Axel’s brows furrowed. “What would you like to know?”
Everything. But I’d never ask that. “Tell me something no one else knows about you.” That should be safe. I figured he would give me something hockey-related. But he didn’t.
Axel assessed me, big tattooed arm stretched across the back of the booth. “I’m not just here because of hockey. I own a company that is in the process of acquiring privately held stock. By any means necessary. I might not be as nice as you think.”
He was wrong. “Impossible.”
He shook his head and leaned forward. I mirrored his movement until we were only a foot apart, face-to-face, breathing the same air. I waited for him to share a part ofhimself. “Would you still have that opinion if I told you I was here to seek revenge?”
Chapter 14
Axel
Luca stared into my eyes, his expression not changing. “Yes.” He sat back. “I know you, Axel. You’re a good man. The only thing that concerns me is the type of revenge.”
“All legal. Nothing that would send me to prison.”
That seemed to make all the difference. He leaned back in. “Good, because I’m a terrible liar. The police would question me, and we’d both end up in jail. Thanks to you, I confess things now. I’d probably say I did it to keep you out of trouble.”
It was difficult not to show my amusement as we sat in the booth of confession we’d created. “Really?” I held up a finger, fascinated by how someone so pure of heart could automatically come to my defense. “You aren’t concerned about the crime, just your ability to keep my secret.”
He lifted one shoulder. “Exactly. And you wanna know why? Because, for some reason, you’ve done what few people before have managed to do. And I didn’t realize it.”
“Care to enlighten me?”
“I do, Hughes. The thing is, for some reason, you’ve won my trust, even though you make me sound like I have no self-control. And that’s not the case at all. I have great self-control. But to your credit, when you ruled out criminal intentions, Ihave to give you some leeway. Deep down, I know you wouldn’t hurt anyone. Whatever you’re up to, I’m sure it’s warranted, and you have your reasons.”
“What makes you so sure?”
His blind faith in my choices caused an ache in my chest. “Because you tried to save my job without knowing anything about me. You tracked me down in the parking lot to see if I was okay, then later forced car repairs and a stupid amount of a tip on me because that’s who you are. And then there’s this.” Reaching across the table, he tapped two fingers over my heart. I wanted to hold his hand there, even though my heart was hammering. “Despite your best attempts to hide it, you have a heart the size of Manhattan. And one day, you’re going to open that big heart and let someone you love in. You’re going to find the one that eases all that pain you’re carrying from your childhood. And if I’m lucky, I’ll read about it on page six.”
I inhaled another shaky breath. That would never happen to me. “You give me too much credit.”
Luca’s eyes never left mine. “I don’t think so. But you do have a big flaw to work on.”
“And what would that be?”
“You’ve got this preposterous idea that you’re a bad person. I’m not buying it, Hughes. You’re one of the best men I know, and I’m here for all your secrets.”
Inhaling deeply, I wanted to let him in. Give him one minuscule part of me, wishing I were the man he saw. Luca reached over and placed his open palm on my forearm, letting me know I wasn’t alone.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Jason said, “but I have your dinner.”
Sitting back, Luca’s hand slipped from my arm, and I missed it immediately. He’d changed part of me, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
On the way back, we stopped for coffee and then walked along the waterway. We stopped to lean on the rail and watch the boats in the river. It was a beautiful night with the light from the city dancing off the water.
Luca turned around with his back to the water. “What’s it like to have three siblings? Before you ask, I found wedding photos online.”
Of course he did. “My sisters are great. The four of us are surprisingly close, even though we’re so far apart.”
“Where are they?”
“You know Mason’s in San Diego, Madison and her husband live in Atlanta, and Makenna is in San Francisco.”
“How often do you see them?”
“They came to visit me twice during the summer in London. I see Mason more because our schedules were similar. They’re talking holidays over the sib chat, but I don’t think we can make that work. It’s not a big deal to me.” Luca was quiet, and it made me wonder about what he did over the holidays. “Do you have any siblings?”
