Yep.
Axl was probably going to smile all night.
“Sorry, kid, I took that too far.”
“You did,” Axl agreed.
“Okay then,” Rachel said loudly, taking hold of Hattie and moving her into the room. “That’s done. How about we move on? Hattie,” she looked to his woman, “I understand if you’re uncomfortable, but really, we’d like you to stay. And I promise, Sylas can behave himself.”
She ended that on a look at his father that Axl had never seen.
It was so pointed and sharp, it was a miracle Sylas didn’t start bleeding.
Hattie looked at Axl and she did it hard.
“I’m good, baby,” he said.
She instantly turned to his mother. “We’ll stay.”
Okay, yeah.
He knew it before.
He knew it a fuckuva better right then.
He was totally fucking falling in love with this unbelievably kickass woman.
Hattie moved from his mom to him.
“Finish the martinis, Sylas,” Rachel hissed, walking toward her husband.
“At your service,” he muttered, an edge to his tone, and he was heading back to the drinks cabinet.
Axl sensed that wasn’t about what just happened.
But what just happened didn’t help.
He was watching his parents when he felt Hattie’s fingers close around his.
So he tipped his head down to catch her gaze.
He then bent and kissed her neck so he’d be in position to whisper in her ear, “Proof, beautiful. You’re goddamned remarkable.”
She pulled her head back to look into his eyes.
And then she said out loud, “You are too.”
After that, she yanked him down on the couch so forcefully, another ounce of pressure, she’d dislocate his shoulder. And once they were down, she practically fused herself to his side, which made Axl’s stomach hurt from trying to fight laughter.
She then pinned her eyes on his mom.
“So, Rachel, Axl tells me you were a software wizard before he came into the world. Axl and I have a mutual friend, she’s studying to be an engineer. She knows everything about computers. I bet she’d love to chat with you about all things tech.”
His mother appeared startled, as she would be, seeing as nothing in this house was ever about her, before her face warmed. “I’d … well, I’d love that.”
Hattie smiled gorgeously at her.
“I’ll bet, when she finds a job, they won’t make her wear skirts and hose to work,” Rachel commented.
Hattie leaned slightly forward, and openly horror-struck, said, “No. They made you wear hose? Really? That’s almost barbaric.”
Both women burst out laughing.
Axl shifted back because his father’s arm was in his face, extending a martini toward Hattie.
She took it and spared him only a glance, saying, “Thanks, Sylas. You’re a doll.”
At once, she returned her attention to Rachel and started gabbing.
Axl watched her, settling into the couch, sliding an arm around her to settle her with him, feeling his lips twitch.
Yeah.
Hattie Yates was something.
And that something was fucking amazing.
* * *
She moved on top of him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, stroking his cock with her pussy, his mouth drawing at her nipple.
She was moving slow, like she wanted him to feel every centimeter of her as she took him.
And, oh yeah.
He felt it.
She was making love to him.
And after the things she said about him to his father, Axl was not down with that.
So he gripped her behind a knee, lifted it, released her sweet, tight nipple from his mouth and rolled them so she was on her back and he was the one on top doing the stroking.
Slow.
Making love to her.
His sweet Hattie who showed zero hesitation in taking on a hellcat.
For him.
She pressed her legs to his sides, her hands roamed his back, over his neck, his hair, but they stopped with her fingers on his cheeks.
“So handsome,” she whispered.
He showed her how he felt about that by kissing her.
The warm, wet generosity of her mouth paralleled what he felt between her legs.
It was the first time he’d had her ungloved.
Her suggestion, after she shared she kept up to date on a birth control shot and he shared he hadn’t gone in ungloved since his last long-term girlfriend, but Hawk required biannual physicals, his last was six weeks ago, and he’d come up clean.
He knew she’d decided the time to dispense with the condoms was now because she experienced what she experienced with him that night.
She wanted them close.
She wanted to give him that.
Nothing in between.
And for a variety of reasons, that felt great.
He broke their kiss when her hands went to his ass, no roaming, it was a demand.
He nipped her earlobe and moved faster.
She responded by hooking a leg around the back of his thigh, putting her other foot to the bed, and pulsing up into each thrust.
Fuck yeah.
“So sweet, baby,” he murmured against her lips.
She kissed him.
He went faster, she encouraged it every way she could, pushing him to the edge.
He sensed she wasn’t there, and he needed her there.
So he slid a hand between them, pressed and twitched her clit with his thumb, as he went faster, harder, and she gasped against his tongue when she came.
He slid his lips to her throat, but his head jerked back when it hit him, suddenly, unexpected.
Hard.
So hard, he only vaguely felt her proprietary grip on the back of his neck and her satisfied, “Oh yes,” seemed far away.
His orgasm receded as fast as the shock of it coming, which meant he collapsed on her, but at least he had the presence of mind to roll them so she didn’t have to bear his weight for very long.
Their breath evened out while she was touching him, tasting him.
He did the same.
Sometimes you said a lot with no words at all.
This was one of those times.
Even though she’d never done it before, Axl knew what it meant when she trailed a thumb along his throat to his chin, along his jaw and kissed his ear when her thumb arrived there.
He let his hands fall away.
She slid off him and out of bed.
Since it was her first time, he didn’t know where she was at with cleanup, if she wanted privacy or not. So he lay in bed, waiting for her to finish in the bathroom, instead of joining her.
When he saw her enter the room, he got out of bed. They met halfway, touched lips, and he hit the bathroom, cleaned her from his cock, quickly brushed his teeth, and headed out.
She was in bed in a nightie, and he knew, panties. She didn’t sleep bare in any way.
He didn’t either, so he pulled on some sleep pants.
He joined her and tangled them up.
She cuddled closer, tucking her face in his throat.
“You felt really good tonight, baby,” he said quietly into her hair.
“You always feel really good, baby,” she replied.
He grinned. “I meant, it was nice to have you like that.”
He meant more than dispensing with the prophylactics.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
She knew what he meant.
He gave her a squeeze with his arms.
“Thanks for having my back with Dad.”
“Mm,” she hummed.
She did not like his dad. She didn’t warm up to him once all night. No matter how obsequious Sylas was being, she put up with him and that was it.
It was his father’s loss.
Then again, his dad had been losing out on a lot for a
s long as Axl could remember.
Through this, his mother was entirely unoffended.
In fact, Hattie and his mom bonded.
Extreme.
He liked it.
But there was something he didn’t like.
“I think something’s up with him and Mom.”
“Mm,” she repeated, but it was different.
“What?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered.
“You kind of know,” he returned.
She tipped her head back. “Tonight was rough for you.”
“Tonight was worse than sometimes, not the worst it’s been. It’s annoying but I’m used to it and it’s annoying because I’m used to it.”
She nodded against the pillow. “I feel that.”
Yeah, she did.
“You mention that because … ?” he prompted.
She was hesitant when she said, “I don’t know how raw you are.”
“She’s done with him,” he stated.
She pressed her lips together tight and lifted her brows.
Yeah.
His mother was done with his dad.
Hattie could even read it and she barely knew them.
“Thank fuck I don’t have a guest room,” he muttered.
She grinned up at him. “Your mom gives me the impression she can take care of herself.”
He didn’t know about that.
“You haven’t mentioned anything about this being a possibility. Is this out of the blue for you?” she asked.
“I would have wanted her to leave him twenty years ago. She just seemed like she was so stuck in it, she was never getting out.”
“Maybe something happened,” she suggested.
“He tends not to dig in with her. Tonight, he dug in. She seemed surprised he did it in front of you. But I’m not sure she was surprised he was doing it. They weren’t at each other’s throats, but it was clear it took effort for them to even be civil.”
Hattie had nothing to say to that.
So they had his mom gearing up to do whatever she might be doing, Hattie’s dad maybe being someone worthwhile, and Axl and his teammates were on a stalled mission to root out a pack of dirty cops.
“At least your stalker seems to have lost interest,” he remarked.
“You think?” she asked.
“It’s been a minute,” he said. “I told Hank and Eddie about it, gave them the pictures. I’ll call a meet. Sit down with them and Hawk. Ask their take.”
“’Kay.”
She sounded like she was getting sleepy.
He shifted so she had some of his weight and they were closer.
“You take a stalker in stride,” he murmured.
“I have people looking out for me,” she replied.
Definitely sleepy.
“Yeah, you do, baby. Go to sleep.”
“’Kay,” she repeated.
“Hattie?” he called.
“Yes?”
“We feel you’re clear from this guy fuckin’ with you, and you wanna go home, I’m givin’ you two drawers here, and I want one at your place.”
Her body tensed, then relaxed.
Completely.
“Two drawers. I need a diary,” she mumbled.
He chuckled.
She pressed her face in his neck.
Not long after, they were both asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Off
HATTIE
I was in my bed in a post-sex haze when suddenly I was no longer in bed.
Well, half of me wasn’t.
My upper half was in Axl’s arms and his face was buried deep in my neck.
It felt like he was giving me a hickey, I liked that feeling, then he sank his teeth in, and I liked that feeling so much better.
After he did that, he growled in my ear, “Creamer.”
I smiled.
Pulling my head back, he got my message and lifted his to catch my gaze.
“Take care of my guy,” I whispered.
He watched my lips speak before he kissed me hard and closed mouthed when I was done.
He let me go, touched his lips to my temple and then he was off the bed again and heading to the steps to my living area.
I settled back down and watched him go.
It was Friday morning, and after dinner with his folks on Monday, it had been an eventfully uneventful week.
Quick catch-up:
Nothing happened Tuesday, except when I went over to take care of Dad, he seemed reserved. Not unfriendly. Just quiet and in his head.
Which I guessed I should have expected.
Wednesday, when there was still no more from my stalker, and since I wanted to get in my studio—and honestly, I really liked Sly, he was funny and sweet, even if it was likely he might engage in criminal activities—but I didn’t know if I could create with him there.
But I wasn’t feeling like trying.
And anyway, I hadn’t had hardly any alone time in over a week.
I hadn’t even been in my car in that time.
I didn’t know it about myself until then, but I was learning I was an alone-time type of gal.
In fact, I was jonesing for it.
So, after morning sex on Wednesday, I begged Axl to talk to Hawk and his cop buddies to see if they thought it wise I was released from constant detail.
I had a feeling it was partly because I timed the ask right, partly because he read me, but he didn’t mess around.
In other words, he met Sly and me for lunch at Mustard’s.
There he told us they’d had a sit-down and they had no idea if this hiatus meant whoever was screwing with me was moving on, but …
“Since we got cameras outside your house, if you’re good for us to put a tracker on your car, a tracking app on your phone, you carry a panic button, and Ian sees to things at the club, you’re also good to go it alone. Unless he hits again. Then we reconvene.”
I was very much down with that plan and told Axl so.
However, even though I shared this might happen, Sly looked kind of bummed when he found he was going to be off duty.
So yes.
The guy was sweet.
And I felt a little bad.
But seriously, a girl needed some time to herself.
As what seemed like kind of our last hurrah (as such, though I hoped I’d see him again), Sly had lunch with us before he took off.
Axl drove me home, gave me the panic button, downloaded the app on my phone and set it up, put the tracker on my car, and then said, “You got my key. You can go get your stuff. Or you can leave it. I’ll clear your drawers tonight.”
Which (obviously) led to a makeout session he had to end because he had to get back to work.
I went to his place and got some of my stuff (though I left some of it too).
But I didn’t do that until I cleared a drawer for Axl at my pad.
I found not long after I got home from Axl’s that Brett was not at one with me being unprotected.
I found this when he called and shared it with me.
“Brett, the guy hasn’t been in touch in ages and I have to have some alone time,” I told him.
“I can get that, Hattie, but in an uncertain situation, you proceed with caution,” he’d returned.
“They’ve given me a panic button and put a tracker on my car and there are cameras—”
“Don’t give a fuck. But the decision has been made. And you need alone time, okay. My boys’ll still be doin’ drive-bys and they won’t go stealthy. This guy is watching you, he’ll know you got protection. They’ll also be keeping an eye on the club. Smithie still make sure all the girls got escorts to their cars at night?”
“Yeah.”
“Pantera keeping you company at night?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine,” he grunted. “But Hattie, next time a decision is made like this, I sit at that table.”
He’d then hung up.
I
had a feeling that was partly about his feelings being hurt and I got that. He’d stepped up. And obviously Axl hadn’t called him in on the powwow.
I texted Axl to inform him of this misstep, and he’d texted back it was noted.
Hopefully, the stalker was done with me.
But if he wasn’t, I’d make sure Brett was in on future decisions about my safety.
And I took this as indication that no matter what Axl said, or Brett said, he was no motherfucker.
Dad had been in the same reflective mood that evening. And even though Axl had told me he’d have to work late so I was on my own for dinner, thus I told Dad I could hang with him for a while, he’d said something he’d never said before.
“No, sweetheart. I’m sure you got a lot of other things you’d rather be doing than spending time with your old man.”
He was right.
Still, it felt weird to be let off the hook like that.
Though, it seemed meeting Axl had had an interesting effect on my father.
I just wondered if that would continue to develop, how it would, and if whatever that was, was good, and finally, if that would last.
On the way home from Dad’s, I got a call from Axl whereupon, immediately after exchanging greetings, he asked, “After you work, yours or mine, baby?”
First, I loved, even though I was no longer staying with him, that didn’t mean I didn’t get to sleep beside him.
Second, I wanted him to fuck me in my bed.
“Mine.”
“Right. Text me when you’re on your way home from Smithie’s. I’ll meet there.”
“I’ll give you a key tomorrow.”
“Cool, beautiful.”
A week and a day together, we each had the other’s keys.
I thought that was seriously, freaking rad.
After I got home from work, Axl meeting me at my place then fucking me quick and hard (and the usual fantastic) before we both passed out was even more seriously, freaking rad.
Axl was gone before I even got out of bed in the morning on Thursday (also stuck in a post-fuck haze, that said, his day started super early, he was always out the door before seven, sometimes earlier than that, and I wasn’t usually out of bed until nine, earliest, more often closing on ten).
But when I finally pulled myself out of bed and got down to loading up the Smeg, I opened up the fridge and saw my lonely, woeful salted caramel creamer and kicked myself for not hitting the grocery store on the way from Dad’s after my phone conversation with Axl.
Dream Spinner (Dream Team Book 3) Page 24