Page 51 of All My Heart

Tingles erupted over my skin. I loved that he couldn't control himself around me. It was intoxicating. He was good for my ego and food for my soul.

Oh, shit, I was falling for him. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. Not when he was living next door, and he couldn't resist spending every spare moment with me.

I didn't stand a chance against him. I couldn't resist him. He was all I wanted and more. It was too bad our life circumstances didn't match up outside of these few weeks.

He rolled us so that I was on top of him, and his hand was stroking the skin on my back. I never wanted to move.

“How far did you get on the floors?”

“The living room is done. Bedroom's up next.”

I kissed his chest, happiness filling mine. “I like working with you.”

Axel played absently with the strands of my hair. “It's fun. We should flip houses together.”

I laughed. “That would be crazy.” And impossible, right? There was no way that would work. “You live in Maryland, and I live in Florida. That's where our friends and family are.”

“Yeah, that's too bad. I could see myself doing this. We could fix up a home, then move onto the next one.”

It was a nice idea. “What about my design business?”

“You could do it on the side.”

I shifted so that I was lying to the side of him. “I think I need to do this on my own. I've always worked with my family. I need to prove that I can do this myself.”

Axel cleared his throat. “No. Yeah. That makes sense. It was just a thought.”

He'd said it was okay, but he was tense. I wondered if he wanted more from our relationship, something past these few weeks, and I'd just unwittingly turned him down.

But he couldn't be serious about going into business together. We'd only just met. He was just being nice. “Are you still hungry? You said you came over here for food.”

His stomach let out a big rumble, and we both laughed.

I cleaned up, then threw on a shirt and panties before wandering into the kitchen where Axel was already throwing a sandwich together. I tried to forget about what he'd said, but his offer lingered in my head. I couldn't figure out if he was serious about it, or it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea.

I'd wanted to prove that I could spend the night by myself, but he hadn't been able to spend the evening apart either. He was feeling exactly how I was. It was comforting, but it made me more anxious for when I'd need to leave.

“My dad called before I came over here,” Axel said when he set his sandwich on a plate and poured a glass of water.

“Oh? What did he want?” I asked, my nerves picking up a bit. Would he want him to come home now? I was unclear on Axel's family situation, but would he stay with his family for the holidays? I didn’t want this thing between us to be over, and I wasn't just talking about our planned renovations for his cabin.

“What everyone in my family wants to know. When I'm coming home.” Axel set his sandwich to the side as if he couldn't stomach eating during the relay of his conversation with his dad.

I sucked in a breath. “What did you say?”

“That I'm waiting on the paperwork to go through.”

The dinner I'd eaten felt like a rock in my stomach. “But that's not true.”

“I don't feel great about lying to them, but I'm not ready to say I'm back. They'll want to spend time with me. I know it sounds bad. I want to see my family, but I feel this pressure to be a certain way, and I'm not good at these things.”

I moved to his side but didn't touch him. “Good at what exactly?”

“Interacting with other people. I feel this pressure to react a certain way. Like I should be happy to be home or grateful or something. I see all these emotions on my sisters' faces, but I don't feel the same.”

I frowned. “Are you saying you don't miss your family?”

Axel braced his hands on the counter. “I'm not saying that. I miss seeing them. I have fun when I'm with them. For the most part. But there's this heavy weight of expectation, where I sense that I'm supposed to be feeling a certain way, and I don't.”

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