“Sorry.” I slip my phone back into my bag and twist my hips againstAxel’s.
“Never apologize. One of the things I love about you most is the way you care for your family.” His finger brushes over my cheek. The sun hits him just right, and his eyes reflect the unblemished sky. “And I love how you’ve taken Teagan under your wing.” His lips twist. “Shep, not somuch.”
“What do you mean?” A laugh bubbles up my throat. I’ll admit I love this quasi-jealous side of him. “Shep is one of my favorite people. He has great hair”—my fingers dig into the thicket just above his neck—“gorgeous eyes and lips that make me want to do this.” Carefully, I sweep my mouth over his. “Oh, wait”—I pull back slowly—“that would beyou.”
“Very funny.” He moans as if it were the most delicious kiss in the world. “So are you up for taking itslow?”
I can’t help but frown. It’s been my go-to response for so long it feels natural at this point. “How slow?” My mouth is watering to have him, and slow doesn’t quite fit into the equation. What happened between us a couple of nights ago was simply an overflow of built-up angst. It was angry sex. Hostile sexual territory that we both willingly explored andexploited.
“I don’t know.” His hands ride up and down my body, careful and firm as if he were molding me. “I just can’t risk anything happening to us. I need this. I need you.” His eyes search my features, asking a question all their own. I know what he wants to hear, and I finally feel ready to sayit.
“I need you, too, Axel. I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. But—” If I’m honest, there is always abutin theresomewhere.
He gives a single nod as if he already knows. “You’reterrified.”
“Petrified.”
“Don’t be.” He shakes his head, determined for me to believe it. “You and I work, Lex. I won’t hurt you. Trust me. Open your heart and let me in all the way this time. I promise you will not regretit.”
“All the way.” I bite down on a naughty smile as my hand glides down his chest, my fingers hooking on the lip of his jeans. “Why are you denying me, Collins? I bet Shep would let me go all theway.”
“That’sit.”
In an instant, Axel picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. My hair hangs upside down, and I beat my fist over his rock-hard behind, laughing as he spinsme.
Axel lets out an enthusiastic howl before landing me back on my feet, dizzy with a hearty laugh streaming fromme.
The smile drips from his lips as the moment grows serious. “God, I’ve missed you.” There’s that pained look in his eyes once again, and my stomach cinches. Deep down, Axel doesn’t really believe I can pull this off. The new me is simply a bandage over the old me, and soon enough that will simply fall off. In the end, I’ll hurt us both. I’ve already damaged us. The proof is embedded in the last six years. But am I strong enough to repairus?
My God, I hopeso.
Axel pulls me in tight, bounces his nose sweetly off mine before gazing into me with those serious eyes of his. “You’re way too deep inthought.”
“I’m concerned.” I butt my forehead lightly tohis.
“How about we let go of all our concerns and busy ourselves with our newfoundhappiness?”
Something enlivens in me when he says that word. “You’rehappy?”
His brows bounce as that naughty lewd smile percolates on his lips. “I’mecstatic.”
“Proveit.”
Axel touches his fingers to my chin and gently lifts me to him. He leans in ever so slightly, holding my gaze, commanding that I look at him, and there’s something erotic about this ocular spell he’s put on me. “I’m going to kiss you, Lex. To the new us—may we be forever enamored, deeply in love from here on out on this spinning bluerock.”
“Hear, hear,” I whisper as Axel closes his mouth overmine.
There is something sweet and tender about the way his mouth moves carefully over mine—something protective, achingly delicious that has me craving him on a primal level. I open for him, and he loves me like that, slowly, carefully as if our love was fragile as blown glass. Deep down, Axel is convinced that I might stomp away on an angry whim and leave him alone in this world one moretime.
My hands float to his cheeks as I cup them, and our kisses grow with intensity, with hunger, with something dark and needy.Slowmay be a four-letter word, but it sure has the power to stir a sweet ache in my belly for more. I think the six-year drought brought new meaning to the wordslow. I’m pretty sure I have some say in how things should run in this new and improved version ofus.
I pull back, pinching his chin between my fingers. “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” My tongue does a revolution over my lips as I give the old military quote. “And tonight, we will test the boundaries ofboth.”
My hand slips down his chest and carefully touches over the zipper of his jeans, making it clear just what my intentionsare.
I don’t need slow withAxel.
I needeverything.
