Love, Exes, and Ohs (Cactus Creek #4)(17)

“The list wasn’t in any hierarchical order,” she defended in complete, evasive honesty.

“Hmm.”

Sometimes, his being so quiet was deafening.

“So in the grand scheme of things, where exactly does ‘kisses like Isaac’ land?” he questioned, eyes dancing.

She snatched her phone back before he could see the rest of her list. Isaac focusing on the stuff about him was good. Embarrassing, but distracting enough that he’d forget all about what he’d been looking for in the first place—the one other man-quation characteristic she’d purposefully kept out of the frame in the photo of her list she’d texted to Sienna and Lia.

“Fine! You’re a good kisser,” she admitted. “Happy?”

Suddenly, his eyes weren’t teasing anymore. “Not really. Because ‘good’ doesn’t even begin to describe your kisses, honey.” His voice graveled. “My kisses may not top your list, but your kisses sure as hell top mine.”

Good lord, Xoey was doing her best not to hyperventilate and pass out.

Eventually, she was able to slow her pulse rate down enough to string enough words together to reveal softly, “I meant what I said about the list not having an ordering system.” Her breathing was still going haywire over how close he was. “But the reason why your kiss was on the top was because it was the first thing I thought about when I envisioned the perfect man.”

Heat flared in his gaze.

Before he could reply, however, she turned and…ran.

“You better get home and get packed,” she called over her shoulder, determinedly keeping her voice light and way the heck back in the friend zone. “I’ll be by tomorrow afternoon at three on the dot to drive you to the airport.”

And with that, she rushed out of there like she was on fire.

Which wasn’t too far off from the truth.





CHAPTER SEVEN


“TELL ME WHY Xoey had ‘a high-powered suit’ listed as one of her perfect man characteristics. That doesn’t sound like anyone she’s dated.”

Isaac slung a towel over the treadmill bar Dani had been running on and nodded her over to the only empty corner of the gym at the moment. He steered them over to a bench by the various tethered floor-to-ceiling punching bags he’d set up there for the advanced fighters.

The ‘upside down bowling pin’ and ‘Mr. Peanut’ double-ended bags, as Xoey affectionately named them—to his dismay—were usually fully occupied at this time of day, but the fighters were all over at the ring giving last-minute pointers to Tyler, one of their young guys that was going to have his first big open invitational in Vegas this weekend.

Since Isaac was heading over to Vegas with Tyler and his trainer this afternoon, he was letting all the other guys get their time in with the kid before they left for the airport.

Isaac had been all set to call up Dani when he’d heard the commotion on the floor. Lia had just entered the gym with Dani, and all the fighters had made a huge ruckus, practically dragging the quiet little martial arts queen over to talk with Tyler, and leaving an amused Dani to go work out on her own.

Isaac then waited an entire fourteen and a half minutes for Dani to finish her treadmill run before he’d made his way over to start his interrogation.

“You don’t know about the suit?” Dani seemed genuinely surprised.

Dammit, it burned his gut that there was something Dani knew about Xoey that he didn’t. “Wouldn’t be asking if I did. She’s told me about all the guys she’s dated seriously and none of them fit that bill. Is it some sort of secret?”

“I guess not. The other girls and I have talked about it a few times and Xoey never went out of her way to hide it or anything”

“So you can tell me about it? About the guy?”

She shook her head. “No. If she hasn’t told you about him, there has to be a reason.”

“Dani, tell me something. Please.”

“Why do you want to know so bad?” She eyed him speculatively.

“Do you really need me to answer that?” he replied quietly.

She sighed. “No.” After a few long seconds of lip-gnawing, she said, “Okay, but non-specifics only.”

“I’ll take it.”

“I guess you already figured out that there weren’t just three exes responsible for her, you know, ‘ohs.’”

He’d assumed, but hated hearing the confirmation. He didn’t like thinking about anyone connecting with her the way that he had.

“So he was a fourth ex?” he concluded.

“No, actually, not an ex—it was just one night. Unbeknownst to her at the time, he’d just been in it to hit and quit it. And also, not the fourth, either, but rather…her first. As in ‘her first.’”

Shit.

Dani nodded sadly at his horrified expression. “Yeah. He took her virginity and then disappeared without a trace.”

Instantly, Isaac felt his hands flexing, clenching into fists as rage filled his veins. “I’ll kill him.” His voice was barely recognizable, barely human. The man had done one of the worst things a guy could do…to his Xoey. “Give me a name and I’ll go beat the living shit out of him right now.” A crazed frenzy was pumping bloodthirsty adrenaline through his muscles. Every gory MMA fight he’d ever committed to memory paled in comparison to what his imagination was envisioning for this dead man walking.