Justine softened. “I think that’s sweet.” Hadn’t she often wanted to be Daddy’s little girl? To feel loved and protected, cherished by the man she still saw as larger than life? Instead, she was the outcast who didn’t care enough about his feelings that she had to do everything her own way.

“Sweet but silly.” He rubbed his jaw, and she thought again how handsome he appeared despite not seeming to realize it. “I’m a grown man. And now she expects me to date because she’s putting herself out there.” He groaned. “After Christine, I’m just not ready.”

“I get you. After Mitch, I just want a chance to breathe without anyone telling me what to do or how to live.”

They sighed together, looked at each other’s pitiful faces, and burst out laughing.

“You are so pathetic,” he said.

“Almost as bad as you are, loser.”

That sent him into more gales of laugher. And as they cleaned up together, still teasing, Justine realized she’d never felt more at ease with a man she’d just met than she did with Xavier.

So it was only natural before she left to give him a friendly hug. “Thanks so much, Xavier. This was just what I needed.”

His arms tightened around her, a wall of solid muscle and warm man.

Suddenly, her platonic, friendly hug had her lusting after Xavier with every breath in her body.

He tensed for a moment. But when he pulled back, he wore nothing but an affable smile. “This was exactly what I needed too.”

“Next time, my place,” she managed to respond, relieved she sounded normal.

He walked her out into the hall and waited until she entered the stairwell and waved goodbye before turning to close himself back inside the apartment.

She staggered up the stairs, beyond confused. What the heck was that all about?

He was just a friend.

So quit imagining him with his clothes off while you give him mouth to mouth!

Poor Xavier. Trying to be a nice guy only to have his needy upstairs neighbor fantasizing about him.

Swearing at herself all the way, she made it back into her apartment and treated herself to a nice warm bath and a book about female empowerment.

Because no. She did not want or need a man in her life. Not even one who felt like the answer to all her sexual prayers and cooked like a dream.

She’d learned the hard way that dreams often turned into nightmares, and she couldn’t afford to screw up living in this place. If she had to leave the TCA, she had nowhere else to go but home to her parents.

And that was enough to scare her straight.

Until she slept. Because her subconscious had a mind of its own.

CHAPTER 9

Tuesday afternoon, while working out at Jameson’s Gym, Xavier kept replaying his evening with Justine over his his mind.

He had no idea what had gone wrong.