, lacing his runners before he stands. “But, I’ll walk you to the kitchen before I go to the gym.”

We make our way downstairs in silence. I don’t miss the brush of his fingers against mine as we walk.

The heaviness of what happened last night hangs between us.

Should I bring it up? Should we talk about it?

That definitely wasn’t done for show. What started as a relaxing hot tub soak soon turned into a hot and heavy make out session.

Okay, it wasn’t just making out. I dry humped the shit out of him in a lust filled haze until my orgasm slammed into me so hard, I was seeing stars for what felt like hours.

I’m so lost in my own thoughts, and I don’t realize we’ve arrived in the kitchen.

Xavier leaves for the gym, and I make my way to the fridge.

I’ve never been much of a breakfast person, but what usually gets me through is a smoothie.

I make my way around the kitchen, finding the blender and grabbing the ingredients that I need to make the perfect smoothie.

I’m pouring it into a cup when Penelope walks in, a smile gracing her face when she sees me.

“Oh Harper! Good morning! How’d you sleep?” She walks around the island I’m standing at and comes beside me.

“It was good! Those sheets are to die for, they’re so comfortable. I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud.” I take a sip of my smoothie, humming with satisfaction.

“Those are my favorite sheets too! I loved them so much, I bought a set for all the beds!” She walks over to the cupboard and pulls out a glass herself. “I hate to ask, but do you happen to have any leftover smoothie? It looks delicious. ”

I look into the blender, seeing there’s quite a bit left. “Yes absolutely, I truly don’t know how to make a single serving smoothie unless it’s in one of those bullets.” Picking up the blender, I fill her cup before going to the sink to rinse it out.

Penelope and I spend the next hour chatting about the plans for the next couple weeks.

She asks me what my work week will look like so she can plan the rest of the week accordingly.

I give her the general idea of what my schedule looks like.

I don’t have too many things booked, but there are a few things I want to accomplish.

We part our ways shortly after, and I head over to my makeshift office and begin working.

A pang of hunger brings me out of focus.

My body is screaming at me that I’ve been hyper-focused on work longer than I should’ve been.

A quick glance to the clock confirms what I already know.

I worked all day with no break, skipping lunch.

One meeting turned into another, while spending what little downtime I had squeezing in editing.

When I wasn’t doing edits, I was answering emails from potential clients and scheduling consultation meetings for the upcoming year.

I look at my phone, seeing that I have six messages. There are a couple from Evie giving updates on Winnie. He seems to be handling everything well, although I feel like there were a lot of goodies given to him in bribery. That’s just something I’ll have to deal with when I get home.

The other messages are from Xavier. They start off casual, checking in on how I’m doing. As the time lapses between the messages, they become more concerned.

Xavier: How’s it going in there? Do you need anything?

Xavier: It’s getting around lunch time. Thought I’d check in and see if you’d like anything to eat, let me know.

Xavier: babydoll, you’ve been holed up in that office all day. Did you eat anything ?

Just as I’m about to answer him, the office door swings open.

Xavier enters with a plate of food and a bottle of water in his hand.

His hair looks disheveled, as if he’s run his fingers through them multiple times.

He’s got an olive green sweater paired with grey sweatpants.

I mean, he has to know what he’s doing wearing those, right?

How torturous that is? Does he know that’s how you make the girls pant?

He stalks toward the desk, placing the plate and water bottle beside my computer.

When he straightens and crosses his arms, I can’t help but take in the way his biceps bulge and his forearms flex.

The cords of his muscles move the ink that’s plastered up his arm, shifting them in a way that makes them dance.

He looks down at me, and I can’t entirely read the expression on his face. There’s a combination of concern and irritation, but I don’t know what the issue is. I won’t find out unless I say something.

But when I’m about to talk, he’s already speaking.

“Did you eat anything today?”

“Of course.” I say defensively. Of course I ate, he just doesn’t need to know that it was this morning…or that it was only a smoothie. I lean back in my chair, matching his energy when I cross my own arms over my chest. I catch his eyes drift quickly down toward my breasts, and I smirk.

“Are you sure about that?” He asks, as he uncrosses his arms, leaning forward on the desk toward me.

I place my hands on either side of my chair before I stand up, placing my hands on the desk lined up with his, mirroring his movements.

“Yup.” I put extra emphasis on the ‘p’. His eyes narrow on me, and he doesn’t say anything. I begin growing uneasy with the silence. I shift slightly, but refuse to break eye contact.

He moves closer, bringing our faces until they’re just a breath apart. He tilts his head as if he’s going to cross the distance. I inhale sharply before he whispers against my lips. “Liar.” Xavier steps backward with a smirk on his face and nods his head toward the plate of food on my desk.

My mouth drops open, which just earns me a chuckle.

He sits in the armchair that’s placed by the window before he continues.

“Eat your supper, and tell me about your day.” He brings his right foot up, resting his ankle on his left knee.

I sit back down and pull the plate toward me.

I look down and see a chicken pot pie on a medium-sized plate.

The steam rushes out as my fork cracks through the crispy crust, releasing its contents onto the place.

The smell of comfort envelopes my senses as the first bite touches my lips.

My eyes roll to the back of my head as I savor the rich, creamy taste.

“Why is everything that’s made here so delicious?” I’m already getting my fork ready for my next bite. Xavier doesn’t answer me. He just watches me eat. If it were any other situation, I would find this creepy, but there’s an almost satisfaction coming from him as I do as he’s asked.

I spend the next thirty minutes eating and telling him about my day. He tells me about his, although it sounds like he was mostly doing the same and checking in with the clinic. When I’m done eating, we go down to take my dishes to the kitchen.

We run into his parents in the living room where they are snuggling up to each other watching a movie.

Xavier tries to sneak us by, but his mom catches us and insists we join them.

To Xavier’s reluctance, we join them. He leads me over to the other couch, and plops himself down the length of the couch.

In the next moment, he’s pulling me down onto his lap.

A small squeak leaves my lips as I try to get off him.

“I shouldn’t be sitting on you. I’ll hurt you,” I grumble, trying to shimmy off him.

His grip on me tightens as he leans forward into my ear, whispering through clenched teeth.

“If you keep moving like that, we’ll have a whole other problem on our hands.

” I go still as the realization of what he says washes over me.

So instead, I slide down between his legs, making it so that I’m not actually on him, I lean into him so my back is to his chest.

It’s some sort of romantic Christmas comedy that’s on, but I can’t fully pay attention.

Xavier has been rubbing circles on my stomach since he wrapped his arm around my belly.

He started it a few minutes after we got comfortable, and it’s been a consistent motion since.

My stomach has been clenching as warmth slowly builds between my legs .

When the movie is over, I jump out of his lap, saying goodnight to his parents before I quickly make my way to our room.

I just need a cold shower before bed. Xavier is keeping pace with me as we walk back to our space.

I glare in his direction as he moves down the hall with such nonchalance, while I’m low-key trying not to breathe heavily from the exertion of energy it’s taking to get into the bedroom quicker.

Xavier beats me to the door and opens it for me to go in.

“You and your incessant need to always open my freaking door,” I mutter as I move past him.

I grab my pajamas before I beeline for the bathroom.

“I’m just going to shower and get ready for bed.

” I close the door, flipping the lock before resting my back against it as I take a couple deep breaths.

When I open my eyes again, I’m a bit calmer, but there’s still an undercurrent of need that’s pulling in my groin.

I toss my pajamas on the counter before grabbing a towel from the cabinet.

I grab my toothbrush and put toothpaste on it, shoving the toothbrush into my mouth as I start aggressively brushing my teeth.

My reflection only confirms the growing flush crawling along my skin.

I begin to think of the way Xavier growled in my ear as he told me to stop squirming.

Ashiver runs down my spine. I bend over and spit in the sink, rinsing off my toothbrush and putting it away.

I turn the shower on and strip out of my clothes.

Stepping into the cold shower stream, I hiss as the cold water shocks my system.

“Motherfucker, that’s cold.” I mumble as I quickly rinse my body down, effectively using the heat that has slowly been burning me up all evening.

Grabbing the knob, I turn up the heat, and I grab the shampoo to begin the process of washing my hair.

Ten minutes later, I’m stepping out of the shower, toweling off before beginning my nighttime routine. Do I go through the motions a bit slower than normal? Perhaps.

I take one last look at myself in the mirror, breathing deeply before I head for the door.

I step through to see Xavier laying on his side of the bed.

his back on the mattress and his hands behind his head as he stares up at the ceiling.

He looks deep in thought, but as soon as I start walking to the bed, he’s turning his head in my direction, watching me .

“How was your shower?” He keeps his tone casual, but there seems to be a hint of amusement in his question.

“It was exactly what I needed. I’m beat though so I can’t wait to crawl into these sheets.

” As I go to grab the sheets to pull them back, they’re already on the move.

Xavier had already flung the blankets over so all I’d have to do is crawl in.

I give him a quick smile as I adjust the pillows to where I want them.

Two pillows on my side, so I have a pillow to hug. One pillow goes underneath my knee.

However, I find myself copying his posture and laying on my back as well. There’s a moment of silence before either of us speaks.

“Goodnight, Harps.”

“Goodnight, Xavier.”

As soon as I respond, he leans toward the nightstand and turns off the light, blanketing us both in darkness.