He reaches over and lands his warm strong hand over mine, heavy and weighted, and I freeze. I hadn’t anticipated touching. For sure I hadn’t anticipated him looking like a hot stud on fire. As much as I loathe it, this boy is right back to drenching my panties, and we haven’t even crestedappetizers.
“Why are you touching me?” I hiss so low the words are hardlyaudible.
“Why are youwhispering?”
“Because that’s what I do just before I reach under the table and come up with a pair of maletesticles.”
He flinches, but his hand remains solid over mine. “I believe you threatened my family jewels on the night we met,too.”
“If we’ve stepped into some kind of a pattern, then it only proves we’re on a path to destruction. Only this time, there’s no heart inside of me for you to break.” I offer my version of a perky smile. “I’m rather proud of that fact in the event you haven’tnoticed.”
His dimples dip in and out, and my stomach bisects with heat at the sight ofthem.
No, no, no! Down, girl. This boy is old news. Yesterday’s trash. Moldy oldie leftovers that will not only give you food poisoning, but take you to thegrave.
Emilia pops into my head with that last horrific thought, and I can feel the conversation bubbling up my throat without mypermission.
“What’s going through your mind?” He rubs his thumb along the inside of my wrist, and that sweet spot between my legs jumps and quivers. My God, it’s been so very long since I had any action. If all it takes to bring me to the brink is a little arm rub, then I’m in more trouble than I thought. Maybe I should leave now and Uber my way to a sex shop and scoop up an entire armful of dildos? God knows there’s a fire burning down in that secret part of me that can only be extinguished in one way, and I sure never thought it was associated with my wrist. That’s a testament to Axel’s sexual prowess on some level, but I’ll never give him thesatisfaction.
“Your sexual prowess.” Holy mother! Did those words just burp from my lips? I knock the wrist fondler off my arm and help myself to another glass of wine. It tastes so necessary going down I’m half-convinced I need to ditch the glass and syphon straight from thebottle.
A dark laugh rumbles from him, and that dress shirt of his creases with the tautness of his chest. “Now that’s something I can work with. Are you judging based on past experiences, or are you looking for updatedinformation?”
My mouth opens, and this time I’m set on bringing up poor Emilia. Nothing will kill his joyous attitude or that budding boner in his pants than a topic immersed in grief, but each time I try to say something, ask anything about her, I can’t shove the words past that boulder in my throat. I take another sip of my wine and push her to the back of my mind fornow.
“Updated information?” I try to sound coy as if I were flirting. There’s nothing more devastating than to have your hopes lifted just before they’re slashed to the ground with the machete of your ex-girlfriend’s tongue. “You mean you’ve been honing the craft? I hear you’ve amassed quite the harem. Are you partaking in the syphilis trials at the university? Or are you taking on the communicable diseases on your own? You always did have an adventurous spirit. Tell me, does the rash hurt much? Or does the industrial strength ointment the doctor prescribes make itbearable?”
“You are a riot.” He leans in and takes up my hand once again, this time threading his fingers through mine. “I’m not the man whore you make me out to be. I won’t lie. There have been girls, Lex, but none of them could cure the pain, fill the void you left in your wake. My body, my bed, my heart—they’re still waiting for you to claimthem.”
“Yes, well, I don’t want or need them. Tend to them as youwish.”
He frowns at the thought, but his thumb rubs a circle over my palm, and that sweet spot between my legs quivers uncontrollably. My God, did I just? AmI?
I pull my hand back from him as if yanking it from an orgasmicfire.
Ax folds his hands together over the table as if accepting his fate while relaxing in his seat. “How about you, Lex? You said there was no one else after me. Why not?” he says it stern as if he were suddenly my father, disappointed in my lack of sexual activity. “You’re beautiful, and young, and way too energetic in bed to be alone. Whathappened?”
“I happened.” I turn a shoulder up to him just as the waitress brings ourdinner.
“You mind?” Ax nods to his plate, and I shake my head. It was a long-standing ritual of ours that Ax would say grace quickly over our meals. It was something that wildly attracted me to him in the beginning. Any man brave enough to pray over his food in public had to be strong and confident in all areas of his life, and I was right. Axel was a force to be reckoned with. That is, until the day of our own personal reckoning. I shake all thoughts of that terrible time out of myhead.
He says grace, and we get to our meals. Axel carries the conversation, asking about Serena, about Marlin, my psychotic brother who might have played a part in our final demise. Our fragile relationship always felt as if it were on the brink of its demise, but by the time Marlin interfered, we were way past the finish line. My chest aches just thinking about it. I cried for a month straight. Lost ten solid pounds. Hated the sight of food, all because of a stupid boy. This boy—who happened to have morphed into a fine-looking man, and in truth, it scares me. Everything about Axel Collins scares me tonight. Especially how easy it feels to carry on a conversation withhim.
We talk for an hour straight about the Epicurean Elite as he offers up tips to get the websitegoing.
“That’s some amazing advice. Thank you. I plan on implementing it as soon as I can get the darn thing off the ground. The next step is opening it up to an investor. I’ll need all the capital I can get. No offense to The Pelican, but it will take fifty years to earn half of what I need. And that says a lot about the price tag of my new endeavor, considering the decent tips Imake.”
“I’ll backit.”
“If you backed it, I’d back out. This is a Collins-free fun zone. And speaking of which”—the waitress hauls away our empty plates, and I’m still warm with the memory of inhaling my favorite meal—“this whole date thing is a one-off.” A stray smile bounces on mylips.
“If you say so.” Axel glowers at me a moment with those diamond eyes, that stubbled face that I’m half-tempted to slap just so I couldfeelit. He pours me the last of the wine, and I gladly take the glass to mylips.
He sheds a smile as I drink as if he has the upper hand, and those cryptic hypersexual words of Raven’s come back to me—if you want to maintain the power position, strike first blood. Land that boy on his back and make him yourbitch.
“So where to?” He drops a few hundred-dollar bills over the center of the table—so smug, so very overly confident that he’s driving thistrain.
“To your place, of course.” His eyes widen with disbelief as I bleed a black smile. I’m about to land Axel Collins on his back and make him my female genital licking dog for the night. “It’s time fordessert.”
