Jenna swallowed hard, her pulse hammering in her throat.She could smell him.Sweat, and earth and something darker, muskier, the scent of a man who had spent the morning mucking out the stalls.
His chest rose and fell steadily beneath her palms, the hard planes of his muscles shifting as he breathed.She should have pulled away.She should have taken a step back and put some distance between them.But she didn’t.
As his gaze searched hers, Axel’s brow furrowed.
“You were quiet at breakfast.Figured you were thinking about Sam.It probably hit you pretty hard last night when everything got quiet,”he said softly.
His thumbs were tracing slow, absent circles against her collarbone.A shiver ran through her.That small touch felt far too intimate for daylight.
Jenna shook her head.
Instinctively her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.
“No, it’s not that.”The denial came out before she could stop it.
“What is it then?What can I do to help?”
Unconsciously she wet her lips, her throat suddenly going dry and she didn’t miss that his gaze settled on her mouth.Heat curled low in her belly and the way he looked at her made the air feel thick enough to drown in.
The air suddenly felt way too charged and the doorway seemed to shrink around her pressing the heat of the morning into her making it suddenly feel suffocating.
He kept staring at her and then she saw his eyes darken, the brown deepening almost to black.It was as if heknew.
Jenna’s breath hitched.But that wasn’t possible.She’d been extra quiet.Her gaze drew to the chair were she’d placed the sleeping bags last night.
Her breath caught.The evidence of last night’s secret was gone, but the memory burned bright.
He followed her gaze.
“I saw you two last night,” she whispered.The words spilled out before she could stop them.Her confession felt like she’d just stepped off a cliff.There was no way back now, no way to soften the fall.
Axel went very still.The silence between them tightened, charged with something raw and dangerous.His fingers flexed against her shoulders, his grip tightening just enough to make her aware of the strength in his hands.
“What do you mean, you saw us?”his voice was breathy, rough.
Jenna’s cheeks began to burn.She shouldn’t have said anything.It wasn’t her business.
“Jenna?What do you mean, you saw us?Doing what?”His voice cracked at his last word.
“I thought you guys might be cold, so I brought sleeping bags.I was about to knock and then I heard…moans.I came up and saw Nick on his knees and his head between your legs.”
Had she just said that out loud?
The memory sent a fresh wave of heat pooling between her thighs.
Axel said nothing for a long while.Then a muscle spasmed in his cheek as he clenched.
“And?”he asked, his voice really hoarse now.
“And what?I know in prison it must have been hard for you.You are a very sexual man.”She should shut up now.
“Did it turn you off?”he asked.
Jenna’s breath came faster.She should have been disgusted that her ex-fiancé was now with a man.She should have been angry.But she wasn’t.She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Her heart hammered.She should lie.She should protect herself, but the truth pulsed too hot to deny.
She remembered the intoxicating and caring way Nick’s lips had stretched around Axel’s shaft.Remembered the wild way Axel’s hips had jerked forward as he’d chased the pleasure with a desperation that had made her own body ache with need.
