“I don’t know what this feeling is, but I do know it’s a whole lot more than okay.”

His arm around me squeezed tight.

“It’s always been big, what’s between us, you know?” he whispered into my hair.

Oh, I knew.

Kiss me like you mean it.

Not once, not a single kiss, not even a lip touch, did he ever kiss me like he didn’t mean it.

I nodded.

“The first time I saw you dance,” he said.

I closed my eyes.

That was when it happened for him.

The first time he saw me dance.

For me?

When he walked into that studio, trying to pretend everything was cool, and I knew he’d seen me lose it, and the expression on his face said he wanted to sweep me away.

Take me someplace safe.

Slay dragons for me.

No one had ever looked at me like that in my life.

So yeah.

That was when it happened for me too.

“Yeah,” I said against his skin.

“You’re remarkable, Hattie.”

I flattened my hand against his back, pressing in.

My voice was husky when I said, “You too.”

“No, listen to me, hear me, baby, you’re remarkable, Hattie.”

I pulled my face out of his throat, tipped my head back, slid my hand up into his hair and drew his mouth down to mine.

I kissed him.

And I meant it.

He then kissed me at the same time he rolled me.

We went slower that time, and he lost the cargos completely.

But in the end, it was just as big.

Chapter Fourteen

Scratched the Surface

Hattie

Hands woke me.

And lips.

I stretched, languorous.

Axl, his heat spooning me in his bed, slid his mouth from my shoulder to my ear.

“Mornin’, baby,” he murmured there.

I stretched again, more languorously.

He was here.

With me.

He’d slept here.

With me.

“Morning,” I whispered.

His hand hit my hip.

“Wanna go down on you,” he said.

Oh yes.

We hadn’t done that yet.

I twisted my neck and caught his eyes.

So beautiful.

“’Kay,” I agreed.

Those icy-blues shone with humor and something even better before he took my mouth in a slow, Sunday morning kiss.

Then, with that hand at my hip, he pressed me to my back, and he wasn’t kidding.

He wanted to go down on me.

I was sleepily surprised that, without preamble, he slid my panties off, opened me to him, and dipped right in.

I didn’t need any preamble when he got down to business.

Holy heck.

Axl purred when he ate a woman out.

It was sublime.

*  *  *

Croissants, butter, jam, coffee, me in my nightie, Axl in his sleep pants (these black with a black elastic band), post-orgasm (me, two, Axl, one) and his bed.

I’d never had one, but I recognized it immediately.

My perfect morning.