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“That’s for sure,” he agrees and takes a sip of his wine I finish lass of wine

Xander moves the conversation away from butts—such a shame—and I listen intently as he answers my previous questions He tellsthey are, especially with hi for his dad My chest tightens with sy all of this I don’t knohy he’s put hiuess most of us will sacrifice ourselves to please the ones we love It’s ingrained in our DNA to lessen the burden from others

“As for you coe of my seat “I’ll see what I can do” And then he winks

I let out a groan “You can’t leavea piece of chocolate in front ofme not to bite”

Laughter shines in his dark eyes “I have to okay it with my coach Sorry” He tries to look innocent, but he’s far from it

“Mh the last of my pasta “I’m sure you’re real sorry”

We finish our meal and skip dessert Xander pays and I balk at the price But it was a nice meal and I enjoyed myself so I don’t comment As we leave, he reaches for nets

We wait for his truck and I tilt my head toward the sky The sun has just set and there’s still a s it look more like a royal purple than inky blackness

Xander’s truck is pulled to the front and I find h there’s no way I could safely get on it in this dress

“I wasn’t kidding about getting Prue some treats,” I tell him “She looked so sad e left”

He chuckles “There’s a pet store down the street We’ll stop there”

It doesn’t take us long to reach the store and we pick up a few itee bone that I know she’ll have a field day with

Back in the car, Xander grins at me “I do believe I owe you a celebratory McFlurry”

“Mue “That sounds good”

He clears his throat and puts the truck in gear “Good,” he says, his voice slightly raspy It’s like he’s seconds away fro so hard to erous for us, I secretly love that it doesn’t take much on my part to unravel him