I get the spare key from Divya but when we step inside the apartment Ace and Tayen are sitting on the couch watching tv.

Aces brow furrows, "That's not—" Tayen covers his mouth before he can finish his sentence and I try not to laugh.

"I'm ready for bed." She says, rising up from the couch and widening her eyes at him.

"Uh, yeah. Me too." He agrees and they both quickly disappear into Tayens bedroom.

Xan and I remove our shoes and I guide him into the kitchen. "Are you okay with me cooking breakfast, I don't think we have the ingredients for anything else."

"I'm not picky." He shrugs.

We take our coats off and then I grab the stuff I'll need from the fridge while Xan takes a seat at the table. I can't stop glancing over at him, he looks so at home sitting at the kitchen table.

He drapes his arm across the back of the chair, stretches his legs out and gives me a grin. "You gonna stare at me all night?"

My lips quirk. "Maybe." He chuckles and I sigh, trying to focus on the items in front of me that I've placed on the counter. "I'm just happy and I like seeing you here."

"I'll have to come over more often then, huh?"

I flash him a big smile over my shoulder. "Definitely."

As I'm opening the pack of sausage I hear Xan's chair scrape across the floor and then feel the warmth of his body behind me. His hands grip my hips and he rests his chin on my shoulder.

"I said some really horrible things to you outside the shelter. I was pissed and hurt and so fucking confused how things got screwed up so fast but that doesn't matter. I shouldn't have said those things and I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry." He apologizes, his voice low and full of regret.

I sink back against him and look over my shoulder at him. "Thank you, Xan. I understand why you felt the way you did. If I would've just stayed things never would've changed. Next time I'll talk things over with you."

He leans in and brushes his lips against mine. "I should've told you how I felt."

"And how do you feel?" I ask playfully.

I really do want to hear it though.

"I've been a little bit obsessed with you since you fell at my feet freshman year." He admits.

I smile, happiness radiating through my body. "Oh, so I fell at your feet now?"

"Mhmm." He hums and gives me another kiss.

I missed this. I missed his kisses, the way his lips feel against mine and the way he tastes.

"Are you gonna stay with me tonight?"

His dark eyes flick back and forth between mine. "Do you want me to?"

"Of course."

"Of course you do." He smirks and I narrow my eyes at him. "I would love to stay, as if I'd pass that up."

My entire body heats as our lips meet again, in a slow, tantalizing kiss that gives me goosebumps and has me thinking about how quick I could get him undressed.

I groan. "If you don't stop I'll never get this meal done."

He gives a quiet laugh and pulls away. "As much as I want to continue I'm starving."

Xan helps me cook and I can already feel a shift in the connection between us. It feels different, in the best way. He steals kisses in between conversations and I don't think my heart has ever felt so full. We make bacon, fried eggs, sausage, gravy and biscuits. I feel a thrum of satisfaction as he groans while taking the first bite.

While we eat he tells me about his lunch with his Mom and Aunt and all the memories they shared about his Dad. He smiles while he talks and I can tell how much love he has for his dad even though he doesn't remember much from when he was alive. I couldn't imagine not being able to talk to my father whenever I want to, I hate that his Father can't be here for him and his Mom.

Xan's yawning before we're done eating and I can tell he's tired.

"Are you ready for bed?" I ask him as I place our plates in the sink.

"I'm pretty tired but I smell like the shelter, is it cool if I shower? I have a change of clothes in my backpack, I keep them on me when I work just in case one of the animals has an accident."

"Of course."

He grabs his backpack and I show him to the bathroom and leave him to get undressed while I knock on Tayens door. I know she's awake, she's probably had her ear to the door trying to hear everything we've said in the last hour of conversation. She opens the door a second later, sees that Xan's not by me and tugs me in the room. I know she's dying of anticipation to know what happened today and I don't want to be the reason Ace doesn't get any sleep tonight.

"How did you go on a date with Jax but come home with Xan?" She asks intrigued and Ace looks just as interested in my answer.

"I left Jax at the restaurant and walked to the shelter. We cleared everything up and now we're together..." I pause. "Well I think. He told me I was his so." I shrug.

Ace smiles widely. "Hell yeah!"

I can't help but laugh at his reaction, he was obviously rooting for us the whole time.

"I want all the details tomorrow." Tayen demands as I grip the doorknob.

"Of course." I reply and slip out of the room.

I go back to the bathroom, steam billowing out of the door when I open it. The shower shuts off and Xan opens the curtain and grabs the towel from the rack. I watch unabashedly as he dries off and try not to drool over his naked body. He grabs boxers, a pair of sweat pants and shirt from his backpack and slips them on.

"You wouldn't happen to have a spare toothbrush?" He asks.

"Funny thing—" I open the cabinet below the sink and pull out a basket of unopened toothbrushes. "— my Godmother is a dentist and sometimes I accidentally lose my toothbrush so she keeps me well stocked."

Honestly I've gotten pretty good at losing things. Mama says I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached and she's probably right.

He takes a tooth brush from the basket and rips the package open. "How do you lose your toothbrush?"

I put the basket back and grab my own toothbrush from the drawer and hand him the toothpaste. "I don't know, okay. I have no idea. Sometimes I get distracted and sit it down somewhere and never find it again. I didn't start doing that until college, I think my head is too full of engineering information that I just don't have room for much else." I joke and he chuckles.

We brush, floss, wash our faces and moisturize before going to my room. He walks over to my wall of pictures and smiles when he sees I left the picture up he left me the last time he was here. I open my closet and change into a pair of boyshort underwear and grab an oversized T-shirt but before I can put it on Xan stops me.

"Take mine." He says, slipping his shirt over his head.

He drapes the garment over his shoulder and his fingers grip the hem of my sweater. I melt under his dark gaze as he tugs the sweater over my head and tosses it into my hamper. He steps closer, his fingers trailing up my ribs and around my back to the closure of my plain black cotton bra. I wonder if he notices it, notices that I normally wear my cute, lacy bras when I know he's going to see it but I wore a plain one on my mistake of a date with Jax.

He releases the clasp and guides the straps down my arms until the bra hits the floor. He pauses long enough to grab his shirt from his shoulder and the slips it over my head.

"Thanks." I say quietly and bite the inside of my lip.

He walks over to my desk so I step in front of my full length mirror and remove the braid from my hair. I watch him come up behind me in the mirror with my Polaroid camera in his hand.

"Your walls missing something." He says as I turn around and face him, running my fingers through the wavy hair the braid left behind.

"What's that?" I ask with a tilt to my head.

He steps around me until his front is to my back and he presses his cheek against mine, stretching his arm out in front of us with the camera lens facing our direction. "Us."

A big smile tilts my lips up at his words and a second later he snaps the picture. Owning up to our feelings has unlocked a different side of Xan and I love it, he doesn't seem afraid to say what he's thinking and I no longer feel confused about how he's feeling.

He tapes the picture to my wall, places my camera back on my desk and we watch slowly as our smiling faces appear on the film. Xan's smile is wide, his dark eyes glimmering with happiness and I know I'm known for my smile but I don't think I've ever looked happier than I do in that picture. It's perfect.

I shut off the light and we slip into bed as Xan lets out another yawn.

He tugs me against him and I sigh into his chest. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." He murmurs into my hair, his fingers trailing a soft pattern on my back.

"Did Jax not know who your lunch date was with?"

It just seems so weird for him to word it how he did if he knew Xan was going to be with his Mom and Aunt.

He pauses for a minute as he thinks about it and then finally answers. "That morning he was hungover so bad he threw up in the kitchen trashcan as I was telling him where I was going. I think I only said lunch date before he puked so I guess not. I doubt he even realized what day it was."

I heave a deep sigh as regret settles over me once again. If I would've just stayed until Xan had gotten back or even replied to his text I wouldn't have went through four days of sobbing and I definitely wouldn't have went on a date with his best friend.

Xan's hand cradles my face and he tilts my head up until we make eye contact, the moonlight shining through my curtains illuminating his face. "Stop, it's over with. I don't want you to constantly feel guilty over it. We talked, we're good. Let it go, okay?"

His thumb rubs my cheek back and forth in a soothing motion.

"Okay." I whisper.

He pulls me to his mouth and devours my lips. My fingers dig into the bare flesh of his back as our tongues meet and his taste has my eyes rolling back in my head.

He slows the kiss, until our lips are barely brushing and then pulls back. "Goodnight, Lennon Rose."

I smile. "Goodnight Xan."

I press myself closer to him, breathing him in even though he smells like my body wash and that's how we fall asleep, wrapped up in each other's arms.

Hours later I wake up to the feeling of Xan's dick, hard and heavy through his sweats pressing right against the crotch of my panties. He's still asleep with his arms wrapped around me and my leg is thrown over his hip, lining us up perfectly.

"Xan." I whisper.

He shifts his hips, his dick rubbing right against my clit and I moan quietly.

Xan grunts and then his mouth finds mine in a hot kiss that steals the air from my lungs. "Need my cock, dirty girl?" He asks against my lips, his voice deep and rough with sleep.

That answer will always be yes.

"Please."

He peels his shirt over my head and then his mouth finds one of my breast, his hand cupping the other.

"Shit." I groan as he sucks my nipple into his mouth.

He sucks and nips and I writhe under him, craving more. "Please Xan, I need you."

He makes his way down my body, tugging my boyshorts off as he goes and then his tongue is laving my clit and my fingers tangle in his hair. He sinks a finger inside me and then adds a second and I moan in response. I'm already so close it's ridiculous.

"Come for me, dirty girl."

Oh God.

My orgasm hits me fast and hard. I scream out, my pussy contracting around his fingers, thighs shaking. He groans as he removes his fingers and swipes his tongue across my sex, lapping up the wetness he created. I'm still panting, lost in euphoria when he flips me over to my stomach and hauls me up to my knees.

He places my hands on the top of my headboard until my fingers are gripping the wood. "Hold on tight."

The mattress moves as he discards his pants and boxers and then his hand is pushing my back down low so my hands are suspended above me and my ass is in the air. He drapes my hair over one shoulder and trails his lips across the other shoulder, his cock brushing my thigh. "Please Xan." I beg him.

He bites my shoulder gently at the same time as he drags the head of his dick across my entrance. "You want this?" He whispers the words against my heated skin and goosebumps pop up across my flesh.

"Yes." I nod.

He eases inside me and we both groan at the feeling.

"Fuck, you feel so good." He says. "I don't know if I'll ever get enough of you."

Please don't.

His mouth leaves my shoulder and he grips my hips, thrusting in and out slowly. The head of his cock drags across my g-spot over and over until I feel like I'm going to lose my mind if I don't come, but I don't beg him to go faster. I love the torture, the feeling of suspense building rapidly.

His finger trails across my ass to the puckered hole there. "Would you let me in here?"

"I'd let you do almost anything to me, Xan." I admit breathlessly, anticipation building deep within my stomach.

His finger disappears for a second and then comes back wet, gently lubing my ass while his cock thrusts in and out of my pussy. The combination is heady, my body's at the edge of another mind blowing orgasm and it's killing me. He's taking it slow, preparing me so it doesn't hurt but I need to come now.

"Please, Xan, just do it. I need it."

His finger finally sinks inside my ass and his thrusts pick up speed. I moan loudly, my fingers gripping the headboard tightly as he pounds into me and then finally I'm coming. I cry out, tears streaking down my cheeks as the feeling overwhelms me in the best way. My God the things he does to me.

"Fuck." He groans as he comes, his fingers digging into my hip.

He pulls out and we're both panting hard as he leaves the room. He comes back a moment later with a damp rag and cleans me off. I release the headboard and fall to the mattress in a state of mind numbing bliss. Xan goes back to the bathroom and slips inside the bed a few minutes later.

He kisses my forehead, wraps his arms around me and I pass out with a delirious smile on my face.

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