I sat on the edge of the guest bed in my new pajamas—a pair of red jersey knit pants and a black camisole—and thought back through my crazy day. Realizing I had already been through enough, I decided not to worry anymore and just get some sleep.
It was tough, but putting Axel’s T-shirt back on so I keep his scent close made it a little easier to drift off.
“Hey, Stella. What time do you…”Axel started to say but paused when he got to the bathroom doorway.
I was brushing my teeth, but I was already dressed in my new clothes we had bought last night. I needed to grab some of my own clothes while we were at the bakery today, but these would suffice until then.
“You are brushing your teeth with your left hand,” he said, seemingly confused. “But you write with your other hand.”
It was uncanny how observant this man was.
“I amtvåhänt,too,” he replied with a grin.
“You’re what?” I asked, my words mumbled because of the toothbrush in my mouth.
“Umm…I don’t know what the English word is.” He looked up as though he was trying to think of how to explain. “Likabra med båda händerna.”
At that, my eyebrows shot as high up on my face as they could. I held up one finger to ask him to wait while I spit out my toothpaste and then turned back to him.
“I have no idea what you said.” I chuckled, thinking he would have thought that saying the whole thing in Swedish would somehow make it more likely for me to know what he was talking about.
“Tvåhäntmeans…uh…two-handed.Or lika bra med båda händernameans you are equally awesome with both hands,” he explained, and I cracked up. I may have even snorted a bit.
Equally awesome with both hands. I loved that.
Once I collected myself, I explained. “I think the English word you are searching for is ambidextrous, but I’m actually not that. I do everything with my right handexceptbrush my teeth. I don’t know why, but that’s how I’ve done it since I was a child.”
He nodded in understanding, but then I remembered what he had said first.
“Wait, you said you were…whatever the word was…too. Are you ambidextrous?”
“Yes,” he replied simply, as if this wasn’t a big deal. “I can do just about everything equally with both hands.”
“Wow.” I was impressed. “That’s really cool, Axel. I don’t think I’ve ever known anybody like that.”
Also, either my brain was more perverted than I gave it credit for, or there was just something about this man in front of me, but the next thing that came to mind was what he could do with both of thoseequally awesome handsto my body.
My gaze moved to where his hands were at his hips and I started to imagine all the things I wanted him to do to me with those hands.
“Stella.”
My gaze jerked back up to his face at his warning tone. “As much as I like what your brain is thinking right now, we have a lot to do today and not much time.
Finish up, and we’ll head over to meet Wade’s person in ten minutes.”
He turned and walked away as soon as he ended his sentence. I felt slightly disappointed because, in my mind, ten minutes seemed likeplentyof time to see what those hands could do. But I also knew he was right, and we needed to getgoing if we were going to make it to Scandinavian Sweets and then my parents’ house on time.
I spent eight of the next ten minutes on the phone with Luna, filling her in about the insurance company and my plan to meet up and tell the rest of the staff the next day. I wasn’t sure if we would be opening on Tuesday like normal, but it seemed unlikely. Hopefully, I could at least give them a sense of what happened and tell them what the plan was by tomorrow. She offered to send out the texts and handle calls to let everyone know while I handled the slew of people who were showing up at the bakery today to assess the damage.
I also realized I couldn’t just show up with Axel at my parents’ house without letting them know, so I shot off a quick text to my mom.
Me: Do you mind if I bring a friend with me to dinner tonight?
Mom: Of course, sweetheart. You know you don’t have to ask. Luna is always welcome.
Mom: Or is it one of your other bakery friends?
Mom: Doesn’t matter. Today is your special day, so you can bring anyone you want to celebrate.
