‘Cleansing, you say?’
I don’t even need to look to know Axel’s wearing that smirk which now has the power to make my knees soften, and my core throb.
‘Don’t ask,’ Theo grumbles, dragging a hand through his hair as he sends his mother one last look. ‘Though on second thoughts, you fancy putting a not-so-friendly word in?—’
‘Theo!’ Sadie blurts.
‘All right, all right.’ He jerks his hands up in surrender. ‘I’ll leave it. For now.’
And just like that, they’re gone, leaving me with Axel and the heated echo of my reckless tease…
Axel
‘So… you gonna explain?’
I drop into Sadie’s vacated deck chair and take a swig of beer from the bottle, sparing her a glance. She’s flushed. And I’m trying to figure out if it’s the fire, or me?
Or more specifically, the idea of me, her, and a fuck-ton of olive oil, of all things.
Because it’s what I’m seeing. Her naked body sprawled out, oiled skin bathed in sunlight, and?—
‘Theo’s mum.’
‘W—What?!’ I choke on my beer as my brain stumbles over the switch up: Taylor morphing into Granny Anna before I can stop it.
‘The olive oil…’ Her mouth quirks, eyes gleaming in the firelight as she jerks her chin towards the couples across the way.
I follow her gaze – and my jaw drops.
I don’t know what stuns me more: my fantasy gone sideways, or the sight of Sterling obviously making a play for…no, he can’t be. Is he seriously?—?
‘Yeah, it’s happening,’ Taylor murmurs, like I’ve asked the question aloud.
‘And Sadie thinks a cleansing walk is gonna help? Try bleach for his eyeballs and a knee to Sterling’s?—’
‘Ax.Don’t you start.’
‘The man’s old enough to?—’
‘Be her son. Yeah, we covered that.’
‘I bet you did.’ I turn to look at her, light dawning through my brain. Oh, no, she didn’t… ‘I bet you rubbed it in too.’
She smothers a smile with her cocktail straw. ‘Maybe.’
‘Taylor.’
She sips serenely. ‘What?’
‘Using his mother and Sterling as payback for him getting with your little sister? Really?’
‘He was being a hypocrite.’
I cock one brow. ‘There’s a bit of a difference between a twelve-year age gap and… hell, I don’t know how old Sterling is, but he’s gotta be our age.’
‘So?’
‘So…’
