TWELVE
STELLA
The bath was amazing. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until I sank shoulder deep into the hot water and relaxed.
I still found it hard to believe a man like Axel took baths, but this tub was indeed ginormous, and the jets massaged me in the best way possible.
Axel had helped me order some clothes on his delivery app, but they wouldn’t be here for another hour, so he gave me a pair of his sweatpants and a T-shirt to wear. It was super sweet, and they smelled just like him—which I absolutely loved—but I was also drowning in them. The T-shirt was more like a tunic length—just long enough to cover my butt—and his gray sweatpants were so long I was constantly tripping over them. But that wasn’t my biggest problem.
Underneath my navy dress, I’d worn my favorite bra. It was both comfy and also super cute. I had wanted to have something nice just in case things had progressed during our date and clothes started to disappear. The problem was that it was hot pink and was clearly visible through the white T-shirt Axel had given me. I couldn’t exactly go without either. I was a modest B-cup up top, which wasn’t much, but it certainly was too much to not see through the T-shirt either. Alas, I decided to keep thebra on and just hoped my new clothes arrived soon—although I would definitely be kidnapping this shirt to take home with me since it smelled like him.
I walked out of his bathroom using one hand to hold on to his pants at my hips to help support the drawstring—which was tightened as much as it could be.
He lived in a loft in a converted warehouse. Vince used to live here too, apparently, but on a different floor. Axel’s unit was a two-bedroom, two-bath space—a very open-concept living with the kitchen, dining, and living space all one big great room. Despite being in an old warehouse, it was very modern on the inside. He said it had come mostly furnished, and he was lucky the people who had taken care of it had good style, because it was warm and inviting but still contemporary.
I walked out into that huge space to see Axel behind his kitchen island unwrapping two restaurant to-go bags.
His kitchen had deep-blue cabinets with gray countertops and a massive island. Despite the contemporary aesthetic, it was still very warm and cozy because of the dark wood floor and several thick rugs scattered throughout the space.
“Perfect timing,” he said as I walked into the room. “You said Italian was your favorite, so I ordered us four different options to choose from.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest.
He’d ordered Italian.
Because I’d mentioned earlier that it was my favorite.
Every moment I was around this man, I liked him more and more.
“You got Italian?”
He had been riffling through one of his drawers when I first entered, but at my quiet question, his gaze moved to me. I watched him scanning me up and down, pausing on the white T-shirt, where he no doubt saw the hot-pink bra.
There was nothing demure about the way his gaze raked over my body, and for the first time in more than two hours, I remembered that this was supposed to be our date night. This gaze looked exactly like the one he’d had when he picked me up earlier this evening, the one I had hoped might lead to more kissing after dinner.
“Your clothes should be here soon.” He cleared his throat to likely get rid of the raspy voice he’d just spoken in.
“Thank you for getting food. I kind of forgot we hadn’t eaten yet.”
“Stress and adrenaline will do that to you,” he said as I walked up to the large marble-top island. “I got four different things since I wasn’t sure what dishes you liked the most.”
“All of it,” I joked, because I really wasn’t a picky eater.
“Have a seat, and I’ll put a few things on a plate.”
“I can just eat right out of the container, Axel. No need for fancy plates.”
“Stella, I can’t give you the exact night I had originally planned, but I’m not making you eat out of a takeout container on our first date.”
At that comment, my entire body melted like butter and my ovaries swooned.
Despite it having been a shitty night, Axel was trying to make it special. It was entirely unfair how charming this man was, but at least I was the recipient of his devastating charm.
“Okay.” That was all I could manage to say without accidentally saying something awkward.
“How was your call with the insurance people?” He slid the plate over to me with a glass of water.
“The woman on the phone helped me get the claim started and said they can have an adjuster come out first thing Monday to take a look. I’m bummed they can’t come tomorrow, but it’s Sunday so they probably don’t have many people who work.”
