Xavier's POV
"Xavier."
That soft call through the door had made it so difficult to walk away.
Emelie's bedroom is her safe space. It was a space Poala had told me not to enter, and it was Poala's voice I heard in my head when I stood there staring at her door, thinking about breaking it from the hinges like some kind of neandrathal.
I was annoyed to find her outside my study door, ear pressed to the wood.
Irritated when she hit that small bow, ciao'ing me like what she'd been doing was normal.
I was going to scold her, but the moment her soft caramel eyes had risen to me, I'd felt a ripple of something far more aggitating.
There was no fear in her gaze.
No doubt.
Just outright, shameless intention.
And my self-control began slipping through my fingers, my jaw aching against the
