Two Little Secrets From My Boss

Chapter 33

[POV Daphne]

"Daddy, the water is too cold!" Nina shrieked from the shoreline, dancing backward as a wave chased her feet.

My honeymoon was nothing like the glossy magazine. There were no champagne breakfasts in bed or lazy afternoons by the infinity pool.

Instead, there was Nina knocking over her orange juice at the resort restaurant, Lisa refusing to eat anything that wasn't shaped like a dinosaur, and Xander learning to navigate a buffet line while carrying two plates and mediating a disagreement about who got to sit next to the window.

It was messy and exhausting and absolutely perfect.

"It's the ocean, sweetheart. It's supposed to be cold," he answered.

"Make it warmer!"

"I don't control the ocean, my dear."

"But you're the boss of everything!"

I laughed from my spot on the beach blanket, watching Xander crouch down to Nina's level with exaggerated seriousness. "The ocean has its own rules, so we have to respect that."

"That's silly," Nina declared, but she let him take her hand and lead her a few steps closer to the water.

Lisa sat beside me, carefully building a sandcastle with the kind of focused determination she brought to everything. Her small fingers patted the walls smooth, adjusting and readjusting until the structure met her exacting standards.

"Mommy, do you think mermaids live in this ocean?" she asked without looking up.

"Well, it's possible. The ocean is very big and very mysterious."

"I hope they're friendly creatures. Some stories have mean ones."

"If any mean mermaids show up, Daddy will protect us."

Lisa considered this, then nodded with satisfaction. "Daddy is good at protecting."

She wasn't wrong. Watching Xander with the girls over the past few days had softened something long guarded in my chest. He was learning the rhythm of family life—the constant negotiation, the interrupted conversations, the way plans shifted moment to moment based on small needs and smaller bladders.

But he was also watchful in ways that caught my attention.

His eyes swept the beach constantly, tracking every adult who wandered too close to our blanket. When we walked through the resort lobby, I noticed how he positioned himself between the girls and the crowd. At dinner, he always chose a table with his back to the wall, facing the entrance.

"Lisa, stay where I can see you!" he called out now, his voice sharp as she wandered toward a tide pool twenty feet away.

"I'm right here, Daddy."

"I know, just stay close, please."

I watched his shoulders remain tense until Lisa returned to her sandcastle. Something flickered behind his eyes—not quite fear, but something adjacent to it.

That evening, after the twins were bathed and storied and finally asleep, I found Xander on the balcony of our suite. The moon hung low over the water, casting silver ripples across the dark surface. He stood with his hands on the railing, staring at the horizon like he was searching for something.

"Hey," I slipped my arms around his waist from behind. "You're thinking too loud, so I can hear it from inside."

He laughed softly, covering my hands with his. "Sorry, old habits."

"Is anything wrong?" I moved to stand beside him, studying his profile in the moonlight. "You've been on edge since we got here. Scanning rooms, watching the girls like someone might snatch them at any moment..."

Xander was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was careful. "I spent a lot of years looking over my shoulder and waiting for the next attack or betrayal. It's hard to turn that off."

"We're on a private beach in the Caribbean. The biggest threat here is sunburn."

"I know," he turned to face me, his expression raw in a way he rarely allowed. "But I have something to lose now, something real that changes the math."

"Xander," I cupped his face in my hands. "We're safe. Bianca is gone, Victor pulled his partnership and disappeared: there's no one left to hurt us."

"You're right," his eyes didn't quite believe it. "I'm trying, Daphne, I really am."

I kissed him softly. "That's all I'm asking."

We stood together in comfortable silence, watching the waves roll against the shore. The warm night air wrapped around us, carrying the scent of salt and tropical flowers.

"I feel lighter than I have in years. Like I've been holding my breath for so long that I forgot what it felt like to just breathe," I leaned into his side. "With you, the girls, this life we're building—it doesn't feel like I'm waiting for something bad to happen anymore."

Xander's arm tightened around me. "You deserve that feeling. You've earned it."

"So have you."

He didn't respond, but I felt some of the tension ease from his body.

"Do you ever think about what comes next?" I continued. "Not the immediate next, but the future. The girls growing up, us growing old together, all of it."

"Sometimes," his voice was thoughtful. "I think about teaching Nina to drive and immediately break into a cold sweat."

I laughed. "She's going to be terrifying behind the wheel."

"Absolutely terrifying. Lisa will probably read the entire driver's manual before her first lesson and critique my technique the whole time."

"That sounds exactly right," I smiled at the image. "I think about them going to school, making friends, bringing home terrible boyfriends we'll have to pretend to like."

"No one will ever be good enough for them."

"Obviously not, but we'll smile and make small talk anyway."

We talked for another hour—about the road behind us, the lies and fear and missteps that had brought us here. We didn't reopen old wounds, just acknowledged them. The fake name, the years apart. The secrets and the revelations and the way we'd nearly destroyed each other before learning how to build something real.

"I don't regret any of it, even the hard parts," I said finally. "They brought me here."

"To a resort balcony with a man who can't stop checking for exits?"

"A life I never thought I'd have," I turned to look at him fully. "A partner, someone who shows up even when it's difficult."

Xander pulled me close, pressing his forehead to mine. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing up. I hope you know that."

"I'm starting to believe it."

Later, after we'd made love slowly and tenderly in the darkness of our bedroom, I lay awake listening to Xander's breathing even out of sleep. The twins slept in the adjoining room, their soft snores audible through the cracked door.

My family. All of them, within arm's reach.

I should have felt only peace. Mostly, I did, but the quiet of the honeymoon had loosened memories inside me—the ones I usually kept buried, rising to the surface like debris after a storm.

My mother's face during our last meeting. The promises she asked me to give, about not letting my future baby ruin my life.

I turned my head to look at Xander's sleeping face—the strong jaw, the slightly furrowed brow that suggested he was strategizing even in his dreams. This man who had hurt me and healed me in equal measure. This man who was trying so hard to be what we needed.

The memories pressed closer, demanding attention I wasn't ready to give. My parents. All the years I'd spent alone, convincing myself that independence was strength rather than armor.

I closed my eyes and breathed through it, letting the waves of the past wash over me without drowning.

Tomorrow would bring more juice spills and sandcastles and stolen kisses between bedtime stories. Tomorrow, I would be present for all of it, but tonight, in the quiet dark, I allowed myself to remember.