Page 45 of Bruised MC Bear

21

Angel

After a long bath, a few hours of shopping therapy, and some bonding time with Nancy and her kids, Angel felt more like herself again. She and Nancy had more in common than Angel had anticipated. They attended the same college, loved some of the same nonfiction authors, adored shoe shopping, and were both into country music. Nancy was so easy to talk to, and their time out shopping easily felt like being out with one of the girls.

They had been back home for less than an hour when the men returned. Axe followed Kade right into his office to get on a conference call with Axe’s friend, Vincent. Apparently he had a secure phone, and could get a message to Axe’s bear shifter President, Silas Corrigan. Kade popped his head out to ask Nancy to order pizza, which was convenient, because Nancy had already ordered enough pizza to feed an army.

Axe did pass by the kitchen on the way to the powder room at one point, catching her gaze long enough to make her core clench. She had no question that they both had it bad for each other, and only wondered whether she had enough resistance to make him work for it next time they had any privacy. Nancy’s house was hardly the time or place, as the kids raced around the house and had no issue walking into closed doors at every opportunity.

In time, the men emerged from their meeting. Nancy and Kade excused themselves to take the kids to bed. Angel was sure she’d heard Nancy set up Axe in the main floor bedroom next to Kade’s office, which was fine with her. The guest room arrangement gave her more room to stretch out and forget about sleeping with one eye open in a cramped, bullet-ridden truck the night before.

Getting up from the kitchen table, she got started on neatening up. Angel filled up the dishwasher, wiped down the counters, and got the kitchen back to how they had met it earlier. She was sure that Nancy didn’t need to feel like a bed and breakfast host on top of raising two kids, doting on her husband, getting ready for kid number three, plus this unexpected reunion with Axe, and all the panther, bear shifter, and Italian mob drama.

Angel rinsed out the last of the plates at the sink before throwing them into the dishwasher, thinking about where Nancy might have a broom around, when Axe stepped up behind her. It was more like she sensed him before she felt him. He hadn’t made a sound either. That heat radiating off his chest and down the front of his body was what gave him away, drawing her in. Angel fumbled to grip the edge of the sink until she couldn’t feel her palms. She swayed backward just a few inches, and her head made contact with his solid chest. All she saw was Axe put down a half-filled beer bottle on the counter to her right, and then both his hands laced around her waist, pulling the rest of her body in close. She found the dishcloth to dry her hands, and a second later, they reached up and back, burying into Axe’s hair. Whatever she had been thinking about a night alone with a bed all to herself, well, that was no longer what she wanted. God, she could get used to him roaming all over her skin.

The moan she let out just then betrayed her thoughts, and probably steeled up Axe’s resolve, among other things. His hands wandered down to her hips, and his lips lowered to her ear. His breath lingered along the nape of her neck and the side of her cheek. Goosebumps slid across her flesh with the closeness of his touch. As if to help her along, he tugged her hips backward until his erection pressed hard against her lower back.

“I missed you today,” she heard herself admit before even thinking of saying something so weak.

He moaned in her ear and slid a hand forward until it was dangerously close to her lady bits. Definitely close enough to have wicked heat pooling between her legs, and possibly scorching her brand new lacy panties. Thank God she bought half a dozen of them. Axe stretched forward and shut off the water.

“My room. Now,” he rumbled in her ear.

Axe took her hand and led her out of the kitchen, down the back hallway and into his guest room.

“You’re staying in here with me,” he announced.

“I don’t know if your sister would like that.”

“It’s not her call.” His hands slipped up to the side of her face, and tilted her head up. “You’re not leaving this room for the rest of the night.”

“We’ve got some chemistry going on, but you don’t own me.” She tried to pull away, but his hands moved down to her shoulders, fixing her in the spot. He was so strong, and standing so close, her body was weak with need. “Let me go,” she told him halfheartedly. “If anyone’s calling the shots in the bedroom, it’s me.”

“You didn’t get the memo did you?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your days as a dominant are done,” he informed her, leaning in close again. “Do you want to know why?”

He was standing too close again, affecting her ability to think, or even breathe.

“No,” she said in a faint exhale.

“I’m telling you anyway. You. Are. Not. A. Mistress.”

“I am,” she breathed out.

“You’re not. That’s not who you really are. And before this night ends, I’ll make sure you agree with me. Now, get on that bed, and don’t move an inch unless I tell you to.”

When she didn’t move from her spot, Axe turned her around and backed her up until her calves hit the mattress. She lifted her head to look up at him. She was trying to be angry, but Christ, the way he spoke to her had her soaking wet with need. She didn’t even know why, but she took a seat on the side of the bed.

“Good.”

“Why are you being this way all of a sudden?”

He sat beside her and studied her face. “Because deep down, this is what you want.”

Angel rolled her eyes at the cocky, arrogant, sexy man. She wanted to find that voice of authority inside of her and protest, or get angry and demanding, but she could barely speak.