His grin grew larger as he ducked his head and pulled his box cutter from his tool belt out and scored the drywall. He felt himself smiling as he snapped the material and then cut the back. He probably shouldn’t care whether or not Brynn dated, but damn, he was just a man.
The woman had turned his world upside down and inside out.
Axel had always been a master at compartmentalizing things. It was a skill he’d either come by naturally or honed as a kid. Whatever was happening in his life, good or bad, he filed it away in his brain until he needed to deal with it. It wasn’t something he did consciously. It was just his natural response.
But he couldn’t compartmentalize Brynn. He didn’t possess the ability to put her out of his mind. He thought about her all the time, and not because she was a job. It had nothing to do with that.
“I worry about her.” Ryder lifted his arms and held the next piece in place.
Over the past few weeks, Axel felt like he’d gotten to know the kid pretty well. He reminded him a lot of himself. He could see that Ryder was protective of Brynn. And Axel got it. He’d been the man of the house all of his life.
But the difference between him and Ryder was that Axel’s mom had put the weight of the world on his shoulders so she didn’t have to carry it herself. She’d depended on Axel too much. He’d had no choice but to grow up way too fast.
Brynn didn’t do that to her son, but he could see that Ryder had taken the responsibility on himself anyway.
“What are you worried about?” Axel asked.
“I’m leaving for college in a few years and…and she’s going to be alone.”
Axel could see that the thought of Brynn being by herself was really weighing on the kid.
“I’ve only been here a few weeks, but from what I’ve seen, no one is alone in this town.”
Ryder grinned but it didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“I know, but that’s not what I mean. Her friends, they’re all getting married and she’s just…alone.” The kid shrugged.
Axel pulled the trigger on the drill and secured the sheet of drywall in place as he tried to collect his thoughts, trying to find the right thing to say to the kid. His last call with Izzy had not gone well and she still wasn’t talking to him. He knew that he couldn’t dismiss Ryder’s worries outright, but he wanted to put his mind at ease. He tried to think of what Duke would’ve said to him.
When he released the trigger, he lowered his arms. “Listen, I don’t know your mom that well, but from what I’ve seen she’s successful, strong, independent, smart, and funny. She’s—” Fucking perfect. “—amazing. Any guy would be lucky to have her in their life. But this isn’t Jerry Maguire—”
“Who’s Jerry Maguire?”
Wow. Axel felt old and it had nothing to do with his sore back.
“Never mind.” Axel tried to get back on track. “All I mean is, people don’t need anyone to complete them. And believe me, it’s better for her to wait for the right one than to marry all the wrong ones. My mom always had a new boyfriend. Eight of them she walked down the aisle with, but there were at least twenty she didn’t.”
“What about you?”
Axel wasn’t sure what the kid was asking.
“What about me, what?”
“Do you…date a lot?”
“No.” Axel shook his head. “I don’t.”
Ryder walked over to the pile of drywall and pulled the next sheet and set it down so Axel could measure it. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No.” Technically, Axel had only had one proper girlfriend and he’d married her. That ended in a trainwreck.
“I have a girlfriend.” Ryder casually threw out.
That took a turn. Axel was relieved because he’d thought the kid’s line of questioning was headed toward an Axel and Brynn matchup.
“Fiona, right?”
“Yeah.” Ryder’s brow furrowed. “How’d you know that?”
Shit. Axel remembered Brynn’s very specific instructions that that information had not come from her.
“I’m at the theater working when you guys have rehearsals. I’ve seen you two hanging out.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.” Ryder’s brow relaxed. “I never see you there.”
Nope, you don’t.
He’d done his damnedest not to interact with Brynn, but it wasn’t so easy since his job was literally to keep tabs on her. He’d limited the times they spoke to once a day, sometimes twice. Usually it was just a “hi” in passing when he “accidently” ran into her coming back from his run and she was returning from her morning walk. From nine to three he had a clear vantage point into her office from windows inside the theater, and the halls were monitored by security cameras. And he made sure to keep his distance in the afternoons in the theater when she was rehearsing with the kids.
“I try to stay out of the way.”
“Hey.” A sweet, familiar voice sounded.
Axel’s heart was already racing when he looked up and saw Brynn standing in the driveway. The sun was setting behind her and she looked like an angel sent from heaven. An angel that was wearing cutoff denim shorts and a white tank top with her hair piled on top of her head. She looked adorably sexy. He was beginning to suspect everything on Brynn was sexy and he wanted to pick her up, take her upstairs, and strip her out of those damn shorts.
“Time for dinner, Ry. Wash up.”
“We’re almost done,” Ryder answered and turned his back on his mom.
“We can finish tomorrow. I think my back is done for the day.” Axel was feeling every one of his thirty years. The work he was doing at the theater was a killer on his lower lumbar, which hadn’t been the same since he’d landed on it after being blown off his feet by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. “Thanks for your help today, man.”
“No problem.” Ryder slapped Axel’s hand in a hybrid handshake-high-five and started to walk out when he looked over his shoulder. “Hey, are you hungry? We’re having pizza.”
Axel’s eyes darted to Brynn’s to see if she had any reaction to her son’s invitation. Her lips pursed and her cheeks flushed. He wasn’t sure if her response meant that she wanted him to join them or the opposite.
But it didn’t matter either way. The night she’d asked he’d intended to decline, but found himself accepting. Tonight, he didn’t make that same mistake.
“I have some leftovers I want to eat before they go bad. But thanks anyway.”
Ryder nodded and Axel watched the two of them walk inside the house. An all too familiar hollow feeling settled into his chest. He was afraid he might’ve lied to Ryder about life not being like Jerry Maguire, because he sure as hell felt incomplete without Brynn.
CHAPTER 12
“Whoa, hot mama alert!” Ali exclaimed as Brynn entered the bar area at Lanterns.
Jess put her fingers between her lips and whistled.
Brynn felt her cheeks heat up at her friends’ attention. Considering her fair complexion, that probably meant that her face resembled a lobster.
“Have you guys been here long?” Brynn felt odd for not being the first one to arrive. She normally was.
After rehearsal, she’d rushed home. Showered. Straightened her hair. Watched a YouTube tutorial on how to contour and highlight, then contoured and highlighted, finishing it off with a smoky eye and a nude lip. She’d even splurged and bought a new shirt for the occasion. It was a white, long sleeved, wrap shirt that tied in the front and showed a hint of skin above the waistline of her dark, skinny jeans. She’d completed the look with strappy heels, hoop earrings, and several spritzes of her favorite perfume.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d changed out of her work clothes before grabbing a drink with the girls for happy hour. Probably because she never had. But tonight, she’d gone all out in hopes of distracting herself from the constant Axel-narrative that had been running through her mind for the past month. Tonight, she was going to have an Axel-free night.
“We ju
st got here.” Ali gave her a quick hug. “We ordered you a Let Down Your Hair.”
The spiked lemonade drink was Brynn’s go-to ladies’ night cocktail. Jess always went with the Mother Knows Best sparkling cran and vodka. And Ali loved the Smokin’ Smolder, a whiskey drink with a cinnamon stick garnish set on fire. All of the specialty cocktails at Lanterns were now Tangled themed.
A lot of the businesses really played up the fairytale themes since the reality show Fairytale Love was filmed in Whisper Lake. If there was one thing this town knew well, it was how to capitalize on tourism.
“I don’t know about you ladies, but I’m ready to get bibbity-boppity-buzzed,” Jess announced as Liam, the bartender, set three drinks down in front of them with a wink and a smile, revealing perfect teeth and a deep dimple in his left cheek.
Brynn took a moment to look at him, really look.
His sandy hair was a little longer than he normally wore it, and the extra length suited him. His light locks contrasted with his deep brown eyes, dark lashes, and sprinkle of stubble. He was attractive, funny, and smart. He was currently working on his MBA with ambitions to open up his own restaurant consulting business. More importantly, he’d previously shown an interest in her.
Liam had asked her out twice. The first time she’d told him she was busy. The second, she’d expanded on her answer with a blanket statement that she didn’t date because she was too busy.” Now, she was wondering if she should tell him that she wasn’t so busy anymore.
The selection of eligible bachelors in Whisper Lake was limited, but she was determined to put herself back on the market. Last week when she’d gone out to the garage to get Ryder for dinner she’d heard her son tell Axel that he was worried about her being alone. It had broken her heart a little (okay, a lot) but she was glad she’d heard it.
It seemed Ryder was more than ready for her to start dating. And all this time she hadn’t dated for him.
She’d been touched by Axel’s response to Ryder’s fears. He’d said the nicest things about her to her son. He’d said that she was strong, funny, smart and that any guy would be lucky to be with her.
She also heard him say that he didn’t date a lot. And that he didn’t have a girlfriend.
She’d had a flash of hope that he might be interested in her, but that hope had been squashed like a bug under a windshield wiper. Evidently his opinion of her was a moot point considering how he’d avoided her all week.
The real doozy of a take-away from that evening though, was the epiphany she’d had a few days later, that the reason she hadn’t dated might’ve had less to do with her son and more to do with her.
Brynn had been thinking a lot about what her mom had said and she realized that she may have dismissed her mother’s theory too quickly. After taking a fearless inventory, she’d come to the conclusion that she wasn’t emotionally clogged, but she was closed off. And she didn’t have anger or abandonment issues, but she definitely had trust issues and, as much as it pained her to admit that her mom might’ve been right, some resentment as well.
It made sense. When she was a little girl, she’d wanted a family. One with siblings and two parents. Which was exactly what her dad had, just not with Brynn and her mom. So what had she done when she learned that information? She’d tried to go out and get it for herself. But unfortunately she’d tried to get it with Max. He’d had sex with more partners in the year they were married than Brynn had in her entire thirty years.
So yeah, between her dad and Max she definitely had some trust issues. But she’d decided that she was going to try and work through them. And the first step to do that was to stop being closed off and try and put herself out there.
Ali pulled out her card to pay, but Liam shook his head. “This round was picked up by the gentlemen over there.”
Brynn glanced over her shoulder and saw Kade, Ali’s husband, and Ethan, Jess’s fiancé, as well as Chris the vet, Sam the football coach, and Keaton who ran the MMA gym seated at a booth along the wall.
Kade lifted his water and Ethan lifted his beer.
Ali beamed as she smiled and blew her hubby a kiss.
Jess’s lips curled in a private smile as she locked eyes with her betrothed. “Someone’s getting lucky tonight.”
“He didn’t have to buy you a drink to get in your pants,” Ali pointed out playfully.
“No.” Jess winked at her fiancé. “But it doesn’t hurt.”
Brynn smiled at her friends, ignoring the twinge of envy that pricked in her belly. That’s what she wanted. That connection. That the-rest-of-the-world-disappears-when-we-lock-eyes phenomenon. And of course, the only man she’d felt that with was the man she was trying not to think about tonight.
After grabbing their drinks, the ladies migrated to a round high-top that sat three people. The table sat at the edge of the indoor and outdoor portion of the bar separated by a roll-up glass-paned bay door. It was prime table real estate on a Friday night because Lanterns had live music on the back deck that overlooked the lake.
Ali fixed her purse so it hung on the back of her chair and when she turned back to them she lifted her drink and began their ritual toast, “To good friends.”
“Good drinks,” Brynn recited her part.
Jess clinked her glass to both Ali’s and Brynn’s as she went off book. “And good sex.”
Ali rolled her eyes at Jess’s substitution of the word sex instead of food. “Jess.”
“What? If that doesn’t deserve a toast, I don’t know what does.”
“Not if we’re not all getting it…” Ali not-so-subtly tilted her head toward Brynn.
“About that.” Jess took a drink before zeroing in on Brynn. “What’s the deal with you and Axel? Anymore nudity? Inappropriate groping?”
“I’m afraid not.” Brynn took a sip of her drink.
Jess looked genuinely stumped. “How is that possible?”
I wish I knew.
Brynn lifted her left shoulder in a shrug. “He keeps to himself.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’ve heard.” Jess always had her finger on the pulse of Whisper Lake gossip because she owned the sole beauty salon in town.
“How’s the wedding planning going?” Brynn asked in an effort to change the subject. “Did you guys have a fun date night last night? Did Ethan agree to wait until next summer or is he still pushing for a Christmas wedding?”
“We’ll get to Ethan later.” Jess waved her hand dismissively. “I’m not ready to move on from Mr. Mysterious yet.”
I am, she thought to herself. She understood that it was a slow gossip week, but Brynn was done obsessing about Axel. Or at least, that’s what she was telling herself.
“Actually…” Jess’s eyes narrowed and Brynn recognized the expression. She was devising a plan. When a broad smile spread across Jess’s beautiful face, Brynn knew that she’d come up with something really terrible. “Ethan might be able to help with this.”
“Help with what?” Brynn asked.
“With Axel.”
Brynn shook her head, still not following.
“He’s a U.S. Marshal.” Jess stated plainly, as if it were a full thought and didn’t require any other information.
Brynn stared at her blankly.
“He has connections.” Jess emphasized. “I’m sure there’s someone he can call that can tell him all about Mr. Mysterious.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Ali smiled. “I think you might be watching too many procedurals.”
“Bite your tongue, I love my CSI.” Jess pointed at Ali and glared before sipping her drink. When she set it down she reasoned, “It wouldn’t hurt to ask Ethan to check him out.”
“No.” Brynn held up her hand. “I don’t want anyone checking Axel out.”
“Too late.” Ali elbowed Brynn.
When she turned around she saw that Axel had walked in. And several women had taken notice.
Brynn’s heart thudded loudly in her chest at the mere sight of h
im. He wore blue jeans that were distressed from hard labor—not manufactured that way—and a charcoal gray shirt that molded to his muscular frame that had her mouth watering. She’d noticed that he’d let his facial hair grow and it only added to his appeal.
He was headed to the bar and she thought about going and saying hi, but decided against it. She couldn’t keep allowing herself to hope that each time they talked it would be like the first day they met. Enough time had passed to prove that wouldn’t be the case.
She turned back to her friends.
“Are you going to go say hi?” Ali asked.
“Nope.” Brynn lifted her drink and took a larger gulp than normal.
The two women looked at each other and both pulled out their phones. Since Jess and Ali had been friends since childhood, the two women shared a silent language. They didn’t need words to communicate with one another. Her mom would say that they were telepathically connected.
“What?” Brynn’s eyes bounced between her friends. “What are you guys doing?”
“Well, since you won’t let me ask Ethan to do an official background check…”
“We’re gonna have the guys do an unofficial one,” Ali finished gleefully.
“You’re what?”
“We’re going to have Kade and Ethan buy Axel a beer and get to know him a little.” Jess rubbed her hands together.
“Aren’t they doing fantasy football?” Brynn argued, trying to come up with a good reason for the girls not to do this.
They both just gave her a look dismissing her objection.
Brynn wanted to tell them not to, but she knew her friends and once they decided something was a good idea, there was no talking them out of it.
She sipped her drink and tried not to look in Axel’s direction. But her eyes had a mind of their own and they sliced toward Axel. It felt like every time she turned around he was there. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was interested in her. But since he hadn’t initiated any conversation or made any attempt to spend time with her, she knew it was just wishful thinking on her part.
A sigh fell from her lips…so much for an Axel-free night.
Whisper of Attraction Page 11