Page 53 of Black Sheep

He casts an eye over the room, and whirls back to me, jaw clenched, his frame brimming with electricity. “And you won’t bring anything he’s given you. Not even a goddamn toothbrush.”

I snort. “You expect me to go out naked?”

He freezes for a moment, eyes narrowed. The next instant, he shrugs off his leather jacket, drops it to the floor, and tugs his T-shirt over his head.

The unexpected display of chiseled, hairless chest, ripped abs, and golden skin fills my vision. My breath shortens, but the sight is nothing compared to what seeing his tattoos does to me. One elaborate design is a mesmerizing blend of words and symbols, some Celtic, others Japanese. They flow from his left ribcage, up and around his back, and over his shoulders. Around his belly button is a perfect symbol of yin and yang surrounded by vicious flames. On his muscled right arm, four letters spell live from top to bottom. On his left, the same letters from bottom to top, evil.

My jaw drops, and my hands fly out to brace myself against the bathroom doorway. Every promise of the physical specimen he would become was there in his late teens. But I’m still nowhere near prepared for the magnificent end product. From the top of his disheveled hair to the killer boots gracing his feet, I’m helpless against the potency of him.

So I stare. Gorge until my lungs scream for me to take a breath.

Self-preservation kicks in, and I know I can’t watch that stunning perfection without spontaneously combusting so I shift my gaze to the T-shirt he’s holding out to me. I must look brainless because he shakes the fabric at me. “Put this on.”

“You can’t be serious. I can’t go out like this.”

He takes my hand and slaps the material into it. “You can. You will. It’s the choice between my shirt or you being naked.”

“Dear God, you’re insane.”

He doesn’t shrug off the slur. Or laugh it off. He stares at me, a peculiar light in his eyes. “Yes, I am,” he says simply.

I’m not sure what to make of that. Not sure what to make of anything that’s happened here in the last fifteen minutes.

Hands shaking beyond my ability to control them, I pull the T-shirt over my head. Immediately, I’m overwhelmed by his scent. Up close and personal, I drown in the warm spice of him. The cotton slides over my sensitive breasts, eliciting another shudder that shoots straight to my pussy.

Quickly digging my arms through the holes, I tug the shirt down. It falls to my knees, a respectable cover were it not for the fact that everything about this is fucked-up wrong. Especially the light in Axel’s eyes as he drags his gaze over me.

My breath strangles all over again, my senses poised for what he’ll do next.

He bends and scoops up his jacket. I force my gaze from his rippling muscles as he shrugs back into it and zips it halfway up his chest.

Dear heaven, if anything, he looks even more potent.

Desperate to escape the madness rampaging through me, I start walking toward my dressing room.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“I need shoes, Axel.”

“Not. One. Fucking. Thing.”

Striding to the door, he yanks it open and looks pointedly at me.

I can do without shoes. Absurdly enough. But there are vital phone numbers I can’t leave without. “Please. My purse. My phone.”

Tension ripples his jaw. “You can bring your phone, but that’s it. You won’t need your purse.”

He’s a powder keg ready to explode. I rush to my bedside and dig my phone out of my purse while he bristles and catalogues my every move.

Because I can count on the fingers of one hand the things that mean a damn to me in this room, my feet don’t drag as I exit.

He slams the door loud enough to wake the dead. His fingers circle my wrist, and I’m propelled down the hallway to the stairs.

When we’re halfway down, Finnan appears at the bottom of the stairs. Although he doesn’t break his stride, Axel moves in front of me, his bulk almost obscuring my view of Finnan.

“I came to wish you Godspeed. But also to tell you you’re welcome back here anytime you want. Both of you.”

We reach the last step, and Axel places his body directly in front of mine. “You shouldn’t have bothered,” he snaps. “Get out of my way or I’ll be happy to assist you.”

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