Chapter 10

New Terms

Xavier didn’t give me time to argue.

The second the words left his mouth, ‘Then we stop hiding’, he kissed me like the decision was already final. There was no softness in it. Only heat and certainty. My back hit the wall beside the door. His hands framed my face, holding me still while his mouth took what it wanted.

I should have pushed him away.

I kissed him back instead.

Fear from the meeting with Diana still sat in my chest, tangled with anger and something sharper. Xavier must have felt it. He bit my lower lip, then soothed it with his tongue, and the contrast made my knees weak.

“You’re shaking,” he muttered against my mouth.

“She has leverage on us.”

“Then we take it away.” He pulled back just enough to look at me. His eyes were dark. Steady. “New terms, Aria. Starting now.”

My pulse thudded. “What kind of terms?”

“You don’t go back to his bed. You don’t sleep under his roof unless I say so. When I call, you come. When I want you, you’re available. No more splitting yourself in half to protect a marriage that’s already dead.”

The words landed hard. Part of me wanted to fight them. The bigger part of me felt something close to relief. Carrying the double life had been crushing me.

“And if I say no?” I asked.

Xavier’s thumb brushed my cheek. “Then you walk out right now. But we both know you won’t.”

He was right.

That truth scared me more than Diana ever could.

I didn’t walk out.

Xavier took my hand and led me toward the bedroom. He didn’t rush. Each step felt deliberate, like he was giving me one last chance to change my mind. I followed him anyway.

Inside the room, he turned to face me.

“Clothes off.”

The order sent heat down my spine. I pulled the sweater over my head, then unclasped my bra. His eyes followed every movement. When I pushed my jeans and underwear down, the air felt cooler against my skin. I stood there naked while he remained fully dressed. The imbalance made my face burn.

Xavier walked around me slowly. His fingers traced the marks on my neck, then lower, over my breasts, down my stomach, across the small scar on my hip he always seemed drawn to. He stopped behind me. His chest pressed to my back. I could feel how hard he was through his pants.

“You went to that meeting alone,” he said near my ear. “You sat across from a woman who could destroy you, and you didn’t call me.”

“You told me to handle it.”

“I told you to listen. Not to carry it by yourself.” His hand slid around my waist and down between my legs. He groaned softly when he felt how wet I already was. “You’re soaked. Was it the fear… or the fact that I keep taking more from you?”

I didn’t answer.

He didn’t need me to.

Xavier walked me forward until my thighs hit the edge of the bed. He bent me over it, one hand between my shoulder blades, holding me down. I heard his belt. The sound of his zipper. Then the thick head of his cock pressed against me.

He pushed in slowly this time. Inch by inch. Letting me feel every bit of the stretch. A broken sound left my throat. He didn’t stop until he was buried all the way inside.

“New rules,” he said, voice rough. “You belong here. In this bed. With me. Say it.”

I gripped the sheets. “I belong here.”

“Again.”

“I belong here—”

He started moving. Deep, steady thrusts that forced the air from my lungs. One hand stayed on my back. The other gripped my hip hard enough to bruise. Every stroke felt like a claim. Every sound I made seemed to drive him harder.

“You felt guilty this morning,” he said between thrusts. “I could see it on your face. You still care what he thinks.”

“I hate that I do.”

“I know.” He leaned over me, chest to my back, and bit the side of my neck. “That’s why I’m going to fuck it out of you. Until the only name you remember is mine.”

The words pushed me higher. I came with a choked cry, clenching around him. Xavier didn’t stop. He fucked me through it, relentless, until my arms gave out and my cheek pressed to the mattress. Only then did he pull out, turn me onto my back, and push back inside in one hard thrust.

This time he watched my face.

“Look at me.”

I did. My eyes felt wet. I didn’t know if it was from the intensity or everything else crashing through me.

“You’re allowed to be scared,” he said, thrusting slower now, deeper. “You’re allowed to hate how much you need this. But you’re not allowed to run from it. Not anymore.”

Something inside me cracked open. I reached for him. My hands slid up his arms, over his shoulders, into his hair. He kissed me while he moved, and for a moment the rest of the world fell away. There was no Diana. No Nathan. No Lila. Just the feel of him inside me and the terrifying knowledge that I didn’t want it to stop.

When I came again, it felt different. Deeper. Almost painful in its intensity. Xavier followed soon after, burying his face against my neck and groaning my name like it hurt him.

We stayed locked together for a long time. His weight was heavy on me. I didn’t want him to move.

Eventually he pulled out and rolled onto his side, bringing me with him. His hand stroked down my back in slow, steady passes. My heartbeat took a long time to slow.

“You’re quiet,” he said.

“I’m thinking.”

“About the new terms?”

“About how easy it was to say yes.” My voice came out small. “That scares me more than Diana.”

Xavier was silent for a moment. Then he kissed my forehead.

“Fear means it matters,” he said. “We’ll handle the rest.”

I wanted to believe him.

I must have dozed, because the next thing I knew the room was dimmer. Xavier’s arm was still around me.

My phone lit up on the nightstand.

Nathan’s name.

My body went rigid.

Xavier’s eyes opened. He saw the screen. His expression didn’t change, but his arm tightened around my waist.

“Answer it,” he said quietly.

I reached for the phone with a trembling hand and hit accept.

“Hello?”

There was a pause on the other end. Then Nathan’s voice came through. Quieter than usual. Heavier.

“Aria… we need to talk. For real this time.”

The line stayed open.

Xavier’s hand slid up my stomach and rested just under my breast, a silent reminder of where I was… and who I was with.