But Rena was softer, her eyes a reflection of a pure spirit. Caroline had been through a lot. He could see it in her stare and feel it in the way she stood, defensively, at the door.
“Hello, Ms. Jackson. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Call me Caroline, honey. Wow. What door did you run into? And did it survive your face?”
He grinned. “This is nothing. You should see the door.”
Rena hastily cut in, “Mom, this is Axel.” She paused. “My boyfriend.”
He tried to hide his sheer delight in being called Rena’s boyfriend, but he must not have been successful. Caroline lost some of her standoffishness and smiled. “Nice to meet you, Axel.”
“The pleasure is all mine. Rena loves you very much, so you are special to me already.”
Her mother’s eyes widened. “Oh, he’s good. And I love that accent.”
“Yep. He’s got all the words.” Rena smiled at him.
God, he loved her so much.
Her mother coughed, and he realized he’d been mooning over Rena. He flushed. “Sorry. I don’t meant to let the heat out.”
They stepped inside, and she closed the door behind them. “Dave is inside. He made dinner tonight.”
Axel sighed. “I had heard such stories about your ability to cook. I am saddened by my loss.” He thickened the accent. Women seemed to like it.
Her mother sure did.
Rena narrowed her eyes at him, but he ignored her.
“Oh, honey. No worries. I’ll cook for you the next time you come.”
“Ja. Bitte.” He took Caroline’s hand and kissed the back of it.
Her mother tittered and made no move to take back her hand.
“Mom, you can have your hand back now.” Rena sighed. “Easy on the charm, you big German Casanova.”
He raised a brow but let her mother’s hand go. When he saw Rena trying to hide a grin, he knew all was well.
“Oh, he is precious. And so…big.” Caroline looked up at him. “Axel, how tall are you?”
“Six foot six.”
“That must make things interesting,” he thought he heard her murmur.
“Mom.”
He bit back a laugh and followed them into the kitchen, where a well-dressed man wearing glasses and rolled-up sleeves pulled something out of the oven.
“That smells great,” Rena said.
The man turned. He saw Rena and gave her a big smile. His eyes widened when they settled on Axel. “Wow. You’re not how I imagined Rena’s ‘little friend’ would be.” The man put the dish down, took off the oven mitts, and offered a hand. “Dave Wallace. Nice to meet you.”
Axel grasped Dave’s hand in a firm but not hard handshake. He let Dave set the pressure and responded. A subtle but telling way to take a man’s measure. “Axel Heller. Nice to meet you too.”
Dave seemed genuinely happy to see Rena again. During the meal, Axel tried, but he didn’t sense anything off about the guy. Dave acted respectful and loving toward Caroline. He didn’t leer, as Rena had said he once had, nor did he ogle her at all. Not like Axel did.
“Quit staring at me,” she whispered at one point during the dinner, when her mother and Dave were laughing together.
