AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She’s actually good at it,” she said. "She had fun while she was doing it too."
“Looks like it," he said.
She played the video again, letting him rewatch it. “She’s a smart kid. Your brother did an excellent job with her.”
Axur nodded. “I know.”
They fell silent for a moment, and she ached to ask him what the future held for them. She wanted to know. Was there even a chance they could be anything? Was she going to have her heart broken and be left to sew it together? Did he even feel anything for her?
But as she watched him smile at the video, his lip curling up slightly and his eyes sparkling, she realized she didn’t want to know. She just wanted to enjoy her time with him. If she was going to end up alone, she didn’t want to think about it right now.
The waiter came with their dinner, and they continued to talk as they ate. The food was amazing, and she finished her dinner quickly. She hoped they could come again as it was the best food she ever had.
She leaned back and sighed, feeling full. “That was amazing,” she said, looking at him. "Thank you for this."
He chuckled, wiping at his mouth. “I told you it’s good food.”
“I see why you're a VIP now.”
He laughed, shaking his head. She smiled, her heart skipping a beat.
After Axur paid for dinner, they got back into the car and headed home. She rolled down the window, letting the cool air bite at her skin. She closed her eyes and sighed, sinking into the seat.
It was the perfect date. They had a good time and laughed. They shared more stories, and they talked about their day. It was almost like they were a real couple enjoying another day in their life.
But for how long?
ELEVEN
AXUR
Ayla slumbered in Axur’s arms as he carried her into their quarters, no, home. She’d woken for only a moment when he and Katie arrived at his neighbor’s to pick her up after their … date? Meal? He hadn’t exactly known when he asked her to join him, let alone now at the evening’s end.
Confusion never sat right with Axur. On the field of battle, it was deadly. There was no place for it in the military. That was why they drilled it out of the new recruits. A chain of command kept everything orderly. There was a proper place for all equipment and gear. He’d lived that life so long it had become routine.
The girl cradled in his arms brought chaos into his world. The woman who followed behind as he carried Ayla to her bunk brought even more, and he’d started to crave it.
Katie smiled warmly when he glanced back with her eyes darting between him and Ayla who murmured in her sleep. It was the sort of reaction he’d seen others give to baby animals or infants, not a military man like Axur. Yet, like the chaos she’d inserted into his life, he found himself desiring more of it.
He set Ayla gently onto her bed and slipped the blanket over her sleeping form. Skipping her bedtime routine one night was fine. What was a little more chaos?
Katie sighed from the doorway, watching. Her smile beamed even in the darkened room. Silently, Axur rose and padded toward her. She stepped back from the doorway and didn’t speak until he closed it behind him.
“You looked like a natural carrying her,” she said with a giggle. “Very cute. You carried her like one wrong move would break her.”
“Cute?” He forced a frown. “I doubt anyone has called me that since I was Ayla’s age, probably younger.”
Not that he’d ever done anything in front of his soldiers or fellow officers that could have been considered cute, but he’d have stared down any of them who called him that. There was no place for it in the service. He never thought there would be a place for it in his life until Ayla, until Katie.
“Oh, you have your cute moments.” Katie tilted her head, examining him. “Tiny little cracks in your stiff, military-man façade. The more you are around Ayla, the more I see the real man under the mask.”
“I’m the same man I ever was, and Ayla isn’t the only chaos in my life.” He pointed an accusatory finger at Katie. “If anyone is ‘cracking my façade,’ it is you.”
Katie slapped a hand against her chest and sighed in mock outrage. Axur couldn’t take his eyes off her even if ordered to. He had tried pushing against the chaos invading his life but it was inevitable as the cycles of moons. Ayla was a part of his life now, and Katie …
Her lips twisted into a smirk, and she shifted closer. He remembered the kisses they shared. Thoughts of them and more had invaded his mind at the most inopportune times. Bursts of chaos, yet he longed for more.
Another step brought Katie within an inch of his still-pointing finger. She leaned forward, and his finger brushed her skin just above her dress’s neckline, just above her breasts.
