“What are you doing here?”she asked.
“You want to tell me why you ran off this morning?”
“I didn’t run off.I had to go home and get ready for work.”
He saw there was more to it than that.He didn’t want the town looking into the shop window, so he grabbed her hand and walked out of sight, going toward her office.Everything was super neat and tidy.On her desk were a few files, and he saw her computer was on and open.
“You ran away.”
“I didn’t.I have work, and besides, do you want to do that awkward morning-after thing?”she asked.
“Morning after?”
“Isn’t it meant to be awkward?”she asked.“I have never done this before, and I didn’t want to wake up and have you freak out because I was still in your bed.You think I haven’t heard the women talk about you in this town?You go and you leave.”
“You were in my bed,” Axel said.
“So?”
“I’ve already broken that freaking rule, because you were in my bed.Not in yours.I wanted to wake up next to you.”He had no idea what he was freaking saying, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and gripped the back of her neck, pulling her in close.Staring into her eyes, he couldn’t look away, and he didn’t want to.
And then, he kissed her.He didn’t want to hold back as he pressed her ass against the edge of her desk and kissed her, hard.Sliding his tongue against her lips, she let out a gasp, opened up to him, and he growled her name, not wanting to stop.He kissed her harder.
“Please,” she said, moaning.
“Do you want me to stop?”he asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
He lifted her up on the desk and then cupped her face with both his hands as he ravished her mouth.Axel didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop kissing her.It was like he was a drowning man, and she was his oxygen.
Letting go of her face, he ran his hands down her body, touching her everywhere.
“Tonight, when you close, I’m coming to get you,” he said.“And this time, you’re not going to leave my bed, do you understand me?”
He saw the surprise in her eyes, but he wasn’t backing down.He couldn’t believe what he was doing.This broke every single rule for a second time.But he wasn’t going home tonight without her.
He wanted her, and he was going to enjoy her.
****
All day Joey replayedthat kiss though her head, trying to figure out what it all meant.This was crazy.She never went out with guys.She never went on dates.Her parents had been telling her for years to get back out there, but she refused.She had Adeline to think about.
There were not a lot of men who were happy with a woman who already had a kid.She got it, and there was no judgement.She had a child, and a failed marriage.There was baggage, and the truth was, she didn’t want to get hurt again.George had blindsided her.
Long before their marriage was over, she had stopped loving him.She knew he was cheating on her, and she had even seen him in the act.Not that he had known, but she had been pregnant at the time, and she wanted to try and make it work.She’d been so young and foolish.Now, she wasn’t.
Axel was nothing like George.He wasn’t looking to settle down, and he was looking for some fun.Her parents and her sister said she needed to have fun.
Only, she had never been the woman to just have some fun.She had to keep reminding herself this was not permanent.Axel liked to play around.He had a lot of women chasing after him, and she was not going to allow herself to get hurt.
Once the weekend was over, that was it, they would be over.That was what she kept telling herself, even as he pulled up around the back of the shop on his bike.He wasn’t wearing a helmet, and he turned off the ignition.
She had her bag across her body, and she looked at him with doubt.
