Page 30 of X's and O's

Even I wasn’t that obvious.

So what the hell was I doing standing here, on a dark, empty street, waiting for a woman?

Gray would be so mad. I’d promised him I wouldn’t go after Violet.

But really, it wasn’t my fault.

She wasn’t just any girl.

She wasmygirl. I wasn’t going to hurt her.

Hopefully.

I smoothed my sweaty palms down my too-tight pants and stepped out of the shadow, right as she walked out of the building.

“Hello, Violet.”

She took one look at me, opened her mouth, and screamed.

Ah, dammit. Why did she keep doing that? “No, no. Don’t scream. Please. I brought you flowers.” I thrust them at her with a wide smile.

She stumbled back, catching herself at the last minute before she hit the cement sidewalk. “Get away from me. Help! Somebody help me!”

There was nobody on the street to hear her shouts. The curtain in a nearby apartment twitched, but nobody came out.

“You don’t like the flowers? I thought you would. Violets for Violet.” I smiled and held them out to her again.

She ran with choppy, awkward strides, her ankles twisting from the cracked, uneven sidewalk. Her chest heaved, and she fumbled through her purse, searching for something while she limped away.

I stepped forward, jogging alongside her, and reached for her purse. “Here, let me help you. What do you need?”

Her eyes were wild, her breath a sputtering gasp. “My Mace spray, you lunatic! Get away from me!”

I’d been called worse. The insult rolled right off me.

We tussled for the purse, her trying to be all independent. Me just wanting to show her I could take care of her. My brother always carried his wife’s bag for her. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, so I’d been toldwhen I’d given him shit for his pretty glittered Hello Kitty bag.

I got it now. I didn’t want Violet to ever have to carry anything for herself ever again. I could do that for her.

Violet shoved the open purse at me, and half the contents spilled out onto the ground. Makeup, a hairbrush, a book…it all scattered at our feet.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” I knelt to the ground, gathering up the contents and trying to shove them back in.

When I glanced up, she was halfway down the street, running at full pace, delicious ass swaying.

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Tonight is not the night for cardio! I can’t run after you in this suit, Violet!” It was way too freaking tight. Goddamn Hendrix and his chicken legs. “You left your purse!”

I glanced down at the book clutched in my fingers and did a double take at the cover.

A masked man glowered back at me; the rest of his face covered in a skeleton mask. The title and author,Arran’s Obsessionby Jolie Vines, covered his chest in hot-pink letters.

Curious, I flicked through the pages. Skimmed across a few lines. My head snapped up again, just in time to see Violet approaching the end of the street.

“This is a sex book!” I shouted after her, a grin spreading across my face as I read some more. Holy shit, it was hot sex too. About a group of masked guys, chasing down women in a club game where the winner got to keep them.

The book was well-read, the passages that had caught my eye highlighted with little sticky tabs marking the place.

So she could read them often?