by Melody Anne
Axel was silent for several seconds while he turned and looked at her. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. You seem to be in shock, Ella.”
His words sent a sliver of emotion through her—anger. She was grateful for that. It was so much better than feeling numb.
“I know what I want, and I can take care of myself, Axel. A month ago I didn’t know you existed. Don’t try to tell me what I need.” Her words were harsher than they needed to be, but she was so confused right now.
“I wasn’t trying to tell you anything. I was just pointing out that it’s been a rough day and it might be better not to be alone.” She could hear the control in his tone, could tell he was trying not to show his irritation. Even that frustrated her.
“Just leave. I’ll talk to you later,” she said before climbing from the car.
When she heard his door open and shut, her heart accelerated. She was going to say something she regretted if he didn’t get the heck out of there, and she really didn’t want to do that. But with the mood she was in, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself.
“I’m not some frightened little kid you can just shoo away when it suits you, Ella,” he snapped as he followed her up the steps.
“You’re a grown man who should have some pride and get lost when he’s been uninvited,” she said, turning to glare at him.
“Seriously? I’m trying really hard here not to say something nasty, but you’re acting like a—” He stopped and her eyes narrowed.
“Acting like a what, Axel?”
If looks could burn a man alive, he’d be nothing but ashes at her feet right now. “You know what, Ella? You’re right. I think it’s a lot better if I’m not here.” He turned and marched purposefully back to his car.
“As long as it’s your idea, right? It can’t possibly be the little woman asking you to leave!” she called out as he reached his door.
She saw his back muscles tense, but gave him credit because he didn’t turn, didn’t fire back at her. She glared at his car as he sat in the driveway and she waited for him to leave. Then she realized he wouldn’t until she went in the house.
It should irritate her that he had to make sure she got inside, but instead it diffused her temper. She actually liked that he could be a gentleman, liked that he worried about her safety. Turning back to her door, she unlocked it and dealt with her alarm, then peeked out to see him backing away.
After wandering into her kitchen, she felt the tears sting her eyes. They didn’t fall, but she was almost relieved to feel something. Maybe the whole mess of dealing with her ex and the courts had affected her more than she’d thought. Maybe she just didn’t know how she felt.
Almost on cue, her phone rang. She didn’t want to answer, but when she looked at the caller ID, she knew it’d be futile to ignore the call.
“Hi, Maycie.”
“I’ve called ten times! I can’t believe you refused to let us come to the trial. Reese and I are on the way over now,” she said in a rush. “We have ice cream, chocolate sauce, and a bag full of goodies.”
“I’m glad. I need you.” Those weren’t the words that she’d intended to say, but they were what she felt.
“Be there in ten.”
Hanging up, she sat there without movement until she heard the pounding on her door.
Walking to the door, all it took was one look for her to fall apart. Suddenly she was sobbing so hard she could barely disable the alarm.
“Honey, you should’ve let us be your support system at the trial,” Reese said as she wrapped her arms around Ella.
“You foolish girl,” Maycie added as she joined in on the hug.
“I know I should’ve had you there. I just . . . I don’t know . . .” She trailed off as they shut the door and moved into the living room. Reese went into the kitchen and dished them up sinfully delicious treats and then returned before allowing any further conversation to continue.
“What do you want to talk about? The case? Or the man?”
Ella didn’t even try to play dumb. “I should want to talk about the case, and I’m sure I will, but right now I can’t seem to think about anything other than Axel,” she said with disgust. “It’s too soon to be this wrapped up in him, isn’t it? Tell me it’s too soon,” she pleaded with them.
“Heck, Ella, my parents met while on spring break their senior year of college and were married by the end of the week. I wouldn’t advise anyone to move that quickly, but sometimes when you know, you know. They’re still disgustingly happy together,” Maycie said with a laugh. All three of the girls had seen Maycie’s parents making out like teenagers. It was quite disturbing.
“Ugh. Maybe if I could understand exactly what I felt, it wouldn’t be so bad,” she said, digging into her bowl of pure delight.
“Well then, we’ll work through it. Let’s make a pros and cons list,” Maycie said, grabbing a piece of paper.
“This isn’t a pen-and-paper kind of talk,” Ella said with a real smile this time.
“Everything is a pen-and-paper kind of talk,” Maycie argued.
“Fine. I think he’s stunningly handsome, that’s for sure.”
“We can see that for ourselves, dorkus. Looks fade. If there isn’t anything else to him, then there’s your answer,” Reese wisely said.
“He makes my body sing at a single touch, or even just a look. I can’t get enough of his kisses, his touch, or his . . .” She grinned, and her two friends knew exactly what she meant.
“I’m not dissing the lovemaking, girlfriend. That has to be fantastic, but seriously, there has to be more than that in the relationship, too,” Maycie said with a dreamy sigh.
“I’m in lust with the man, but it’s . . . I don’t know . . . more. I actually enjoy him, enjoy his company. He makes me laugh, gives me goose bumps, shows me things about myself that I didn’t know. He makes me do things I thought I couldn’t do, like the dang haunted house, even though that didn’t turn out so well. He makes me feel alive.”
“And though we’ve only been around both of you together a few times, the way he looks at you makes it more than obvious that he’s pretty infatuated with you as well,” Reese said.
“But it’s always that way in the beginning. What if the attraction fades? What if now that the trial is over, he decides to go on his merry way? I trusted Felix and look how that turned out. The man just got locked up for twenty-five years.”
“We can either live our lives by what-ifs or we can live our lives to the fullest. We never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, so we need to live for today. You like him, he likes you. As a matter of fact, I think you know how much you like each other and that’s why you are making all of these excuses up,” Maycie said, dropping her pen and resuming the massacre of her giant sundae.
“I hate men. They’re insane, cause all sorts of crazy emotions, and make our lives too chaotic. I have plans and goals. I’m in no way ready for a serious relationship. I’m just getting off the ground with my career . . .”
“And life has a way of flipping upside down and altering our plans without our permission. We either roll with it or get washed out to sea,” Reese said.
Ella smiled at her friends and finally said the one thing she’d been afraid to say. “If I let down my guard, I’m going to fall in love with this man.” She waited for them to tell her that was foolish.
“Oh, honey, love isn’t the enemy. And not everyone is so lucky as to find it. If you fall in love with him, then good for you,” Maycie said, tears in her eyes.
“But what if that happens and he breaks my heart?”
“Then you can say you once loved him,” Reese added.
“Love sucks,” Ella said, then decided to fill her mouth with ice cream so she wouldn’t keep repeating herself.
Though she still didn’t know what she wanted to do, having her friends there and talking about it did help. Just because she wasn’t deciding her entire future on this one day didn’t mean her life was going to fl
ip upside down.
The three women stayed together all night, and though Ella didn’t get all the answers she needed, she knew what she was going to do next.
What was she doing at his hotel? He most likely didn’t want to speak to her. Why would he? The last time they were together, she’d told him to go away, yet here she was pacing in front of his room like a fool.
It was a hotel, for goodness’ sake. That more than anything said that his stay was temporary. Maybe she should just leave things as they were and let him slip away into the night. But instead, she was pacing in the hallway, probably being watched by the security crew who were eating popcorn and taking bets on whether she was a prostitute.
Why else would a woman show up at a hotel in the middle of the night? No, she wasn’t dressed like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, but she was loitering in the nice hallway of the better-than-average hotel.
It was now or never. Screwing up her courage, she banged on his door, cringing when the sound echoed up and down the hallway. She knew he left his phone on. Wouldn’t it have been better to just call him?
But what if he hadn’t answered? That would have been worse than embarrassing herself by pounding away on his door. When a door across the hall opened and a scowling woman glared at her, Ella gave her a don’t-mess-with-me look and turned her back, satisfied when the door clicked shut.
When Axel didn’t come to the door quickly enough to suit her, she knocked again in time with the pounding of her heart, and then let out a relieved breath when she heard noise on the other side of the door.
The door thrust open, and a very irritated Axel stood before her in nothing but a pair of low-riding jeans. Her stomach dipped, but she pushed him aside and rushed in before she could lose her courage.
“What’s the matter? Are you being followed?” He looked out the door, his eyes instantly clear as he searched for danger.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to see you,” she said, moving to his minifridge and praying there was something strong inside of it.
“At midnight?” Now he looked confused as he let the door shut, automatically setting the extra locks on it.
“I was out,” she replied vaguely as she found what she was looking for in his fridge and then found a bucket with ice. Miracles did happen.
“This isn’t like you, Ella. You’re still having a rough time from the trial, aren’t you?” he asked, though he kept his distance. She wished he’d just grab her, make her mind stop whirling, and make her forget all about her day. But she wasn’t going to ask him to do that.
“I had my friends over. We spoke and I feel much better now,” she said, hoping she was coming off breezy instead of scared to death.
Finally she met his gaze and those beautiful hazel eyes narrowed. “I don’t buy it, Ella. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Maybe I shouldn’t have come,” she said, downing her vodka and making a move toward the door.
Axel was now fully alert and she didn’t make it two steps before he blocked her path. “I don’t think so. You can’t show up here in the middle of the night, act all flippant, and then just turn around and walk back out the door.”
He backed her up until she was pressed against the wall, his body heat instantly warming her without their bodies even touching. His hands rested on either side of her head, caging her in, making her heart race.
“I can do whatever I want,” she said, her words coming out far too breathlessly to have any impact.
“So can I,” he growled before bending down and kissing her the way she needed to be kissed, his naked chest finally pressing against her aching breasts, his hands moving down to grip the back of her thighs so he could lift her up.
It took no direction for her to wrap her legs around his back and cling on tightly as he continued kissing her while he walked her straight to his bed. This was what she’d come for—to feel.
Her shoes slipped off as he dropped her on the bed, his body quickly following, his hands tracing every inch his body wasn’t covering. Raw hunger fueled them both, their earlier fight making them that much more desperate for each other.
Somehow Axel managed to tug their clothing free while still blazing a trail of kisses across her face, her chest, her now-naked stomach, and then lower. She arched into him, moaning as wave upon wave of pleasure drifted through her.
It was both torture and delight, heat and shivers. It was everything she needed and more, and as his hands and mouth skimmed her body, she thought of nothing but Axel, nothing but the pleasure only he could bring her.
When his tongue slid across her spread thighs, she reached for him, but he pushed her hands away and then opened her fully to his gaze and his hot tongue, tracing the folds of her womanhood and making her cry out in delight.
Writhing beneath his masterful tongue, she felt the heat building, felt the trembling in her stomach, her legs, all the way to her toes and fingers. “Axel, don’t stop,” she cried, the heat becoming almost unbearable, but she’d rather die than end this.
He didn’t stop, his tongue magical, his hands molding her. And then she was soaring, her body his, all his. His name floated around her as she moaned it before her body melted against the bed, completely sated for the moment.
“Don’t get too comfortable, Ella, we’re not even close to being done,” Axel said as he kissed his way up her trembling stomach, laving her nipples with that masterful tongue.
“I didn’t think so,” she purred, reaching for him, her nails trailing up and down the heated skin of his solid back.
“Open your eyes, Ella,” he commanded.
She could barely pull them open, only half slits, and then he pushed inside her, his thick staff filling her with one hard thrust, and they snapped open in excited pleasure.
“That’s better,” he groaned before pulling out and thrusting back in, making her body ache in an entirely new way.
And then all speaking ceased as his mouth descended, bruising her lips in the most wonderful ways while his hips thrust forward and back, and he claimed her in the only way a man should claim a woman.
His body played hers perfectly as he moved fast and then slow, built her heat to boiling, then backed off, making her cry out her frustration. He kissed away her complaints, his tongue tracing her lips, her throat, her cheeks.
When she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, he sped up, and she found another release, this one even better than the first, explosions of color going off behind her eyes, before her mind blanked and she sank back into the bed, completely exhausted in the most fulfilling way possible.
Axel lay against her as he tried to catch his breath from his own release, his lips skimming her shoulder. “Thank you, Ella. All I have to do is look at you and I’m ready to make love. You are so beautiful, so perfect, so responsive,” he whispered next to her ear.
“You make me feel beautiful,” she said, her fingers sliding through his hair, her body unable to move.
Finally, he rolled over, taking her with him and bringing their faces together so he could look in her eyes. “I’m pretty damn hooked on you,” he said, his gaze intense. Her heart thundered as she tried to figure out what to say.
“I seem to have the same problem,” she quietly admitted.
“A good girl like you shouldn’t be with a rogue like me.”
“It’s exactly where I want to be, though.” And it was, she realized.
“Damn, you make me never want to let you go.” His hands began trailing down her body again and she was more than ready to let him take her wherever he wanted to.
“Then take me, Axel.”
She didn’t have to say anything more. He slid onto his back and lifted her up, her body easily sliding down onto his newly stiff erection. Yes, she was exactly where she needed to be, and if the fates allowed it, she wouldn’t have to go anywhere for a very long time.
Ella walked from her offices and groaned. Thanksgiving was just around the corner and snow was already falling. More than fa
lling—there was at least a foot of snow on the ground already, and she detested driving in the powdery stuff.
This meant her pipes would be frozen, her car would have a hard time starting, and idiots like herself would be on the streets, making the normally safe streets a game of bumper cars. But since there was no use crying over the weather, she moved to her trunk, slid on her gloves, and brushed away the snow enough to get inside and pull out her foam brush.
The jacket she was wearing wasn’t nearly enough protection and her entire body shook as she removed the snow from her door and started the engine, hoping against all odds that it would be warm when she was able to climb inside and shake off the chill invading every pore of her body.
Scraping snow as fast as she could, Ella was stunned when she felt snow smash against the back of her. No. It couldn’t have been anyone throwing it, not at the law offices. Not bothering to turn around, she was nearly finished with her windshield when hands circled her waist and lifted her from the ground and she let out a shriek.
“Good afternoon, beautiful.” That was all the warning she got before Axel’s head was descending and he was warming her lips up in no time flat.
When he released her, the cold was the furthest thing from her mind. “What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.
“I was worried about you when the clouds opened up and decided to turn the town into a skating rink,” he replied.
“I don’t enjoy driving in the snow, but if I take it really slowly, I can get around, just not too far,” she said with a shrug as she cuddled against his warm chest.
“You’re freezing. Why don’t we leave your car here for now and I’ll give you a lift home?”
She was sorely tempted, but she didn’t like feeling stranded, and even if she only drove ten miles per hour, having her car in her driveway made her feel better.
“I’d love to, but I’m almost done,” she said before her eyes narrowed. “Wait! Did you throw a snowball at my back?”
“Um . . . maybe,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes.
