CHAPTER 17
Brynn was floating in the precarious zone between waking up and drifting back off to sleep when she felt a chill. Out of habit, she reached for the blanket that she was sure Lucy must’ve stolen in the middle of the night. Her half-conscious plan was to cover herself up and let the enveloping warmth of the comforter lull her back into slumber. But her plan was thwarted when her palm hit something hard and solid. Her lids flew up and she saw Axel asleep beside her. His face was so peaceful and content. So relaxed and happy.
Memories from the night before flooded back to her. Her going to Axel’s apartment. Him kissing her and making love to her against the wall. Then her trying to get dressed and leave and him kissing her again. Making love on the couch. Her saying she was worried about Lucy. Moving down to the main house, popping popcorn, watching Property Brothers, and talking into the wee hours of the morning.
Morning.
She lifted her head and saw tiny flecks of dust in the sunlight streaming in through the slit in the drapes. The sun was up. That was impossible. Her eyes shot to her phone on the nightstand. She clumsily fumbled for the device and pressed the home button to see what time it was.
There was a seven followed by two zeros.
“It’s seven o’clock?” she whispered as she stared at the numbers in disbelief.
That couldn’t be right. She hadn’t slept past her five a.m. internal reveille since she was twelve years old.
Beside her, she felt Axel stir. Her breath caught in her throat and she held it as she turned her head, expecting to find him awake. When she saw that his eyes were shut, she exhaled slowly in relief. She needed a few moments to process everything.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure which was more surprising, everything that happened last night or the fact that she’d slept in.
A knock sounded at the front door before she was able to fully contemplate her situation. Startled, she jumped out of bed, suddenly feeling like a teenager caught with a boy in her room. One quick glance over her shoulder told her that her sudden movements hadn’t disturbed Axel or Lucy, who was curled up at his feet.
Brynn grabbed her phone and her heart raced as she hurried down the hall. Mentally, she felt like she was a beat behind and her brain was playing catch up.
It was Saturday morning.
Ryder had spent the night at the high school. He wasn’t due back until this evening as he’d asked if he could go help Ali and the boys over at the rental shop.
A good work ethic was something that she’d done her best to instill in Ryder. And it made her feel good that he took helping out at the shop seriously and didn’t just mess around with his friends when he was there. Ali always raved about how hardworking Ryder was.
The thoughts of Ryder made her decide that she needed to wake Axel up as soon as she got rid of whoever was at the door. Teenagers were unpredictable and the last thing she’d ever want was for Ryder to come home and find Axel in the house, or worse, her bed.
She envisioned how waking him up might go, hoping for him tugging her into bed and them going for round three, as she opened the door. The bright morning sun flooded her entryway and she squinted and lifted her hand to her forehead. Jess was standing on her front porch, holding a bag and two paper cups from Cobblestone Cafe.
“Were you sleeping?” her friend asked expectantly.
“Um, I just woke up.”
“Yay! I thought for sure I’d be too late.”
“Too late for what?” Brynn asked, still a step behind.
“For breakfast in bed.” She lifted the bag and the carrier that held the drinks and stepped inside her house.
“You brought me breakfast in bed?” Brynn smiled widely as she closed the door behind her friend.
“I did.” Jess spun so she was facing her. “Ali wanted to come too, but Saturdays are crazy at the rental shop.”
“You guys are so sweet.”
“We are. But full disclosure, we also wanted to discuss last night.”
Last night?
How did they know?
They were already gone when she’d slow danced with Axel. Her mother was a self-professed clairvoyant but she didn’t think her friends had ever made such claims.
“Last night?” she swallowed so hard she was sure it was audible.
“Yes. It’s a good news, bad news situation.”
“Okay.” Brynn assumed she was referring to the good news being that her dry spell was over, and the bad news being, absolutely nothing would come of it because Axel was moving in a couple of months.
“Ethan and Kade didn’t come up with any new information on Axel.”
Oh, that. With everything that had happened, Brynn totally forgot about her friends’ plan to have their men grill Axel.
Jess continued, seeming totally unaware of the portion of last night that Brynn had been thinking of. “But they both really like him. Ethan said he’s ‘solid’ and Kade thinks he’s a good guy.”
“Oh.” Brynn felt her lips curve up. She wasn’t sure why she was happy that Kade and Ethan had high opinions of him, but she was. “Good.”
“Yeah…that’s all good and everything…” Jess’s lips went flat in a straight line. “But I still feel like we’re missing something. There’s something up with him, I just can’t put my finger on it.”
There was something up with him. And Brynn had put a lot more than her finger on it. That thought caused her skin to heat. One of the worst parts of having such fair skin was that her emotions were displayed on her face in high def.
She heard a noise and for a moment she thought that it might be Axel. Her heart slammed against her chest as she turned toward the hallway. The doorway was empty.
“What?” She turned back to her friend and saw her questioning expression. “Oh, yeah…I thought I heard something.”
“Heard what? Isn’t Ryder at the school?”
Leave it to Jess to not let it go. Just like she wasn’t letting this whole Mystery Man thing go. She thought about telling the truth, that Axel was in her bed. But for some reason she didn’t. They hadn’t spoken about what last night meant yet, even though it was probably nothing. And he was still in her house.
“I thought I heard Lucy.”
Jess quirked her head to the side. A telltale sign that she wasn’t buying what Brynn was telling her. “Brynn, what’s goin—”
Her friend’s question was interrupted by another knock at the door.
Brynn jumped slightly. “Who’s that?”
She hadn’t meant to sound so surprised at having another visitor, but she was. Jess was already there. Ali was at the rental shop, and the only other person that stopped by unannounced was Karen, but Brynn knew that she’d be busy with breakfast at the B&B.
“One way to find out.” Jess’s eyes bounced between the door and Brynn. “Are you going to answer it?”
“Oh yeah.” Wow. She really was a beat behind today.
She inhaled slowly as she opened the door and was faced with the exact same eyes as the ones that she’d fallen asleep gazing into. But unlike those milk chocolate pools that belonged to a six-foot-plus imposing man, this pair belonged to the five-foot-something teenager that Brynn had stalked on Instagram.
“Hi, I’m Izzy. I’m looking for my brother, Axel. Do you know where I can find him?”
Yep. In my bed.