Chapter 28 #3
“Well, we have many interviews and fake dinners and whatnot. Who knows who will show up? All it takes is one guy from your past for our story to implode. Just tell me.”
“No.” My cheeks were on fire. I chewed my thumbnail, wineglass forgotten.
“You only do that when you’re nervous,” he noted. Great. He sees right through me at the worst possible time. “Why does talking about sex make you nervous?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Liar.” He leaned forward, the firelight making him look dangerously handsome. “Are you a freak in the bedroom?”
“No.”
That’s when I saw it: the exact moment everything clicked. The reason I said Mathew would never talk about me that way. Not none of my exes. Not anyone I’d ever dated. Just Mathew. Axel’s expression shifted from confusion to understanding and then something deeper.
“You’ve only been with Mathew.” Luckily, his tone was soft and not antagonistic or humorous at all. At least that was something.
“I know that’s hard for you to understand, but not all of us have a revolving door to our bedroom. Some of us have standards.”
He cocked his head, studying me with an intensity that made me feel naked.
“Why is he the only one you’ve ever been with?
You’re a gorgeous woman in her thirties.
Surely, men have thrown themselves at you.
In fact, I saw it in college. Thought about breaking a jaw over it on more than one occasion. ”
Holy crap, there was a lot to unpack with that. He found me gorgeous? He wanted to break someone’s jaw for hitting on me? And most of all, he was genuinely curious about my decisions? Not judging me for them?
The confession hung in the expanse of his living room, and for a moment, I forgot we were supposed to be enemies. This felt like … intimate conversation. Real conversation. The kind I’d imagined having with him all those years ago.
“My parents raised me with strict values. That was saved for marriage.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek. “And since they’re already worried Knox is going to hell, you tried to be extra good to compensate.”
Stop seeing through me!
“Why didn’t you save yourself for marriage then? I mean, why wait that long just to … not follow through with it?” His tone wasn’t condescending; it was careful, soft.
“Because I loved him.”
Something dark settled over his features. He scrubbed his face, looked away, then snapped his attention back to me with an edge. “Did he pressure you?”
“I’m in my thirties. It’s understandable that a guy in a serious relationship wants intimacy.”
“That’s a yes.”
“No. We talked about it and realized that we either would date for years without intimacy or get married before we were ready. We mutually agreed to a compromise.”
Why am I sharing this with my nemesis? And why does he look like he’s plotting Mathew’s fall from a bridge? But also … why does it feel so natural to tell him these things? Like he actually cares about the answers?
“I don’t regret it,” I said quickly, looking down at my hands.
“Do you regret waiting as long as you did?” Again, his tone was kind, curious.
And for a minute, just a minute, I wondered if he was asking because he wanted to know.
“Maybe,” I admitted.
“Is that why you were so pissed the night you took that picture of me? Seeing me with yet another woman?”
I sighed. Axel is like a human lie detector. I suppose I could have avoided the answer, but honestly, with him knowing I’d only ever been with Mathew, what was the point?
“Maybe I was jealous of how free you are with your sexuality,” I said. “You don’t care what people think; you just go for what makes you happy. Meanwhile, I’ve spent my whole life trying to be what people want me to be.”
That tasted bitter, but there it was.
Something shifted in his expression. Surprise, maybe even understanding. For a moment, the air between us felt different. Less hostile. Almost … tender.
We weren’t supposed to be connecting like this. This wasn’t part of the plan. But here we were, sharing pieces of ourselves we’d never shared with anyone else.
Then something dark and dangerous flashed in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively calm. The kind of calm that comes before someone punches a wall.
“You saved that part of yourself for three decades because it meant something to you. Something sacred.” His knuckles went white with tension.
“Please tell me that asshole at least made it worth it. Tell me he made you feel like the fucking goddess you are. Tell me he worshipped you the way you deserved.”
Goddess? Axel saw me as a goddess?
Heat crawled up my neck. “He was … fine.” I took a massive gulp of wine.
Axel’s head snapped back like I’d slapped him. “Fine?”
“I’m not discussing this.”
“Fine isn’t exactly a glowing review, Sunshine.”
“This is a complete violation of Mathew’s privacy. I’m not telling you how he was in bed.”
“You don’t have to.” He stilled, massaging his hands. “I can see it written all over your face. He never made you lose control, did he? Never had you screaming his name or seeing stars.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the lie wouldn’t come. Damn him for being right.
“Jesus Christ, Dakota.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking genuinely tortured. “You waited all that time for fine?”
Something about the way he said it, like it personally offended him, like my disappointing sex life was somehow his problem to solve, made heat pool low in my stomach.
The silence stretched between us, heavy with everything I wasn’t saying. His breathing had changed, gone deeper, and when I looked up from my glass again, his eyes were practically black with something that looked like fury. Or hunger. Maybe both.
“You have no idea what you’ve been missing,” he said, standing slowly. The predatory way he moved toward me made my pulse race.
I stayed curled on the couch as he towered over me, bracing one hand on the back cushions and planting the other on the armrest, caging me in. His eyes darkened as they roamed over my body, and suddenly, the air in the room felt too hot to breathe.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were supposed to stay enemies. Safe in our animosity. But somewhere between the wine and the confessions and the firelight, something had shifted. Something that made my entire body hum with awareness.
“Let me paint you a picture of what you deserve, Sunshine.” His voice was rough velvet, his face inches from mine.
“You deserve someone who memorizes every single thing that makes you gasp. Someone who learns your body like a symphony and plays it perfectly every time. You deserve to feel worshipped, cherished, absolutely wrecked in the best possible way.”
His eyes burned into mine. “If I touched you, you’d see stars. You’d feel my tongue between your thighs, until you screamed my name. Then I’d sink so deep inside you, you’d forget your own.”
Holy shit.
“I’d pull your hair. Pin your hands above your head.
Make you feel powerful and vulnerable at the same time.
There would be nothing ordinary about it.
Nothing fine about it.” His eyes burned into mine.
“You deserve someone who has you grabbing the sheets and begging for things you didn’t even know you wanted.
Someone who takes their time with you. Hours, Dakota, until you’re shaking and can’t form coherent sentences. ”
I swallowed.
“You deserve passion that leaves marks on your soul, not just your body. The kind that has you daydreaming in meetings and blushing at random memories. You deserve someone who looks at you like you’re their personal religion.
” His voice dropped to a growl. “And when you finally fall apart, completely undone, I’d put you back together just to do it all over again. As many times as you could take it.”
I became hyperaware of every inch separating us. Heat bloomed beneath my skin. A slow burn that started in my chest and radiated outward until even my fingertips tingled.
His eyes held mine captive. There was something in his gaze that made my pulse stutter.
The breadth of his shoulders, the corded strength in his forearms, the way he seemed to fill the entire room without moving …
it all pressed against me like a physical weight.
I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t do anything but feel the overwhelming presence of him.
“That’s what you’ve been missing, Sunshine. That’s what you deserve.”
Suddenly, his phone rang, shattering the moment.
He stepped back, waiting several seconds before, finally, with his eyes still locked on me, he answered. “Pierce.”
I sat there, trembling, wondering what the hell had just happened.
And more importantly, what might happen next.