“You remember Nettie from the bank. She’s been begging me to let her and her husband watch him.”
I do remember her. I liked her and I think she’s good friends with Wade Grady’s fiancée, Harlow, too.
“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything.”
“I was thinking of you.”
And then he shows me the shoes and breathtaking necklace to wear with the dress, and for a moment, I can’t believe it’s real.
A few hours later, I’m being swept around the dance floor on the arm of the most handsome, charming man in all the land. We dance— and he’s really, really good —drink champagne, and mingle.
Axel introduces me to everyone. He makes me a part of each conversation. And then we dance some more.
There seems to be some competition between Rux and him on who’s got the showiest moves, and Cammy and I can’t stop laughing.
For dinner, we’re seated with Greg and Julia, Rux and Cammy, and Hank Wagner and his extremely pregnant and completely amazing wife, Abby, who makes sure we’ve exchanged numbers before we say good night.
It’s unreal.
Just like the limo ride home, where Axel pulls me onto his lap and kisses me senseless. I’m wrapped in his tuxedo jacket, and his overlong hair has fallen in front of his eyes. He looks like another cologne ad, only this time, I’m in it with him.
“Have fun tonight?” he asks against my lips, his fingers sliding beneath my dress to tease along the edge of my panties— not the ones with his number on them I was wearing earlier that ended up in a clothing detonation when Otto went down for his nap.
Those were every bit the hit Nat promised.
These are as silky as the dress they were paired with. They make me feel sexy in a different, daring way. Or maybe it’s the man playing with them who makes me feel that way.
“I did.” His fingers dip beneath the hem to where I’m wet for him.
“It was li-ke a fairy tale. Mmm, do that again.”
His mouth curves against mine, his voice gravelly rough. “This?”
“Yesss.” That exactly. I clutch at his hair, his shirt. “How long until we get back?”
He groans. “Not long enough for all the ideas I’ve got about you in this dress. But maybe”— he inches one finger inside —“time enough for this.”
He kisses me again, slipping his tongue past my lips as he presses into me deep and deeper. Drawing back to stroke against all those nerves still so sensitive from this afternoon.
God, that feels good. Like it’s almost too much, and yet not nearly enough.
I open wider to his kiss, take the hard thrusts of his tongue. He pumps into me with one finger and then two, stretching me, bringing me closer. Making me ache and gasp. Making me wonder how I ever lived without this. If I could live without it again.
And then he finds that spot so deep inside and I’m there. Coming against his hand as he murmurs how beautiful I am. How he can’t wait to get me home so he can taste me again. How he loves to make me come.
We have to behave when we get back. But after Nettie and her husband are gone, Axel carries me to the bedroom and lays me out on the bed.
“You shouldn’t spoil me like this.”
He shakes his head. “Maybe I want to be the one who makes you feel like you aren’t waiting anymore.”
Doesn’t he know? Can’t he see it?
I don’t trust my voice to tell him that he does. I’m afraid if I say one word, he’ll hear all the others that are begging to get out. The things I’m not supposed to say, to feel.
The things I’m not sure I’ll be able to hide forever.
Later that night, I slip out of bed and stare down at the man I’ve fallen for in a way I never thought possible. I pad down to Otto’s room and watch his little chest rise and fall with each precious breath.
And then I go and find my phone and text my sister.
Me: What if I didn’t leave?
Axel
I can’t let her go. I can’t fucking do it.
Not after last night. Not after the way she looked at me. Like maybe, if we gave it a chance, this could be it.
I’m pacing the length of the apartment and back again, my gut in fucking knots thinking about the clock ticking down on the purest happiness I’ve known in my entire life.
I can’t ignore it anymore.
She’s leaving.
For fucking Paris.
And if Nora leaves, I’m afraid she’ll never come back.
As if sensing my agitation, Otto starts to fuss in his sling.
“I know, buddy. I don’t want her to go, either.”
I don’t. And as much as I love this boy strapped to my chest, what I’m thinking isn’t because of him. Yes, I want what’s best for him and I know down to my soul that Nora would be that. But if she left, Otto would be okay. Someone else would step in to fill her role for him. He’d learn to love and trust and rely on them.
He’d be okay. But I wouldn’t.
Because I’m in love with her.
I stop walking and stare down into my son’s curious eyes. “I love her.”
The second the words leave my mouth, it’s like some kind of vise comes off my heart, and the damn thing starts pounding like a drum. Like there’s some magic to saying the words out loud.
I fucking hope so, because I’m about to bellow them from the rooftops.
I’m going to give her every reason I have for her to stay. Leave nothing on the table. And then maybe… “Maybe she’ll stay.”
Otto’s little fist shoots up in a typical baby flail, but I take it as a sign and give it the bump it deserves.
“What do you say to some shopping, buddy?”
Two diapers, a bottle, and a change of clothes later, Otto and I are back at the building. Otto has a groggy seven-mile-stare thing going after the excitement of our downtown adventure, while I’m more amped up than I was in my first playoff game. I’ve got a light blue box in my pocket, the kind my sister tells me women lose their shit over. And while Nora tends to have her own priorities, I’m hoping, in this case, she’ll like what I picked. But if she doesn’t, I’ll get her anything she wants.
The elevator opens on our floor, and I stall halfway out, Otto’s carrier swinging in my hand. There’s a woman standing in front of my door I don’t recognize. Or do I?
She’s chewing her thumbnail, and there’s something about her posture—
It clicks.
“Caroline?”
The girl whirls around, takes a nervous step back… and then a hostile step forward, eyes blazing as she crosses her arms.
Oh yeah, this is definitely Nora’s sister. I can’t help but grin.
“That’s right. And you must be the guy trying to ruin my sister’s life.”
The grin falls, and I wonder if she can see the box in my pocket. If she knows what I’ve been doing today.
“Caroline, does Nora know you’re in town?”
“No. And you’re not going to tell her.”
“Umm, pretty sure that goes against the code of conduct.” Nora would kill me. I unlock the door. “Here, come on inside.”
She follows me in, animosity coming off her in waves as I unbuckle Otto like a boss.