Then Connor joined them.
By the time she went to find Axel, he was coming to find her, and his friends were tagging along. Basically, they didn’t get any time to be alone
Taking a step back, she took his hand and led him back inside, sliding the glass door shut behind them.
The door clicked shut, and for the first time all day, silence wrapped around them. No well-meaning friends, no traffic noise or music on the radio. Just him.
Her chest rose and fell too quickly, the weight of everything they hadn’t said humming between them. They talked on the long drive here, but it was mostly about the report Milo had given her. They hadn’t said a word about them or what these changes meant.
Axel opened his mouth as if to speak, but Maisie couldn’t stand the distance a second longer. She reached for his shirt, fisting the fabric in her hands, and pulled him down to her.
The kiss crashed between them, urgent, hungry, like all the hours of waiting had finally broken loose. Axel let out a rough sound—half surprise, half relief—before his arms closed around her, anchoring her against him.
Her lips moved fiercely against his, tasting the warmth she’d been imagining for far too long. When he responded, deepening the kiss, it was with a kind of raw intensity that sent shivers through her.
Maisie’s back met the wall as Axel pressed closer, his breath mingling with hers, every motion tangled with need. In that moment, the world outside ceased to exist. There was just the two of them and a bed that was just a few steps away.
As if of one mind, they slowly made their way over without breaking the kiss. And when they tumbled onto the mattress, Maisie couldn’t help but laugh with joy.
“Um…laughter wasn’t exactly what I was going for here,” he teased, even as his hand snaked under her top to cup her breast.
“I can’t help it. I’m just so happy right now.” She raked her hand through his hair. “Being with you without all the weight of my situation is so freeing.”
As if on cue, he unhooked her bra.
“And that’s freeing too,” he teased with a flirty wink. “Now let’s see what else we can free up!”
They were both laughing as they clumsily helped each other get undressed. Rolling around on the bed, they were getting under the sheets when Axel stopped.
“Um…not to ruin the mood, but…did I just flash my ass to all your neighbors? That’s a lot of windows.”
Laughing, she tugged the sheet over them. “Privacy glass. No one but me saw your sexy butt.”
Grinning, he tugged her on top of him. “Good. Just the way I like it.”
Then they were kissing and touching and making up for lost time.
Driving across the city with Axel, Maisie felt oddly calm.
And it was all thanks to the information she had in her purse.
When she had asked Milo to maybe find information on her father, she didn’t think he’d be able to do it on such short notice. But she had to hand it to him, he was true to his word. Not only had he found some compromising information about her father, but also about her mother. She read and re-read the report multiple times on the drive from Harbortown. Milo had emailed it to her as well as giving her paper copies.
“For dramatic effect,” he’d said with a grin. “Personally, I love tossing a folder down and watching people freak out a bit.”
So, she had the folder and the digital copies, and she went over them again while Axel drove.
He quietly took her hand in his. “Are you sure you want to do this? With the information you have, you don’t have to bother seeing them face-to-face. You can simply call them and let them know what information you have and tell them to never bother you again.”
“They have my things,” she said flatly. “Credit cards, some belongings that they stripped me of. I want them back.”
“I understand.”
“Plus, I need to do this. I need to assert myself and let them know I’m done being used and then disregarded.”
“Okay.”
They sat in silence as the driver slowly made his way through the traffic.
