Xavier: An Age Gap Billionaire Romance (Spoiled Royal) by Gia Bailey

Author:Gia Bailey [Bailey, Gia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

7

Lily

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

It had nothing to do with the fabulous, feather-soft four-poster bed, or the high-ceilinged, pale, and pretty as a picture room. It had everything to do with the man sleeping down the hall. Xavier’s words had thrilled me. He wasn’t seeing anyone. He hadn’t been sleeping around without dating either. My mother had told me a little of his isolation since coming home from Iraq, though I hadn’t listened as well as I should have. Then, he was only a faceless stranger, now, he was everything. I wished I could go back and hear all her mundane little stories about his life again. Telling him I was a virgin should have been a little embarrassing, but weirdly it wasn’t. I knew he would understand me, and he did.

Since that conversation, hell, since we’d met and he’d saved me from falling down the cellar steps, a longing deep inside had sprung to life.

I wanted him to be the first.

Nothing else would suffice.

I wanted to go to bed with a man for the first time, and I wanted it to be Xavier Acton, Duke of Roxburgh. Of course, that determination wasn’t doing anything for my ability to sleep right now.

I tossed and turned, I punched the pillow until feathers floated out. Oops. I got up, seriously debating simply walking down the hall and getting into Xavier’s bed and asking him if he’d be ever so kind as to relieve me of my virginity, then I might be able to sleep, but that didn’t seem like a good idea.

Instead, I pulled my knickers and bra on, a tracksuit on top, and went out into the hallway. It was dark, but not absolute. Somewhere below, a light was on.

I wandered downstairs. White Hall House should feel more creepy, I reasoned with myself, as I went down the curving staircase, which was wood-paneled and dotted with imposing portraits. It was just like a manor house from a horror movie. Despite that, there was nothing chilling in the air. It felt warm and safe.

I walked across the hall floor with bare feet and descended lower still. I knew that there was another level to the house, but I’d yet to explore down there. As I went, warmth filled the air, and the gentle smell of chorine filled my nose.

I arrived at the bottom of the stairs and followed the hallway toward double doors. Inside, a swimming pool lay, blue and inviting looking.

The whole room was warm, warm enough to immediately discard my thick sweater. Ferns and other tropical, hothouse plants filled the space around, and light flagstones sat around the aqua oval. Lights from the floor and inset in the walls gave a soft glow, and windows sat high up on the walls, letting silvery moonlight in.

I hadn’t been swimming in an age. The last time had been at a public pool in Paris, and I’d been chased out by all the screaming kids and impossibly chic mothers. How did they look cooler than me, even while handling rowdy children, I’d never know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.