Sweet on You

Chapter 20

The next morning, Lydia and Xander sat at the kitchen counter eating breakfast. Xander clutched a book in one hand and his coffee in the other, whereas Lydia demolished a cinnamon bun. Suddenly, Xander set his book down, watching Lydia as she ate. After a moment of thought, he said, "How many boyfriends have you had?"

Lydia nearly choked on her bite before she swallowed. "Serious ones? Two."

"And not serious ones?" Xander asked, his voice thick, likely from still waking up.

Lydia tilted her head upwards, thinking back to any sort of fling or romantic encounter she's had in the past. "Maybe five? Including the two serious ones. How about you?"

"None," Xander said after he sipped his coffee and set it down gently on the table. When his answer was met with a look of disbelief, he sighed. "I mean, I've slept with women before you but I was never in a relationship with them."

Lydia had a feeling she did not want to ask how many he had slept with, not that it would change how she felt about him, but rather how jealous she'd feel if she knew the answer. She took a long sip of her coffee. "Why did you want to know?"

Xander rested his gaze on hers. "Because I want to know who to kill if they ever come back around." He chuckled when he saw her shocked expression. "I'm kidding."

"I have a very strong feeling you're not, but I'll pretend I believe you," Lydia said through a smile. "Although, Vince, I wouldn't mind having him disposed of."

Xander eyes turned dark, his jaw clenched tight. "Why did you break up?"

Lydia looked away, down at her half-eaten cinnamon bun. "He wasn't good with money. Gambling. That sort of thing." Lydia released a sigh. "Before we broke up, we had a pregnancy scare. He didn't want kids, and I certainly didn't want any at that time. My dad had just died, I was barely twenty. But he refused to let me have a choice in the matter, saying if I was pregnant, he'd drive me to the clinic to get it taken care of because no one, including me or the possible baby, would get in his way of climbing the business ladder."

Lydia tapped nervously on the marble countertop. "We had this big fight and although it didn't turn physical, I knew I had to get out because one day it may. He cared only for his money and his budding business. That was nearly two years ago. I haven't seen him since."

Xander took her hand in his, rubbing circles on the back of her hand. His brown eyes poured into Lydia's green ones. "You deserved better. You deserved to have a choice."

Lydia wiped a tear away with her free hand and feigned a smile, desperate to change the topic to something lighter. "Tell me something no one knows about you. Something you love or hate -- anything."

Xander kept his hand on hers as he cocked his head to the right, thinking of what to say. "When I was a kid, I was convinced I was going to be the next Batman."

Lydia laughed, picturing a little Xander running around pretending to be Batman. "Is that why you're a bodyguard? To fight crime?"

"Partially," Xander said, his cheeks tinted pink at his reveal. "But I think I just wanted to protect people."

Lydia nodded her head, squeezing her hand in his. "That's very noble of you."

"As for something I hate, birds, hands down," Xander said, fairly passionately it had concerned Lydia ever so slightly. "One caused me to lose my ice cream cone when my grandparents took me to New York and I've hated them ever since."

Lydia laughed even more. Xander, her big bad bodyguard hated birds. She shook her head. "I never would have suspected birds would be your downfall, pretty boy. I would have thought something more vicious like a snake."