come all the way from Texas to complain about a little pool."
"No, I've decided I'm moving back here. If you won't take care of Constance properly, I will. My suitcases are still in the car. If you'll get them out, I'll begin house hunting on Monday."
Je-humping-hosaphat. Axell pinched his eyes shut and tried to mute more virulent swear words as he pictured the immediate consequences of this decision.
The kids and Maya currently occupied the guest wing. He had the choice of installing Sandra in Maya's room, or in the sanctity of his wing of the house —the only island of serenity in this chaotic world he could call his own.
Opening his eyes and glancing at the curve of Maya's shoulders above her halter top, Axell knew damned well Sandra wasn't the one he'd be introducing to his inner sanctum.
Chapter 32
Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.
"They're all asleep. Are you sure this will work?" Maya asked worriedly as she slipped into the family room carrying the last of Alexa's blankets. She didn't know how she'd accumulated so much stuff in a few short months. She used to be able to pack everything she owned into a suitcase. Those days were over.
"I'm not sure of anything," Axell replied a trifle grimly, taking the blankets from her. "I just couldn't find a polite way of throwing the woman out on her ear."
The urge to reach out and kiss him bubbled deep in her belly. Her Norse god looked so bewildered and beleaguered that she wanted to cuddle him and tell him everything would be all right, even if it meant sacrificing his holy privacy. But he wasn't a child to be cuddled. She could tell that by the fire igniting in Axell's eyes the instant she tucked her hand between the buttons of his shirt.
"Well, just pretend I'm a wanton woman come to share your bed for the evening. You can throw me out in the morning."
"And keep Alexa?" he inquired in a deep, low drawl that chased shivers through her midsection.
"Well, there is that," she admitted as she followed him down the hall to his rooms. Rooms.
They passed a comfortable den/office complete with bar and television, where he could retreat to watch football while the kids watched cartoons. The next room had been turned into a home gym with all the latest paraphernalia. No wonder the damned man looked like a pinup model beneath those suits. He'd probably worked off a lot of frustration.
She supposed the smaller room next to it could have been anything when the house was designed, but Axell had installed clothes racks and used it for a dressing room. Alexa's cradle and toys added a splash of color to the rows of dark suits all hanging in the same direction. He dropped the stack of blankets on a dresser and leaned over to adjust the covers over Alexa's defiantly upturned rear end. Ever since she'd learned to roll over, she'd insisted on sleeping on her stomach. Or her knees.
Watching Axell's big body tenderly leaning over the tiny cradle brought tears to Maya's eyes and a painful longing to her heart. She'd gone and done it now, she realized. She supposed it had been inevitable. She'd been in love with the intelligent curiosity peering from behind his smoky eyes from the day he'd walked into the shop. She'd fallen in love with his strength of character and competence the day he'd delivered Alexa. And the night he'd slammed her against the wall and taken her to heaven...
She was lost. Hopeless. Done for. She loved the big dope so much it hurt in every cell and pore of her body. She had shit for brains.
She'd never felt so alone in her life as she did when Axell held out his hand to lead her into the chamber he called his.
His. The room was his. The house was his. She was his. And now he even owned her heart, while she had nothing. She'd been terrified before, but nothing to compare with the sinking sensation of total vulnerability.
She'd learned at an early age not to care—not to care when she got yelled at for something she didn't do, or for something she did do but didn't know was wrong. She'd learned not to care when no one hung her pictures on their walls or hugged her for making A's. She hadn't even cared when Stephen hadn't bothered to call after she told him she was pregnant. Not