Page 17 of Hello Forever
“Yeah,” I admitted, trying to make it sound like no bigthing.
“Cool.” He gave me a funny smile. “Glad he’s making friends already. Have a nice night!” He turned and went back into thehouse.
I stood there for a minute in the dark, wondering what the hell had just happened. This wasexactlywhy I needed to stay the hell away from Axel. My feet itched to turn around and retreat. But before I could take a step, a door swung open in the building next to the house. Light spilled over the stairs leading to what looked like the garage’s secondfloor. “Cax?”
The sound of Axel’s voice was all it took to unstick me. Without my permission, my body moved toward the person I wanted to see most in theworld.
I took those stairs in a daze, following Axel into the apartment at the top. The first thing that hit me was the smell of something wonderfulcooking.
“My place isn’t much,” he said, reaching for my coat. I handed it over. Then he headed over to a tiny excuse for a kitchen as I shut the door behind me. “But I liked thelocation.”
“It’s…nice,” I said. And it was. The room wasn’t large, but it was like a little woodsy hideaway. Axel bent over to check something in the oven, and I found myself admiring the way his ass filled out a pair of dark-washjeans.
Stop, I chided myself. Staring at men’s butts was something I did all the time. It was the only sex I ever got, and therefore I felt entitled. But I couldn’t stare atthatass—on the only man I’d ever touched. Just thinking about what we’d done in that tent all those years ago made my pulse jump and my cock growheavy.
Moving on. I took a deep breath and thought of my father’s angry face. That always did thetrick.
Beyond the kitchen and dining table, there was a small, two-seat sofa facing a rather nice wall-mounted TV. And on the far wall, a generous row of windows looked out on the moonlit pines. He’d put his bed over there. That’s what I would havedone,too.
I looked away, because there was no way I could think about beds while I was here. There were precious few places I could comfortably rest my eyes while standing in a roomwithAxel.
There was snow dripping off my boots, so I kicked them off and carried the bottles I’d brought over to the counter. “I brought you a couple of local beers.” I lifted a four-pack onto the counter. “And a bottle of red. That’s my drug ofchoice.”
Axel turned around and smiled at me, which was a real shock to my system.Damn, that smile. “Can I pour you aglass?”
What was the question? “Um,thanks.”
He opened a drawer and pulled out a corkscrew while I tried not to notice the muscles flexing in his arms. “Actually, can you open ’er up? I need to make a saladdressing.”
“So…” I cleared my throat. “Youcook,huh?”
“Sure.You?”
I made myself busy opening the wine. “No, sir. I had a roommate in college who did all the cooking. I tell him all the time that it’s his fault I’mhelpless.”
Axel laughed. “Sounds pretty handy, actually. Anyonespecial?”
It took me a minute to understand the question. “Oh—no. Not like that.” I felt my face reddening at the idea. My roommate Gil had no idea about me. Even after four years of livingtogether.
Axel began whisking a bowl of oil and vinegar. I watched him, feeling as though I was having an out of body experience. He was both incredibly familiar and terribly strange. Axel had bulked up, and I sure did appreciate the view. But I could still see the skinnier teenager that he’doncebeen.
Trippy.
I cleared my throat. “Are you going to tell me what brings you to Barmuth? I mean…obviously basketball. You always lovedbasketball.”
He turned and shot me another smile, this one so gorgeous that I knew I’d be taking a cold shower later. “Yeah, I never got over my obsession with hoops.” He chuckled. “I work for the athletic department in marketing. I’ll be covering soccer andlacrosse,too.”
“Wow. That’s a cool job. But whyBarmuth?”
Axel looked down at the counter and bit his lip, which seemed like an odd reaction. “Well, they offered me a job. And nobody else did. Every guy wants to talk about sports for a living, I guess. There aren’t a lot ofopenings.”
My answer was a reflex. “Noteveryguy.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. Anyway—I’d never spent any time in Massachusetts, and I didn’t really know what to expect. But there was nothing keeping me in Ohio. After graduation, my boyfriend dumped me and my friends all moved away. So I put my TV and my clothes in a rental van and droveouthere.”
My boyfriend. Well, that answered that question. Axel liked men. I felt another tightening in my groin just picturing Axel with a man. Axel unbuttoning another man’s shirt. Axel’s hands on a man’schest.
Jesus. Time to talk about sports again. “Your degree is inmarketing?”
