“Let’s go,” Axel said when the waitress was back with our appetizer, giving her cash and grabbing the to-go box.
He took my hand in his as we walked out of the restaurant in silence, my mind whirling with so many scenarios.
He walked to the passenger side and opened my door. There, he let go of my hand, only to cup my face instead.
“Breathe,” he said softly, and I closed my eyes, taking a moment to do just that.
I re-opened my eyes to see him staring at me with concern on his face.
“I’m gonna call Luna again on the drive there to check in,” I told him.
“Let her call you,” Axel said calmly. I tried to interrupt him, but he shook his head gently and spoke again. “You need to give her time to find out what happened. Once she has theinformation, she will call you back, or we will arrive there and you can ask yourself.”
I knew he was right, but it was hard to let the nerves go when all the worst-case scenarios were playing around in my head.
His hand curled around the side of my head, and he pulled me ever so gently closer to him. I had about one second to realize he was going to kiss me before his mouth was on mine. My lips sparked at the contact with his as he gently and slowly kissed me. This wasn’t a deep-hunger-heat-of-the-moment type of kiss. This was a distraction kiss. One to take my mind off what was happening, but in a good way.
He finally released my lips but only pulled back a few inches. “Feel better?” he asked quietly.
Maybe my brain was on overload, or maybe the kiss was so incredible that I couldn’t speak, but all I could muster was a few nods while I stared back into his intense eyes.
He guided me into his car, and we drove off. He had one hand on the wheel and his other connected with mine the entire drive to my bakery.
It was a small gesture, but the subtle support meant so much to me, and I knew I was going to need that support for what was about to come.
