Without thinking, she strolled over to him in a flash, raised her arm and landed a firm slap across Axel’s right cheek.The sting in her palm jolted her back into her body, her breath coming fast and uneven.
She stared at her hand in shock, horrified by her own action.Mercy, she had never struck a man before in her life.
She looked back at him, and found Axel staring at her, surprise on his face, obviously just as astonished as she was at what she had just done.
He rubbed his reddening cheek casting her a casual grin.The grin wasn’t mocking.It was warm, almost tender, and it unraveled her anger in one swift pull.
The tension between them hung thick in the air.
“Ouch.My turn,” he quipped.
Her stomach dropped.The world seemed to narrow to the space between them.
His gaze focused on her mouth and sizzling heat surged through her.Her breath caught as the air between them thickened and charged.
Oh.
Neither of them moved.She held her breath.Her pulse thundered in her ears as his eyes flicked from her lips to her eyes and back again.She saw the intoxicating way his brown eyes darkened with intention, the way his chest rose and fell like he’d just run a mile.
She knew that look.
Knew what it meant.And despite everything, despite the years, the pain, the husband she’d just buried, her body reacted to Axel with an exquisite naughty heat pooling low in her belly.She found herself leaning toward him.
Oh God.Not this.Not now.
A finger settled under her chin.His touch was feather-light, almost hesitant, as if asking permission without words.Gently he tilted her head upwards.
Before she could protest, his head descended and she closed her eyes.
Her cowboy hat fell off her head as his mouth gently slid over hers.His mouth upon hers was like fire.He was branding her, and she arched into the kiss before she could stop herself.The familiarity of him hit her in the way he always kissed like he meant it, like he was claiming a moment he thought he’d never get back.
Instinctively her hands flew up to splay against his broad chest, not to push him away, but to touch him.To remember him.
She ran her palms over bulging muscles that she’d missed so much.
The kiss soon turned brutal.She opened her mouth to him and their teeth clashed, their tongues tangled.Years of longing hurtled through her, ferocious and overwhelming, stealing her breath and her sense of balance.
Axel groaned, the primal sound vibrated against her lips.His finger dropped from her chin, and still kissing her, he was suddenly walking her backward until she felt her butt press up against the warm metal of the nearby horse trailer.He grabbed her waist with both hands and hauled her flush against him.
Then his large hands slid over to grip her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh possessively.She felt his erection, the imprint of his cock, like a heat seeking missile, big and bold and beautiful pressing against her tummy.The world narrowed to the heat of him, the solid certainty of his presence.The way he held her was like she was something he’d lost and had finally found again.
Jenna moaned into his mouth as arousal coursed through every inch of her.Her nails raked down his clothed hot chest, her body melted against him harder even as her mind screamed at her to stop.
This was Axel.HerAxel.The realization hit her like a blow.She had never stopped loving him, not for a single day.This man had ruined her for any other man.This was the man she’d never stopped loving.
His hands were everywhere now.Sliding down her back, pulling her top half harder against him, squishing her breasts against his chest.
She whimpered, her hips rolling instinctively, and Axel swallowed her sound.
His kiss turned darker, deeper.His teeth grazed her lower lip, tugging just enough to make her gasp from the erotic pain, and then his tongue was there, soothing the sting, coaxing her open again.
She knew she should stop him.Stop this.Everything inside of her mind told her this was a bad idea.
But then he moved away slightly and his hand slid up to cup her breast through her blouse.His thumb brushed over her bra, her nipple, the touch was like molten lava, unleashing spirals of arousal, and she arched into his touch with a broken sound.
His mouth tore away.He was breathing heavily.They both were.
“Axel,” she whispered against his quivering mouth, her thoughts a spiralling mess.
