Yes. For years, I’d relived those moments, couldn’t stop thinking about him, even when I desperately wanted to. Even as the years stretched on with no contact between us.
I’d asked myself why I found myself comparing every man to Axel. Why, even in the early days with Mathew, I’d wondered what it would feel like to have Axel’s hands on me instead. Why the sound of his name could make my stomach flip.
Because it hadn’t been just a crush,I realized. It had been recognition. Something my soul knew, even when my mind and heart fought against it. Even when it was a relationship that could never—would never—be real, some part of me had been reaching for him across every room, every year, every carefully constructed wall I’d built.
And now, finally, he was here. In my arms. Real and solid and mine.
Axel pulled back slightly, his gaze sweeping over the dried blood streaked across my skin.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he murmured, stroking my cheek with his thumb. His voice was gentle, but I could hear the barelyrestrained hunger beneath it, the desperate edge of a man who wanted to take me here and now but was fighting every instinct to do exactly that.
Chicago’s biggest playboy could have had me in this moment. Hell, with any other woman, I bet he would have. But with me—God, with me—he cared enough to put my needs first. To make sure I wasn’t in pain. To ensure I felt clean and safe before we crossed this line we’d been dancing around for years.
He wanted to wash the stain of tonight’s attack away so that when we finally came together, it wouldn’t be in the shadow of violence and blood. So that one of the most important memories of my life could be exactly what it deserved to be: just us, finally us, with nothing ugly standing between what we felt.
“I’m going to draw you a bath.” He kissed my forehead. A sweet, tender moment that lasted all of one second but penetrated straight through to my heart. With one last look into my eyes, checking to make sure I was okay, Axel set me down onto the bathroom floor.
Pressing my fingers to my lips, I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as the sound of running water echoed against the tile.
“You have bubble bath?” I quirked an eyebrow.
“Came in one of those holiday gift baskets people always send.” Axel rolled up his sleeves, exposing the long lines of his forearms, which were deliciously covered in tattoos.
“Do you like baths?” I wondered aloud, trailing my finger along the white bubbles floating in the deep tub.
“No.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, tilting his head in a way that made me want to rip his clothes off right here and now. “I’ve never even drawn a bath before.”
“Never?”
“Not once.”
“Not even for another … girlfriend?” I wasn’t sure what to call his past non-relationships. The women he’d shared a bed with but nothing more, and after his confession about his ex-fiancée, I wasn’t about to use that term either.
“No,” Axel said simply, like it wasn’t the biggest confession ever. To hear him doing this for me. Only me. He reached up to sweep my hair over my shoulder. “We need to get you out of this dress.”
We.I could practically hear angels singing at that one word. Because the last thing I wanted was for Axel to leave right now.
“Can I stay?” he asked softly.
With those three words, I knew exactly what he was asking. He could leave me here to take this bath alone, or I could let him stay and help wash the darkness and violence off my skin.
I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
With the water still running in the background, Axel stepped closer. Still wearing his button-down shirt and suit pants, he motioned for me to turn around. With my back to him, I swept my hair over one shoulder, feeling him there, hearing his breathing as his fingers gently grasped the zipper of my dress and slowly drew it down.
The fabric fell from my shoulders, down my arms, and caught on my hips. With my back bare, Axel delicately tugged the fabric over my hips and let it pool to the ground.
Wearing nothing but black lace panties, I turned. For a moment, his gaze met mine. Then it slowly wandered down my entire body. I could feel his stare everywhere: the heat of it on my collarbone, my breasts, my pebbled nipples, my abs, the space between my thighs. His breathing changed, grew deeper, and a look of pain crossed his features, like it took every ounce of restraint to keep his hands off me.
I eyed the tub, then made a decision and dropped my panties to the ground.
Axel’s gaze snapped from mine to the space between my thighs. With his fingers twitching at his sides, he growled in a desperate command, “Dakota, get in the tub.” Like I’d better hurry, before his control snapped.
I held back my smile but accepted his hand for balance as I stepped into the tub and sank into the bubbles. The water was warm, but not nearly as warm as the heat coming off Axel’s eyes as he took a seat on the tub’s edge, grabbed a soft white washcloth, dipped it beneath the water, and drew it along my neck.
When it came back coated in crimson, his body stilled.
“I’m sorry this happened to you.”
