He lay still for a minute, breathing hard, before peeling off the condom. “Leighton?”
“Yes?” She was briefly scared by what he was going to say.
But then he said, “You would make a great porn star.”
She burst out laughing. “Um, thank you? I guess? But remember what I told you about my pageant days. I’m not that great of a performer. What you see is all natural, not staged.”
“Trust me, I meant it a compliment.” He smacked her booty. “You have all the right moves and a body women pay money for.”
That amused her. Axl really did seem to appreciate her the way she was and it was a unique experience to be with him. “I’ll keep that in mind if I get fired.”
“I don’t mean actually do that.” He gave a mock shudder. “I just mean you’d be really good at it because you’re perfect. There’s a huge difference.”
“You’re weird,” was all she could think to say with a smile.
“I can’t argue with that. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life with guys. I’m probably warped.”
He certainly wasn’t like the majority of men she had dated and she was enjoying how profoundly feminine he made her feel. “I think you’re fine. I have no complaints.”
“Good.” Axl felt around and laced his fingers through hers. “What are you doing tomorrow? What to hang out until I have to go to work at three?”
Leighton only had about eighty-two million things to do but Axl looked so sexy and sleepy and hard, she couldn’t resist him. “Sure. This will be our only day to spend time together. Wednesday I have to go find a wedding dress and meet with the caterer and the tent guy.”
“The tent guy?” Axl shifted onto his side to look at her. “Are we going camping?”
She rolled her eyes at his joke. At least she thought it was a joke. It was possible he had no clue what she was referring to. “No. The greenhouse is for the ceremony. The rece
ption will be down by the lake in an air-conditioned tent.”
His eyebrows shot up. “They can do that? Damn.”
“Oh, and I have to meet with the DJ. Then Thursday we have filming for the show and dinner with our parents. Then Friday, a dry run and rehearsal dinner.”
“You never told me. How did your parents react?”
“Exactly as I imagined. My father was mildly interested and my mother was proud of me for ‘following my heart.’” Leighton made air quotes. “I think they’re just glad that I’m normal enough to be married. I think they were getting concerned that my introverted personality is too big of a turn-off for most men.” She wasn’t hurt by that. She knew they cared about her. They just didn’t understand her and never would.
“Damn. That’s harsh. And totally untrue.”
“My mother just has a complete inability to see that anyone would be a different person than she is and be happy. But she does love me and she is very happy for me.” Leighton felt no fear about the fallout when she had to pretend the marriage had failed. Her parents lived in a world where impulse marriage and quickie divorces were not a big deal. They might be disappointed, and of course would be sad for her, but they wouldn’t judge and she appreciated that about them.
Her mother only judged her eyebrows, not anything outrageous she might do.
“It sounds like our mothers both like to be the center of attention. They might wind up in a smackdown.”
Alarm bells clanged in her head. She had never even thought about that. “Oh, Lord, you don’t really think they’ll hate each other, do you?”
“I don’t think they’ll hate each other. But I think they will try to out-talk each other, given what you’ve told me about your mom. I’m guessing our fathers will get along just fine.”
Leighton felt the press of panic.
Then she remembered it did not matter in the slightest if the parents did not get along. It was one and done. One dinner and then never again.
She should feel relieved by that but mostly she felt flustered and hot.
Apparently Axl agreed. He was eyeing her like he wanted to take her. Mine. Now.
“What kind of dress are you going to wear? Promise me there will be lots of cleavage.” He hooked a finger on the street covering her chest and tugged it down. “It would be a shame not to display these gorgeous tits to full advantage.”