by E. L. Todd
“Axel, it’s four in the afternoon.”
He twisted the cap off. “It’s never too early to start drinking. Now answer the question.”
“I think I’m spending the evening with my new boyfriend.”
“Yeah?” The playfulness entered his gaze. “He’s cute, huh?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Really sexy?”
“I’d say so.”
“You can’t keep your hands off him?”
My hand moved to his thigh. “I struggle.”
He nodded, liking the course of this conversation.
“You have something in mind?”
“My office is having a going-away party for one of the partners. I want you to be my date.”
My body deflated. “That’s romantic…”
“I’ll feel you up in the bathroom or something.”
“Now that’s too romantic.” I rolled my eyes.
“You don’t have to go but I’m pretty much stuck.”
I didn’t want to spend the evening with a bunch of suits but I wanted to be with Axel. The party wouldn’t last forever and then we could have our own fun. “I’ll go.”
“You’ll be my date?”
“Yep.”
“Be warned. I’m gonna squeeze your ass at some point during the night.”
“Be warned. Your jaw is going to be busted at some point during the night.”
He chuckled, amused by my feistiness. “It’ll be worth it.” He set his beer down and leaned into me, his hand slowly snaking into my hair. His touches were always gentle but ignited so much heat. His thumb traced the skin around my ear and then he leaned into me, his lips coming right for mine.
I’d imagined his kiss a million times when I was growing up. I always wanted to be one of the girls he fancied, the ones he kissed in his car in the parking lot by the gymnasium. Now I was.
He pressed his mouth to mine and consumed me, taking me to a place that bordered dreams and reality. I’d been kissed by many men but none of them made me feel like this. Axel had a special touch, something about him that drove me wild.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Axel quickly pulled away and grabbed his beer like nothing just happened. He looked out the window. “Yeah, and then she was like, ‘I love you. You’re the one.’ Then I was like, ‘Uh, woman. We just met.’ It was an ordeal.” He took a long drink to cover up his nervousness.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
Francesca walked into the kitchen and pretty much ignored us. She opened the fridge and grabbed a piece of cheese. Her clothes were several sizes too big for her, and it didn’t look good. Any fat she had disappeared, but so did her muscle.
“Hey,” I said. “How’s your day?”
“It’s okay.” She picked at the slice of cheese, like she didn’t want to eat it and had to force herself.
How could she continue like this? It’d been months. “I got a new car. Want to see it?”
“I saw it through the window.” She walked out of the kitchen without saying another word. Her bedroom door shut a moment later.
Axel was seething in silence, his anger palpable in every corner of the room.
I placed my arm on his bicep, silently calming him. He didn’t handle his frustration as well as I did. His first impulse was to come out swinging, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I don’t know how much longer I can be patient…”
“Hold on a little longer.”
He stared at the window and clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.
***
Axel whistled when I opened the door. “Da-yum.”
My cheeks tinted even though I tried to fight it. I appreciated the compliments but I didn’t want him to know I lived for them. “Thanks.” I tucked my clutch under my arm and stepped out.
“Whoa, hold on.” He raised both hands. “I want to see the whole thing. Turn.”
“What is this? A fashion show?”
“A private one.”
I slowly turned around, letting him see me at different angles. When I got to my back he took in a deep breath.
“Marie, you have one sexy back.”
I was wearing a backless dress that was open until the top of my ass. It revealed everything, my spine and my shoulder blades. When I put it on I hoped I would get this reaction from him.
“Alright. Let’s go back inside.” He reached for the door handle. “I need to get that dress off pronto.”
I laughed and pushed him back. “We’ll be late.”
“Who cares? It’s a stupid work party.” He pressed me against the door and lowered his voice. “I’d rather eat you out than have whatever crap they’re serving.”
The heat flushed through my body again, burning me like I was on fire. My thighs automatically pressed together, and I suspected I’d have to change my panties before the night was over.
“Lets go back inside.” He reached for the door handle again.
“How about we go to your apartment instead?”
His eyes narrowed, intrigued.
“After the party.”
His eyes fell all over again. “I’d rather get fired at this point.”
“Come on, the wait will make it worth it.” I took his hand and pulled him to his truck.
He growled from behind me, clearly staring at my back. When we got to the truck he opened the door for me but gave me a terrifying look at the same time. He squeezed my wrist like he couldn’t control himself. “You. Drive. Me. Mad.” He released me before he walked around the truck.
His words echoed in my mind long after he said them. I felt the heat reach every point on my body, burning slowly. At some point during the night the heat would smolder into an unstoppable explosion, burning everyone and everything.
***
The dinner was in a conference room at a hotel. The second we walked inside I was surprised so many people attended. I didn’t realize so many people worked at Axel’s company. In my mind, I pictured twenty people in a tiny office space.
Axel had his arm tightly wrapped around me, pulling me into his side with no intention of ever letting me go. “Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, huh?”
“Yeah…” It was nice but not enough to make me envious.
He pulled me to the door and got me a glass of wine.
“So, what do I need to know for this party?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” He wasn’t going to give me a heads up at all?
“All you need to do is stand there and make eyes at me. That’s why I brought you.”
“As a trophy?”
“Not really. You can’t feel up a trophy in the bathroom.”
“Okay…now I don’t think you’re kidding.” I wasn’t letting anyone feel me up in the bathroom at some work party. Maybe one day, but not today.
“Maybe I’m not.” He leaned in and gave me a smile.
“You aren’t feeling up anything but yourself tonight.”
He shrugged. “I’ve done it before. It’s not bad.”
I slapped his arm playfully.
He chuckled and brought me in closer to his side. “Honestly, most of the people I work with are pretty boring. Just be yourself and everything will be fine.” His hand rested on the small of my back and he dug his fingers into me slightly. He pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth, making me rethink a make out session in the bathroom.
Axel took my hand and introduced me to a few of his colleagues, including the senior partner of the company. Like Axel warned, they were pretty stiff and boring. Even with the glasses of wine in their hands they were uptight. Axel couldn’t be more different from them.
At least it was an open bar.
“Hey, Axel.” A brunette woman walked up to him but her eyes were on me, sizing me up.
“Hey, Alexia. Having a good time?”
“I’d have a better time if I were getting paid to be here.” She kept glancing at me.
> I would have to be an idiot not to notice her beauty. She had a petite frame but womanly curves. Her make up was excessive but it looked good on her. She seemed to have it all, the looks and the body.
I tried not to be jealous.
“Are you going to introduce me?” Alexia crossed her arms over her chest.
“Oh, sorry.” He turned to me. “Alexia, this is Marie.”
That’s it? Just Marie?
She shook my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Not really.
“Well, I’ll see you around.” She flipped her hair over one shoulder and walked away.
I knew I shouldn’t blow up at Axel but I was pissed he didn’t introduce me properly. Did he not want attractive women to know he was taken? Was he being a jerk right under my nose?
Axel turned to me, clueless to my anger. “She works in the cubicle across from mine.”
“Yeah?” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my tone.
“She and I had a fling awhile back. We even stayed at the office late and did it on my boss’s desk.” He chuckled like he thought it was hilarious. “We never got caught.”
Why the hell was he telling me this?
He finished his glass then eyed mine. “You want another?”
I wanted to shatter the glass over his skull. I knew it wasn’t the best idea to make a scene but I was beyond pissed. Just earlier today everything seemed great between us, but now he was showing his true colors. “No. And I never want another one.” I pushed past him and immediately headed for the exit. I tried not to walk too fast but I was practically running. Was I stupid for ever thinking Axel could really be the man I wanted?
“Whoa, hold on.” He grabbed me by the arm just when I left the conference room. “What just happened?”
I twisted out of his grasp. “You’re an asshole. That’s what happened.”
The same blank look was on his face. “Marie, what did I do?”
He was really that clueless? “Forget about me and go feel up Alexia in the bathroom. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” I stormed off again, determined to never look at him again.
“Marie, wait.” He caught up to me again and intersected his body in my path. “Does this have to do with Alexia?”
He was so goddamn stupid. “I thought when we agreed to be together you were going to get your shit together. I thought you would treat me right, not run around behind my back. You’re an asshole.” I pushed him back and moved around him.
This time he grabbed me by both shoulders and shoved me into the wall, keeping me stuck there like glue. “Marie, I’m honestly clueless to what’s going on right now. But I know I haven’t done anything behind your back so speak in terms I can understand.”
“You introduced me as Marie, like I was your friend or something.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes. You. Did.” I was standing right there.
“I did?” he asked in confusion.
“Yes.” I wanted to punch him in the face.
“Well, she already knows who you are. It would be redundant to call you my girlfriend twice.”
“She already knows who I am?” Like I would believe that.
“Yeah. The other day we were talking and she asked me out. I told her I had a girlfriend.” His hands gripped my shoulders tightly, not allowing me to escape.
“She asked you out?” Now I was going to knock her out.
“Well, she didn’t ask me out on a date,” he said. “She just wanted to hook up.”
And that was supposed to make things better?
“So I told her I was with you. When she and I were fooling around she wanted a commitment but I didn’t want to give it to her. I think she was just surprised that I had a girlfriend at all.”
Now I was calming down—a little. “And why did you tell me about the two of you fooling around?”
He shrugged. “Because it happened. Aren’t couples honest with each other?”
Axel really had no idea what he was doing. “Honesty is good, yes. But giving more information than necessary is not. I didn’t want to know that you had a thing with Alexia.”
“What does it matter?” he asked. “She didn’t mean anything to me.”
“The idea of you touching anyone but me makes me sick.”
He grinned.
I slapped his arm. “You aren’t supposed to be happy.”
“Then what am I supposed to be? I’m confused.”
I pushed his arms down then gripped my skull. “Do I need to teach you everything?”
“You tell me.”
“Just filter your words, Axel. Don’t tell me stuff I don’t need to know.”
“But then I feel like I’m lying.”
“It’s not lying.”
Now he looked more confused than ever. “So, if we run into a girl I’ve slept with, you don’t want to know about it?”
“Precisely.” Honestly, I could figure it out based on their interaction.
“Okay…and you won’t get mad at me for lying?”
“It’s not lying.”
“So, you won’t be mad at me?”
“No, Axel.”
“Alright.” He lowered his hands to his sides. “So…are you going to keep running? Or are we okay?”
It was difficult to be mad at someone when his only crime was being naïve. Axel wasn’t purposely hurtful. He just didn’t know anything about women—or relationships. “Yes. We’re okay.”
He returned his arm around my waist and guided me back into the conference room. “Okay. I won’t tell you about all the other workers I’ve slept with.”
I sighed in irritation but didn’t say anything. Maybe one day he would get it.
***
We sat at a table with our glasses of wine in front of us. Some people were dancing and others were mingling. Every time I saw a pretty girl I wondered if Axel had already been with her.
Axel rested his hand on my thigh and glanced at me every few minutes, clearly checking to see if I was having a good time. “We’ll stay for another hour then we’ll go.”
“Okay.” When I looked across the room I thought I saw someone I knew. But there was no way it was really he. I must be imagining things, but then again, why would I hallucinate someone I hardly thought about?
“What?” Axel noticed the way my thigh tensed under his hand.
“That’s not Hawke, is it?” I nodded toward the bar where a man who looked similar was talking to the senior partner of the firm. It couldn’t be him. He left the firm without putting in his two weeks, and it didn’t make sense for him to care that his boss was leaving.
“Uh…” Axel narrowed his eyes. “It looks like him but that can’t be possible.”
I waited for my hallucination to pass but it never did. Hawke was still there, his dark hair exactly the same as it used to be. His suit was a little loose like he lost some unnecessary weight. His eyes were crystal blue like they’d always been. “I think it is him.”
“But why would he be here?”
“Was he close to your boss?”
“Not that I recall.” He rose from the chair and pushed it in. “Come on.”
I trailed behind him with my eyes trained on Hawke. The closer we got to him, the more I realized I wasn’t making it up. It truly was him, standing just feet away.
When Axel reached him, Hawke halted his conversation. He turned to Axel and stared at him silently before he returned his look to his boss. “Excuse me for a moment.” He stepped away with Axel while I went with them.
Hawke stopped when we were out of earshot of everyone else. He stared at Axel like he didn’t know what to say or how to even begin.
“Dude, why are you here?” Axel asked. “And why didn’t you tell me you were coming to town?”
“Mr. Thomas personally invited me. Since he gave me such a nice recommendation even though I left at the drop of a hat I couldn’t refuse.” He placed his hands in his pockets, quiet and secretive like
always. “I assumed you wouldn’t be here so I didn’t say anything.”
“Why wouldn’t you want me here?” Axel asked, clearly hurt.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to see you.” Hawke kept his voice low. “I just didn’t want anyone to know I was in town…”
I knew whom he meant by anyone.
“I thought it would be easier if I just came and went.” Hawke had an apologetic look on his face, remorse for hurting his friend. “Sorry. I thought you hated these work things.”
“I do,” Axel said. “But I wanted to show off my girlfriend—” He halted in midsentence when he realized what he said.
Hawke smiled, and it was one of the few I’ve ever seen. “I’m glad you finally went for it.” He turned to me and gave me a hug. “Axel would always talk about you when he came to the city. I’m glad he got over himself and finally asked you out.”
Axel talked about me? That made me feel warm inside. “Yeah…”
Hawke lowered his hand then nodded to the table. “Should we sit? They’re serving dinner soon.”
“Yeah,” Axel said. “We have a lot to catch up on.”
***
Hawke took a sip of his wine then pointed at the two of us. “So, how did this happen?”
Axel turned to me, silently asking if I wanted to tell the story.
I shrugged. “He’s your friend. I’m sure your version is better.”
Axel turned back to Hawke. “Well, you knew I thought Marie was hot as hell.”
“Yes.” Hawke said it in an amused way. “It came up.”
“Well, we hooked up,” Axel continued. “Best sex of my life.” He spoke loudly, forgetting the people sitting around us.
“Shh.” I placed my forefinger over my lips.
“Whatever,” Axel said. “Everyone here knows what I’m like.” He continued on and ignored my advice. “I started seeing Marie at the house more and more because I started spending more time with Frankie…” He faltered when he mentioned her name.
Hawke didn’t react but his eyes lost some of their light at the mention of her. “I remember that too. You said you were falling for her.”
He said that? I couldn’t picture Axel ever saying that.
“Well, I didn’t put it like that,” Axel said.
“But you didn’t want to sleep with anyone else.” Hawke turned to me and gave me a truthful look, telling me he wasn’t making that part up.