Chapter 6 Axel #2
“It’s a fair trade,” I told her, walking over to set a menu down in front of her and smiling. “Thanks for coming by.”
She was so close I could smell her perfume. She smelled like sugar, cinnamon, and peppermint, so maybe it wasn’t perfume, but rather, just her working environment creating that wonderful scent. Whatever it was, my body wanted to be closer.
“I need to get me a tutor,” Tammy said, coming up beside me. “I’ve always wanted to learn another language. Maybe I’ll find me a sexy tutor so that he can quiz me, and when I get an answer right, he has to take off a layer of clothing. Like strip poker, but for tutoring.”
The women all chuckled, but my eyes were focused on Stella’s.
I certainly wouldn’t mind playing that game with her, and based on the heat in her eyes, Tammy’s idea was not something she was dismissing entirely.
I found myself thinking I wouldn’t mind kissing her and touching that amazing body of hers while having her quiz me on my English.
“Okay, so I’m just going to put this out there,” Ruthie said to Stella. “But if you need someone to try out new recipes or be a taste-tester, I would like to volunteer for the job—you don’t even have to pay me! I will totally do it for free.”
“Oooh, yes,” Cat agreed.
“I would also like to taste-test your goodies,” I said, noting how Stella’s face blushed at my comment while Ruthie and Cat snickered.
“Axel…technically there’s nothing wrong with what you said, but it has a double meaning,” Ruthie chimed in.
“What do you mean?” I asked her, hoping for an explanation.
She turned to look at Cat who shook her head. “No, I’m not telling him. That’s all you.”
Ruthie snorted in response, so I turned to look at Stella, whose face was now an even darker shade of red, and she was looking down at the menu as if she were memorizing it.
Clearly missing something here, I turned back to Ruthie. “What? Tell me.”
She curled her finger at me, giving the universal sign for “come closer.” I moved to stand right in front of her and leaned over into her space.
“If you say you are interested in a woman’s goodies, it means you are interested in having sex with her,” Ruthie revealed. “And if you offer to taste-test these goodies…”
She left that last part open-ended, but I could put two and two together.
I immediately looked back over to Stella, who was still staring desperately at the menu and now biting her lip. I couldn’t tell if she was biting her lip so as not to laugh, or because she was thoroughly embarrassed.
“Shit,” I murmured. “I didn’t know.”
“I know. That’s why I told you,” Ruthie said.
“On that hilarious note, I’m gonna head out here in about ten minutes,” Tammy said, nodding to where Corey was walking through the swinging door to the kitchen. “Have a good night, y’all.”
We all said our goodbyes, and I quickly checked in with my other customers before returning to Stella and the other women.
“I’ve got a few minutes here if you want the update, or would you rather I tell you somewhere more private?” I asked, not wanting to embarrass her further if this was something she didn’t want Cat and Ruthie to hear.
“It’s okay,” Stella said, looking at the other women. “Ruthie works in your office, and Cat is married to Vince, so they likely either already know or will soon enough, anyway.”
She wasn’t wrong, but I still didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, just tell me, please. I’m hoping it’s good news so you guys can be done with my troubles.”
I didn’t like the thought of being done with her, but I understood what she was saying.
I filled her in on our conversation with Doucet, everything from his denial of the letters to me implying she was dating someone so he would take the hint.
“That was smart,” Ruthie told me. “I hope you scared the bajeezus out of him.”
“That what out of him?” I asked, not sure I’d heard her correctly.
“Another weird phrase,” Cat answered. “It means the same as scared the crap out of him or scared the hell out of him.”
I nodded in response, but Stella chimed in before I could say anything.
“Okay, I know we have some weird things we say here, but you Swedes must do weird things too,” Stella accused teasingly.
“No. We are pretty much perfect,” I informed her, winking.
She rolled her eyes at that, but I saw the small smile.
“That’s such a lie, and you know it,” Ruthie shot back, laughing. “Every culture has weird things. Tell us some of yours.”
“Weird things Scandinavians do,” I said, thoughtfully while trying to think of something to tell them.
“Hmm, this will be hard because Swedish people are generally just all-around awesome. But if I had to pick something, I would say that we love to say hi to everyone we meet on a hiking trail or in a park, but it’s weird to say hi to everyone you meet on the street.
There is just something about being in nature with the trees that makes us friendlier, I guess. ”
“I can see that,” Cat said.
“That’s a boring fact, though,” Ruthie tossed in. “Give us something weirder.”
I grinned as I thought of one that I had said out loud in a meeting last year with Archer and Wade—the phrase they later laughed at once I explained it.
“Att glida in p? en r?kmacka,” I told them. “It means when you get benefits or success too easy. Uh…the English equivalent would probably be the phrase ‘something handed to you on a silver platter’.”
“Okay, but what makes that weird?” Stella asked.
“Because the literal translation is ‘to slide in on a shrimp sandwich’,” I clarified, causing all three women to laugh.
“So, if Ruthie wanted to imply that I had an easy life and everything handed to me, she would tell people I slid in on a shrimp sandwich?” Cat asked.
I nodded. “Technically, yes.”
“Okay, I think we can all agree that was a good one,” Ruthie declared.
“See, us Swedes are awesome.” I grinned at them. “I am…what did Jack call it the other day? Oh, yes. I am what women would call the large package.”
Stella’s eyes grew wide at my comment, and Ruthie burst out laughing.
Well, shit. Clearly, I didn’t say it exactly the same way Jack had.
“Oh my God, Axel. That was hilarious.” Ruthie wiped a small tear from her eye as she chuckled a little more. “The phrase is ‘I am what women would call the whole package, not large package’. That means something else,” she concluded with a sly grin.
Cat and Stella chuckled, and Ruthie just shook her head while her shoulders vibrated with another silent chuckle.
“Any woman would be lucky to have you, Axel,” Stella said, giving me a flirty smile. “You just need to find one who can handle you and your large package.”
She gave me an exaggerated wink, so I knew she was teasing, but I could also see the desire in her eyes.
Ruthie chuckled next to her. “Oooh! She’s a troublemaker, just like me. I knew I liked you.”
“On that note, I’m headed home,” Cat announced.
“I’m going to head out too,” Stella said, and I found myself disappointed that she was leaving so soon, even though she had actually been here an hour. “I’ve gotta work earlier than usual tomorrow because my early baker is off.”
“Give me just a second, and I will walk you out,” I told her.
“Do you really think Braden is a threat still?” she asked me. “I thought you said you got through to him?”
We likely did, but I still felt the need to walk her out to her car and make sure she was safe.
“We’ll walk her out, Axel,” Ruthie said. “Cat and I will make sure she gets to her car safely.”
“Ruthie, you are pregnant,” I reminded her, because she wasn’t really in a position to be fighting anyone should she need to.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious.” She smirked. “I’m also carrying a Taser and pepper spray, so I am prepared to be Stella’s valiant hero. Besides, if I save her life, she will owe me free bakery items forever, so that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“I’ll be fine, Axel, but thanks for the offer,” Stella said to me and smiled.
The women all left, and I went back to attending to my two other customers.
At the realization that I wanted to spend more time with Stella and the fact that the Doucet problem was hopefully solved, I decided I would swing by Stella’s bakery tomorrow and ask her out on a date.
I had decided not to ask her out until now because if she said no, she would still have to see me from time to time when I brought her updates about Doucet, and I didn’t want that to be uncomfortable. Especially since Doucet asked her out and made it uncomfortable by continuing to show up.
But now, if she said no, there was no reason for me to see her again. Except for her baked goods. Maybe I would just have Anna or Ruthie stop by and get them for me.
All I knew was that I wanted to see her again. I enjoyed being around her. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. And after her comments tonight and the heat in her eyes, I now had my gut telling me my feelings were reciprocated.
“Oh, and just because I saw you staring at Stella’s butt, let me give you another English lesson for free,” Tammy said, interrupting my thoughts. “Booty and butt mean the same thing.”
“I knew that one,” I told her with a smirk.
“Okay, well, call and dial also mean the same thing,” Tammy added. “But a butt-dial and booty-call do not mean the same thing. So, make sure you get those right.”
Note to self: I needed to look both of those up. “Thanks, Tammy.”
“You got it,” she said with a quick smile and a wave. “I’m headed out. Have a good night.”
I waved back briefly, already turning back to the bar, the familiar hum of low conversation pulling me back into the moment as I topped off a drink for a customer whose glass had run dry.
“Hey, man,” Corey said, stepping up next to me to pour a drink from the tap in front of me. “I was clocking in when you were talking to the ladies and I overheard part of your conversation. So, is Stella actually dating someone, or were you just telling that guy that so he would leave her alone?”
Before I could respond to him, he leaned over to wipe the counter in front of us and started talking again. “I ask because I was thinkin’ of askin’ her out, but obviously not if she has a man.”
Too bad, because I beat you to it. Well, I would have by tomorrow, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Yeah, she is seeing someone,” I told him, which wasn’t entirely a lie since she had been coming to see me at the bar for over a week now.
“Well, damn,” Corey said, shaking his head. “I guess us two ruggedly sexy men are just meant for the single life.”
My response was just to nod.
Tomorrow. Yes, hopefully, tomorrow that would change.