would be deciding which one of all those cockroach relatives would be the most likely suspect.
And the clamor for Maya to give up her dream would escalate.
January, 1946
I proposed marriage to Dolly today. She accepted. Her father promoted me to general manager as of the first of the month.
I will have to tell Helen.
Chapter 24
Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.
Later that night, while bending over to reach the strawberries in the fruit drawer of the refrigerator, Maya nearly jumped out of her nightie as the kitchen door slammed behind her. Axell never slammed doors.
She swung around to face a man shredding the last black thread of his temper—a far cry from the calm, self-assured character she'd married. As his steely gaze slid to the garbage heaps of crumpled newspapers on his once pristine kitchen floor to the clutter of paint pots, paste, and streamers across the antique kitchen table, Maya thought he'd lose his grip for certain.
The dangerous flare of his nostrils and the sensual narrowing of his eyes as his gaze finally settled on her—or her scanty nightshirt—warned the disintegration of Axell's personal Berlin Wall had begun on all fronts.
Maya shivered in anticipation as he looked from the rather revealing neckline of her silky shirt to the length of her legs exposed by the high hem, and back again to focus on her breasts. She had the urge to cross her arms to protect herself, but the imp inside her head took command. Maybe she hadn't deliberately planned this scene, but subconsciously, she was capable of anything. She propped her hands on the table behind her and struck a seductive pose.
"Finally broke you, did I?" she taunted.
She should have remembered Norse gods were dangerous and unpredictable when provoked. The hank of golden hair cascading over Axell's brow nearly quivered with his intensity. He'd thrown off his suit coat and tie in the humidity of the May night, and his shoulders strained at the tailored cut of his blue silk shirt.
Fixated on the V of his open shirt collar, Maya didn't dare drop her gaze lower. She didn't generally inspire men to unbridled passion—unless it was fury—but she sensed Axell had gone past the point of reason.
He struggled gamely to regain control, but when she deliberately rested her weight on her hands, flaunting her breasts in his face, he threw restraint to the winds. Dropping his coat on a kitchen chair, he narrowed the distance between them in a single step.
Maya gasped as Axell swung her against him as easily as he did Matty. Slammed against his broad chest, her feet dangling inches from the floor, she nearly succumbed to heart failure as she grabbed for his shoulders. When Axell's mouth covered hers, she stopped functioning on any rational level at all.
She tasted the whiskey of his breath as his mouth crushed hers. His hand cupped her bottom through the thin nightshirt, and she knew the strength with which he held her was far greater than her own. Experience had taught her to fear the combination of power and alcohol. But Axell's breath was sweet with the taste of desire, and she'd wanted to sample it for so long, she couldn't resist now. The reassuring heat of his hand through her shirt melted any resistance that remained. She trusted him—in this, at least.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Maya surrendered to the heady bliss of Axell's kiss. If this was a sample of the passionate nature he so successfully penned inside, she'd have to drive him to the brink more often. Arching her breasts against his chest, crooking one leg around his knee, Maya opened her mouth beneath his, until all the air expelled from his lungs, and he drank desperately of hers. She gave without protest or complaint, not only accepting his devouring kiss, but meeting it with an equal hunger.
Greedily, Axell set her on the table and molded her breasts with his palms. Lifting his head long enough to admire the prize he had captured, he murmured, "I never thought I could be jealous of a baby. Alexa doesn't know what's good for her."
Maya nearly swooned as Axell's capable hands swooped inside the loose neckline of her shirt and bared her breasts. She was scarcely in any condition to comprehend his words. When his mouth fastened over her nipple and suckled to show what he meant, she cried out in delight and near panic at the sudden, insistent urges swamping her.