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Protect Me
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Let Me In No Means No
Xander“Thank you,” she said on a sigh.“No problem. Is that normal?”“With this group, yes.”I looked around at the men talking and laughing. Some had removed their suit jackets and loosened their ties. Others were still buttoned up tight. “They are lawyers?” I asked.“Yes. The expensive kind. They have one of these parties every few months. They always ask for me. Every party is always the same. The married men are on the prowl. They are worse than the single guys.”“What do you mean?” I growled.“They are relentless. They think they are god’s gift to women. They do not understand the word no or what marriage vows mean.”“Assholes,” I murmured. “I’ll make sure they know it is not okay.”She smiled up at me. “I think you being here is definitely going to change things. I’ve claimed I had a boyfriend at past parties and they don’t care.”“They will now.”“There’s one of the partners. I need to talk with him.”“I’ll go with you,” I insisted.Her pretty smile made me very happy I showed
Let Me In Quite the Time
EvieWe carried our bowls of ice cream to a bench that overlooked the ocean. I sat down first, with Xander sitting down beside me. It was a warm night with no wind. It felt good to get off my feet for a while. I took a bite of the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and let it melt in my mouth. It was my guilty pleasure. One of many. Life was too short and stressful to not indulge in ice cream.“Tired?” he asked.I turned to look at him. He had loosened his tie and undone the top button of his shirt. The gel he had put in his hair was slowly failing, allowing the long layers to fall loose around his ears and forehead. The light from a streetlight nearby cast him in a soft, bluish tone. He looked absolutely handsome. “I am tired. I always like this moment.”“What moment is that?”“The moment the event—whether it’s a party or a wedding or whatever—it’s the moment I can sit and relax without thinking about what I need to do. It’s a chance to go over the event and identify what went wro
Let Me In Not a Zombie
Evie“I know how much you hate wearing the suit and mingling. Some of the events might be black tie. Do you have a tuxedo?”He groaned. “I’m afraid to answer that.”“You do,” I surmised. “A man like you would have to own one. How often do you get roped into benefits and fancy gatherings?”He shrugged. “Not as much as I used to. In the beginning, I was more open to shaking hands with the people I needed to buy my designs. I shook a lot of hands. I couldn’t turn down an invitation and risk coming off as rude or ungrateful.”“But now, you don’t have to?”“No, not really. I still do some because I do like to support a good cause. I just don’t stay all night. I show up, drink some champagne, shake a few hands, write a check, and get the hell home.”“It’s nice that you show up.”“What about you?” he asked.“What about me?”“Do you go to parties and benefits? Ones that you are not putting together. Just as a guest.”I thought about it. I had been to so many parties and big gatherings, they t
Let Me In Always the Planner
XanderI parked my car in the lot of the IHOP where Evie wanted to meet. It was packed, as expected on a Sunday morning. The hostess knew exactly who I was asking about when I described Evie and led me directly to her table. Every time I saw the woman, I was taken aback by her beauty. Her hair was piled on top of her head with little black curly strands hanging loose. She had on another one of those blouses with shoulder cutouts and looked absolutely beautiful.“Good morning,” she greeted with a bright smile.“Good morning,” I said and took my seat at the table. “Coffee, please,” I said to the hostess who was waiting to hear my drink order.“I wasn’t sure you would make it,” she said, taking a sip of her own coffee.“I got hung up on a phone call. I’m sorry.”“Don’t be. I was early. I’m always early.”“And I am almost always late,” I replied.“I’m glad you showed up,” she commented. “Otherwise, I would be eating a lot. I took the liberty of ordering you breakfast. I hope you don’t min
Let Me In The Past is the Past
Xander“You’re joking? Not about your mom. That’s awful. Were you really making dinner at five?”She smiled. “No, not usually. Every night my dad would ask me what I wanted for dinner. I started to pick up on the fact it stressed him out when he didn’t know what to make. I wanted to make things easier for him. I didn’t write, but I remembered I would spend my day with a babysitter or at school and think about what I wanted for dinner. When he asked, I would have an answer.”I was amazed. “Wow. That’s young to pick up on that.”She shrugged. “My dad worked hard, and I wanted to do my part. My mom used to let me help her in the kitchen a lot, so I had a pretty good understanding of meals and cooking.”“I don’t know if I should feel proud and impressed or really sad for you,” I told her.“Don’t be sad. We all have our little hardships. I had mine. I got through it by figuring out how to make things easier. As I got older, I began to see how much easier our lives were when I knew what was
Let Me In Roller Coaster
EvieMy stomach felt funny. It had nothing to do with the breakfast. It was him. He made me feel all wet and gooey. He’d been so flirtatious. It was fun. With any other man, I probably would have dumped my orange juice in his lap. With him, I wanted to climb onto the table and beg him to have his way with me.“I’m paying,” he insisted when we got to the ticket booth.“No, this is my idea.”“I’m paying,” he said again and left zero room for argument. He handed a credit card over and bought the passes that gave us unlimited rides.“I was thinking we could visit some of the attractions first. Let our breakfast settle a bit before we go on anything that will give us the milkshake treatment.”He smirked. “Yeah, I’m not sure why we had a big breakfast if this is what you had in mind.”“Because there is plenty to see and explore while we let our breakfasts settle,” I told him. “I suppose I should have asked if you were afraid of heights?”He gave me a look. “I’m not afraid of heights.”“What
Let Me In Don't Stop
EvieI had wanted to ask him about his mom, especially since he talked about her in the past tense. I stopped myself from pushing. It was none of my business, and if he wasn’t ready to talk about it, I wasn’t going to pick the scab off a festering wound.“I’m sorry. Death is sad no matter the situation.”He nodded but said nothing more on the matter. “Is this another one of those things you do often? To decompress?”I laughed. “No, definitely not. I don’t know if this is really decompressing. The fun does rejuvenate me a little though. It’s exhausting but it feels good to scream and just kind of let loose. Don’t you agree?”He smirked. “I suppose. There are other activities that can lead to screaming and letting loose.”He was so different than he had been before our outing on the boat. I was convinced I was getting to see the man behind the mask. “Yes, I suppose there are.”“I’m sorry,” he said, looking away.“For what?”“I’m being an ass.”“I don’t think you are,” I assured him.“I
Let Me In Set in His Ways
XanderMy jet landed just after one my time and four Miami time. The car I hired for the duration of my time in Miami was waiting at the airport for me. It was moments like these I appreciated the wealth I had made. It was a hell of a lot easier than navigating a busy airport and trying to hail a cab. I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes.The difference in weather was night and day. I would never get used to the humidity in Florida. We had our days in San Diego, but Florida gave humidity a whole new meaning. I shrugged off the suit jacket I thought I would wear to the meeting. I wasn’t going to wear it. The other engineers I was meeting with could think what they wanted.I unbuttoned the top few buttons of my shirt and aimed the AC vent directly at my face. The car stopped in front of one of the many Miami high-rises. I climbed out and headed inside. The driver was going to be delivering my luggage to the hotel while I got through the first meeting of the week
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