Chapter 8 Axel
EIGHT
AXEL
“I would love it if you texted me!”
I grinned, thinking back to Stella’s comment and how she had been so delighted at my invitation.
I had been a bit nervous as to what her response would be since she said she never really got out much, but I was happy to see how excited she was.
She had mentioned multiple times when talking about Doucet that she didn’t have time for dating and wasn’t interested, so I was careful not to make this sound like a date. I wanted it to be, but I needed to see how she felt first before I proceeded. I didn’t want to scare her off.
Several times when she had visited me at the bar, she had given me vibes that she was interested, but then I always thought back to her comments about Doucet, so I held back on asking her out. This curling event seemed like the perfect testing ground.
Anna had texted me that morning to see if I wanted to join her and Archer for a laid-back beginner’s class on Sunday. That’s when the idea had popped into my mind to ask Stella if she would want to join.
I had been meeting with a client about some cybersecurity measures and had decided to swing by Scandinavian Sweets on my way back to the office.
It wasn’t too far out of my way, but it wasn’t that close either. Still, I felt this pull to Stella and had decided to stop by and ask if she’d like to go curling with me.
Yes, I could have just texted her and asked, but I’d really wanted to do it in person. Plus, my meeting had been so close—sort of—that it made perfect sense.
As soon as I walked Stella safely back to her bakery, I got in my car and texted Anna.
Me: I invited Stella to come to curling Sunday. Is that okay?
Anna: Yes! OMG! Why didn’t I think of that!
Me: Okay. Let me know what time it is so I can let her know.
Anna: You got it. We should all grab a bite to eat afterward at the place across the street.
Me: I like that idea.
I made my way back to the office with a grin on my face, thinking ahead to this weekend. I’d been thinking about Stella a lot lately—and not just about her stalker.
I’d thought about how gorgeous her smile was, how soft her hair looked, how kissable her lips appeared. I thought about that last one a lot.
I spent most of my drive thinking of those things plus how much fun it would be to teach Stella curling. I was also looking forward to going out afterward.
I had spent time with her when she came to visit me at the Watering Hole, but I was technically working, so I wasn’t able to really focus on her the entire time like I had wanted to.
I parked my car and walked back into the front lobby of our office, where I was promptly greeted by Ruthie.
“Where did you run off to?”
“I went to the bakery to talk with Stella,” I told her.
“Axel, what the hell is wrong with you?” Ruthie threw up her hands, clearly upset, which confused me.
I stared blankly at her. “Nothing is wrong with me. I feel just fine.”
“Ugh.” Ruthie sighed dramatically. “I meant, how could you go to Stella’s bakery and not bring anything back for the rest of us?”
“Be careful, Axel,” Jack said as he entered the room from the back stairwell. “One of the deadliest mammals on the planet is a pregnant woman who doesn’t get the food she wants.”
I was pretty sure he meant that as a joke, because he often did that to goad her, but again, I wasn’t entirely sure, and Ruthie’s groan in response didn’t help.
I raised my eyebrow at Ruthie because she was very good about clarifying things like this for me.
“He’s joking, Axel.” She sighed, and her face softened briefly, and then she turned back to Jack, her scowl returning. “But unless you want to find out how deadly this mammal can be, you better go get me something from Stella’s bakery. Besides, it’s not for me. It’s for my bun in the oven.”
Jack just looked at her and smiled, but I felt like I was missing something.
I was confused as to why she would need me to bring her something sweet if she was already planning to bake something. “If you’re already baking buns, why do you need something else from the bakery?”
Ruthie’s face softened even more as she turned to me and smiled. “It’s a weird expression we use to refer to a baby,” she said pointing at her stomach. “The stomach is the oven, and the baby is the bun. I don’t know who made it up, but that’s what it means.”
Just when I thought I was making more progress thanks to Stella’s tutoring, there was yet another new phrase to learn. English was a very weird language. I feared I might never truly understand all of it, but I would damn well enjoy letting Stella teach me.
Finally, it was Sunday—four long days later—and I was stoked about curling today. I smiled at my choice of word—a new one Stella had taught me at the bar last week.
I had offered to pick her up and drive her here, but apparently, she and Anna were going shopping beforehand, so they rode together.
I pulled into the parking lot of the curling club and saw Stella and Anna talking together. I noticed Archer off to the side talking on his phone, so I made my way over to the ladies.
As I got closer, I took in what Stella was wearing. Anna and I had both told her to bundle up because the club was essentially an ice rink.
She had on a pale-blue puffy coat, a blue hat, scarf, and mittens—all of which had what appeared to be glitter and sparkles on them.
Damn, she looks cute as hell.
I gazed over her body from top to bottom, and when my eyes met hers, they were twinkling, letting me know she’d caught me staring.
“Yay! We’re all here,” Anna announced as I walked up to them. “Archer, let’s go!”
He was still on the phone but gave her the universal signal to hold on just one more minute.
She waved her hand dismissively at him and started walking into the building. “We’ll just head inside, and he can follow us in when he’s done.”
I walked up next to Stella just as we entered the warehouse-style building and checked in with the attendant, who verified our names on the list and told us where to meet the instructors. It was a sold-out class with twenty-four people total—including us.
Anna and I had been here before, so we knew where to go and where to set up.
“Are you excited?” I asked Stella as we walked over to the equipment lockers.
“Oh, heck yeah!” She was beaming from ear to ear. “My goal is to not get injured. I have no idea what to expect, but I am super excited.”
Damn, I wanted to kiss her so bad in that moment, but I settled for putting my hand on the small of her back as we walked onto the ice.
“I’m glad to hear it. Hopefully, Anna and I will get you hooked, and you can keep coming back with us.
She’s been trying to find more people to get a team together to play in one of the leagues they have here. ”
“Oh yes, Stella, I would love to have you on the team.” Anna clapped her hands.
Stella snorted and shook her head. “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I could suck terribly at this. Why don’t we wait and see how this goes before you add me to your imaginary team?”
“Nonsense,” Anna scoffed.
“Woman, you seriously couldn’t wait two minutes?” Archer said, coming up behind us, but before Anna could answer, two instructors made their way over to us.
They made introductions and taught us a few of the basic rules.
You could immediately tell the difference between the beginners from the ones who had done this before. If you were a newbie, you likely found yourself on your ass because you didn’t realize that balancing was a much more complicated process, which was exactly what Stella did.
When you fell down in regular circumstances, most people utilized the fact that the ground beneath them was sturdy in order to get back up. In curling, though, the ground was ice, which meant you could slip and fall all over again while trying to stand back up if you weren’t careful.
Despite falling—a few times—Stella seemed to take it in stride and smiled and laughed through most of the class.
She was a beautiful woman to begin with, but when she smiled, she was helt otroligt ut. In Swedish, it meant someone with absolutely incredible beauty. The closest English words I could think of would be marvelous or stunning, but those didn’t quite do Stella justice the way the Swedish words did.
I did my best to focus on curling, but also took every opportunity I had to put my eyes on her and just watch her.
More importantly, I hadn’t missed the fact that she, too, snuck glances at me when she thought I wasn’t watching.
After learning the basics and practicing a few times, our instructors felt we were ready to play for real, so they broke us up into teams to play a full game.
There were usually four to a team, so they set us up with another group of four—two men and two women who were friends and came together.
They assigned us the far sheet of ice to play on, so we grabbed our equipment and made our way over there.
After playing two ends—curling’s version of innings or rounds—we were all tied up.
We played the final end by switching up the teams—men versus women.
I felt a little bad because Anna was the only one on the ladies’ team who had prior experience with curling.
Whereas three-fourths of the men’s team had played before.
Not that it made us pros, but it definitely gave us a slight advantage.
Surprisingly, though, their team played great, and it came down to the final stone to determine the winner. Unfortunately for them, I threw the final stone, and it was quite possibly one of the best shots I’d ever made in my life.
In the end, the men’s team won 1-0, but Anna claimed the girls won because me growing up in Sweden gave us an unfair advantage.
We thanked our instructors, handed back our rental equipment, and had just walked out of the building and into the parking lot when Stella grabbed my arm.
“Thank you for inviting me. I had so much fun.”
Even without the words, her smile told me she’d enjoyed her time.
“Apparently the other people we played with were all here on a double date,” she carried on, waving her hands animatedly. “I never think of doing fun things like this on a date. I’ll have to remember that. I think this would be so much fun to do for date night.”
Boom. There it was. The missing puzzle piece.
Now that I knew she wasn’t saying no to all dating, but rather, just dating people like Doucet, I knew I had to take my chance.
First, because I had been biding my time, waiting until I knew if she was open to dating.
Second, because I didn’t want someone else to bring her here on a date. I wanted to be that guy.
However, just as I was about to ask her, Archer and Anna walked up and thwarted my plan.
“Pizza time!” Anna yelled as we made our way across the parking lot over to the pizzeria.
“Did you have a good time?” Archer asked Stella.
“Yeah, but it’s a lot harder than I thought.” She was smiling as she said it, though I watched her rub the side of her thigh a bit where I was sure a bruise was forming.
“My favorite part was when she almost pulled your pants down,” Anna said, giggling.
Stella had been standing beside me and reached for her broom but somehow lost her balance.
I’d lunged to catch her, but my broom had caught on the back of her shoe and sent her stumbling.
She grabbed at anything she could and picked the nearest object—my pants—and I’d instinctively moved one hand from supporting her to hitching my waistband to avoid an accidental strip show.
She’d pulled harder with the other arm to steady herself and had dragged me down with her.
She’d landed on top of me—right between my legs.
Thankfully nothing was injured on my end, but I knew her pride had taken a hit.
Stella let out a combination of a groan and sigh next to me. “Ugh. I just feel bad I crotched into you—I mean crashed! Crashed into you. Dear God, ignore me right now.”
Archer snorted and Anna chuckled beside us, and I watched Stella’s face turn bright red—which only made her cuter.