When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark #2) (12 page)

Xander looks like a kid in a candy store as we stand in the little waiting room and Prue is carried in. I’m seriously expecting him to break out into song and dance at any second.

The nurse hands her to him and he looks like he’s going to explode from happiness. He looks to me with a goofy grin on his face and I find myself smiling in response. 

“She was good last night?” he asks. 

“A perfect angel.” The nurse nods. “I have some release paperwork for you to sign and then you’re out of here.”

“Excellent.” He sways with Prue in his arms. She’s a medium-sized dog but she looks pretty small in his arms. Her mop of hair falls down in her eyes, and I swear she flicks her head to disperse the hairs so she can see.

We take a seat and Xander holds her in his lap while the nurse goes to get the last of the paperwork. 

“What do you think?” Xander asks her. “Are you ready to go home with us?”

Prue shakes her body and I laugh. “I hope that means yes.”

“Of course it does. We’re awesome.”

“All right, guys,” the nurse announces as she breezes back in, “here’s the last of it.”

Xander stands and hands Prue to me and I grunt under her weight. She gives me a look as if to say
I’m not
that
heavy, get over it.

The nurse explains what he’s signing for and he scribbles his signature on the papers.

When he’s done, she hands him his copy and smiles at us. 

“I think it’s so nice what you’ve done for Prue. Saving her and giving her a home.”

Xander glances over his shoulder at us and smiles. “Some things are meant to be and will find a way no matter the circumstances.”

My body heats at his words because I know he’s talking about more than just the dog.

We head out to Xander’s truck since we obviously couldn’t ride his bike here.

He opens the door for me and I sit down with Prue in my lap. When the door closes, she raises her paws to the sill and looks out. I ruffle the hair on her head. “You’re going home, girl,” I tell her. Even though I might not be the most animal obsessed person out there, I still like them, and I’m glad she won’t be living on the streets anymore.

Xander gets behind the wheel and slips his sunglasses on. “We’re going for ice cream,” he announces.

“Oh, we are?” I laugh.

“Yep. We have to celebrate.”

“Hey—” I shrug “—I’m not going to complain about ice cream.”

He drives about ten minutes away to a local place. It’s small, with a few seats inside and more outside. He goes inside to order—he doesn’t even ask what I want, he already knows—while I snag one of the picnic tables and sit with Prue. She sits beside me, tail wagging, and leans over to lick my face. I giggle. 

“You’re pretty cute,” I tell her, scratching behind her ear. Her tail thumps madly and she tilts her head, encouraging me to scratch her neck.

Xander joins us a few minutes later and hands me my chocolate brownie sundae with extra sprinkles on top.

“I will never understand your obsession with unicorn shit.” He grins and sits across from me, taking a bite of his peanut butter sundae.

“They’re sprinkles, not unicorn shit,” I defend.

He eyes my sundae. “Pretty sure you’re wrong.”

I make a big show of licking my spoon. I mean it to be playful but his pupils dilate and I realize what it really looks like and I blush.

We grow quiet, enjoying our ice cream and each other’s company. It’s a nice day, with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The temperature is warm, but not too hot. 

Xander finishes his ice cream first and disappears for a few minutes before returning with a small vanilla ice cream cone.

“Please tell me you’re not eating that.” I laugh.

“Of course not.” He holds the cone out to Prue and her tongue slides out to lick the ice cream. “I gotta feed my other girl.”

Prue takes a few more licks before devouring the entire cone in one bite.

I look at Xander with wide eyes. “Was that safe? What if she chokes?”

Prue licks her mouth and I swear she smiles at us. “See, she’s fine.” He shrugs.

I finish my ice cream and toss it in the nearby trashcan. “We’re so not good at this whole dog parent thing and it hasn’t even been a full day yet,” I tell him. “Heck, it hasn’t even been an hour.” 

He picks up Prue and carries her back to the car. “Are you kidding me? We’re great at this.”

I pat his arm. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“Prue, no!” Xander yells. “Bad girl.”

I snicker from the corner. “I told you we weren’t good at this.”

Xander picks up Prue and continues to scold her against chewing on furniture. “You see this?” He picks up a toy. “You chew on
this
, not the table leg.”

She looks at him with wide innocent eyes and his shoulders sag. “She’s so cute I can’t even be mad. Look at this face.” He holds her out to me. 

I shake my head. “You’re such a pushover.”

He sets her on the floor and she immediately runs right back to the table leg. I cross my arms over my chest and raise a brow. “Cade’s going to kill you and I’m going to laugh.”

“You mean, you’re not going to save me?” He pouts and his eyes shimmer with humor.

“You made your bed, now lie in it.”

“It won’t be so bad,” he defends. “She’ll learn.”

“I hope so.” I sigh. “But if she chews up my shark slippers, I’m done.” I raise my hands to emphasize my doneness. 

Xander presses his lips together to hold in his laughter. “Your slippers are already falling apart.

“They’re
sacred
,” I defend.

“Do you even know the definition of sacred?” He smirks and strides forward. He’s so tall that he only has to take two steps before he’s right in front of me. He places his hands on my waist and bends down to kiss me. For a moment, my body seizes with fear at being caught, but then I remind myself that Cade’s at the gym and Rae’s grocery shopping.

“Yes, I know the definition,” I breathe, slightly light-headed from his proximity. His dark eyes flit over my face and I see so many things reflected there. Things that scare me with their intensity. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I whisper the question in the shared air between us. 

His tongue slips out, wetting his lips. “Because I see you.”

A shiver runs down my spine. “That makes no sense.”
Yes, it does
.

His lips turn up slightly but he says no more as he steps back and breaks the moment. I’m growing used to these short and powerful moments between us. It’s like we’re a rubber band pulled back and we can only go so far before we snap together. 

 Xander picks up Prue and heads for the kitchen.

I watch him disappear from the room, and wonder to myself how I ever thought I could resist him. 

That boy is my kryptonite. 

It’s been two weeks since Vegas and my period is late.

I sit at the kitchen island, with my head in my hands, hating life. While Xander stands there oblivious with a spatula in one hand and a pan in the other. Under normal conditions, the sight of him about to make breakfast in only his sleep pants with the barest hint of his boxer-briefs peeking out the top would be enough to send me into cardiac arrest.

“How would you like your eggs?” he asks.

My face crumples. “Not fertilized.” Xander looks at me blankly and then when he notes the tears in my eyes it clicks into place for him. “My period’s late,” I confirm, and my chest tightens with the words.
Is this what a panic attack feels like?
 

He sets the pan and spatula down and braces his hands on the counter. He looks at me from beneath his thick lashes and I see the worry there. “Aren’t periods late sometimes? It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re pregnant, right?”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “My period hasn’t been late in nearly a year, so …” I hesitate and he clenches his jaw, looking away from me. 

“Don’t freak out,” he tells me, leveling his dark gaze on me.

“Too late,” I whisper. “I’m not ready to be a mom.” My voice goes high with fright. “I may not know what I want to do with the rest of my life, but I do know I’m not ready for a baby. Poor Prue would probably starve to death without you.” I wave a hand at him before burying my face in my hands. A sob racks my body. “Xander, I’m
scared
.” I look up at him as a tear slides down my cheek.

He reaches out and swipes it away so fast that I’m not even sure he actually touched me. “Just breathe,” he whispers, taking my chin in his hand and holding me captive. “I’m going to run to the store and get a test. You just … sit here and try not to panic too much.”

A humorless laugh bubbles out of my throat. “Easier said than done.”

Xander swipes his car keys off the counter and uses them to point at me. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Me? Do something stupid?

Never.

“What the fuck?” Xander pauses in the doorway, and I can feel his gaze on me. Prue sits beside me, licking ice cream out of the gallon container that sits on the floor beside me.

Me? I’m sprawled out on the floor in only my bra and underwear. I got so freaked out that I swear my temperature rose and if I didn’t get out of my clothes then I was going to suffocate. So then, after I removed my clothes, I laid down on the cold hardwood floor in the kitchen. It seemed like the best idea in the world at the time, but I realize now from Xander’s perspective I look like I’ve lost my mind. The ice cream drips on my bra and stomach probably don’t help my case, either, but it’s really freaking hard to eat ice cream while you’re sobbing.

“I got hot,” I mumble, spreading out my arms and legs like you would to make a snow angel. I end up bumping my arm against the ice cream carton and it goes sliding across the floor and Prue runs after it, lapping up more of the quickly melting ice cream.

He shakes his head and sets the plastic bag on the counter.

The plastic bag that holds my fate.

“Thank God your brother isn’t here.”

“Eh,” I mumble. “He would’ve just shaken his head at me and left.
Rae
is the one that would ask questions.”

“Where are they anyway?” he asks. “They’re never here.”

“He said something about going to see her parents yesterday. I think they’re gone for the whole weekend.”