If I didn’t desperately need my phone back, I’d never call Xavier. Just the memory of the way he made me feel without really touching me on that plane is enough to make me nearly combust. I’m in way over my head here, but Quinn’s right. I need to do the exact opposite of what I would normally do. I hope I know enough to keep me afloat once Quinn shoves me into the shark tank.

The folded paper is still in my back pocket, so I lean forward and retrieve it. “Can I borrow your phone?”

She hands me her phone wrapped in its sparkly diamond case. “Be assertive. Tell him to meet you at Gibby’s Bar on Third tonight at nine o’clock. Don’t give him a chance to gain the upper hand. With a man like Phenomenal X, you have to take control and show him you aren’t the kind of girl who will take his shit. You call the shots and he’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand in no time.”

A lump builds in my throat as I dial his number. After three rings a distinctly male voice answers the phone. “Speak.”

The cold way he answers the phone throws me off guard. I open my mouth to speak, but no words will fall from my lips. All of the witty things I wanted to say to him fly completely out the window.

Quinn nudges my leg, pushing me to say something so I just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “I want my phone back.”

Xavier chuckles into the phone. “Is that any way to say thank you after I rescued your belongings? Ask me a little nicer and I might just give you what you want.”

“I, um…”

God, what is wrong with me? He has me stuttering like an idiot. This man is infuriating. I wish I wasn’t at his mercy, but until I get my things back it looks like I have to play nice with him. “Is there any way you can,”—Quinn nudges me again and again mouths to have him meet us tonight—”meet me at Gibby’s on Third tonight and bring my things?”

“That’s a really public place, beautiful. I was hoping the next time I saw you, we’d be somewhere a little more secluded, if you know what I mean,” he says, amusement lacing his voice.

“No way,” I fire back.

“What’s wrong, Anna, don’t trust yourself to be alone with me? Would it really be so bad if I found my way into those panties of yours?” he teases and the tingle that rippled through me on the plane comes back with full force.

“Please,” I say with a chuckle, attempting to make a show that he’s not getting to me. “I don’t know where you get off believing for one second that you’d be able to get inside my underwear. It’s not happening, X.”

Quinn’s mouth drops open and her eyes widen as she gets the gist of the conversation I’m having with this absurdly sexy man.

“So it’s ‘X’ now, is it? I thought I told you to call me Xavier. X is reserved for people who don’t know me.” All traces of the playful tone have been erased from his voice.

“I don’t know you,” I answer without any hesitation, because other than the fact he makes my body crazy, I know absolutely nothing about him.

“Not yet.” His reply is simple, but confident. “But you will. I’ll see you tonight, beautiful.”

Before I have a chance to say anything else, the line goes dead. I pull the cell away from my ear and stare down at it.

Shit.

Why do I get the feeling that I’m in for it? I run my hands through my hair as I hand the phone to Quinn. The knowing grin on her face only adds to the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that Xavier Cold is about to be the tornado that flips my world upside down.

4

Anna

Up or down? That’s the classic debate most women face when trying to get ready for a night out. I thread my fingers through my brown hair and pull it up off my neck as I stare at myself in the mirror. I twist my head from side to side. Of course I want to look sexy, but I don’t want to give Xavier the impression that I’m easy. I’m far from that.

“Oh, my God, Anna. I can’t believe you were sitting next to professional wrestling’s resident badass. Not to mention one of world’s sexiest men alive—according to the last magazine I read. You got to sit next to this tasty treat of a man for nearly four hours…how did you keep from spontaneously combusting right there on the plane?” Quinn wonders out loud as she lies on her belly, scouring the Internet for information on Phenomenal X. “I don’t think the guy takes a bad picture, ever. He does the whole ‘fuck me’ vibe without even trying. Since you’re so adamant you aren’t into him, you might have to stop me from jumping his bones in public.”

I allow my hair to fall loosely around my shoulders. Down it is. “Why would someone like him be into someone like me?”

Quinn’s eyes snap up in my direction as I spin away from her dresser mirror to face her. “Puh-leese, Anna. Please tell me you’re not one of those self-loathing chicks who can’t see her own beauty. I know you’re smarter than that.”

I shake my head. “It’s not like I just said I was ugly, Quinn. I just meant that he’s a celebrity and I’m…well…boring and plain.”

She shoves herself up from the bed. “Boring, yeah…I might have to agree with you on that one because if a guy like Phenomenal X showed the slightest bit of interest in me on a plane, we’d be joining the mile high club in a snap—even if I had to turn myself into a human pretzel to make it work in that tight as hell bathroom.”

She laughs at herself as she makes her way over to me, and spins me back around to face the mirror. “But, Anna, plain you most certainly are not. We are Cortez women. We are naturally beautiful. No man can resist our charms when we use them. It’s a gift from the deities, designed to help us maneuver this crazy manmade world.”

I stare at Quinn through the mirror. “Easy for you to say. You’re beautiful.”

Her hands slide up on my shoulders. “Not as beautiful as you. I’ve always been insanely jealous of your nose and green eyes.”

My eyes widen at the thought that my drop-dead gorgeous cousin thinks I’m prettier than her. “Really? I can’t believe I’m going to admit this out loud, but I would kill for your legs.”

She chuckles. “Lots of working out, babe, but don’t discount that rockin’ bod you’ve got going on. I’m sure if you allowed yourself to see it, you’d notice that men flock to your beauty.” She sighs. “So you see, you have all the tools to be confident—you just need a little experience in how to use them. And you’re in luck because I just happen to be an excellent flirting instructor. You can practice tonight on Mr. Sexy.”

I frown. “I doubt all the training in the world can help me gain enough courage to flirt with him.”

All the overtly sexual comments he made, and the way my body instantly reacted to him, flood my brain. A man like Xavier, who has already shown that he is well versed in how to arouse the opposite sex, is not the ideal candidate to be honing ones flirting skills on. He’s the kind of guy a girl like Quinn can handle. But me? I’ve only had one serious boyfriend my entire life, and as much as I would like to say I attracted Jorge on my own, I can’t even take credit for landing him. If it weren’t for my father, that relationship wouldn’t have happened either.

“Hey.” Quinn taps the top of my head. “Whatever’s rolling around in there just forget it. Whatever you’re thinking about right now, think the opposite. Today is the first day of your new life—out with the old, shy Anna, in with the spunky new one. It’s time the rest of the world got to experience some of the fire that I know is hiding inside there. I’ve seen spunky Anna before and I like her. It’s time to explore the world.”

That’s the second time today someone has encouraged me to be the me who’s deep inside—to do what I feel, instead of what I think I should do.

I nod and smile at Quinn. “You’re right. That’s what coming here was supposed to be about. I need to learn to loosen up and live a little, and a sure thing like Phenomenal X feels like a good place to begin. I’m so tired of being the good girl, Quinn. The Goody-Two-shoes nobody ever wanted to be real friends with. Did you know I didn’t get invited to one single party in high school because kids were afraid I would narc them out?”

Quinn frowns and strokes the back of my head. “Oh, Anna, girl, that’s terrible, but I’m sure college was much better, right?”

I shake my head and fight back the tears that threaten to expose the years of sadness that plague me to this day. “Not really. By that time Father had set me up with Jorge who went to another Christian college across the state, and I never accepted any invites to any parties because I was afraid of upsetting Jorge or Father. Even though we’re not together a lot, I still feel like you’re my closet friend. You’re the only person who’s ever been really there for me.” I wipe a lone tear from my eye and sniff. “Ugh. Admitting that makes it all sound even lamer.”

She wraps her thin arms around my shoulders and pulls me in for a tight hug. “Screw all the assholes who can’t see how awesome you are. I’ll gladly accept the title of your best friend.”

I laugh softly and hug her back. “Thank you, Quinn. I feel like you and Aunt Dee rescued me.”

She pulls back and smiles. “What are best friends for?”

A couple hours after our heart-to-heart we’re seated at a corner booth at Gibby’s. Quinn is doing her best to attempt to get me drunk for the first time, and so far it’s working.

The fruity drinks she’s been supplying me with are delicious, and I can’t really taste the alcohol.

I throw back the rest of my drink and Quinn smiles. “Atta girl! Liquid courage, baby. You’re gonna need it the moment sexy X gets here.”

The moment he walks in the room, it’s like the air in the room becomes charged, and I feel a pull toward him. Even in the crowded room, my gaze instantly finds Xavier. My eyes stalk him as he walks across the room to the bar, most of the heads in the place turning as he passes by them.

His presence in a room is one that’s hard to miss.

Xavier leans against the bar casually, an elbow resting on the hardwood behind him as he chats with a blond woman and the short, mullet-man I recognize from the plane. Xavier’s broad shoulders fill out the black dress shirt he’s wearing and like before, he has the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His gaze drifts away from the company standing before him as he scans the faces in the busy bar.

The instant our eyes lock, all the air whooshes from my lungs. Everything in me screams to look away—that this guy is trouble with a capital T. I should be scared out of my mind that he’s staring right at me with those piercing blue eyes—but no matter how much I know I need to fight it, the intense need to find out what his skin feels like sliding against mine pushes me to allow this to happen. I have never lusted after a man like this before and as I realize that I’m undressing him with my eyes, my face flushes and I break our stare.

“Oh, good Lord,” Quinn murmurs next to me as she snuggles closer to my side in the booth. “The pictures do not do that man justice. He’s sexy as hell, and staring at you like he’s ready to eat you alive.”

“He’s not looking at me like that.”

Heat creeps up my neck again, surely deepening my blush. I risk another glance in his direction, and he licks his plump lips before pushing away from the bar, grabbing something off the counter in the process. Quinn’s right. He is staring at me like I’m the tastiest thing on earth as he slowly approaches me, much like a tiger stalking its prey.

I swallow hard as my heart thunders in my chest. My eyes grow wide as I stare at Quinn.

“What do I do? I’m not ready for this. I can’t do this.”

Nervous energy spreads through my body and I’m not quite sure how to handle myself. I’ve never felt this anxious before. The only thing I can think to do is flee from this dangerous man because I already know what’s on his mind. The urge to run right out of this bar before a full-on panic attack hits me is at the forefront of my mind as I rapidly become overwhelmed by his presence.

She places her hand on my bouncing thigh and holds it steady. “Calm down, Anna. I know this feels like I’m throwing you to the wolves, but you can do this. Think about what we talked about on the ride over here. You have the tools, remember? Don’t let him gain the upper hand at any point. You call the shots. You lead the conversation. Don’t let him sweet talk you into anything you aren’t ready for, and above all remember that I’m here for you. Just say the word and we’ll split.”