Chapter Eight #2
The moment she’d plopped her brown cowboy hat upon her head and stepped outside the ranch house, truck keys in hand, she heard the smooth purr of the truck’s engine and the gravel crunching beneath the tires as Axel pulled the red truck into the parking lot and parked between her truck and the horse trailer.
Relief mingled with anger as she rushed down the steps and hurried toward him.
The driver’s side swung open and he climbed out of the truck and slammed the door shut. Her knees went weak with relief and then immediately stiffened with fury.
He turned and walked to the back end of the truck and stopped when his brown eyes locked onto her. Something raw flickered across his face. Relief, guilt, hunger, it was all tangled together.
Silence sliced through the air. He didn’t appear angry anymore. But now it was her turn to be pissed.
“You stupid asshole!” Her voice cracked on the last word, the leftover terror bleeding through the anger.
“Why did you take off like that Axel,? Don't you know whoever hit Nick could have done the same or worse to you? You could have been killed!”
To her utmost irritation he responded with a chuckle.
“Didn’t think you still cared,” he said. His casual tease hit her like a spark to dry tinder, infuriating and disarming all at once.
Oh! The audacity of this man! The nerve!
Without thinking, she strolled over to him in a flash, raised her arm and landed a firm slap across Axel’s right cheek. The sting in her palm jolted her back into her body, her breath coming fast and uneven.
She stared at her hand in shock, horrified by her own action. Mercy, she had never struck a man before in her life.
She looked back at him, and found Axel staring at her, surprise on his face, obviously just as astonished as she was at what she had just done.
He rubbed his reddening cheek casting her a casual grin. The grin wasn’t mocking. It was warm, almost tender, and it unraveled her anger in one swift pull.
The tension between them hung thick in the air.
“Ouch. My turn,” he quipped.
Her stomach dropped. The world seemed to narrow to the space between them.
His gaze focused on her mouth and sizzling heat surged through her. Her breath caught as the air between them thickened and charged.
Oh.
Neither of them moved. She held her breath. Her pulse thundered in her ears as his eyes flicked from her lips to her eyes and back again. She saw the intoxicating way his brown eyes darkened with intention, the way his chest rose and fell like he’d just run a mile.
She knew that look.
Knew what it meant. And despite everything, despite the years, the pain, the husband she’d just buried, her body reacted to Axel with an exquisite naughty heat pooling low in her belly. She found herself leaning toward him.
Oh God. Not this. Not now.
A finger settled under her chin. His touch was feather-light, almost hesitant, as if asking permission without words. Gently he tilted her head upwards.
Before she could protest, his head descended and she closed her eyes.
Her cowboy hat fell off her head as his mouth gently slid over hers.
His mouth upon hers was like fire. He was branding her, and she arched into the kiss before she could stop herself.
The familiarity of him hit her in the way he always kissed like he meant it, like he was claiming a moment he thought he’d never get back.
Instinctively her hands flew up to splay against his broad chest, not to push him away, but to touch him. To remember him.
She ran her palms over bulging muscles that she’d missed so much.
The kiss soon turned brutal. She opened her mouth to him and their teeth clashed, their tongues tangled. Years of longing hurtled through her, ferocious and overwhelming, stealing her breath and her sense of balance.
Axel groaned, the primal sound vibrated against her lips.
His finger dropped from her chin, and still kissing her, he was suddenly walking her backward until she felt her butt press up against the warm metal of the nearby horse trailer.
He grabbed her waist with both hands and hauled her flush against him.
Then his large hands slid over to grip her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh possessively.
She felt his erection, the imprint of his cock, like a heat seeking missile, big and bold and beautiful pressing against her tummy.
The world narrowed to the heat of him, the solid certainty of his presence.
The way he held her was like she was something he’d lost and had finally found again.
Jenna moaned into his mouth as arousal coursed through every inch of her. Her nails raked down his clothed hot chest, her body melted against him harder even as her mind screamed at her to stop.
This was Axel. Her Axel. The realization hit her like a blow. She had never stopped loving him, not for a single day. This man had ruined her for any other man. This was the man she’d never stopped loving.
His hands were everywhere now. Sliding down her back, pulling her top half harder against him, squishing her breasts against his chest.
She whimpered, her hips rolling instinctively, and Axel swallowed her sound.
His kiss turned darker, deeper. His teeth grazed her lower lip, tugging just enough to make her gasp from the erotic pain, and then his tongue was there, soothing the sting, coaxing her open again.
She knew she should stop him. Stop this. Everything inside of her mind told her this was a bad idea.
But then he moved away slightly and his hand slid up to cup her breast through her blouse. His thumb brushed over her bra, her nipple, the touch was like molten lava, unleashing spirals of arousal, and she arched into his touch with a broken sound.
His mouth tore away. He was breathing heavily. They both were.
“Axel,” she whispered against his quivering mouth, her thoughts a spiralling mess.
“Tell me to stop, babydoll. Tell me you don’t want this,” he challenged.
His lips trailed down her jaw, his stubble scraping against her skin.
Jenna’s fingers clenched in his shirt. She should tell him to stop. She should push him away. Should walk away. Send him back to prison. Protect her heart.
But the word no wouldn’t come. Because she did want this. God help her, she wanted him more than her next breath.
He didn’t wait for her to answer.
His mouth crashed back onto hers, his kiss hungry and demanding.
His hands roamed her body as if he was reacquainting himself with her. He smoothed his hot palms over her waist, her hips, the curve of her ass.
He pulled her against him even tighter, letting her feel exactly what she did to him.
Jenna moaned, her body trembling, her mind spinning as his erection grew and grew.
Goodness, but this was wrong. But it was also right. This was everything she’d tried to forget over the years, and it was everything she still wanted.
Damn him!
His lips left hers and he began trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down her throat, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin just below her ear.
Instinctively Jenna’s head fell back, her hands reaching up, her fingers tangling in his hair, holding him to her.
“Axel, we can’t—”
“We can,” he growled. His hand slid up to cup her face and his thumb brushed so light, like velvet, over her lips.
“I can’t stop. Want you so bad. Missed you so much,” he muttered.
And then he was kissing her again, deeper this time, slower, like he had all the time in the world.
Like he was hers.
She softened against him and her hands continued to explore the hard planes of his chest. His heart pounded against her palm, wild and untamed, just like him. Just like them.
Axel’s hands slid down to her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh as he lifted her effortlessly, pressing her back harder against the side of the horse trailer.
The metal was warm from the sun, seeping through her blouse.
It was if she were suddenly sandwiched between two men.
Two male bodies pinning her between them.
Oh my! This felt so perfect.
This must be how it felt to be packed in between two men. Just thinking about it, about Axel…and Nick with her in the middle.
Her pussy was already wet from her arousal, and she was getting wetter now just thinking of a threesome.
She slid her arms down his chest, under his arms and pulled him closer.
He groaned, apparently liking her bold move.
His mouth crushed hers, his kiss turned desperate, almost punishing. His hands were under her blouse now, sliding up her back. How had he managed that with the trailer pressing against her?
His calloused palms felt rough against the smooth skin of her back as he traced the dip of her spine before gripping her hips once again, pulling her against him.
Her body had grown a mind of its own, arching into his, making her mind spin.
This was insane. She couldn’t stop. She wanted more. She felt as if his mouth and body left hers, she would die.
And then his lips did leave her, trailing another line of fire down her jaw, her throat, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin just above her collarbone.
Jenna’s head fell back against the metal, her fingers clutching his shoulders, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps.
“Oh my God, Axel—”
“Shh, just feel,” he murmured against her skin, his voice so rough and aroused.
And she did.
She felt everything.
She felt the heat of his mouth sizzling her skin like a brand.
The scrub of his stubble sparking along her flesh.
The strong way his hands gripped her like he was afraid he would lose her, like she would disappear and the way his body pressed against hers, hard and unyielding, like he was trying to merge them into one.
Dear Lord. This was happening way too fast.
She shouldn’t…
His lips found hers again, his kiss was even slower this time, much deeper, like he was savoring her. Like he’d been starving for her.
Somewhere, deep at the back of her mind an idea sparkled to life.
He still loved her. He had lied in that horrible letter. The letter were he’d told her he didn’t love her anymore and to go on with her life without him.
His touch was fire, branding her, claiming her, and Jenna let him. Let him touch her. Let him kiss her. Let him have her.
Because despite everything, despite the years, the pain, the husband she’d just buried, this man was Axel. And she’d never stopped loving him.
Then suddenly he just stopped. Stopped kissing her, and she felt a bit of her die inside. He cursed softly and then he moved away from her.
The loss of his warmth felt like someone had yanked the ground out from under her and if she hadn’t been leaning against the horse trailer, she swore she would have dropped to her knees.
“Now, isn't that better than hitting? Love not war, babydoll,” he chuckled.
The words sliced through her, turning everything molten inside her into something sharp and her anger rushed back into her.
He’d been playing her. Trying to prove a point?
What a bastard!
“Go to hell! I’ve got work to do!” Jenna shouted and stomped away toward the pasture, moving fast. She kept her back to him, blinking hard, refusing to let him see the tears burning behind her eyes.