Page 18 of Bound By Temptation

People came by the table to say hi, so our conversation was interrupted pretty much every minute.

“Ms. Popular here,” he teased when we had a break in the pleasantries.

“They all know me, or at least that I own the place. And we’re friendly. It’s the way I designed it to be.”

The bell over the door went, my eyes lifting to it on instinct to see Ax striding in. Dark denim jeans, black T-shirt, leather jacket and his black baseball hat turned backward. Dangerous. That was what he looked like and what he was. And fuck me hotter than hell itself. Life was not fair one bit.

He searched the counter and behind to the work station. Not finding what he was looking for, he turned and his eyes landed on mine.

Instantly I felt the heat that tingled up my spine just from his intenseness. Just as if he could see directly down into my soul without my permission. Like he knew all my dreams and would pull them out one at a time. I fucking hated that shit. He had no right to have this hold on me, and inside I tried shutting it down tight.

Ax’s eyes shifted to the man sitting across from me who was looking out the window at something. A snarl came to his lip.

Why was that sexy? Why? Why? Why? Snarling should not be attractive in a man.Tell that to my body.

I hated this man. Hated him. He was a dick. Would always be a dick, yet here my body was on fire and my heart rate picked up.

“What…” Blaine asked, then turned and followed my gaze.

Ax’s stare, though, never left me. I was a fly to his spider web, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. My throat got a bit dry, and I swallowed, hoping to relieve some of it, but it didn’t help.

“You know him?” Blaine asked, turning back to me.

It took everything in my power to put my focus back on Blaine, but somehow I dug down deep and pulled it off. “A regular. Comes in every day.”

“Doesn’t appear you like him that much,” Blaine said, being observant.

“Who wouldn’t like money in their register? It’s all good.” I tried shoving it off.

While I could feel Ax’s stare boring into me, I didn’t turn away from Blaine. He was who I was with in this moment, and I needed to stick to it. No matter how much I wanted to turn back to Ax. To catch his gaze once again and get the swarm of butterflies in my stomach. Yes, he gave me a swarm, while Blaine just gave me some flitters. Like I said—life wasn’t fair.

Lord save me, it was so hard. I heard his voice order. The register taking his money. The extra clinking in the tip jar. His bootsteps walking right by me. The door opening and bell jingling.

When I heard the bike roar to life, I felt as though I could breathe again.

What was I thinking. Bad idea, Indie. Bad. You did nothing but make yourself crazy.

“Indie, we need you!” Meadow called from behind the counter. The look on her face was one of panic. That was never a good thing. But a distraction from Ax was always welcome.

“Sorry. I’ve gotta go. Text me when you get back home,” I told Blaine, getting up from the chair and taking the cup of coffee.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked quickly.

“I thought you were going back home? Surely you don’t want to drive all that way back here.”

He bit his bottom lip. “True. Maybe I’ll take tomorrow off.”

I quirked my brow. “That pissed at your boss?”

“Nope. Tomorrow would be just for you.”

I felt the heat crawl up my neck. Why did he have to say such nice things to me?

“Text me when you get home, and we’ll talk about it. Deal?”

“Deal.” He got up from his chair and wrapped me up in his arms, hugging me tightly. “Hate I live so far away.”

At the moment, so did I.

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