Warmth unfurled low in her chest, loosening something she hadn’t realized was clenched.Suddenly she felt safe.She felt loved.
“Hey, Jenna.Come on, have a sit down.Nick will get you a coffee.”
Okay, so this stranger’s name was Nick.
Axel waved his hand to the chair that he pulled out at her kitchen table.The simple gesture hit her harder than it should have.It was familiar, intimate, achingly normal.And she felt compelled to do his bidding.She sat down and Axel plopped his mug on the table and sat opposite from her.
“You look better.Do you feel better?”Axel asked as he stared at her.His gaze turned so incredibly intense that she felt breathless and she could barely nod.Heat crept up her neck, her breath catching under the weight of it.
She couldn’t stop staring at him.Taking in everything about him.Every detail felt like a memory she’d been starving for.His dark eyebrows, perfectly arched, as always.His nose, which was angled just slightly at the bridge, from when it had been broken during a bar fight.His wide, blunt cheekbones.
His sensuously shaped mouth that she suddenly ached to kiss.
“Not sure coffee is the best thing for you with an upset stomach.Maybe you'd rather have a chamomile?Saw some in your cupboard,” Nick’s voice grabbed her attention as he placed the steaming mug of coffee in front of her.
Oh boy, she could smell him.He smelled pleasant.Clean and soapy and male.His nearness brushed against her awareness, steady and warm in a different way than Axel.
She stared at his hand as he let go of the coffee mug.It was a large hand.A nice hand.Strong looking fingers.Long enough to plunge deep into her vagina.
Oh my!Why was she reacting to both of these men?Her husband had just died.What was wrong with her?
She forced herself to make eye contact with Nick.Wow, did he ever have nice blue eyes.A flutter of something unfamiliar stirred in her stomach, something unsettling, unexpected.
“I should be fine with coffee,” she answered in a thick voice that sounded oddly aroused.
At least she hoped she would be fine.
Thankfully, her tummy didn't revolt at the rich, robust aroma of coffee and her entire body was aware of both men watching her.
Nick nodded.
“So, who is this Sam?And why are you in charge of his chores?”Axel asked.
Jenna could barely hide her smile.The faint edge in his voice sent a ripple of awareness through her.
Yes, he was still interested in her, even with the passage of so much time.The realization hit her with a bittersweet ache.Even after his refusing to see her as a visitor when he was sent to prison.Even after that awful letter that he had sent telling her he did not love her anymore and she needed to go on with her life without him.
She should be upset with him.She had been for years, but over time she’d realized he’d been setting her free.
“Sam is an elderly neighbor who takes care of my place when I'm in the city.He's away for surgery for a couple of weeks, so I'm taking care of his chores.”
Axel seemed satisfied with her answer and simply nodded.
“Tell us what needs doing over there and Nick will head over,” Axel said in a firm voice.
“Can you drive?”She asked Nick.
Gosh, she would be alone with Axel with Nick gone.How was she going to handle this?
“My license expired while I was in prison, but I can drive as long as there aren't any cops to catch me.Don't want to give them an excuse to send me back, especially now that I have finally met the love of Axel's life.”
His grin was easy, but there was a shadow behind it.Instincts told her that this was a man who’d learned to joke through hard things.
Jenna instantly liked him, but her being the love of Axel's life?She wasn't so sure, especially at the way the two of them had just been looking at each other.
A flicker of something unnameable tightened in her chest.Curiosity, maybe.Or something more complicated.
“No cops way out here,” she replied.
