All Chapters of Craved By My Husband's Best Friend : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Marissa POV"Thank you again, Mr. Sterling. Have a good night," I choked out, not even waiting for his response before turning on my heel. I took long, aggressive strides toward the glass sliding doors of the lobby, my heels clicking frantically against the polished marble.The moment the doors slid shut behind me, trapping the humid night air outside, I let out a shaky sigh of relief. My heart was still hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. He doesn’t know, I kept telling myself. He can’t know.Thud. Thud. Thud.The heavy, rhythmic sound of leather soles echoing through the lobby made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I glanced back over my shoulder, my stomach dropping. Xavier was walking through the glass doors, his hands casually shoved into his trouser pockets. How on earth could someone have such massive steps? He was covering the distance of the lobby in what felt like three strides, his eyes locked entirely on me.Before I could sprint for the stairs, the elev

Marissa POVI woke up feeling completely refreshed. The sheets beneath me were impossibly soft, and for the first time in months, the heavy weight of anxiety wasn't pressing down on my chest the second I opened my eyes. Today was the weekend, so I had all the time in the world to just breathe.I sat up and immediately plugged in my phone at the nightstand, only now realizing that it had completely run out of battery the night before. The screen lit up a moment later, buzzing relentlessly as a flood of notifications poured in. They were all from Hailey, and her messages grew progressively more frantic with every passing hour.𝘏𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘦, 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱?A few hours later, another one popped up. Hey girl, what is up? Still haven't heard from you.Then the final one from early this morning. Okay, ok

Marissa POV The breakfast Alina prepared was nothing short of an absolute masterpiece. The massive marble kitchen counter was completely laden with food. There were fluffy, golden brown buttermilk pancakes stacked high and dripping with pure maple syrup, crispy thick cut hickory bacon, and a beautifully folded herb and cheese omelet that smelled heavenly. To top it all off, she had prepared a beautiful bowl of mixed berries and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. As I sat there enjoying the incredible spread, I couldn’t help but admire Alina. She was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. She had long, flowing brown hair that caught the morning sunlight, and when she looked at me, I noticed the most striking mix of brown and gold flecks in her irises. Her full lips were painted a vibrant, hot pink. In short, she was the complete opposite of Xavier. Where he was all reserved and calculated, she was incredibly expressive and welcoming. "𝑂ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓

Marissa POV"Marissa, are you secretly a princess or something? Because this is absolutely insane."Hailey was standing in the middle of the penthouse living room, her jaw completely dropped as her green eyes swept across the massive space. She hadn't even taken off her jacket yet. She just stood there, spinning in a slow circle, taking in the towering glass windows and the sleek, polished floors."It's nice, right?" I said, smiling as I locked the front door behind her."Nice? Marissa, this isn't just nice. This is ridiculous," Hailey gasped, walking over to a massive marble pillar. "They literally have uniforms for the staff downstairs. The lobby concierge bowed to me! And look at this decor." She cautiously tapped a massive, heavily detailed ceramic vase sitting near the hallway. "I am ninety-nine percent sure these vases and the photographs on the wall came straight out of a French museum. If I breathe too hard, am I going to trigger a laser alarm?"I burst out laughing, walking i

Xavier POVI had a massive smile on my face stepping into work this morning. It was so obvious that even my secretary, Stephen, noticed it the absolute second I walked through the double glass doors of the executive suite. He actually pointed it out while serving my morning black coffee, placing the cup down with a look of pure shock on his face."Good morning, sir," Stephen had said, pausing as he adjusted his glasses. "You seem to be in an exceptionally bright mood today. Did the international stocks close at a record high over the weekend?""Something like that, Stephen," I murmured, leaning back in my leather chair.Oh yeah, I had every single reason to be happy. My weekend had been incredibly well spent, far better than any board meeting or multi million dollar acquisition. For two whole days, I had been in her orbit. I got to see her smiles, breathe in her soft scent, hear her uninhibited giggles in the kitchen, and watch those cute, frustrated little taps of her fingers against