Daphne
Daphne awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. The fear from the incident in the middle of the night was gone, replaced with the comfort of knowing that Xander was there in the other room looking out for her. Checking her phone, she saw that it was reasonably early, and she had plenty of time before she needed to be at the store for opening. Part of her wanted to stroll out wearing nothing, just to give Xander a little show, but she decided that might just send the wrong message—after all, they weren’t dating again.
Last night was a one-off thing, she thought. Tensions were high and the adrenaline was flowing. He’d better not think that he can look forward to something like that every night he stays here.
But as she tied the cinch of her short robe, she couldn’t help but find herself already thinking about their little session with the previous night, a smile forming on her face as she did.
She stepped out of the bedroom to the sound of water rushing in the shower.
Must be up already, she thought.
Daphne opened the fridge and scanned the contents. There wasn’t much there, but there were eggs, some cheese, and a little bit of breakfast sausage.
Breakfast won’t send the wrong signal, she thought. Besides, if he’s staying here, making him a meal or two is the least I could do.
Then, as though a separate voice were living in her mind, another thought flashed through her.
Maybe you can give him a little something else to eat afterward.
Her eyes went wide; it seemed to her as though her attraction to Xander had taken on a life of its own. She shook her head in an attempt to dismiss the thoughts and set to work on the breakfast. But she couldn’t help but think about last night, about just how hot the sex was, how their bodies had effortlessly melded into one. Daphne found her skin grow hot as she stood over the eggs, absentmindedly pushing them around the skillet with her spatula as her mind focused on … other things.
The sound of the water abruptly stopping snapped Daphne out of her daydream. Bread popped out of the toaster, and Daphne scrambled to put all of the food together.
“Smells good,” came Xander’s voice from behind Daphne.
She whipped around and was presented with the sight of Xander, nothing on his body but a towel wrapped loosely around his waist, low enough to show off the notches of his pelvis. Daphne’s eyes went wide as she laid eyes on him. She knew that he’d put some serious muscle on, but seeing him in the light of day made it clear just how dramatic his physical transformation had been. He’d never been a scrawny guy, but now he was built like a beast of a man, each muscle tight and thick.
“It’s, um, just eggs and toast,” said Daphne, trying to collect herself. “Don’t really have much in the apartment.”
Xander walked over to Daphne, stepping right into her personal space. She could sense that he knew just how close he was, and that he didn’t care. He clamped his hands hard onto Daphne’s hips and took in a slow smell of her hair.
“Who says I was talking about the food?” he said in a low purr.
Daphne didn’t know what to do with herself. She felt as though she’d been caught in a spell, and that she couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to.
Daphne heard the sound of the towel dropping from Xander’s waist onto the ground, and she took in a deep, slow breath as she felt his already-hard cock press against her ass.
“You … hungry?” Daphne asked.
“You have no idea.”
Xander reached around Daphne and yanked open the sash of her robe. His hands slipped into the fabric and onto the bare flesh of her stomach. Daphne loved the feeling of his strong, firm hands on her body; something about his touch made her feel safe and protected. Not to mention totally aroused.
Xander didn’t waste any time in taking just what he wanted. His hands still on Daphne’s hips, he moved her over to the kitchen island and bent her over, lifting her robe over her ass and slapping one of her cheeks hard. Daphne gasped at the slap, her mouth twisting into a naughty smile.
Then, Xander pressed his cock against her sex and, in a smooth, deep motion, shoved his prick into her. Daphne could hardly stand the pleasure. She moaned and gasped as he filled her, and gripped hard onto the countertop. Xander fucked her hard and fast, not bothering with foreplay. He drove into her steady and deep for several minutes, the pleasure building in Daphne the more he fucked her. Soon, she felt an orgasm rip through her body, followed by the delicious explosion of Xander’s cock inside of her. He came into her with a throaty, animalistic grunt, emptying his cock deep inside of her. When he was done, he pulled out, Daphne smiling at the feeling of his cum dripping out of her.
She remained bent over for another minute as Xander grabbed his towel from the floor. Her knees were weak, and she knew she needed a minute to even be able to stand straight.
“That was more the breakfast I had in mind,” said Xander as Daphne turned around.
She smiled. “You should probably eat some real food, too.”
Xander responded with a smirk and grabbed a plate of food, taking a seat at the small kitchen table.
“You better get cleaned up,” he said, staring ahead as he ate. “We might have a long day ahead of us.”
Daphne nodded. “Save me some food.”
“No promises,” he said with a smirk. “These are some pretty fucking good eggs.”
Daphne blushed a bit and headed to the bathroom. Once showered and dressed, she went back into the kitchen where Xander was still seated at the table, a cup of coffee in front of him along with the day’s paper. Daphne watched him read and drink his coffee and thought about just how nice it was to have a man in the house, even if it was only temporary.
But she realized that she’d also grown accustomed to the sound of a child in her life. Looking around, her eyes moved over Jack’s toys and at once she was overcome with a feeling of longing for her son. Surreptitiously taking her phone from her purse, she pulled open her texts and sent one off to Caroline.
How’s Jack?
The reply came only a few moments later.
Misses his mommy, of course. But we’re good here. Why, is something wrong?
Daphne typed up a quick response.
Same old. Might need to have him stay with you for a few more days.
The phone buzzed in her hand.
Not a problem at all; he can stay here for as long as you need him to. But come by if you can.
Daphne typed again.
Definitely. I’ll let you know when I can get over there.
She felt good knowing that Jack was in good hands, but it didn’t make her miss him any less.
“What’s up?” said Xander, evidently having noticed that Daphne was in a text conversation about a serious subject matter.
“Nothing,” said Daphne. “Just getting my shift for today switched; I don’t really feel safe leaving the house by myself today.”
Xander nodded. “Good call.”
Daphne poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch, her gaze falling onto the trees outside and their branches, which lolled gently in the morning breeze.
“Um, how’s your family?” asked Daphne.
“Huh?” responded Xander. “What you wanna know about my family for?”
“I don’t know,” said Daphne, watching the steam curl from the black circle of her coffee. “I just don’t really know what’s been going on with you these days. Figured family would be a good place to start.”
Xander folded the newspaper, set it down on the table, and moved over to the easy chair across from Daphne in the living room.
“Same old shit,” he said. “They want me to get out of this MC shit, do something normal with my life.”
Daphne smiled. “Normal? What’s ‘normal’ for a guy like you?”
“Beats the hell out of me,” he said. “And that’s what I keep telling them. I love being in my MC, but I’m not just in it for the laughs, you know? It’s the one fucking thing I’m good at that’ll actually put money in my pocket.”
Daphne thought back on the conversations they’d had about Xander’s life. He’d had a rough childhood, growing up in a neighborhood where crime was rampant and the average kid cared more about having the latest basketball shoes than grades. Xander had had to learn from a young age how to navigate an environment like that, and Daphne knew that that helped shape him into the man he was today.
But his mother had had a different life in mind for him. She had spent hours after work helping him and his sisters with their schoolwork, all in an effort to keep her kids off of the streets, maybe get them into a good college. It had seemed to take for Xander’s sisters, but Xander had been another story. Once he got into high school and found just how much money and status there was in drug-dealing, it had only been a matter of time before he got into the game.
And from what he’d told her, he had been shocked to find out just how good he was at it. He’d quickly learned the ins and outs of running with criminals, and had a shrewd enough mind to handle the money and logistics of his burgeoning criminal enterprise. By the time he’d barely graduated with the bare minimum GPA, he had been making more money in a month than he knew what to do with.
His family had tried to get him to drop his criminal ways, to use the money he’d saved up to go to a community college and put his life on the straight and narrow, but Xander had had other ideas. As a graduation present, he’d bought himself a brand-new Harley, and from then on his path had been set. He’d found himself in the Shadow Hunters not too long after, and that, as he told Daphne, was when he’d known there was no going back.
“And why the fuck would I want to go back?” he’d told her once. “I was making good money, having fun, and doing something I was good at.”
Daphne couldn’t help but share Xander’s family’s sentiments, wanting him to do something with his life that didn’t involve the risk of prison or worse, but as he sat drinking his coffee, his body covered in tattoos, a massive beard hanging from his face, she had to restrain a smile as she imagined him wearing a cheap suit working for some insurance company somewhere.
“And what’re your sisters doing?”
“They’re doing the family thing,” he said. “Both married, both knocked up. And to good men, too. Men working normal-ass nine-to-fives. Couldn’t hope for anything better for them.”
As Daphne spoke to Xander, she couldn’t help but find herself wondering just why she was so concerned about his family life. Then it hit her: as much as she was furious at him for the life that he’d chosen to live, she couldn’t bring herself to stop caring about him. Not to mention that he was the father of her son.
Daphne was torn. Part of her wanted to tell Xander about Jack, but the better part of her knew that his lifestyle was just too dangerous; who knew what would happen to Jack if he had a criminal father in his life?
“And what about you?” asked Xander as he took a look out the window.
“Me?” asked Daphne. “Um, nothing. You’re looking at it. I work as an assistant manager at a clothing store for rich women and I come home and watch TV.”
“And go out to biker bars looking for the grungiest dude you can find,” Xander said with a smirk.
“That was a very, very rare situation,” said Daphne.
Thinking about how she’d just described her life, she felt a tinge of longing. Aside from the detail of Jack, she realized that things were just how she’d said they were—she worked, she unwound, she looked after her son. And while she loved being a mother, she hadn’t even bothered dating anyone since she’d broken up with Xander. Daphne felt as though she just didn’t have the time. And besides, who would want to raise another man’s son?
“I’ll bet,” said Xander, flashing her another grin.
Before Daphne could respond, Xander bounded out of his seat.
“I’m gonna get dressed, and then we’re gonna go get some groceries. If we’re gonna be cooped up in this apartment all day, I’m gonna need a little more than eggs and toast. And it’s on me.”
“Oh no,” said Daphne. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Not another word about it,” he said. “You’re in this shit because of me. Least I can do.”
Then he was gone.
As soon as he left the room, Daphne was filled with a deep sense of both longing and conflict. Part of her wanted him back, wanted to tell him that he was a father, wanted to tell him that that maybe they could try to be a family. But she knew that he was just too dangerous. Daphne was torn up inside, and no solution for her seemed to be in sight.