“While you were in the shower I went out to take a look at the tires.Same tires.No evidence of any punctures.Nothing.Figured something was up.”
“I did say someone could have let the air out.And I could have used Sam’s air pump and refilled the tires with air,” Nick replied, trying, and failing, to hide a grin.
“Not if Daisy was there.She would have heard something.You know it and I know it.You wanted Jenna and I to be alone.”
Nick’s throat tightened.He’d never meant to manipulate them, not really.He just wanted them happy.Even if it meant breaking his own heart.
“Oops, caught red-handed,” Nick joked.
“It was sneaky, Nick.”
“It worked.”
“And what’s your agenda?Have Jenna fall in love with me all over again, so she’ll keep us both?”
Nick shrugged, but his shoulders felt too tight.
“Your plan could have backfired,” Axel went on.“She could have said she wanted nothing to do with us and sent us packing back to prison.”
The thought chilled him.The idea of Jenna sending them away, of losing this fragile new life they were building here, terrified him.
“The fact she didn’t do it after you did oral on her, kind of clinched it for me, Nick admitted.
“Besides, you love her.She loves you.End of story.”
“Is it?”Axel asked, grabbing the package of bread.He opened the bag and slid four slices into the toaster.
“What else is there?”Nick asked.
“I heard what you said.Up in the loft.”
Nick froze.Heat shot up his neck, and his mind scrambled for a lie he knew Axel would see through instantly.
“You wanted to join us.Or were you joking?”
Axel’s voice was quiet, but there was no judgement in it.Just an opening.Or a way out.
Nick swallowed.If he lied, Axel would let him go where Jenna was concerned.And he would go on carrying a torch for a woman he could never have.
“I wasn’t joking.”The truth slipped out like a confession.It was freeing and terrifying all at once.
“I see,” Axel murmured.
He didn’t look angry.He didn’t look surprised.Why would he?Axel already knew Nick’s want for Jenna.
Nick waited for him to say something else, but he remained silent and went about gathering the utensils and began to set the table for breakfast.Axel’s calm unsettled him.There was no judgment, no disgust, just… acceptance?Nick didn’t know what to do with that.
Well, that went well.Not.
“Mind if I join you?”Jenna’s voice echoed through the kitchen from the hallway.
Nick’s breath caught at her question, and he almost dropped the plate of eggs and bacon.
Oh shit.He hadn’t heard her come in and shehadheard him up in the loft.Heard what he’d said.
His heart lurched.The words he’d meant to keep buried were now hanging between them, undeniable.
Jenna stood at the end of the hallway, right by the entrance to the kitchen.She was framed by the early morning light.She looked like a dream and a dare wrapped into one, and he felt his pulse hammer in his throat.The sight hit him low.Intimate, domestic, a reminder she belonged to someone else… and yet her gaze was locked onhim.
