Axel: Single Daddy Shifters #1

by Black, Tasha

  When he crawled up to hold her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and her thighs around his hips. She kissed him with abandon, not caring that she could taste herself on his lips.

  This couldn’t be love - not yet.

  But it felt like what she imagined love would feel like - the wordless vulnerability, the need to feel him close.

  She slid a hand down the delicious ridges of his abs, eager to taste him too.

  But he held her hand and lay beside her instead.

  “Axel,” she said.

  “Let me hold you,” he whispered. “I just want to feel you close.”

  She wanted to argue, but the warmth of his big body was already making her sleepy. And he was sliding his fingers slowly through her hair in long, mesmerizing strokes.

  Maybe she would just close her eyes for a second.

  She awoke a few hours later.

  Axel was restless in his sleep, moaning and tossing.

  A shaft of moonlight came through the window, illuminating his muscular form.

  He wasn’t used to having someone else in his bed. That much was clear.

  She sat up and slid out of bed as quietly as she could. No point destroying his rest, fitful as it was.

  She grabbed her clothes from the floor and padded out of his room to slip them on in the hallway.

  But somehow, she didn’t feel like going back to her own bed alone.

  Instead, she wandered down to the first floor, and out onto the back porch.

  The night air was cool and crisp, and the white fence around the little backyard almost glowed in the moonlight, as if the house were encircled in some sort of magical protection.

  She curled up on one of the wicker sofas and pulled a throw blanket around herself.

  It was pleasant out here, pleasant enough that it put an ache in the back of her throat.

  Change is the only constant, her mother used to say cheerfully as they packed up their lives again and again.

  The words never made Delilah’s heart any lighter, but they rang true.

  She was only going to be here for a few days, so it didn’t matter if Noah melted her heart, or Axel melted her body, or if their house felt like a home. Delilah would be moving on.

  And maybe that was for the best. Trusting people had never really worked out for her.

  And this man was far too easy to trust.

  He’d be a great con man, she thought bitterly to herself.

  But she couldn’t bring herself to really believe it. Axel was one in a million - a genuine man.

  It didn’t matter anyway - she was helping her partners steal one of his customer’s cars.

  And though he surely had insurance for that sort of thing, and it sounded like the customer would hardly be bothered, she knew Axel would be horrified when he found the car was gone.

  You’re leaving when they take the car, she reminded herself. You won’t have to see his reaction.

  The idea of it felt like breaking herself into pieces but it would actually be kinder to herself to remember things this way - peaceful and pleasant.

  Assuming he could look her in the eye in the morning. The night had been fun. For her at least. But then he’d pulled away.

  Why wouldn’t he let me touch him?

  Delilah couldn’t make heads or tails of it. In her experience, most guys were only out for their own pleasure - especially when they fooled around with the babysitter, which, like it or not, was the best way to describe what had happened last night.

  In the moment it had felt like love. Or at least like passion.

  But now, in the cool air of the night, Delilah had to be honest with herself. It wasn’t likely that tonight had meant anything to him at all.

  When Axel woke up, he might be pissed at her for kissing him. Or he might pretend it never happened.

  Or he might fire her.

  Shit.

  If he fired her, she would lose access to the car.

  She willed herself not to think about it.

  The best thing she could do was pretend the whole thing never happened. If she ignored it first, he could just relax and know that all was well.

  The chirping of the cicadas picked up again and she breathed in the damp, fresh air and closed her eyes to lose herself in their lullaby.

  11

  Axel

  Axel awoke feeling happy.

  In his dim half-wakefulness, his bear rejoiced, and he reached across the bed for his mate, then moaned in disappointment when he realized he was alone.

  Axel blinked into consciousness and promptly remembered everything.

  “Delilah,” he murmured.

  He closed his eyes again and pictured her mischievous smile as he teased her, and her soft cries when he finally gave her what she wanted.

  Why did she leave?

  He remembered holding her as she fell asleep.

  Maybe the baby woke up.

  But a quick check of the monitor showed him the grainy picture of Noah still sleeping in his crib, legs frogged out and eyelashes kissing his chubby cheeks.

  Axel rolled out of bed and grabbed a fresh set of clothes. He figured he’d better shower and get ready for the day before tracking her down. Noah had a doctor’s appointment pretty early.

  He grabbed the monitor and headed into the bathroom.

  The hot water from the shower felt heavenly. He was tempted to let off a little steam from his encounter with Delilah last night.

  But somehow it didn’t appeal.

  He was beginning to worry that he had made a big mistake, that he’d moved way too fast and scared her.

  He finished his shower and dressed quickly.

  The door to her room was empty, and her bed was made. She must be up.

  Maybe she had spent the whole night with him and just gotten up a bit earlier.

  He headed downstairs with a spring in his step.

  But she wasn’t downstairs either.

  A terrible thought occurred to him and he ran to the front door.

  She was nowhere in sight.

  If she had chosen to follow the gravel path back up to the street and out of their lives, he was too late to stop her.

  Axel, what have you done?

  But he knew what he had done. He had allowed himself to be selfish and he had driven another woman out of his life.

  The sound of Noah stirring on the monitor was a relief.

  He jogged upstairs and swept the baby up before he could fully awaken.

  “Just you and me, bud,” he whispered into that sweet, downy head.

  Noah banged his little forehead against Axel’s chest.

  “Yes, yes, I know you’re hungry,” Axel said. “Come on, little bear. I’ll make you a bottle.”

  They headed down to the kitchen and Axel started warming a bottle.

  The sunrise over the trees called to him and he stepped onto the back porch to wait for the bottle to warm.

  Her scent called to his bear, warm and sweet.

  She was curled up on one of his wicker sofas under a blanket, sleeping.

  The early morning light played on the highlights in her dark hair and her mouth was curved up slightly, like she was having a happy dream.

  He wished he and Noah could step into that dream with her.

  “Bah,” said Noah suddenly.

  Delilah blinked and began to stretch under the blanket.

  “Sorry we woke you,” Axel said softly. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

  Her dark eyes fixed on his for a moment, then she smiled.

  “Bah,” Noah said again, thrusting his arms out to Delilah to be held.

  “No, no, Delilah just woke up,” Axel told him.

  “He’s fine,” Delilah said fondly, holding out her arms.

  Axel handed over his son and watch her cuddle him close. Noah settled right in, snuggling his face into the crook of her neck. The two of them curled up in the blanket was the coziest thing Axel had ever seen.

  A ding from the kit
chen told him the bottle was ready.

  “Go ahead,” Delilah said. “We’ll be here.”

  He headed for the kitchen, humming merrily as he prepared the day’s first bottle.

  “Here we go,” Axel said.

  Delilah held her hand out for the bottle and he watched her offer it to his son.

  For a long time, they were quiet. The birdsong and Noah’s noisy enjoyment of his meal made their silence cheerful.

  “He has a checkup at the pediatrician’s this morning,” Axel heard himself say at last. “Want to come?”

  “Yes,” Delilah said quickly. “I’d love to.”

  She glanced down at her clothes. The same ones she’d been wearing when she arrived.

  “I guess I don’t really have anything to wear,” she admitted.

  “Oh yeah. Sorry,” he said, feeling guilty for not finding something more comfortable for her to sleep in. “I still have a few things in the hall closet from Hannah, Noah’s summertime sitter. She learned pretty quickly that having a change of clothes handy was never a bad idea when you were minding a baby. They should work for now, and after Noah’s appointment, we can stop at one of the shops in town and get you a few things to hold you over until you get your luggage back.”

  “That sounds nice,” she said with a sweet smile.

  And just like that, he knew things were fine between them.

  Better than fine.

  When Noah was finished with his meal, Axel took him up to get ready while Delilah found the change of clothes and took a shower.

  They headed out a few minutes later in Axel’s station wagon. He’d bought it used from a customer when it became clear that his other car wasn’t practical for securing a car seat.

  Delilah sat beside him, gazing out the window with a dreamy expression.

  Though he badly wanted to know what she was thinking, he was loath to break the spell and kept his eyes on the road as best he could until they had parked at the hospital.

  Noah’s doctor had a practice on the second floor of the annex, but there was free parking in the main hospital garage.

  They got out, unstrapped Noah and headed inside.

  “This place is huge,” Delilah remarked.

  “There’s a fitness center here and plenty of doctors who use the building for daily practice,” Axel explained.

  “Axel,” someone called to him from the elevator.

  “Hey, Dr. Stevenson,” Axel said.

  “You know it’s just Ryan to you,” the man replied with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Hey, I got the car,” Axel said, remembering. “I’ll call you as soon as I’ve checked it out.”

  “What car?” Ryan asked.

  “Maybe your grandmother dropped it off herself,” Axel said. “The BMW?”

  “Oh,” Ryan said. “Yeah, Grandma Stevenson was going to have you look at her old car. But she decided to keep it after all. Anyway, it’s an old Volvo, not a BMW.”

  The doors on the elevator began to close.

  “My mistake,” Axel said, sticking his hand in the doors to catch them. “Have a good one.”

  Ryan headed down the hallway toward the ER where he worked.

  Axel gestured for Delilah to get onto the elevator and he stepped in too.

  “That’s weird about the car,” he said to himself.

  “It just appeared?” she asked.

  “Yeah, it’s the damnedest thing,” he said. “I can’t remember who might have mentioned they were dropping it off. And Bill swears no one called on it either. I feel like we would have remembered a beamer.”

  “You should probably call the police,” Delilah said.

  “The police?” he asked.

  “It’s not supposed to be there,” she said. “It seems fishy.”

  “They left the keys,” he said.

  “But no one called?” she asked.

  “No,” he said, wondering what other reason someone could have for dropping off a car without saying a word. “But this is typical Tarker’s Hollow stuff. I’ll bet someone dropped it off and thought I would know since they mentioned it to me months ago. I don’t want to embarrass anyone by making the cops track down one of my neighbors.”

  Delilah shrugged, but before she could reply the elevator doors slid open and they headed toward the pediatrician’s office.

  “Welcome back,” the nurse said with a friendly smile. “It’s great to see both of you here this time.”

  Oh dear lord, she though Delilah was Noah’s mother.

  Axel grimaced inwardly at the awkwardness.

  “Nice to meet you,” Delilah said smoothly. “I’m Delilah, Noah’s new nanny. I’m really glad to be here.”

  “I’m glad you’re here too, dear,” the nurse said with a friendly smile. “Come on back.”

  Axel followed them, wondering at how easy things seem to be with Delilah around.

  Mine, said his bear.

  Instead of squelching the idea, Axel found himself actually considering it.

  Maybe, he replied. Maybe…

  12

  Delilah

  Delilah followed Axel into the shop, cradling baby Noah in her arms.

  Noah was contentedly nibbling the head of his favorite rubber giraffe.

  Axel was smiling and greeting his apprentice.

  Business as usual.

  Only Delilah felt a bead of cold sweat running down her back.

  You have to do this. It was the whole point…

  “Any luck finding the owner of the car?” she asked, hoping her voice sounded natural. She used to be so smooth.

  I used to not care about anything but the con.

  “Nothing,” Bill said. “Isn’t that weird? If it was my car I’d have called in by now.”

  Axel sighed, his troubled expression telling Delilah he was still trying to figure out who the owner was.

  “You should really call the police,” she reminded him. “They can clear this up quickly. They’ll just run the plate.”

  “She’s right,” Bill said, nodding approvingly. “We need to know who it belongs to.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Axel said at last.

  He slipped his phone out of his pocket and dialed.

  “He listens to you,” Bill said to Delilah, raising his eyebrows.

  “He listens to us,” she said conspiratorially.

  That earned her a wink.

  The apprentice could be a good ally. But that wasn’t why she felt pleased.

  She was suddenly anxious to be accepted in this world, for however short a time.

  The person Axel was speaking with was shouting so loudly she could hear the voice through his phone from across the shop, though she couldn’t make out any individual words.

  She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but Delilah’s stomach cramped with fear.

  “Sure, come on out,” Axel said.

  He hung up and came over to join them.

  “He sounded upset,” she said lightly.

  “Who? Dale?” Axel asked.

  Bill chuckled.

  “What?” Delilah asked.

  “He’s just gone a little deaf is all,” Axel said.

  “And he seems to think the rest of us have too,” Bill added with a smile. “So he always shouts.”

  Delilah smiled back and brushed a kiss on the top of Noah’s head.

  Axel pulled on a coverall, rolled up his sleeves and began changing the oil of an SUV, discussing shop business with Bill as he worked.

  Delilah carried the baby over to the Mustang and glanced over it.

  The car was even more beautiful than she had thought before. Every inch of chrome glistened.

  She slipped her phone out of her pocket and tried taking a surreptitious picture.

  She was roused by the sound of a car pulling up in the gravel lot.

  Axel slid out from under the SUV quickly.

  Delilah scrambled to slip her phone back into her pocket before he could see it, cursing herself for getting it o
ut at all when he was around. She’d told him she didn’t have one. How would she explain it to him if he spotted it?

  His eyes stayed on her for an extra moment.

  “Wow, they don’t waste any time around here,” she said brightly, indicating the older officer climbing out of the police car in the lot.

  “There’s not much else to do,” Axel replied.

  She tried to convince herself he hadn’t seen her phone. But there was something a little flat in his tone.

  “Where’s this mystery car, son?” the officer shouted.

  “Hey there,” Axel called back, walking out to greet him.

  Delilah stayed where she was, willing herself to blend into the background.

  She couldn’t quite bear to sneak back to the cottage, though she probably should do just that. She really wanted to make sure the BMW made its way back to the busboy’s uncle.

  Axel came in with the portly policeman.

  “Who’s this pretty little thing?” the cop bellowed.

  Delilah felt her face turning pink.

  “Oh, this is Noah’s new nanny, her name is Delilah,” Axel said politely. “Delilah, this is Officer Evans.”

  “That’s Dale to you, honey,” the man shouted happily.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said as loudly and clearly as she could.

  Dale beamed back at her.

  “Here’s the car,” Axel said, guiding the officer over to the BMW.

  “What was wrong with it?” Dale asked.

  “Nothing that I could find,” Axel said. “I went ahead and did a courtesy check and an oil change, like I would for anyone. Otherwise, I can’t think why someone would drop it off.”

  “Interesting,” Dale said, nodding his head. “It doesn’t look familiar, does it?”

  “Nope,” Axel said.

  They gazed at the car together.

  Run the plates, run the plates, Delilah thought to herself madly, but kept her mouth shut.

  “Let me run the plates real fast,” Dale said.

  He jotted the number down and trotted out to his vehicle.

  “Nice of him to help out,” Axel said. “I know I’m going to smack my forehead when he comes back here and tells me whose it is.”

  But a moment later Dale reappeared with a funny expression.