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He drops his gear on the floor, kicking the door closed behind him. His nostrils flare wide. His chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. And the apartment around us shrinks with every step he takes toward me.
The air crackles as he rounds the couch.
“You want to know what I would do if you came to my room again tonight?”
He’s like a man possessed.
And the sight of him like this, barely clinging to control, has liquid heat simmering in my belly.
“I think… I do,” I say, my words barely a breath, but enough.
“Then, I’ll show you.” In the next blink, he ducks, catching me over his shoulder.
“Axel!”
His arm bands around the backs of my thighs, then we move through the apartment. He’s cutting around furniture and corners the way he cut around the opposing team on the ice. Effortlessly and efficiently. With purpose.
In his room, he tosses me back on the bed.
“You can tell me to stop, Nora.” He yanks his tie off. Grabs the back of that dress shirt and pulls it over his head. “Any time. You say the word, and I stop.”
I nod, licking my suddenly dry lips. This man’s body is beautiful. A work of art.
“Okay.” I scooch to the edge of the bed, reaching for his belt with trembling fingers. “But don’t stop.”
I fumble the buckle, then his hands are on mine. Warm. Steady. Stilling. “Hey.”
I look up, getting caught in his eyes. “What?” I whisper.
“What do you want?”
I know what he’s asking. What we were talking about this morning.
I trust him with my body, I can trust him with the truth.
“I want to feel like I did last night. Like I’m free.Alive.” I draw a shaky breath. “Like I’m not stuck in this eternal holding pattern, waiting and waiting for my life to finally start.” Hoping it happens before something else pulls me back to a place I can’t escape from. “I want you. I know I’m leaving, and neither of us is in any place to start something real or lasting. But we could have now. Tonight.”
His hands move to my hair. Something in his expression changes. “We could have longer than that.”
I nod. “We could have until Paris.”
I say it, somehow needing it to be on my terms. To be the one making the rules, dictating where the emotional lines are drawn.
“Until Paris.” There’s a furrow between his brows, but then he leans down and kisses me like we’re sealing some kind of deal. And when he pulls back, the only thing in his eyes is heat. “That’s not much time.”
I raise a brow, but I like that he feels that way. “It’s months.”
“Exactly.” He leans over me, pressing me back until I’m lying on the bed. “Not even close to long enough for everything I want to do to you.”
* * *
Axel
Holy hell,the way Nora is looking up at me has me wanting to take more than her body. More than the scanty couple months on offer. That look is about trust and desire and a vulnerability she doesn’t share easily. It makes me want to be worthy.
It makes me want to give her things I don’t have to give anymore, promises I can’t make.
But there’s one thing she wants that I know I can deliver on.
