Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
It was unlike any cologne he’d every smelled. It was light, and quiet. Powdery and lust-warmed, like sugared milk on creamy skin.
“Um.” Xander blinked up at him, pretty as sin. “I wanted a little pick-me-up, and I didn’t want to bother you. I figured with all the people moving around, it’d be safe as long as I didn’t leave the hotel. Free said—”
“Free said our floor is secured,” Cassidy inched closer. “Not the entire hotel.”
He kept his palm planted against the door beside Xander’s head, unable to make himself back away. “And I don’t care if you’re standing in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard,” he said, voice rougher than he intended. “You don’t stand there without me.”
He heard it the moment it left his mouth.
Christ.
That was too hard and possessive.
Xander didn’t belong to him, no matter how natural it felt waking with him tucked against him. No matter how much he hated peeling himself out of bed and away from the warmth of his soft body.
Cassidy lowered his hand to give Xander room to breathe.
He steadied his tone before he spoke again. “Xander, you can’t just leave. Not without me.”
Xander’s shoulders sank a fraction.
“I know this sucks.” He sighed. “Being restricted is frustrating. And you’re probably tired of people deciding where you can go and what can and can’t do.”
Xander bit his bottom lip, nodding slowly.
“But I’m your close protection lead, meaning, I’m to always be by your side,” Cassidy stressed because he needed Xander to understand what that meant. “I’m responsible for who gets close to you. If anything happens—”
He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Cassidy shoved his hand over his damp hair, cursing under his breath.
He had to pull this apart and quickly. Had to separate the professional from the personal before both pieces knotted together and rendered him useless.
The man in front of him was not a lover he could keep pressed to a door because he felt good and smelled too fucking delicious.
Xander Vale was his principal. His Starlight.
God’s team had given Xander a call sign that felt less operational and dangerously close to an endearment.
Cassidy’s jaw was tight. “I’m sorry you got saddled with me.”
Xander’s eyes widened. He shook his head so fast a strand of caramel-blond hair slipped free near his temple. “No. Please don’t say that.”
Color warmed Xander’s face, the pink rising slow and sweet.
“I’m glad it’s you. Before you um…” He swallowed and lowered his gaze for half a second. “Before you laid down with me last night, I’d been scared every day and every night. I kept thinking I was safe, and then I wasn’t. But with you…I slept.”
Cassidy barely breathed as he listened.
Xander’s voice grew quieter. “I’m more sorry that you’re burdened with me.”
“You are not a burden.”
“You have more important things to do than babysit me.” Xander licked his lips in a sexy, boyish way. “You run a company. You have men under you and responsibilities. You’ve protected diplomats and really important people. I’m just—”
“Don’t.” He stepped closer.
Cassidy was already too close. He knew that. Every reasonable part of him knew that. But reason had been taking blows since last night, and was losing.
He lifted his hand slowly, and when Xander didn’t pull away, Casidy took his chin between his fingers and tilted his face up.
Xander’s skin was tender and smooth. His pulse fluttering beneath where his thumb rested against his jaw.
Up close, he looked even younger. And his eyes, goddamn those radiant, sky-blue eyes were almost too beautiful to stare into.
His mouth hovered inches from Xander’s, close enough to feel the faint tremors in his breath.
“I decide what’s important to me,” he said each word low and deliberate. “I decide what burdens me, where I stand, and who I put myself between.”
Xander’s breath turned shallow, as he dropped his gaze to Cassidy’s mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Xander whispered.
Cassidy brushed his thumb along the line of Xander’s jaw. “I need you safe.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want you frustrated with me.”
“I’m not.”
“You should be.”
“Okay, maybe a little.”
That almost pulled a smile from him. His lips twitched. “I’m not joking with you, Xander.”
Xander held his gaze for another beat, his expression turning vulnerable and a little unsure before he whispered, “You can call me Lane.”
Cassidy’s fingers stilled beneath his chin.
Xander’s blush deepened. “If you want to.”
Lane.
The offer landed in his chest with enough force to make him speechless because he realized the meaning behind the request.
Xander Vale belonged to the world.
Lane didn’t.
It was Xander’s true identity. The real him. Stripped of the glamor, fame, and fortune. It wasn’t a name plastered across television screens or sparkled under lights. It was private and protected.
And he’d given it to Cassidy.
“Lane,” he rumbled, tasting it.
Xander’s lips parted and a faint breath wove through Cassidy’s beard.
He liked the way it sounded. Simple and intimate, stripped of swagger and acting.
Lane was the man who didn’t mind being humble. Who went to charity events instead of private yacht parties. Who preferred to stay home on Saturday nights instead of clubbing and getting drunk. Who panicked and didn’t pretend he wasn’t terrified. Lane was the man who slept peacefully when Cassidy held him in his arms.