“Yes, and I’m sharing it with you.” He nudged the plate toward me. “I insist.”
Xavier wouldn’t ease up until I agreed, so I reached for another piece and settled deeper in the couch. Sharing food was a simple, platonic act that people did every day, so why did my stomach feel like a breeding ground for a fresh swarm of butterflies?
I kept my gaze planted on the television until I finished eating and brushed the crumbs from my hands. “What?” I asked when he continued staring at me instead of the TV.
“Still wearing this, I see.” His fingers brushed Pen’s friendship bracelet, and my muscles instinctively tensed. The bracelet wasn’t the most professional accessory, but I could easily hide it with long sleeves. “You ever going to tell me about the mystery gifter?”
“I’ll tell you the day you get a job.”
His low laugh sent the butterflies soaring. “Touché.”
Xavier dropped his hand, and oxygen flowed a little more freely. “When I was a kid, I thought I would be the next Diego Maradona,” he said. “Unfortunately, I was more interested in hanging out with my friends than training.”
“Really? I never would’ve guessed.” The sad part was, I bet he could’ve gone pro if he’d put the time and effort in.
That was what galled me about him and why I was harder on him than anyone else. Xavier wasn’t my rudest or most entitled client, but he had the greatest wasted potential.
“At least I’m consistent.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You can always count on me for a good time.”
Maybe. But beneath the champagne showers and yacht parties, how good a time was he actually having?
“So, spill it,” he said when the documentary segued from Asher to LeBron James. “What sport did you play growing up?”
“What makes you so sure I played one?”
“Sloane.” Xavier side-eyed me with a look that made my mouth curve despite myself. “You are too competitive not to have captained a team or three.”
True.
“Tennis, volleyball, and golf,” I admitted. “I tried soccer, but it wasn’t for me. My sister loves it though.”
The last part slipped out without thought, and Xavier perked up like a predator sensing prey.
“Your sister?” A speculative gleam entered his eyes. “Georgia, right?”
Shit. I never brought up my family, so I didn’t blame him for being curious, but the sound of her name on his lips brought those empanadas back up.
“No.” The thought of Georgia playing soccer, of all things, was laughable. “My other sister, Penelope.”
Xavier’s brows scrunched. “I didn’t know you had another sister.”
“Most people don’t.”
Pen was too young to have made her official society debut yet, and George and Caroline paid a fortune to keep her and her condition out of the press.
“She’s my half-sister” I clarified. “Same father, different mother. I’m pretty sure she’s watched every soccer game that’s ever been recorded. I got her an autographed Donovan jersey for her seventh birthday a few years ago, and you should’ve seen her smile.”
My heart pinched at the memory. Her birthday had been weeks before her CFS diagnosis. I took her to a local game while George was at work and Caroline was at a charity luncheon. I hadn’t seen her so happy since.
“How old is she now?” Xavier asked. “Nine.”
“Two years ago.” His gaze burned a hole in my cheek, and I realized my mistake.
My estrangement happened five years ago. I’d basically admitted I was breaking the terms of my family split.
Vivian, Isabella, Alessandra, and now Xavier. Besides Rhea and Pen herself, I could count the number of people who knew I was in touch with my sister on one hand.
The thought should’ve terrified me, but something about Xavier muted my usual worries. My gut told me he could keep a secret, and while I didn’t trust my gut one hundred percent when it came to him, he’d shared enough vulnerability of his own that I was willing to give him this piece of myself without much resistance.
Nevertheless, I lifted my chin and met his eyes, daring him to follow through with his train of thought. “Yes.”
Xavier didn’t flinch beneath the force of my stare. “She’s almost in the double digits,” he said. “Big milestone.”
So, how does nine feel? You’re almost in the double digits.
Pressure expanded in my throat. I hadn’t discussed Pen with anyone other than Rhea in so long that a conversation about something as simple as her age was tearing through my composure. My secret had bubbled inside me for years. It needed a release valve, and somehow, in the most unexpected of ways, I’d found it in Xavier Castillo.
He didn’t ask for details about Pen or how long I’d been in touch with her. He didn’t ask if I was talking to anyone else in the family. He didn’t ask anything at all.
He simply watched me with those dark, fathomless eyes, and the unseen force that’d brought me here reared its head again, urging me to confide in him and let someone in fully for once.
My self-preservation fought back like hell.
Moments of connection were one thing. Opening up to someone was something else entirely.
Luckily, I was saved from making a decision when a familiar shadow spilled across the floor.
I straightened, snapping into work mode while Xavier visibly tensed.
