“Just open up with me, Axel. It’s not hard. I won’t judge you.”
He pulled back and cupped her cheeks, his gaze wistful. “But you might not be able to help yourself if you see the real me. My ugliness, it’s deep down.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
He left before she could stop him.
Huh. Now what to do?
Go after that moron.
“Axel, wait.” She chased after him and nearly got run over when he started to back out and turn.
He slammed on the brakes just as she stepped back, leaving an inch from making contact. She heard him cursing through the driver’s-side window, grateful she didn’t recognize half the words spoken in German.
“Are you crazy?” He rolled down the window, looking furious. “I could have hurt you.”
“But you didn’t.” She jumped up on the sideboard, grabbed his sweater by the collar, and yanked him close for a kiss. The warmth of his mouth and skill of his lips had her melting when she pulled away. “Okay, bozo. Look. You can be scared of a lot of things. I know I am. Spiders, a bad perm,troll dolls.”
He blinked. “You don’t like the trolls?”
“But if you want something, you’ll fight for it. So the question you have to ask yourself is this—would I rather hide my ugliness from Rena and lose her to some hunky fireman?” She wasn’t too proud to remind him he had competition. “Or do I want to figure out a way to deal with my issues so Rena and I can be forever valentines? Only you can figure it out. But, Axel, I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to decide for years on top of years. Get it together and get it right, or you’re going to lose the best thing in your life,Liebling.And that’s me.”
She jumped down from the sideboard of his truck and strutted back up the walkway to her townhouse. “You have two more weeks, Axel. Don’t blow it.”
* * *
Axel thought on what Rena had said all night long and into the weekend. Each day, he gave her a new gift. And not one of them was the last blue-haired troll. Friday he left her a pet rock with a heart on it…and made an appointment with a therapist. Not for Rena’s sake but for his own because he had to stop fucking things up.
On Saturday he left her a whoopee cushion. It was pink, and he thought it would make her laugh. And on Sunday he texted her a video of Queen and her kittens with Chi-Chi standing guard.
He would have given her an actual kitten, but he didn’t know if she’d like a living creature to take care of. As it was, he’d taken Queen, her litter, and Chi-Chi home while the cat looked after her babies. To his amusement, Mateo, Kelly, and Smitty had already chosen kittens to take home once they’d been weaned.
Which left three more, the mama, and Chi-Chi to deal with.
Sunday afternoon, he drove to a local pet supply store in Green Lake to the Pets Fur Life adoption day. He hoped these were the same guys he’d seen outside Rena’s salon.
He walked to the store, surprised to see it so crowded and especially with women. An advantage to being tall meant he could see over almost everyone’s heads, and he saw Brad, Reggie, and Mack talking to different people and handling animals.
He also bumped into his friend Sam’s girlfriend on the way in.
“Oh, hi, Heller.” Ivy smiled, a pretty blond who looked way too sweet and classy to belong with Sam. “Are you here to adopt a pet? I think they’ve run out.”
“Nein.Areyougetting a pet?”
“No. Sam helps out sometimes with animals, and recently his group has been fostering for Pets Fur Life.”
He looked around and saw Sam talking to two older ladies toward the back.
“I need to talk to Sam then.”
“I’ll take you.” She threaded her way through the throng, but he lost her midway in.
And then it happened.
“It’s the Viral Viking!” someone squealed.
Half the room hushed and turned to him.
Shit.
