The next day the office was quiet, emptied hours ago.
I stayed late, grateful for the silence. My mind was a tangled mess I couldn't begin to unravel, so I did what I always did when life felt unmanageable: I worked.
The conference room had become my refuge. I sorted through papers, filed documents, organized schedules—mindless tasks that kept my hands busy while my thoughts spiraled.
I didn't hear Xander approach until he was already in the doorway. "Working late again."
I looked up to find him leaning against the frame, jacket discarded, sleeves rolled to his elbows, watching me with those dark eyes that always seemed to see too much.
"Someone has to keep this place running." I turned back to my papers, willing my pulse to steady. “Not everyone has the luxury of carelessness.”
The words came out sharper than I intended. Xander's eyebrows rose slightly, but he didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped inside, settling into the chair across from where I stood.
"Speaking of carelessness," he said, his tone carefully neutral, "you seemed quite comfortable with Archie on Saturday. And his father appeared quite taken with you."
I looked up, meeting his gaze. "Were you watching me?"
"It was hard not to." Something flickered in his eyes. "You looked breathtaking. Green is definitely your color."
"Archie's stylist chose it." I murmured, hiding flattery from his words.
"Tell me, since when Archie dresses you for events?" The edge crept back into his voice. "Introduce you to his family, parade you around like a trophy?"
"It’s not like that at all."
"Isn't it?" He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "You two looked cozy. Very... established."
I set down the papers, my own temper rising. "And Bianca seemed quite comfortable with you. Even forgot she's married with another man."
"Is that what you think? That I want Bianca?"
"I think you two look great together." I heard the bitterness in my voice and couldn't stop it.
"And that bothers you." It wasn't a question.
"It doesn't bother me at all. Why would it? You're free to be with whoever you want. No burdens attached."
"Daphne…"
My voice wavered despite my best efforts to keep it steady. "She fits in your world. She always has. Who are you trying to fool, Xander? It looks like some bad habits still remain."
Something sparked in his eyes—frustration, anger, something hotter. He stood abruptly, and suddenly the conference room felt much smaller. "Bianca means nothing to me."
"Yeah, so much that you're practically inseparable. So much that she's overseeing the Ashford partnership, which means she's in your office every single day."
"That's business."
"Business." I laughed, the sound hollow. "Is that what you call it when your ex-girlfriend touches you like she still owns you?"
Xander moved closer, and I backed up instinctively until my hip hit the conference table. "You act like you notice everything but the most important things."
"Like what?"
He stepped even closer, until I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"Like the fact that you're the only one I see." His eyes burned into mine. "Every room I walk into, I'm looking for you. It's always been you, Daphne."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"I watched you with Archie, how he looked at you like you were already his. And all I could think was that I had you first. I’m the one who should be by your side. Everywhere. Always."
I could smell his cologne, feel his breath warm against my face.
"That night five years ago… You weren't just some woman in a bar. You were the first person in years who made me feel like myself. And I've spent every day since regretting that I let you go."
"You didn't let me go. You left."
"Because I was terrified." His hand came up to cup my jaw, his touch impossibly gentle despite the intensity in his eyes. "Because what I felt for you in one night was more than I'd felt for Bianca in two years. And I didn't know how to handle that."
"So you ran?"
"So I ran. And it was the biggest mistake of my life."
I should step back. I should create distance, remind us both of all the reasons this was a terrible idea. The complications, the history, the lies still tangled between us.
Archie…
But his hand was warm against my cheek, and his eyes were dark with wanting, and five years without him, looking and waiting for him to come back, pressed against my chest like a physical weight.
"This is a bad idea…" I whispered.
"I’m not sure."
"We work together. You’re my boss. There are a hundred other reason—"
Xander closed the distance between us and his mouth found mine—hungry, desperate, and nothing like Archie's gentle kisses. This was fire, years of wanting crashing over us both, waves we'd tried to hold back finally breaking through every wall we'd built.
I grabbed Xander’s shirt, pulling him closer. He responded by sweeping the papers off the conference table in one motion, sending them scattering across the floor, and lifting me onto the polished surface.
Xander stepped between my legs, his hands sliding up my thighs, and I wrapped my arms around his neck like I was drowning and he was air.
"I won’t make the same mistake as I did five years ago," he breathed against my lips. "This time I won’t let you go, I won’t walk away. Just tell me you want it too."
Words were unnecessary. So instead, I kissed him back.
His tongue was insistent, sliding against mine like it was claiming territory it had been denied for too long. I clawed at his shirt, yanking him closer until I could feel the hard ridge of him pressing against my stomach through his goddamn slacks.
“Finally,” he growled against my lips, his voice gravelly with need.
His lips trailed down my neck, sucking and biting, making its way to my breasts, ripping the fabric of my blouse with his fingers and teeth that made me moan with no shame.
“Xander,” I gasped, my fingers tangling in his dark, unruly hair.
He didn’t stop. His hands moved higher, pushing up my skirt until it bunched around my waist. And when his fingers found the soaked fabric of my panties, I had nothing to hold on. Whimpering and melting against him.
“I like how you’re still so wet from me in seconds,” he rasped, his thumb pressing hard against my clit through the damp lace.
I arched into his touch, my breath hitching as he worked me with practiced precision. He didn’t wait for permission, didn’t need it, before yanking my panties to the side and plunging two fingers in.
“Ah… Christ, Xander” I choked out, my legs trembling as he curled his fingers inside me, hitting that sweet spot with brutal accuracy.
His other hand grabbed one of my breasts, squeezing hard through the fabric of my bra. His mouth latched onto my other nipple, sucking hard enough to make me writhe on the table.
I was so unraveling, and he hadn’t even gotten inside me yet.
Xander pulled his fingers out, slow, torturous, making me feel every inch. “Spread your pretty legs, baby.”
I obeyed without hesitation, my body aching for him. He unbuckled his belt with a swift, impatient motion, freeing his cock—thick, hard, as perfect as I remember. He pressed to my lips one more time—hungry, demanding.
“I’m not stopping until you’re screaming my name. Until I’ll fuck any other man’s name out your head.”
God help me how badly I wanted him to…
He thrust into me, hard, deep, relentless, and I cried out, my body clenching around him like a vice. Xander didn’t hold back, didn’t ease into it.
He fucked me like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire goddamn life, his hips slamming into mine with a force that rattled the table beneath us. Every stroke was pure ecstasy, his length hitting places that made me see stars.
“Ah, yes… Yes, just like that…” My voice is like a plea as I hold Xander closer, my arms wrapped around his neck.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think—could only feel. His rhythm was brutal, each thrust driving me closer to the edge. I clawed at his shoulders with no mercy.
“Xander, please… Don’t stop, don’t ever stop.”
“Oh Daphne…” He didn’t.
His pace only increased, pistoning in and out of me with a ferocity that had me screaming—exactly what he wanted. His name spilled from my lips like a prayer again and again.
At last I came undone around him, my orgasm crashing through me over and over.
“Daphne, Daphne..!” Xander groaned, his thrusts losing rhythm as he followed me over the edge.
He buried himself deep, his cock throbbing when he finally spilled inside me. His forehead pressed against mine, his breath ragged, and for a moment, the world stood still.
My weak arms hung on his shoulders as Xander held me tightly to him. And at that perfect moment I knew, without a doubt, that this was just the beginning.