"Jenna, you’re a damn fine cook," he said as he scooped the fries out onto his plate with the supplied fork and grabbed his third hot sausage on a bun.
He wasn’t just being polite.This was real food, real flavor, real care.It felt like a luxury he still didn’t know how to accept.
The scent of Jenna’s kitchen, rich with frying oil and salt, was a freedom he swore he wouldn’t ever take for granted.
"Why, thank you, sir.I learned everything from my mom and from Axel's mom," Jenna answered, her eyes softened at his praise.The moment she mentioned Axel’s mother, something shuttered behind Axel’s eyes.It was a familiar, silent ache that Nick had seen too many times on visiting days.
He caught the way Jenna’s gaze flickered, ever so briefly, toward Axel.It was almost as if she was searching for something in his reaction.
But Axel merely nodded, his mouth a thin line, his eyes shadowed at the mention of his mother.No flicker of a smile, no warmth.Just that unreadable wall.
Nick’s stomach tightened.He wondered if Axel was thinking about his mother’s visits.He’d always get tense on visiting day.And then sad after she left.
Axel had told him how he’d warned his mother to never speak of Jenna to him because if she did, she was not welcome to visit him again.And all those letters Jenna had written to him that he’d never opened.They were up in the loft, stashed at the bottom of Axel’s duffel bag.
The memory of those untouched envelopes tugged at him.They were a pile of words Axel hadn’t been ready to face.So many times Nick’s fingers had itched to open them and read what Jenna had written to him, but it was private.It would be up to Axel to read those letters if he ever did.
A breeze slipped through the kitchen window, carrying with it the scent of Jenna.The faint sweetness of her shampoo hit him like a punch.It was subtle, clean, and impossibly distracting and each time he caught her aroma, the air hummed a little brighter and his senses sparkled and his cock hardened even more.
Nick chewed his third sausage on a bun slowly.He wasn’t wolfing it down like the previous two, as he’d been ravenous.He was savoring this sausage, watching Jenna’s hands as she brushed a stray strand of hair out of her sky blue colored eyes.
He wondered how Axel had ever been able to walk away from a woman like her.He couldn’t fathom it.If he’d ever had a woman like her, he’d have held onto her with both hands.
They said best friends sometimes fell for the same woman.Nick hadn’t believed it, until it had happened to him.Until the ache in his chest reminded him that he wanted Axel’s woman.
He didn’t think he would ever be able to stop looking at her.His gaze kept drifting to her mouth, those pretty pink lips, then downward along the delicate curve of her neck.
The kitchen seemed smaller with her in it.Every colour in the room was a little more vivid.
When she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, Nick’s heart pounded in his chest as he again remembered finding the two of them together just inside the doorway of the barn.
Her naked.Axel on his knees, clenching her hips.His head between her thighs.The slurping sounds as he ate her.Her moans as she enjoyed.
And here she was acting perfectly normal as if nothing had happened.As if she’d wanted it to happen, as Axel had suggested.
Maybe things were going to be okay.A small, dangerous spark flickered in his chest.Hope.It was as thin as a thread of smoke but impossible to ignore.Maybe Jenna and Axel would get back together.
Sure, it wouldn’t be like before, but maybe better.
Maybe different…maybe he’d be included?
Laughter cracked through Nick’s thoughts, and he was startled as Axel kicked his ankle beneath the table.
Axel’s foot hitting him was no accident.It was an old prison signal, and old warning to pay attention.
"Can you pass the mustard, relish, onions and the ketchup?"Axel asked, his voice easy, but Nick caught the edge beneath it.
He tried to steady his hands as he slid the tray that held all the condiments, but his fingers suddenly felt clumsy as he became aware of Jenna’s intense gaze on him.
Did she know what he’d been thinking?
Nick blinked, his daydream disintegrating.In the past, before being incarcerated he’d always considered himself a gentleman with a woman.But being near Jenna made him feel stripped bare and exposed.Made him primal.An animal who wanted to claim his mate.
Did she suspect he fantasized about her?A flush crept up his neck.If she knew the truth, would she be horrified… or intrigued?
Jenna was smiling at him now.Her blue eyes were bright with something he couldn’t name.Did she want him, like he wanted her?
He slid the condiments toward Axel, who grinned crookedly.It was the kind of grin that Nick remembered from times in prison when laughter was their only rebellion behind bars.
