I swallowed, pretending to listen to the conversation, but my focus was entirely on his hand covering mine. I kept waiting for him to push my touch away.
He leaned back in his chair and his hand pulled mine up his thigh until it was basically at his crotch.
I looked at the faces around the table, but no one was paying me any attention. He lifted his hand away, leaving my hand where he’d dragged it.
Nervous and thrilled, I inched my hand over until I could feel the hard length of his cock straining toward my touch. I softly stroked against his throbbing erection.
My heart was pounding so hard and I dared not glance up at him.
My hand stilled when the waiter came up behind Axel to pour more water into his glass. Axel’s gaze was focused on a singular point on the table. His breathing looked casual, but it was almost too perfectly controlled.
When the waiter moved around behind him to come stand between us, I reluctantly removed my touch.
Our eyes met, and the heat coming from his gaze was part warning and part promise.
A thrill shot through me.
He had moved my hand up.
After dinner,I excused myself to the bathroom to freshen up my makeup. I didn’t know what tonight meant, but at least he hadn’t pushed my hand away.
He had kept my touch going.That had to count for something, right?
I was feeling pretty confident about things until I approached our table. Giselle and Axel had moved to sit next to each other, and they had their heads close together as they quietly discussed something in private. I slowed down my walk, so I could observe them.
It looked like she was explaining something on her phone to him.
Axel was listening closely to Giselle, giving the occasional nod and only once interjecting with a question. It was clear he valued her opinion.
Seeing them together, focused entirely what they discussed, I felt instantly deflated by it all.
They looked like equals, like two people who naturally belonged together. Their connection looked effortless in a way Axel and I had never been. Giselle was the kind of woman he’d choose to marry if I hadn’t interfered with his life and his career.
I was grateful that the night was coming to an end, because I could barely hide the crushing disappointment I felt in my chest.
I had genuinely thought I was making progress by touching his leg, but then I saw his level of focus when he was talking to Giselle and I realized that nothing had changed.
When we got home,I let Bandit outside in the yard and waited for him. Axel stood in the kitchen, leaning against the cupboard and nursing a scotch. He didn’t speak, but he never took his eyes off me.
I gave him a questioning glance, but I was done probing this relationship for answers.
He thought before he spoke. “You got really quiet at the end.”
He noticed. I deliberately dropped out of view to pour food into Bandit’s bowl, mostly to give myself a moment.
I stood back up. “I did.”
He waited for me to keep on talking but I didn’t. We had a small standoff, where we looked at each other and neither of us spoke, but I needed him to speak first. I was done putting myself on the line so much.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“About what?”
I could see him assessing me. “Should I be concerned?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Bandit finished eating and was looking at me expectedly.
