Axel (Ride Series #3) - O'Brien, Megan Page 0,1

so badly in my life. The man was drool-worthy.

She nudged me with a small laugh. “See something you like?”

She had no idea just how much.

My cheeks flared as I forced my eyes away from him. “What were you saying?” I asked dreamily.

She rolled her eyes. “I was saying, I wonder if Sal and Kat are having a good time.”

My brother and his fiancée, Kat, had gone to Spain a few weeks ago. They’d be back in just over a week.

“I’m sure,” I nodded, my eyes turning back to Axel, watching as he threw a shirt on over his head. Clearly, he was getting ready to leave. I’d hoped to talk to him today, but it never seemed like a good time. Yet another day where things were clear as mud when it came to him.

Our relationship was so confusing, full of mixed signals and tension. It was also laced with a longing so intense, it was nearly tangible. I liked to believe that ran both ways.

He shot me a troubled look as though torn, before he reluctantly swung a leg over his bike and threw a two-fingered salute to Wes.

“He’s an idiot,” Connie put in.

“We both are,” I muttered, watching as her brows knit at my comment.

Later that evening, I was just getting out of the shower when my buzzer rang. I was still staying in Kat’s old apartment until I came up with another plan. “Hello?” I inquired, confused since I didn’t expect anyone and was always on edge these days.

“It’s me, Soph,” Axel’s gruff voice replied. “Let me up.”

My heart stuttered in my chest as it always did when it came to him as I pushed the button, letting him up.

I pressed a nervous hand to my chest, cinching my robe tighter. When he knocked on my door, I forced myself to appear calm, outwardly at least, and opened the door to him.

He stepped inside; his large body making the space feel smaller and a good deal warmer as he dropped a pizza and a six-pack of beer on the counter.

“You brought dinner?” I asked with a raised brow.

He shrugged. “I thought you might be hungry.”

I was in fact starving.

I peeked underneath the cardboard cover only to find he’d ordered my favorite. Hawaiian, yum.

“How’d you get home?” he asked, his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest.

His accusatory tone rankled me. He certainly hadn’t offered to drive me home.

“What is this? The third degree? Can I at least put some clothes on?” I demanded.

He bit back a smile and nodded.

I huffed, moving toward my dresser, pulling out my sleep shorts and a tee, closing the bathroom door behind me to change.

I regarded myself in the mirror briefly. My cheeks held a crimson hue and my large brown eyes were alight with the familiar spark I’d never seen before this brawny man entered my life.

When I re-emerged, he’d made himself comfortable on the sofa, his motorcycle boots propped on the coffee table and beer in hand.

“Comfy?” I teased, grabbing a beer for myself.

His brows rose. “Do I look like a man who’d use the word ‘comfy’?” he demanded.

I bit my lip trying not to laugh and shook my head, attempting to look remorseful for my use of such an apparently effeminate term. I practically snorted with my effort not to laugh.

“Jesus,” he grumbled, trying to look put out, though his eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Why are you here?” I asked, dishing us up some pizza and coming to sit next to him on the sofa.

He shrugged. “Wanted to hang with you.” He reached out for his plate, taking a big bite of the best pizza in town.

My cheeks warmed at his admission as I nodded, thrilled he wanted to spend time with me. The feeling was definitely mutual.

I cocked my head toward the TV Kat had so generously left behind. “Vikings again?” I asked, referring to the series we’d watched a few times together.

“Yeah,” he agreed, his mouth full of food.

We’d been watching the show for nearly an hour; the sun had dipped low in the sky and I felt sleepy. Our plates had long since been discarded and my legs were pulled up underneath me as I lay on the opposite arm of the couch from where he was sprawled out.

As always, the energy in the room felt charged, at least for me. He was so close, this larger than life, beautiful man, just out of reach.

He seemed absorbed with the show, legs crossed at the ankle on the