Better off without him

Chapter 23 - Harper

"Water thanks," I replied and off he went. I took off my heels and sat back in my seat taking a deep breath because damn that was tiring.

"You look like you were having fun out there. Nice dance moves," Xavier said breaking the awkward silence between us.

"Thank you. You should really get out there and have some fun too," I answered not really knowing what else to say.

"I'll dance if you dance."

I didn't know how to respond to that because I can list a number of times where Xavier and I were paired together to dance and he absolutely refused to get anywhere near me.

"Okay. Once I feel like I can breathe again we can go give the dance floor a whirl."

This seemed to please him because the smile that he gave was heartwarming. Nate arrived with my water a second later before making his way to the dance floor before he was flocked by a bunch of women. I took huge gulps of water and watched people dancing and admired how genuinely happy everyone looked.

"Are you okay with Nate flirting with those other girls?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" I answered honestly.

"He's your date Harper, he shouldn't ask you out and then go flirt with other women."

"There's nothing going on between Nate and I. I've really enjoyed my time with him tonight, now it's his turn to have fun. If that's with someone else who isn't me, that's fine. If he hadn't had asked me, I'd be in the kitchen right now with my team fussing over the food and drinks. I'm glad that I'm here tonight as a guest, where I get to relax, have some fun and be proud of the event that my team have organised," I finished coming to Nate's defence. I don't know what game Xavier's trying to play but it really is ok that he's enjoying himself.

"Sorry, it's just if you were my...Sorry. You and your team did a bloody great job tonight Harper. I've had many clients and their wives come up to me and rave about the decorations and food as well as the dj. I think I've handed out almost fifty of your work cards so be prepared to have more customers calling in for your services." I was beyond happy when he said that and extremely grateful.

"Thank you so much, Xavier. Kelly and the team will be so pleased to hear that. You ready to hit the dance floor?" I asked him. He just about jumped out of his seat, grabbing my hand and dragging me back on the dance floor.

"Hey, I need to go back and grab my shoes!" I yelled laughing at Xavier and his eagerness.

He turned around saying, "You won't need them and they'll only make your feet hurt more."

"Okay, but if anyone steps on my toes, I'm going to send you the bill and owe me a massage," I said seriously.

"Fine with me, I'll give you one after this and make sure that you and your delicate feet are out of harms way," he said sarcastically.

Xavier dragged me to the middle of dance floor where he turned my back to his front and wrapped his arms around me and swayed the both of us to the sound of the music. I was fine with it because I was about a half inch away from him but as the tempo picked up and the dance floor started to fill up Xavier had me flat against his chest. It was actually more fun dancing this way because it didn't leave me breathless as it did when I was jumping around crazily with Nate and I just let myself relax into Xavier's embrace.