“Thank you, Navy.” I sat behind the desk and without thinking, I pulled a chair up beside me for Xari. Without having to say a word, she sat beside me. I saw her fingers stretch and I knew she wanted to link fingers with me because I was fighting the same urge.
Navy’s brown eyes swept over Xari and I sitting beside each other quietly then she returned her focus to her phone. “Governor Shaw will be arriving in five minutes so when he gets here, we’ll kick things off,” Navy said. She was the perfect professional as usual, but I saw the questions dancing in her eyes, especially when she looked at Xari, who was an expert at ignoring her big sister.
The four of us sat quietly in the room together beneath a blanket of awkward silence. Navy and Apollo knew Xari and I were fucking around but neither of them would break their ironclad professionalism to slice through the silence.
“Wow, the air is tight in here. It’s like a dick in the ass,” Xari exhaled, shaking her head. That girl never knew what the fuck to say out of her mouth. It made Apollo snort by the door but he returned to his stone-faced self in a matter of milliseconds. Only Xari had the talent to slip past Apollo’s shield and make him laugh even for a little while.
“Behave,” I said, squeezing her thigh.
“What?” She shrugged then gave me a smile because she knew how I felt about those dimples.
“You know what,” I said trying to keep my voice down. It didn’t matter though. Navy and Apollo could hear everything I said.
“It’s true.” When our stares collided, the air between us popped with bursts of energy.
“You’d know that how? There’s nothing tense in here,” I said.
“Oh, I thought you were asking how I knew what a dick in the ass felt like.” She bit her bottom lip and grinned at me, mischief dancing in deep pools of espresso.
Another snort from Apollo at the door and an eye roll from Navy. I swallowed my laughter and glared at her. It only made her smile bigger.
“Um, Senator Freeman,” Navy said, clearing her throat. “I adore my little sister but can I ask why she’s here? Is Frankie coming later on or…”
“No, she’s not. I just wanted Xari to get out of the house. She’s been practicing non-stop for the past week. She needed a change of scenery.” I neglected to tell Navy that her sister put me at ease and I enjoyed her company. That would sound too much like a date. I wasn’t dating Xari.
“She does practice a lot…” Navy eyed Xari who blew a kiss at her and crossed her shapely legs.
“I do,” Xari nodded her head then glanced at me. “So do we have to hang out in here the entire time or can we walk around and talk to people?”
“We generally wait for all the speakers to arrive before we make an appearance. That way it can be in solidarity,” Navy said.
“Well, I’m bored in this office and I want to talk to people.”
“Are you five? You can’t sit still for a few minutes?” Navy quipped.
“No, I’m not five but I do like stimulation. Plus, if Evander is one of the speaking guests, why not go out there and let people see him? Staying back here isn’t doing anything.”
Her words sank into the crevices of my mind and I realized she was right. I was an advocate for the people of my state and I was busy sitting in the back, hiding until my fellow politicians came. It felt like we were promoting clique behavior and alienating ourselves from people.
I stretched my finger in the air and said, “You’re right, Xari. I should go out there and mingle before things start.” Apollo stood up and sighed.
“You really doing this, Van?”
“Why not? You know Governor Shaw is never on time.” I turned to Xari and smiled a little. “Thank you for pointing out that I was hiding back here.”
“Things always work out better when you let me drive the boat,” she smirked and I let out a warm laugh.
“Remember you said that, Xari.”
“How could I forget, Evander?” She leaned into me and I tugged on the hem of her blush pink dress a little.
Buzz.
Crackle.
Hum.
The energy between us lit up like orbs of electricity.
My eyes roamed over her full lips and bronzed slashes of cheekbones. I wanted to cup her face and bring her in for a kiss. She must have felt the energy too because she slid her hand over discreetly and hooked her pointer finger with mine on the desk. Our eyes locked and the room melted away.
“You’re doing it again,” she whispered, leaning over on her elbow.
“What am I doing?”
“Staring like a creep.” The corners of her mouth twitched.
“You’d have to be staring back to notice.”
“True. You started it,” she purred.
“You make it hard to look away with that dress on.” My eyes lapped her up.
“How hard would it be if it were off?” She wiggled in her seat and my dick jerked in my slacks. I adjusted in my chair a little. She knew exactly what she was doing to me. “Miss Lucas, you’re misbehaving. You know how I feel about that. So behave.”
“Make. Me.” She fluttered her long lashes at me and I smoothed a hand over my face.
“Um, should we leave?” Navy’s voice cut through the bubble around Xari and me.
“Oh, no…you have to excuse me, Navy. Your sister and I have a certain kind of banter that…”
“It’s like an inside joke,” Xari finished with a nervous laugh. Neither of us realized we’d completely checked out of the real world and landed in our own fantasy world where only we existed.
How the fuck was I supposed to keep my hands to myself when Xari was around if I couldn’t concentrate on anything but her? “Listen, you two are grown and I’m not going to pass judgment or make any further comments about your relationship,” Navy told us, holding her palms out.
“Relationship?” I laughed, standing to my feet. “There is no relationship between Xari and me. We’re friends.”
Friends felt clunky and wrong when it came to describing me and Xari. We were friends but we were much more.
“Friends. O…kay,” Navy said with a frown. I didn’t give her a chance to say anything else. I waited for Xari to stand by the door then I opened it for her, pressing my hand to the small of her back. My thumb rubbed the bare skin at the base of her spine while we walked and she made sure to press herself against my side.
I tried not to seek her out while I mingled with people. I tried not to notice the way her laugh left pops of color in the air. I tried not to let the way her lips moved when she spoke draw my attention away from conversations I was in the middle of.
The pull she had on me didn’t stop at the front door of my house. It leaked out into the gray world and colored it with neon and pastels. Xari was a breath of fresh air and everyone in the room noticed.
The event was being held in the center’s gym and the more people poured in, the more Xari stood out. She was bright and airy floating from person to person, making them smile then making them laugh with her unpredictable mouth.
Everyone seemed to see the same passion and beauty that I did. It was like we were all caught in the grip of a star. And if nothing else, Xari Lucas knew how to shine.