Before it reached its final position, Axel looked up and locked eyes with me.
God help me.
Axel Pierce was the most gorgeous specimen of man I’d ever seen. Eyes that could sparkle with mischief one second and darken with heat the next, making you feel like you were the only person on planet Earth. Beautiful, full lips that would quirk up at my sarcastic jabs before spewing out equally sharp barbs right back. And that jaw. Damn, that jaw was something I could stare at for hours. Get a canvas and paint it over and over, trying to capture the way his dark stubble caught the light.
As if his model-perfect face wasn’t enough, the body underneath that suit spoke to years of dedication, turning thosemuscles into art. The suit looked like Axel was doing it a favor by wearing it.
“You’re staring, Sunshine.”
I blinked, snapping back to reality.Shit.My jaw was literally hanging open.
“You look …” I stepped back from this bubble of intoxication before I did something stupid. “Nice.”
Nice? Really, Dakota? The man looks like sex in a designer suit and you go withnice?
His shoulders rounded as he casually slid his hands into his pockets, tilting his head to study me with those penetrating eyes.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“No,” I lied.
He moved to my side, close enough that his heat wrapped around me like a warm hug. “We don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Yes, we do.”
He sighed, staring at me with a slight frown. “You need to escape, you look at me,” he said. “We end the dinner. Period.”
My muscles’ tension began to unwind. There was something so comforting in his words. “You’re being awfully nice to me.”
His eyes pierced mine, traveling a path of heat straight to my soul. He opened his mouth to say something. Something kind and warm by the looks of it. It wasn’t lost on me how different everything felt right now. His protectiveness. The way he’d sided with me against Rebecca. Like something fundamental had shifted between us.
But it also wasn’t lost on me that he’d never admit it out loud.
“Ice cubes,” he said instead.
“What?”
“You need to escape, you sayice cubes. I’ll kick everyone out.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Ice cubes?”
He shrugged, that cocky smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “It can be our safe word.”
I snorted. “Are we becoming friends, Axel?”
“Never,” he said, but his smirk betrayed him. “I still owe you for that glitter cat ride. Did you know the horn actually meowed?”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “You have to admit, that was masterful.”
“I’ll never admit to that.” His eyes sparkled with delight. “But theoretically, it might’ve been the best prank I’ve ever witnessed.”
“If all it took was a bouquet of black roses for you to be nice to me, I would’ve sent you some years ago,” I quipped.
Something flashed across his face then. Pain maybe. Regret. The playfulness dimmed, replaced by something deeper, more vulnerable.
Wanting to ease back into lighthearted territories, I nodded toward the good lighting. “Come on. We should snap some photos of our epic romance.”
I pretended snuggling up against him wasn’t continuing to spiral me into a new level of want. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was something else about this night that was going to be hard for me: pretending to be in love with Axel.
