Summer Breeze Kisses - Addison Moore Page 0,356

that might just be dedicated to you.” He glances up. “Oh, hey, Lex. Good to see you.” He waggles his brows. “Ax has been asking about you all night.”

“Stop being so terrible!” Low giggles as he steals her away. She does her best to look back. “Don’t you dare leave! I’m tackling you again in about five minutes!”

The music shifts to something softer and slower, a cover of “Key Largo” by Bertie Higgins. I know the song well because for the brief time Low was living with me she played it on an endless mind-numbing loop. Apparently, it’s her song, her father’s song, and now it’s their song. I groan at the idea of a couple’s song in general. It’s all so codependent I can vomit.

Shockingly, my high heels scuttle me deeper into the restaurant and not toward the exit like I demanded. Ax and his buddies decided to keep the old miner décor when they took it over, and I will admit I love the old world feel, the rustic cracked plank floors, the distressed picnic tables, and reclaimed wood lining the walls. The Mason jars they serve their drinks in and the cutlery that looks as if it’s hand-hewn from silver tree branches add to the charm. It’s cozy and the food is terrific, or at least it is now that Low revamped the menu. Honestly, after hearing the horror stories of the previous menu, they’re pretty lucky I never gave them that first critique a few months back. That’s the night I walked into this place and right back out once I saw Axel standing smug at the helm of the bar. He took my breath away in that business attire he’s known to sport at all hours of the day. Axel in a well-tailored Italian suit has always been my weakness. That’s pretty much when everything went to hell in a Low-shaped handbasket. I take a few steps deeper into the lively establishment, trying my best to shake Axel Collins right out of my head and bump into a body—Axel Collins himself.

“Lexy,” he says it so soft, his brows dipped into a hard V with a level of concern on his face that I’ve never seen before, and just like that my next breath is knocked right out of me. It’s almost unfair the way my body demands to react to his. My blood pressure spikes, my cheeks slap with heat, and my thighs—they are the biggest traitors of them all the way they quiver for him. It all amounts to an unspoken invitation that my body gifts his without my permission. “Raven just told me about the video.”

The man standing next to him that looks like an overgrown frat boy shakes his head. “Dude, it’s going viral.”

Ax smacks him in the gut without breaking eye contact with me. “Is that why you requested the material on refinancing? I’ll help you, Lexy. I want to.”

Lexy? Throttle him, I tell myself. I swallow hard, trying to fight the instinct. Ax knows better than to call me that. It’s as if he’s purposefully trying to incite a homicide. And if I’ve learned anything from Low’s fiasco, it’s that Ax isn’t opposed to throwing an innocent woman into the pokey for the night.

“Wait”—my mind screeches to a halt before I actually go nuclear on him for purposefully calling me a name that I feel genuine disdain for—“how did you know I requested the material on refinancing?”

He gives a quick grimace, and if he’s smart he’ll run for the hills. “My father just bought out Mortgage Makers. Half the employees quit, so I volunteered to drop a few documents off. I swear I didn’t know it was for you.”

A breath gets locked in my throat as I glance around like a caged cat plotting my escape. The song comes to an abrupt end, and I beeline over to Low and her perky friend Raven who can’t seem to drift two feet from each other.

“Look, Low—I’d better get going.” No sooner do I get the words out than she accosts me with another lung crushing embrace.

“You’ll do no such thing. What are you going to do for work?” Low looks as if it’s her world that’s dissolving before her very eyes.

“Nothing.” Raven taps those overblown lips of hers with her hand. “Sorry, but you’re like a pariah. You’re trending on Twitter and not in a good way.”

“Trending? I’ve spent my entire life sidestepping anything that remotely smelled like a trend.” I’m