Healing hearts

Chapter twenty three

Cassie's pov

The next morning, I stormed into my brother's office. I was so mad at what he had done to Xander. I didn't bother knocking, I just barged in. He was on the phone, but he dropped the call as soon as he saw me.

"Good morning, Cass," he said.

"How could you do that?" I asked, my voice trembling with anger. "How could you hurt Xander like that?"

"I told you, he fought me, and I fought back," he said.

"Don't give me that crap," I said. "You know you deserved it. Why did you lock me and Noah up in the storage room? What's wrong with you?"

"I didn't know you were in there," he said, like what he did was normal. "I thought you had left."

"Cut the crap," I said. "You know what you did. What were you trying to do?"

"I was trying to help you, Cass," he said. "I can't bear to see you as the wife of that guy. I wanted you to be with the guy you truly loved, not some criminal."

I looked at him, my eyes narrowed. "Are you crazy?" I said. "Don't ever try to interfere in my life like that again. You know nothing about the guy I truly love."

"I know that If that bastard hadn't forced himself on you," he shouted, "you would be happy with Noah!"

"Don't you dare talk about Xander like that," I said, my voice shaking with anger. "I am warning you, Brian. If you hurt him again, I will forget that you are my brother. Do you understand?"

He didn't say anything, just looked at me, his eyes hard. I turned and left his office, slamming the door behind me.

I ran into Noah on my way out. "You disappointed me, Noah," I said. "How could you join my brother to do such a thing?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "But Brian thought it was for the best." I shook my head, disappointed at him.

"You know what?" I said, my voice rising. "Just stay away from me. Got it?"

He didn't say anything, just nodded. I turned and went to my office.

I was unable to concentrate on my work that day. My mind kept wandering back to what had happened with my brother and Noah. I pulled out my phone and texted Xander to ask how he was feeling. He had stayed home that day because he was still in a bit of pain. He texted back that he was doing great, and he even texted me a picture of him and Alex. They both looked so cute, and I smiled at the picture.

I was so tempted to go home and be with them. I decided to leave work early and head home. When I walked in the door, I was greeted by the most beautiful sight ever - my baby crawling on the floor. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed.

That caught Xander's attention, and he looked up from what he was doing in the kitchen. A smile spread across his face when he saw our baby crawling, and he scooped him up, cheering and tickling him. The baby giggled, squirming in his arms.

"Hey, you're home early," he said.

"Yeah, I was bored at the office," I replied. "What were you doing?"

"I wanted to surprise you with dinner," he said, "but it's not much of a surprise since you caught me cooking."

I smiled. "Go and change and come down to eat," he said.

I nodded and headed to my room to change into something more comfortable.

When I went down, Xander had served the food and even decorated the table with flowers and wine. I smiled at the gesture. "Are we celebrating something?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "My beautiful wife told me she loved me."

I blushed, and he smiled at my reaction.

"And my beautiful son crawled for the first time," he said. "I think we have more than enough to celebrate." I smiled at him.

We enjoyed the pasta, which tasted amazing. I couldn't help but let out a little moan of pleasure, and he looked at me hungrily. I started a conversation to avoid the awkwardness and soon we talked about many things .

We had dessert too, which tasted delicious. I was stuffed by the end of the meal. We spent the rest of the evening playing with Alex, like a cute little family. We took turns making silly faces at him until he fell asleep, and then I went to take a shower.

As I did my nightly skin care routine, I felt Xander come up behind me. Before I could turn around, I felt something cold on my neck. It was a diamond necklace, with the words "I love you" engraved on it. "Xander," I said, "This is beautiful."

"You deserve it and more," he said, his arms wrapped around my waist tightly .

"I got one for Alexander, too?" he said and I smiled.

"Thank you," I said, looking into his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me on the neck, causing me to let out a moan. Soon he was nibbling on my neck, and I tilted my head back to give him better access.

I turned to face him, our lips meeting in a passionate kiss. He wrapped one arm around my waist and with the other he lifted my leg, so I could wrap it around his waist. We continued to kiss as he carried me to the bed, setting me down gently. We kept kissing until we were out of breath. He pulled back, only to go back to nibbling on my neck.

His hands started to move toward my chest nervously and When I didn't pull away, he continued, caressing my breast more confidently. We went back to kissing, our lips meeting in a sensual embrace. Suddenly, he pulled away, leaving me feeling frustrated and disappointed.

"Why did you stop?" I asked.

He looked at me, a little sheepishly. "If I don't stop, I won't be able to control myself," he said.

I smiled and pecked him on the lips. "I want this, Xander," I said. "I want to be yours."

He smiled, but then said, "Now's not the right time, okay? I want our first real time to be special."

I rolled my eyes, even though I understood where he was coming from. "Fine," I said.

"We can do this tomorrow night, okay?"He said and I nodded. He smiled and then we snuggled up together and fell asleep in each other's arms.