Sweet Hope (Sweet Home #4) (22 page)

“I mean, that long almost-black hair, the beard, the tattoos on his neck and face… the whole
I’m an ex-gangster, I could kill you on the spot and I’ve served hard time thing?
Whew!” Cass fanned herself with her hand, “If I wasn’t pregnant and married I’d be all up in that bad boy shit! I’d sure as hell rehabilitate him!”

Jimmy-Don was staring at Cass in exasperation. After all, she was being her typically loud self. I forced down a swig of my wine for fear I‘d burst out laughing… especially when I looked at Austin and Axel who were staring at Cass with mutual expressions of disbelief. At least Austin was; Axel just glared at her, his jaw clenching.

Austin, deciding to ignore Cass, nodded to Axel in the direction of JD, Rome and Lev. When Axel reluctantly looked over at the three men, they were all watching him with wary expressions, none of which exactly looked
welcoming.

Axel pointed his beer at the seat nearest to me, under the TV. “I’ll just watch the game,” he said gruffly. He sounded his usual hard tough self, but I could detect the pain and hurt in his gaze and his voice. Levi's actions made it clear he wanted Axel nowhere near him.

Hearing Cass sigh again, I looked in her direction and she was still fanning herself, staring hungrily at my man. She turned to me and mouthed, “
That voice!
”

Part of me was glad that Cass felt the way she did. It gave me hope that Axel and I weren’t a lost cause.

“So, Ally,” Cass said, leaning back against the couch as Axel slumped into the chair… the chair that offered a perfect view of me. Hell, he was sat exactly opposite.

I turned to Cass. “Yeah, darlin’?”

“Rumor has it, you got yourself a new beau?” Cass’s eyebrows danced, but my cheeks flamed when I saw Axel freeze in my peripheral vision.

“Yes,” I whispered and took a sip of my wine, trying to avoid follow-up questions.

“
So
, what’s he like? Some reclusive artist, right?”

Feeling my breathing hollow out, I nodded my head. “Yes.”

Cassie slapped her thigh loudly and groaned in frustration at my short answers. “Ally, I’m pregnant and have been with JD for what seems like forever. Molly’s knocked up too and Lexi and Austin, well, she’s his little Pix and he’s her bad boy. They don’t see anyone else, so we need to live the single life vicariously through you. So spill it, I need details! Mama needs some gossip!”

Flashing a glance to Axel, I debated what to say. I was worried I would be too transparent and our secret would be found out. Axel raised his bottle of beer to his mouth and cast a glance back at me. That one hungry look alone melted me on the spot. I thought I caught a flicker of amusement in his dark eyes, but from here I couldn’t be sure.

Shit. I had no idea how to get out of this.

Feeling Cass’s laser stare burning through me, I sighed in defeat and asked, “What do you want to know, Cass? I don’t really wanna talk about it… it’s private.”

When she smiled excitedly, I knew I shouldn’t have spoken.

She screwed up her face, deep in thought, then pursing her lips, she asked, “What’s he like in bed? Hung? Fuck of the century?”

Choking on my sip of wine, I spluttered a cough and looked to Lexi and Molly who were trying real not to laugh at Cass.

“Cass!” Lexi admonished, her lips pursed in humor, “Stop it!”

Cassie’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What?”

“You can’t ask things like that, Cass,” Molly said tiredly, causing me to momentarily forget my exasperation at Cass and grow concerned for her instead.

“Yeah, I can. We’re all friends here! And I friggin’ heard you and Bullet fucking and screaming more than I wanted to back in College, so there’s no need for shyness now, Mol! Ain’t no secret you’re at it like bunnies!” Cass’s hand landed on my arm as Molly’s eyes bugged out. Rome coughed behind us, and Cass plowed on regardless. “
Well?
The sex? How is it?”

Blowing out a breath, I could feel my face flame, but I replied quietly, “The best of my life, Cass. It’s…
he’s
, amazing. There, you happy now?”

Cassie grinned and I dipped my head to look at Axel, who was staring at me, his gaze lit with the heat I’d come to adore. He wanted me. And,
Christ
, I wanted him too.

“And looks? What does he look like? I need a visual,” Cass asked.

“He’s dark, beautiful, muscled… pretty damn near perfect,” I whispered, realizing that I was betraying more of how I felt about Axel than intended. “Putting it simply, he’s the most incredible and staggering man I’ve met, in
all
ways, not just physically, though he’s beyond words in that department too.”

“Well, shit, Al!” Cass said, for once, her voice at low volume, “I didn’t know you were
gone
for the guy, like fallen head over heels, gone. I thought it was just sex?”

My heartbeat accelerated to match the speed of a Hummingbird’s wings, and I blinked too fast. Cass’s arm threaded over my shoulders. “You really like this mysterious guy, huh?”

Inhaling a shuddering breath, I cast a side-glance to Axel who was gripping the neck of his bottle with a fierce intensity, waiting with bated breath for my reply.

“He’s stolen my heart,” I whispered, “It’s hopelessly and irreparably fused to his.”

“Ally…” Lexi hushed out and I saw water fill her eyes. “I had no idea…”

Feeling the room aquire a deafening silence, I looked up to see all my friends staring at me in surprise. Clearing my throat, I nervously asked, “What y’all staring at me for? She asked me, I was just being honest.”

Molly sat forward capturing my attention. “Just never seen you this smitten with a guy before, sweetie. It’s a blessing to witness.”

As I stared into the golden brown eyes of my best friend, I said, “That’s because he’s not just any guy, he’s my
more
, my bolt of lightning, the one I’ve been waiting for all my life.” A smile pulled on my lips as I stared at the floor and I whispered, “
Él es mi corazón
.”

I knew they couldn’t understand that I’d just called Axel my heart, and I was glad, it was my admission to myself.

When I looked across the room, Axel was sitting forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees. Then, as if feeling my stare, and unable to cope with such a declaration, wordlessly, he got to his feet and walked out of the room.

Feeling like the air had been stolen from my lungs, I drained the rest of my wine and got to my feet too. “If you'll excuse me a moment,” I requested, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

Leaving my friends to mull over my confession, I walked into the hallway and, on my left, I saw Axel enter the kitchen.

As I looked down at the empty glass in my hand, I knew, if caught, I could use that as my excuse for being in the kitchen with Axel. I simply needed more wine. That was plausible, right?

Not giving it anymore thought, I entered the large kitchen, immediately spotting Axel. He was bent over, hands placed firmly on the countertop. His back was rising and falling with deep controlled breaths.

Checking no one was behind me, I walked forward and stood beside him. Axel jumped on sensing my presence. His guarded expression melted into one of deep want when he saw it was me.

Without taking his hands off the counter, his eyes slowly undressed me. I could feel my nipples harden under his harsh scrutiny. “Fuck, Ally,” he rasped, his deep voice guttural, and I could see a bulge forming beneath his jeans. “You’re fucking killing me looking like that. Fucking nearly took you on the TV room floor.”

Clenching my thighs together at the effect his words were having on me, I turned and pretended to search a cupboard up high. I could feel Axel’s hard stare on me as I reached up, faking a search for more wine, knowing my stomach was showing and my breasts were pushing out as my back arched.

Hearing a low groan, my breathing paused when Axel brushed past my back with his front as though he was innocently passing by me to reach for a glass.

Shivers ran down my spine at his hard touch and I bit back a moan as his warm breath drifted by my neck. As if that alone didn’t have me yearning for him to press me up against the counter and fuck me from behind, the scrape of his lips and teeth on the skin of my nape sure did.

Slamming my palm on the granite surface to steady my feet, he ordered almost inaudibly, “You better leave those shoes on tonight when I get you alone. I want you in nothing but them, your hair as it is now and those heels stabbing into my back.”

Shakily opening another cupboard door, I kept up the pretense of searching for
anything
, when his arm pushed past mine, his skin scalding.

“You’re getting me alone?” I asked, knowing he, and only he, would be able to hear me.

Axel’s head leaned closer to mine. Licking along the shell of my ear with his hot tongue, my eyes fluttering closed, he growled. “You fucking bet I am. Didn’t have you last night and didn’t like it. I…” he cleared his throat and I heard him pause in breath, “I… missed you,
carina
…”

Completely shocked that an admission so heartfelt came out of his usually non-confessional mouth, such tender, honest words, when he rarely gave
anything
away, made me tearful. “Axel…”

I forced myself to hold it together, but my heart was so full of emotion and my blood so charged with need that I didn’t think it would be possible.  Axel didn’t move from my side. In fact his large hand drifted across my stomach, wandering fingers first running along my exposed skin, then drifting down to trace the outline of my pussy as his lips drifted from my ear to nip at my neck.

“Did you mean it?” he whispered and my eyes fluttered open.

“Mean what?” I asked breathlessly.

“That I’ve stolen your heart,” he hushed. I could hear the reluctance in his voice at how much he wanted to know, “that it’s hopelessly fused to mine.”

Warmth filled my chest as he repeated my completely honest words back to me. Sliding behind me, his unyielding arm around my waist grinding my ass against his hard crotch, he pushed, “Well, did you? I need to fucking know…”

I could feel his heart beating rapidly against my back. I smiled. He was nervous. Axel Carillo, with me wrapped in his strong tattooed arms, desperately wanted my words to be true. He needed someone to care about him so strongly… he needed to be…
wanted
.

“Yes,” I murmured in a quiet voice, knowing that I could tell him so much more if I wasn’t so afraid. “I meant every single word. You have completely consumed, possessed and made me yours,
querido.
Todo tuyo
…”

Axel’s grip on my waist bordered on painful and his hips rocket against my ass with more force, making us both moan. Hard his cock was teasing my already-wet pussy.

Gasping and scraping my fingernails against his hands, Axel was suddenly dragging me across the room toward the pantry. Once there, he slammed my back up against the wall, his hands keeping my wrists pinned up above my head. My chest heaved and he groaned on seeing my breasts swell with his attention.

“I feel like fucking you hard, right here, right now, against this wall,
la mia luce.
I want to feel you strangling my cock so fucking bad.”

I licked my lips, so turned on I couldn’t stand the torture,
the sweetest of tortures
, but torture nonetheless. I wanted what he offered too. I needed him inside me. I needed that feeling of a lightning bolt piercing through my body, the one I only ever felt when I came with him.

“Axel…” I sighed, my eyelids hooded as his full, moist mouth descended on mine. The short hairs from his beard teased my lips as they lightly feathered against mine, the taste of beer still prominent round his mouth. Then on an unrestrained groan, Axel surged forward and took my lips with his, his movements furious. They offered a promise… a promise of what lay ahead for us tonight when we were alone… when we could be together with no restraints.

Needing more, always needing more from this man, I pushed my insistent tongue through his lips until my tongue caressed his.

Axel, showing a strength I failed to possess, broke away on a pained growl. Dropping his hand to frame my face with his palm, an intricate spider web tattoo covering the skin, he said, “Text me when you want to leave, I’ll be outside waiting for you. I want you to myself tonight.”

Nodding numbly, my legs shaking like a newborn foal, I pulled my arms from Axel’s hold and straightened my skirt and hair. Axel’s hard gaze watched me the entire time. I lifted my hand to rest on his chest and  confirmed, “Tonight,
querido
.”

Just as I turned to leave, Axel nudged his chin in the direction of my shoes. “Remember, they stay the fuck on.”

Nodding silently in agreement, fighting the instinctive urge I had to not fall into his arms and beg him to take me at this second, I forced myself to walk back into the TV room where everyone was still talking. They didn’t know I’d just experienced one of the most erotic moments of my life with the man I’d just betrothed my heart to.