Xavier had a broad chest sculpted with muscle. He didn’t have so much chest hair that he looked like a rug, but he had enough to look just her type—manly but not furry. Muscular but not pro weight-lifter muscular. And that smile... His eyes shone like bright pennies, and right at her.

“I, ah, today was okay. Not great, but I met an old friend after work. It was good seeing her.” She meant that. She’d liked Kenzie back in college, and it made her feel good to know that Kenzie was seeing real success, especially in their shared field.

“Nice. Nothing better than seeing old friends. Unless you hated them. Then that’s not great unless they’ve gotten ugly and divorced seventeen times.”

“Ha. Yeah. But no, Kenzie’s super great. She’s married, pregnant, and running a successful business.” Everything I want, she realized. To include the pregnant part. “I’m already twenty-nine.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, nothing.” She felt silly for thinking of babies around Xavier. Though thoughts of mentioning the B-word, just to see his expression, made her laugh.

“I’m missing the joke.”

“Nah, just me being a goof. So what are we doing tonight? Arrow Sins & Siege or another game?”

“I don’t know. Whatever Benji picks. Truthfully, I’m only invited to keep things smooth between him and Auggie. My sister is tough on the most extroverted of folks.”

“That’s true.” She cleared her throat and hastily added, “But in a good way.”

“Nice save.” He laughed with her. “Look, I love Auggie, but I’m not blind to the fact she’s a bit much to take in large doses. And poor Benji. So smart but so stuck in his own head all the time.”

“How is it you always sound like a therapist but you never make me uncomfortable when you do?”

“We’re not all pushy, trying to shrink everyone, you know.”

“I know.” She caught his teasing and eased into a smile. “I’m just... Do you miss working with patients?” A different way of asking if he intended to get back to work.

“I do, actually.” He sounded surprised and stroked his jaw, making him look like an academic despite the shorts and tee-shirt. “I’m on a break because I needed to regroup and wanted to work on a side project. But I’m probably going to head back to the office in July. But not until after the wedding, so no worries.”

“Oh, about that. My mom called me today.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Ha. Yeah.” She sighed. “We’re invited to a family dinner tomorrow night. You can say no.”

“I’m dying to meet your family. Heck no. I want to go.”

“Oh man. Xavier, they will be annoying and intrusive. My dad’s a snob, which is weird because he never had money growing up. Most of what he has now he earned before I hit high school. I didn’t grow up being rich or anything, though we were always comfortable.” She grimaced. “Sorry to ramble. Money is not a taboo topic with my family. They talk about it constantly.”