* * *
Axel let out a breath he’d been holding for the past ten minutes as relief rushed through him. The moment he walked into the bar, he’d clocked Brynn out of the corner of his eye seated at a table with Ali and Jess.
She was out with her friends.
Not on a date.
He’d been doing his best not to let his imagination run wild as he waited outside the restaurant. He allowed enough time to pass so it didn’t seem like he was following Brynn. Which, of course he was.
When he’d seen her leave her house, his first thought was that he should roll his tongue back in his mouth, because it had rolled out like Jim Carrey’s in The Mask.
He’d been temporarily stunned by her beauty. Her hair was straightened, falling just past her shoulders. It reminded him of the most beautiful golden-red sunset. Her shirt revealed just enough skin to drive any red-blooded man crazy. The front was cut to tease a hint of cleavage and it ended about a half an inch above her jeans, exposing a flash of skin. The fit of her jeans hugged her sensual curves. Not that he’d needed to imagine what was beneath them. Thanks to Lucy, he’d seen the whole “kit and caboodle,” as Brynn put it.
And what a kit and caboodle it was. Her naked form was branded into his consciousness. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop envisioning the dip of her waist. Or the gentle curve beneath her breasts. Or the tiny heart-shaped birthmark that sat on her creamy left thigh, just below the curve of her butt cheek.
Brynn was beautiful, that was an indisputable fact. But she was so much more than that. Her appeal wasn’t just sex-based. He wished that was all it was, then maybe he’d have a shot at making it through this without her driving him fucking insane.
He hadn’t been blowing smoke when he’d told Ryder that any man would be lucky to have her. They would. She was the total package. The most magnetic and alluring woman he’d ever come into contact with. Each time he saw her he could feel himself falling deeper under her spell.
But he was here to do a job.
A cursory scan of the restaurant didn’t set off any alarms internally. No one seemed out of place. The bar area was filled with townies, no unfamiliar faces. He stepped up to the bar, intentionally not looking in Brynn’s direction.
He lifted his hand to get the attention of the bartender, who reminded Axel of Izzy’s surfer boy Ken doll.
When California Ken looked his way, Axel asked, “Can I get a Hef on tap?”
The guy nodded. Axel waited and noted the decor. The entire back wall of the bar was covered in a painted mural of lanterns floating into a dark sky. Tangled had been one of Izzy’s favorites. She’d watched it so many times he knew most of the dialog by heart.
He missed those days with his sister. The easy times. The simple times. The times when she was speaking to him.
It had been weeks and Izzy still wasn’t answering his calls or texts. It was the longest he’d gone without talking to his sister since he’d been out of the Marines. He knew he’d fucked up, he just didn’t know how to make it right.
In an exercise in futility, he pulled out his phone and checked, again, to see if Izzy had at least texted him back. She hadn’t.
“Did you want to start a tab?” The bartender asked as he set the chilled mug down.
“Nah,” Axel said as he pulled out some cash, set it on the bar top, and started to turn.
Surfer Ken lifted his chin in recognition. “It’s Axel, right?”
“Yeah.” After being in Whisper Lake for a month, Axel was no longer surprised that strangers knew his name. This town had an information highway to rival the CIA.
The guy offered his hand. “Liam. Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” It took only a split second for Axel to realize Liam’s handshake was more than just firm. The dude was squeezing his hand and staring him down so hard that it was clearly a pissing contest. Axel wasn’t sure what this guy’s deal was, but he wasn’t one to back down. He held surfer boy’s eye contact and didn’t release his grasp first, even when it was awkwardly long.
Finally, Liam released his grip and crossed his arms, his feet planted shoulder-width apart. “So you’re staying over at Brynn’s place?”
Ahh, there it is. This who’s-got-a-bigger-dick face-off was Brynn-related.
Axel lifted the mug and inhaled the fresh, hoppy scent before taking a big swig. As he set the frosted mug back down, he wiped his upper lip with the back of his hand. “I’m staying in the apartment on her property.”
“And you’re working at the school?” Liam’s jaw ticked.
“I’m working on the theater.”
Before Liam was able to ask his next question, Axel felt a large hand slap on the back of his shoulder. “Hey, man.”
He turned his head and saw Kade McKnight standing beside him.
When Axel had been prepping this assignment, he’d immediately recognized Kade’s name when it came up on his preliminary report. Axel had followed his career for years. It was included in his briefing because Kade had recently married Brynn’s friend Ali.
“Hey.” Axel tipped his head up.
“I’m Kade and I’m here with my fantasy football league.” Kade motioned to a group of men sitting in a large booth across the bar. He recognized Sam, the assistant coach at the school, and Ethan who was Jess’s fiancé.
Ethan’s name had also been in the briefing information. Steele’s name had come up by Axel’s superiors as a point person should any shit go down. Since there was no record of Brynn being connected to Ramsey Wilson the top priority was to keep the job limited to people on a need to know basis. But if Axel got a feeling that anything was out of the ordinary, Ethan was the local law enforcement that he’d been authorized to brief.
“Can we buy you a beer?” Kade offered.
“I’m good, thanks.” Axel lifted his freshly poured brew.
“Alright, look.” Kade lowered his voice. “I could feed you a line of bullshit about wanting to talk to you about the renovations you’re doing in the theater and pretend to be interested in wood restoration. But the truth is, my wife sent me over here. Brynn’s her best friend and she wants me to make sure you’re not an axe murderer. Can you help me out? One beer.”
Axel couldn’t help but grin at Kade’s honesty and clear desire to make his wife happy.
“One beer.” Axel agreed as he followed Kade back to his booth.
Normally, Axel kept to himself. But from his research, he knew that Kade and Ethan grew up with Brynn, which meant he might even be able to get some intel on her.
He wanted know everything about her. And it had nothing to do with being good at his job. As much as he’d fought it, this was personal. And he didn’t know what in the hell to do about it.
CHAPTER 13
“He brought you breakfast in bed?” Brynn could feel herself welling up at Jess’s story as she sipped her third drink. “Again?”
“Yep.” Jess practically had cartoon hearts flying around her head as she stared across the bar at her fiancé. “For the third time this week.”
Brynn had known Ethan Steele since they were in middle school, and she would never have used the word “romantic” to describe him. But between the movie-inspired proposal, to the breakfasts (plural) in bed, it would be included in her top three descriptors of the man now.
People were still talking about his proposal, and probably would be for years to come. Someone had uploaded it on YouTube and it had over a hundred thousand views. But the breakfast in bed was more Brynn’s speed. It felt so intimate and was something that no one had ever done for her. It hit an emotional nerve that she was sure had something to do with feeling like she was being taken care of, which hadn’t happened a lot in her life.
Her mother was not nurturing in the typical “mom” way. Shea Daniels believed that children needed to find their own path and be self-sufficient. Brynn was doing her own laundry by the time she was four. In kindergarten, she knew how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and s
o she packed her own lunches for school. By second grade, she was in charge of dinner. It usually consisted of peanut butter toast and yogurt, because at seven that had been her culinary limit.
Growing up, Brynn had never questioned her mom’s self-sufficient-based parenting style. But when she became a mother herself, it became clear to her that Shea’s hands-off philosophy was not the way she wanted to parent. She’d been lonely a lot of her childhood and had felt like she only had herself to depend on. She never wanted Ryder to feel like that.
Not that it was all bad. It had taught her to be independent. And that was a skill that had come in handy, since she started her adult life before most of her friends even had their driver’s license.
And as an adult, she had a great, full life. She just wanted a great, full life that included the man of her dreams bringing her breakfast in bed. Maybe it was because she’d always woken up so early, but mornings had always been lonely for her. That’s one of the reasons she loved her walking group so much.
Jess sighed, and it was clear that physically Jess was at Lanterns but mentally she was back in that bed. “He makes me toast that he butters on both sides, just like I like it. He cuts them into hearts, but then saves the excess bread pieces because he knows that I’d want to eat them.”
Picturing Ethan Steele, badass U.S. Marshal, cutting toast into hearts made Brynn smile even as a tear slid down her face.
“Why are you crying?” Ali asked.
“I’m not.” Brynn sniffed and wiped away her errant tear, then chuckled. “I mean, I am, but just because that’s so sweet.”
Liam happened to be passing by and must’ve noticed her tears because he handed her a cocktail napkin.
“Thanks,” Brynn smiled and sniffed as she took it from him.
His fingers grazed the back of her hand, just like Axel’s had, and she waited. She wasn’t expecting the fireworks that her tenant had inspired, but a little spark would’ve been nice.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a tiny twinge of awareness from her body that the hot bartender was touching her. It might as well have been Jess handing her the napkin.
“Everything okay, love?” he asked with just a hint of his Irish lilt coming through.
She waited again, and again was met with only disappointment. Her lady parts had no response to the sexy accent coming from the sexy guy talking to her. People always wondered how she’d managed to stay single for so long and she was beginning to think her lack of chemistry had made it a lot easier.
“Yeah. I’m fine, Thanks.” She turned back to her friends as the band announced they’d be taking a short break as Ali’s phone beeped and when her friend glanced down at it her face lit up.
“Oh, it’s ten!” Ali twisted and grabbed her purse from behind her.
Brynn thought it was adorable that Ali set an alarm to take advantage of having the house to themselves.
“I’m out, too.” Jess stood and pulled first Brynn and then Ali into a quick hug.
“Do you need a ride?” Ali offered.
“Nah, I think I’m going to walk. It’s a beautiful night.”
“Are you sure?” Jess questioned. “We can take you, it’s on our way.”
“I’m good.” Brynn assured them.
The girls said their goodbyes and Brynn looked down at her empty drink. She didn’t want to glance in the direction that her friends were walking because she was trying to avoid seeing the man that she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Axel had been at the table with the guys for close to two hours.
Part of her was glad that he seemed to be getting to know people in town, but another part of her was disappointed. It took her a minute to figure out why, but then she realized it was because he’d kept to himself so much that she’d felt special being the one person that had had a real conversation with him. That was no longer the case.
The tears that had welled over Jess’s breakfast in bed, sprang back to her bottom lids. Brynn wasn’t one to feel sorry for herself, but she’d had three drinks and she was a lightweight.
She couldn’t believe how hung up she’d gotten on a man that had paid her no attention and made no attempt to get to know her. Tonight may not have been the Axel-free night she’d wanted, but it was definitely Axel-gut-check night.
He’d been at the bar the entire night and had made no effort to speak to her.
She wiped the tears that were falling down her cheeks from beneath her eyes. She was crying over a guy that she barely knew not talking to her. It was time to call it a night.
With more determination than ever to put Axel out of her mind, she shifted in her seat to stand. When she did, she was faced with a broad chest that unlike Liam’s smile, touch, or voice, had every part of her body tingling with anticipation. Anticipation for something that would never happen.
Her eyes lifted and she felt a flush rise up her cheeks as her gaze drifted past Axel’s kissable mouth. His perfect lips were surrounded by a stubble that made her inner walls clench at the thought of what his prickly hair would feel like brushing against her skin. Preferably the skin of her inner thighs.
She cleared her throat and did her best to push down the graphic images that sprung to her mind. Images of the top of his head buried between her legs. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with his deep brown gaze boring into her soul.
“Hey!” Her voice was high as if she were surprised to see him.
“Are you okay?” His deep timbre vibrated through her.
“Um…in general, or…?” She wanted her response to sound casual and unaffected, but instead her words were shaky and breathless.
“You’re crying.” Her words might be trembling but his were strung tight as a drum.
“Oh, that.” She smiled and wiped her cheeks with the cocktail napkin Liam had given her. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“What’s wrong?”
The genuine concern in his tone sent her heart diving straight off of Swoon Cliff. But her good sense acted as a bungee cord and snapped that sucker right back into place. He was just being neighborly.
“Nothing.” She smiled brightly.
The look in his whiskey gaze made it clear he wasn’t buying her flippant response or forced grin.
“Really,” she did her best to assure him.
There was no way she was going to tell him that she was crying over him. Especially knowing that at any second he’d make some excuse to leave, just like every other time. She decided that this time she would walk away first. It might be a small step, but it was one she needed to take.
“Well, it was nice seeing you.” She started to walk past him when she felt his fingers brush the back of her hand.
It was the lightest touch but she felt it rush through her with the force of a tornado. She froze in her tracks. Her heart was pounding in her head as arousal and awareness flooded her senses. Why couldn’t Liam, or Chris, or Keaton, or Sam or any other eligible man in Whisper Lake have this kind of effect on her?
“Do you want to dance?”
The sound of his voice cut through the arousal whooshing around in her head, but she was sure that she must have heard him wrong.
Her eyes cut up to his. “What?”
“Do you want to dance?”
This time she heard him loud and clear.
All night, she’d watched people on the dance floor and wished that she was out there. Wished that this exact moment would happen, that Axel would come over and ask her to dance.
But he hadn’t. Not until he’d seen her crying. He was a sweet guy, but that was even more of a reason for her to protect herself.
No. Say no! her inner voice screamed trying to protect her from the inevitable pain she would feel after the dance when he ignored her again. But instead of heeding the warning, she took a cue from Axel and ignored it.
“Sure.”
The left corner of his lips turned up in a lopsided grin that was so sexy it should be registered as a lethal weapon. He
rested his palm on her lower back and the heat of his touch spread through her like a wildfire. She felt it everywhere from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
Her legs were noodles as he led her to the dance floor out on the deck. Since the band was on a break, slow music was playing through the speakers. They joined a half dozen other couples swaying to “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran.
One second they were walking and the next Axel had swept her into his arms with a graceful authority that caused her already weakened knees to buckle. She remained upright thanks to the support of his strong hold. She heard herself sigh as she melted into his embrace.
“You smell…delicious.” His deep voice was low with an edge of danger to it.
Her sex spasmed in reaction to his chosen adjective. She’d never known just how naughty the word delicious could be.
“Thank you,” she breathed and she tried to come up with a compliment of her own. It wasn’t that there was a shortage to choose from. She was just trying to narrow it down to one that was appropriate. “You’re a really good hugger.”
That’s what I went with?
Hugger?
He stilled for a minute, before continuing to sway to the music. She lifted her eyes to see if he’d had any reaction to her compliment. She was prepared to defend herself by saying how important hugging was and how bad some people were at it and that this was dancing but it was basically hugging while moving. But when she saw the look in his eye, she forgot what words were. He was staring down at her with a smile that had her heart doing backflips.
“Hugger, huh?” His arm tightened around her as he swayed them in a circle. “That’s a first.”
The entire experience crashed over her like a fifty-foot wave. Being in Axel’s arms beneath a blanket of stars, the romantic music, and their bodies pressed together and moving in sync all conspired to create a false sense of intimacy that she was enjoying way too much.
It’s just a dance, she reminded herself as warmth rose on her face and made her look like a rosy-cheeked Raggedy Ann doll.
Not wanting him to see any physical evidence of how stimulating this interaction was to her, she laid her head on his chest and snuggled against him.
Whisper of Attraction Page 12
