“I’ll walk you there.”
Axel slides his rose-tattooed hand the rest of the way up my arm and around my back until his palm is pressed into my shoulder blades. It’s hard to focus while I concentrate on placing one foot in front of the other, but it feels like his hand covers my entire back.
It feels like I’ve fallen into a whole new world. One where the men are kind and considerate- and giant.
I glance down, towards the front of his jeans, and wonder if he’s oversized everywhere.
The move nearly costs me my footing as my balance swims. But then the hand on my back moves, sliding to my far shoulder and guiding me closer to his body.
And when his fingertips graze the bare skin along the back of my arm, I give up the fight and allow myself to melt into his side.
Chapter6
Axel
Fucking Hell.
I’m trying to be a good man. A good human. But this little Siren is testing my goddamn limits.
Her big, beautiful eyes and the sad soulful look in them when she said she said didn’t want to be alone… That shit almost killed me.
How fucking unfair is life if someone as stunning and sweet as Maddie is stuck being stood up at bars when she just wants to meet someone? Because she doesn’t have anyone to go with her to her best friend’s wedding.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to flip every table in this stupid place, or if I wanted to pull her into my lap, wrap my arms around her, and tell her she’d never be alone again.
My free hand clenches into a fist. Anger at her situation and my helplessness swirling inside me.
I want to tell her that I’ll go to the wedding with her. That I’ll drive her anywhere she needs to go. But I’m all fucking wrong for her. She’s looking for someone to start a life with, not some old man whose kid stood her up.
But having her soft body pressed into my side makes me forget every reason I’ve told myself for why I can’t pursue this.
I pull in a deep breath through my nose, desperate for a hint of her scent.
She’s so small, so damn short, our height difference is almost ridiculous. But walking next to me, Maddie fits perfectly under my arm. And I can’t stop my mind from wandering, wondering how else we might fit together perfectly.
Mentally, I drag a hand down my face. I cannot start thinking like that.
“Here we are,” I let my fingers brush against the soft skin on the back of her arm once more before I force my hand to drop away.
Maddie blinks up at me, before focusing on the Ladies’ Room sign in front of us. “Oh, right.” She takes one step away from me and I feel the loss of her like a warm blanket being ripped away on a cold night. Then she pauses and looks back over her shoulder, “You’ll wait for me?”
She’s smiling, but the question has something coiling tight around my heart, “Yeah, Baby Doll, I’ll be right here.”
Her smile grows and that tightness in my chest only increases.
Every inch of me wants to protect her. But then she’s moving away, and my eyes drop to her ass. And lord help me, I can’t look away. The tight denim is molded to every delicious inch of her, and I want to bury my face between those cheeks.
When the door swings shut behind her, cutting off my view, I slump against the wall and exhale. My mind moving back through all the little breadcrumbs she’s dropped for me tonight.
What has this girl been through? Does Maddie really think I’d just leave her now to fend for herself?
But mixed with the sadness, is lust. Her eyes are filled with it.
I’m sure she thinks she’s hiding that particular emotion, but it’s plain for me to see. Hell, it’s plain for me to feel.
Then there’s the slight tightness at the corner of her mouth, telling me that she’s trying to tamp down her hope. Doing her best to keep her expectations low. And it’s killing me.
Because no matter how much I want to act on the lust that I certainly feel in return, I can’t. She’s been drinking and I’d never be able to live with myself if I took her like this, unsure if she truly wanted me or if it was just the alcohol talking.