Chapter 17

Axel

I tightened the knot of my tie at my throat and looked at my reflection. The black suit was a stark contrast to the usual blue jeans and oil-stained T-shirt I always wore. My scruff had been trimmed and tamed. I looked like a gentleman.

I wasn’t sure if I liked it.

More than that, I wasn’t sure if Ellie would like it.

I scoffed at myself and shook my head. A thought like that would never have occurred to me a few years ago. I also wouldn’t be caught dead in a suit a few years ago. This was a night of firsts for me, apparently.

After I stepped into my shoes, the buzzer at the front door went off, and I hurried to let Ellie through the gate. She had arrived at exactly seven o’clock. I peered out the window beside the front door to watch a car drive up.

When Ellie got out of the car, my heart stopped.

She stepped out, one long leg after another, and then closed the door behind her. She was wearing a dark dress that revealed a lot of chest with a wide neckline. The sleeves were long and tight, and the dress sort of puffed out at her waist. Not only was Ellie wearing a dress, but she was also wearing heels.

When my tongue finally came unstuck from the roof of my mouth, I opened my front door. Ellie continued walking up the drive, her heels clicking in a steady rhythm as she walked toward me.

Dangly earrings glittered in her ears and winked behind loose strands of blond curls that tumbled around her face. The rest of her hair was drawn up in a soft tumble of curls, and I was overwhelmed with the urge to bury my hand in her hair and pull it all loose.

That urge led to other urges.

Like fucking her while she wore that damn dress.

When she was close enough to me, she stopped. She looked up at me in the doorway and smiled. She was wearing red lipstick, and her eyes looked somehow bluer. I realized I had never seen her in makeup before. Her gaze was intense and framed with black shadow and liner. She looked like she belonged on a movie set.

She did not look like my Ellie.

“You clean up nice,” she said, moving her hand up and down as she gestured at the suit. “I always wondered if you owned anything besides jeans and old T-shirts.”

“I often wondered the same thing about you,” I said, closing the front door and locking it behind me. Then, I turned back to her and joined her on the driveway. “You look beautiful.”

She smiled and looked down at our feet. “Thank you.”

“Come on, I’ll drive.” I took her hand without thinking about it, and the two of us went to my car. I opened her door for her and couldn’t take my eyes off her legs as she climbed in. I walked around the hood and slid into the driver’s seat, started up the engine, and reversed out of the driveway through the still-open gate. I waited for it to close behind me before pulling out onto the street and taking off for the restaurant.

I handed my keys to the valet driver outside Dino’s fifteen minutes later. I had booked us a reservation and was aware of how out of my element I was. I was a burgers and fries kind of man. A beer man. I had no clue what I was getting myself into once I stepped through those doors.

Based on the subtle resistance I felt in Ellie’s hand on my elbow, I suspected she felt the same way. The two of us would have been much more comfortable at a pub. Or a diner.

But I couldn’t deny how much I wanted this.

The hostess took us to a table in the middle of the restaurant. Ellie took her seat and crossed her legs while the waitress rattled off their list of specials for the evening. There were some seafood options, lamb, and steak. Ellie ordered a glass of red wine, and I opted for a rye and ginger ale to keep it simple.

After the waitress left, Ellie and I sat staring at one another. I couldn’t take my eyes off the little things about her that I had never noticed. She had a pair of freckles beneath her right collarbone. Her cupid’s bow was dramatic and perfect. I wanted to kiss and suckle her perfect lips and taste the wine on her tongue. I also noticed her eyes were tilted slightly upward, or perhaps that was the eyeshadow. I wasn’t sure, but it made her look kind of catlike. It was sexy, I had to admit.

I also knew how sexy she would look face down on my bed with that makeup smeared all over the fucking place.

“So,” she said after the waitress arrived with our drinks. “This is a little weird.”

“I was afraid I was the only one who thought so. It’s a good weird, though. Right? A change of scenery is nice.”

“Do you mean the restaurant?” Ellie asked, her head tilting to the side.

I blinked. “Yes.” I realized she thought I meant her. That a change of scenery in her looks had been nice. In other words, she thought I had just told her it was nice to see her looking all dolled up.

“I did this for you,” she said, running her palms over her thighs. I could hear the rustle of the dress against her skin and wondered if it would make the same sound when I pushed it up her thighs later. “Jamie helped me. I never would have pulled it off without her help. I thought you would think it was too much.” She looked up at me, cheeks slightly pink, as if she were asking my permission.

“Ellie, you look sexy as hell. But I think you look just as hot when you’re covered in grease from being under a car all day.”

Her smile grew, and her blush deepened.

“I like you for who you are, not what you wear.”

She bit her bottom lip and reached for her wine. “That’s good to know.”

“So, tell me. What do you think about Jamie? Should we keep her around? Since you’re the one who spends the most time with her in the shop, I figured you should have a say. If you don’t like her, I’ll find someone else.”

“What? No, that’s okay. I like her. I spent the whole day with her and had a really good time, actually.”

“You’re sure? You don’t need to say that just to—”

Ellie shook her head. “I’m not just saying it, Axel. I mean it. I want her to stay. I think I can have a real friendship with her. And, no offense, but it’ll be nice to have another girl around to balance out all the testosterone. You know?”

I laughed and sipped my drink. “Hadn’t thought of that. Fair enough.”

Our meals arrived, and I was happy to see that the formal clothes and fancy makeup didn’t impede Ellie’s ability to enjoy her meal. For some reason, I was associating her appearance with her behavior. Any other time I went out with a woman dressed like this, she ordered a salad and picked at it daintily. Usually, they would leave a portion of their meal untouched.

Ellie, thankfully, was not that kind of girl regardless what she was wearing. She had ordered a pasta topped with prawns and was making short work of it. I was used to this. Usually, when she picked up breakfasts or subs for lunch, she would finish eating around the same time as me and the other guys. I figured it had become habit. She didn’t want to miss out on any of the big jobs in the shop, so she made sure she could keep up with us.

“This is amazing,” Ellie said, closing her eyes as she savored her meal. “How’s yours?”

“Good.” I nodded. And it was. But I hadn’t even been thinking about the meal. I was so wrapped up in watching her every movement that nothing else seemed all that important right now.

“You know, I haven’t gone on a date in a long time.” Ellie tucked a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear, revealing the line of her jaw and her slender neck. I wanted to put my hands there and feel her soft skin under my palm. “It’s kind of nice. And I’m really glad I’m here with you.” Her big blue eyes swept up from the table to meet mine. There was a question there.

“Me too,” I said. And, without thinking, I reached across the table and put my hand over hers. She smiled. “I don’t know when I went so soft. You’re going to destroy my hard-earned reputation, you know.”

“I won’t tell a soul.” Ellie held her finger vertically in front of her red lips. The strand of hair she had just tucked away fell loose as she looked back down at her plate and continued eating.

I realized my hand was still resting on hers and withdrew. The girl was going to ruin me. And I wasn’t going to stop her.

Even if I wanted to, I knew how powerless I was to her now. She had me wrapped around her finger, and I prayed she didn’t know it yet.

After dinner, I invited Ellie back to my house to share a bottle of wine on my patio. After finishing up at the restaurant, we drove back to my place. Old soft rock was playing on the stereo, and I spent the drive with my hand on Ellie’s thigh. She wrapped her fingers around mine, and we talked about the new shop, a bit about Jamie, and Johnny and Dani.

Our conversation wandered all over the place until I pulled through my front gate and parked the car outside my garage. We got out of the car and met in front of the hood. Then, I took her hand in mine, and we went up the driveway to the front door.

I slid the key in the lock while Ellie waited on the step below me. There was a chill in the air, and I suspected she was regretting having bare legs. I pushed the door open wide and turned back to her.

She was looking up at me with those intense blue eyes of hers that made me feel like I was losing myself. Her red lipstick had faded to a bright pink, and her lips were curved upward in a soft smile. A smile I needed to kiss. To undo. To slip between. She was so close, I could see goosebumps across her cleavage and shoulders.

“Come here,” I said.

She joined me on the top step. I wrapped a hand around her waist and drew her into me. With my other hand, I did what I had been aching to do since I saw her. I drew her hair back, held on to it against the side of her head, and then kissed her hard enough to feel her teeth press into my bottom lip.

It was like kissing summertime. The wine had left the taste of berries on her tongue, and her lipstick was somehow sweet too. Like vanilla. She suckled and pulled at my bottom lip as her hands slipped inside my jacket and wandered up my chest.

Her touch was kryptonite to me. I devoured her kisses, leaning into her and forcing her back a step. Her shoulder blades hit the window at her back, and she didn’t stop me when I lifted her leg under the knee. She hooked her leg around mine and held herself there as her hands slipped between the buttons of my shirt.

I eased my hand up her smooth thigh to her hip, where I discovered she wasn’t wearing any panties. My surprise halted our kiss, and she smiled against my lips.

“I did that for you too,” she whispered.