CHAPTER
“Totally useless!” I exclaim, dropping the burnt cornbread onto the counter. Didn’t I follow the instructions and time it perfectly? Why the hell is it black? The state the cornbread is in, it’s fit for only one thing and that’s to throw in the trash. As soon as the baking tin cools, that’s exactly what I would do.
Bored out of my mind, I’d decided to try and bake cornbread, using the recipe my grandmother had given me when I left for college. I’ve never tried to bake anything before and maybe never will again! Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel with this whole cooking thing. Like I should throw in the towel with the whole Axel thing.
A whole week and no word from him. My heart aches. I’m tempted to call him but what would I even say to him? He is the one who owes me an apology for going through my bag. He should be the one to call me but he doesn’t seem inclined to do this any time soon.
The ringing of my phone sends me heart racing. Is he finally calling? I grab the phone from the table where I’d dropped it in my haste to get the cornbread from the oven. My heart slows in disappointment. It’s my grandmother and not Axel.
“Hi Gram.” I force an upbeat voice which has me sounding falsely high pitched than I naturally am.
“Joyce, I haven’t heard from you in days. How are you?” Her tone is chiding.
“Sorry, gram. Had a lot of things on my mind.”
“Is everything okay between you and Axel?” she asks.
“Why’d you think anything was between me and Axel?” I return.
“Well, if there wasn’t anything between you two, the man would have hardly called me.”
I am so stunned at the news, I didn’t know how to react. “Axel called you?”
“A time or two. Just checking up on me.”
“Are you sure it was Axel?” Good Lord, is she getting one of those mental diseases that plague older folks?
“Of course I know it’s Axel. Why do you sound so surprised? You two are together aren’t you? I suspected that’s the reason you’re too busy to call me.”
I ignore her question to ask one of my own. “When was the last time you spoke to Axel?”
“He called me yesterday morning. Why dear? Is something wrong?’
Something is wrong alright. How could he call my grandmother, talking to her while he hasn’t called me not once!
“No, gram everything is fine.”
“That Axel Ash is a special sort of man, Joyce. It would be sad for you to lose him.”
“I don’t have him much less to lose him,” I respond at the same time a knock sounds on the door. “Gram, can you hold a sec. There’s someone at the door.”
“I’ve got to go anyway. Spare your gram a call next time.”
“I will gram. Promise. Talk to you later.”
I hang up and go to get the door, wondering if it’s the guy from Orkin. They come every month to check the apartments to ensure everything remains pest free and I can’t recall them stopping by as yet for this month.
It’s not the man from Orkin. My heart leaps with happiness to find Axel lounging at the door. Wearing denim jeans and a T-shirt, he looks so good, my first reaction is to jump into his arms and kiss him. I almost do too before I catch upon myself and retain a strong grip on the door.
Seven days without a word. Seven days without a word. I keep saying those words like a mantra to keep me grounded.
“Can I help you?” I ask him flatly.
“That’s the greeting I get after being away for a week?” he asks with a frown. “Thought you’d show a little more enthusiasm that I’m back.”
“You could have stayed where you were for all I care!” I shot back at him.
His frown gives way to a smile and he backs me up into the house until I have no choice but to let him inside.
“Come here you,” he locates my waist with his hands and pull me to him. “Don’t you miss me?”
“No!” I deny too vehemently.
“I forgot what a liar you can be.” He chuckles and holds my chin so I can’t look anywhere but at him. “Well, I’ll be honest for both of us. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“You had a good way of showing,” I snort at him in disbelief. “If you missed me you would have called.”
“The same way you called me?” he returns. “And don’t bother denying it Joyce. I bet you couldn’t stop thinking about this either.”
This turns out to be a kiss that has me wrapping my arms around his waist, pressing my palms to his lower back. All my attempt at making him think I didn’t give much thought to him is foiled by my response to that kiss. My hands are fisted at the back of his shirt, my bod leaning into him fully, my mouth moving eagerly against his.
“So you do miss me,” he says in triumph against my lips. “Why don’t you want to admit it?”
“Because you didn’t call me,” I whisper. “Not even once. I thought…” I trail off not wanting to say it.
“What did you think?” he prods, biting my bottom lip. “Tell me.”
“I thought you were not coming back,” I confess.
“You thought I wasn’t returning to Detroit?” he asks. “Even if you weren’t here, I’d have to come back for the company anyway.”
“I mean, I thought you weren’t coming back to me.”
“Come now, Joyce. Didn’t I travel all the way to Alabama to come get you? What makes you think I wouldn’t come back for you?”
I shrug, my hand going under the back of his shirt to trail across his bare skin. “Well, we did argue before you left.”
He runs his hands over my bottom, beneath the hem of my dress and up to cup my ass. I’m wearing one of those cotton panties that should be a turn off for any man but Axel dips his hands into the elastic edges unperturbed. He’s massaging my naked ass, making me wet with each squeeze and release.
“I suppose there will be plenty more arguments in the future too,” he admits. “But know this Joyce. You’re mine. I’d never leave you and not return. You’re mine.”
I would have longed to tell him I don’t belong to him but in my heart, I believe it’s true. Why else would this man have done so many unspeakable things to me and yet here I am, almost panting against him to make love to me.
“I want to fuck you so bad right now,” Axel growls at me before taking my lips with his again. He hoists me into his arms and I wrap my legs around his waist as my back hits into the wall. “You make me so horny.”
I clutch his shoulders and moan into his mouth when he presses his front to my pelvis, grinding against me. Pleasure explodes into my clit and I gasp. Oh damn, I’d misses this. I hadn’t even realized just how much.
My back is no longer against the wall as he walks with me through the apartment and to my bedroom. I offer no protest when he presses me into his bed, coming down on top of me. My dress goes over my head and I’m not wearing a bra.
“I love your breasts,” he groans before kissing and sucking their peaks. I writhe beneath him, my heart squeezing tight against the emotions roiling inside me. It’s more than the ache between my legs which I want him to satisfy. It’s also the way I’ve missed him this past week and how easily I’m able to fall right back into his arms.
“Oh God, Axel,” I gasp, my fingers threading through his hair. “I missed you so much.”
He kisses his way from my breast up to my neck where he bites me, leaving his mark on my skin.
“I missed you too, babe. Missed this. Missed the way you’re so hot in my arms but knowing you’re as innocent as they come. Not a day passed that I didn’t think of my cock buried inside you.”
He starts to unbuckle his jeans and as much as I want to do this, as much as I am turned on by him and want nothing but to feel him buried inside me too, there are too many uncertain things between us. I tug at his hair as he kissed my shoulders.
“Axel. Axel!”
He lifts his head. “What is it?”
“I can’t do this with you again. Not right now, at least.”
With a groan, he flops onto the bed beside me. “You’re driving me nuts, Joyce. My cock’s so hard right now. What are you doing saving yourself for marriage?”
I turn my head to look at him and lie on my side, thrust a leg between his. “Why, yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing,” I reply jokingly.
His relaxed face turns serious and he pulls me fully on top of him to lie. “Then let’s do it.”
“Yeah right,” I scoff.
He grasps my waist and thrust upwards, his hard cock beneath his jeans slamming against my clit and making me gasp.
“I’m serious. Let’s do it. Let’s get married, Joyce. Then you’ll be truly mine and we get to do this all we want.”
I search his face for any sign he’s joking but I don’t see any. “People don’t get married just to have sex, Axel.”
“No, it’s not just sex,” he strokes my cheek. “I know this is going to sound crazy but I’m in love with you.”
I pull away from him in shock. “What?”
“That’s why we’re getting married,” he says. “The sex is amazing and I’m in love with you. I’m never letting you go Joyce. Whether you feel the same way or not.”
“This is crazy, Axel.”
“The only thing crazy is how I feel about you.”
I think he’s crazy. We’ve known each other for just two weeks and one full week out of it, he had been away. How can he love me? But I know it’s possible because I feel the same way about him. I’m scared though. I can’t forget my mother’s marriage to my father and how that ended with him dominating her and abusing her. While Axel doesn’t seem abusive, he has that commanding presence and forceful personality that makes me uncomfortable at times.
Before I can say all this to him, he rolls me onto my back and gives me hard kiss.
“It’s decided,” he says with finality. “We’re getting married and no more sex before the ceremony. I hope you know what that means. We’re getting married in a week or two.”