King of Sloth (Kings of Sin #4) by Ana Huang

“I certainly hate to keep you from your emails, but we haven’t finished our earlier conversation, as you kindly pointed out to Meathead Central.” Xavier flagged down our server and paid our bill before following me out of the restaurant. “Give me a good reason why we can’t date besides our working relationship.”

“That should be enough reason.” I purposely turned away from him and scanned the street for a passing cab. A quick phone check told me it would be faster than trying to hail an Uber.

“Working relationships come and go, Luna. Personal ones don’t.” A small pause. “At least, they shouldn’t.”

“Are you firing me?”

“No, I’m saying we can work around the publicist-client thing. Hell, we can watch one of those rom-coms you love—er, love to hate-watch—so much for inspiration,” Xavier amended when I glared at him. “Hollywood must’ve come up with a dozen strategies for this sort of thing.”

“I told you, rom-coms are unrealistic. Hollywood isn’t real life.” I whirled to face him. “You just told Mark to know when to take a hint. Why are you being so insistent about this?”

“Because I want you.”

Simple. Matter-of-fact. And a fierce, unexpected blow to my chest.

The air evacuated from my lungs as I stared at Xavier. His eyes and mouth had sobered, wiping away the irreverence and leaving only sincerity behind.

“I don’t want a kiss or a one-night stand,” he said. “I want you. I want to know you outside work. I want to take you on real dates. And I don’t know if it’ll work out in the end, but I want us to at least try.”

For God’s sake, Sloane, no one wants to date a block of ice.

A thick sensation crawled into my throat and curled up there. “Trust me.” I strangled my bag strap with one hand. “You don’t want to know me outside work.”

When I was working, no one blamed me for being cold or direct. They expected it. When I was dating…that was a whole different matter.

“Let me be the judge of that.” Xavier’s voice softened. “What are you so afraid of?”

A wretched tingle spread behind my eyes and nose. “Nothing.” I averted my gaze to the street, where honking cars and jaywalking pedestrians provided enough stimulation to obscure my real answer.

I’m afraid of letting someone in again. I’m afraid of getting my heart broken.

I’m afraid that, if you get to know the real me, you’ll find me unlovable like everyone else, and it’ll hurt so much more because it’s you.

My past was my past. I’d been young, stupid, and inexperienced, and I’d dated plenty of other men since my first heartbreak. I hadn’t been afraid of giving them a chance because I knew they wouldn’t breach my defenses.

Xavier? He had the potential to destroy the entire system. “Sloane.” His light touch seared my arm. “Look at me.” “No.” I hardened my resolve and thrust out my arm to hail a passing cab. “We’ll go over your PR plan later. I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

By that, I meant I was going to catch up on my emails at home, take a nice long bubble bath, indulge in a glass of wine and a movie…and not think about Xavier Castillo in any way, shape, or form.

The cab screeched to a halt in front of me. I opened the door and climbed in. Xavier climbed in after me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded. “This is breaking and entering!”

“It’s a cab.”

“That you’re breaking and entering into.” I rapped my knuckles against the divider separating us from the front seat. “You have an intruder in your car. I don’t know this man. Please dispose of him immediately.”

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror, unimpressed. “Weren’t ya just talking to him a second ago?”

“He was talking to me.”

“We were talking to each other,” Xavier corrected. “I—”

The driver released a huge sigh. “Look, lady, I don’t got time to deal with a lovers’ spat. You wanna go or not?”

“We’re not—”

“She wants to go. Just keep driving around until we say otherwise.” Xavier slipped a hundred-dollar-bill through the opening in the divider. “A pre-tip for your service. Thanks, man.”

The driver snatched the bill from his hand and sped off. “This is kidnapping,” I said furiously. “You are committing a crime.”

“You broke into my room twice in the past month, so consider us even.” Xavier smiled, but his eyes remained serious. “You can’t keep running from the hard stuff, Luna. Eventually, you’ll have to face what you’re so afraid of.”

“That’s ironic, coming from you.”

Xavier had spent half his life avoiding responsibility. He was the last person who should lecture me on running.

“True,” he acknowledged. “But I’m working on it.” I didn’t have a good answer to that.

I slumped against my seat, suddenly exhausted.

It was too much. Spain, Colombia, seeing Pen, getting my father’s email and finding out my sister was pregnant, kissing Xavier…The past month’s bombshells had hammered dent after dent into my walls, and I was so tired of holding them up.