Latte Darling (Darling, #2)

by S.J. Tilly

“Speaking of, I believe you were going to explain the Pineapple condoms.” She groans and drops her face into her hands, “I was hoping you’d forget about that.” I laugh, “Fat chance.”

“It was a panic purchase.” I lift a brow, “You panic purchased condoms?” “No, not exactly. I panicked and purchased Tropical Flavor condoms.” When I smirk, she sighs, “I was standing in front of the, uh, selection, and I heard someone coming.” I snicker, because I’m 12, and she rolls her eyes. “I just grabbed the first box I could reach.”

I laugh, “Hey, I’m not complaining. It was better than climbing out of bed to fetch the one I brought.” That perks her up, “You brought one?” I nod, “I certainly did.” “So, you were… planning to…?” She can’t finish the question, so I do it for her. “Fuck you? Yes, I was planning on that.” Her cheeks f...

“Why’s your phone dead?” Her shoulders sag. “Oh, crap! I must’ve forgotten to plug it in again.” “Again?” She bites her lip. “Sometimes I forget.” “How often?” “What?” She blinks at me with those pretty green eyes, but I won’t be deterred. “How often are you forgetting to plug in your phone?”

“Never mind. Your phone should last the night even if you forget.” “I know,” she sighs. “I’ve been due for an upgrade. I just hate going to the dumb phone store.” I hum, my plans for the day solidifying. “Let’s go.” Her mouth pops open, “Go where?” “The dumb phone store. By the time we’re done it’ll be time for that lunch I owe you.” I pause, “Unless you’re still hungry. We can stop and grab some more breakfast on the way.”

“Let’s go.” “Axel, I can’t just leave. I need to get ready.” “Ready?” I look her over. “Ready for what? You look good.” “I look good,” she repeats again. Her tone is bland but there’s a hint of a smile on her face. “Good. Sexy. Perfect.”

My nostrils flare as I do another once over. “Actually, you’re right. Go change. Into something… thicker.” “Thicker?” This time her laugh is loud. “What the hell does that mean?”

I close the distance between us and in a flash, I’ve plucked her nipple between my fingertips. She yelps and tries to jump back but my other hand grips the back of her neck, holding her in place. “Thicker.” I roll my fingers, eliciting a groan. “More clothing. Something that keeps these little pearls for my eyes only.” “Axel,” Maddie pants my name and I palm her breast....

She tries to smile but it falters as she arches into my touch. “Two things.” Distracted, I slide my hand over to her other breast. “Two things.” It’s my turn to repeat words. “One, you don’t need to take me...

“Two?” I prompt. “Two, when I said that I needed to get ready, I meant I need to shower. Do my hair, makeup. Ya know? Get ready.” “Oh. Right.” Reluctantly, I release my hold of her and step back. “In that case, carry on.” Maddie grins up at me, “Want me to turn the tv on for you?” “I can figure it out. Go make yourself ready.”

“Either with your body or your outbursts, you’re bound to kill me with a fucking heart attack.”

“You gonna tell me what that was all about?” “Oh, right!” I perk up. “Are you the Axel of Axel’s Bodyshop.” I can tell he’s surprised by the way his posture shifts, “Don’t tell me you’ve been there?” “Oh, um, I don’t think so. Why? Do you not want me to?” Just asking that sends a dull throb into my sternum. He shakes his head, “It’s not that, Baby. I’d just have to kick my own ass if you’d been there before and I hadn’t seen you.”

“Oh,” I chuckle. “Well, no need to do that. I’ve just heard the name and it finally clicked. I think it was Beckett, my friend’s fiancé, who brought his truck there when some, uh, creeper bashed his windows in.” “Hold up,” I swear I can see the wheels in his head turn, “was your friend the woman that got kidnapped this spring?” “Yeah,” I grimace. “That was awful.” The hand on my thigh flips over, putting us palm to palm. “I’m glad she’s okay.” I interlace our fingers. “Me too.”

This closeness I feel with Axel can’t be ...

He’s just so comforting. So understanding. Looking at him, you’d expect him to be gruff and angry. And okay, maybe he’s those things too. But there’s just something about him that makes me feel so incr...

In the back of my mind tiny spectators are holding up red flags, waving them all over the place, telling me not to get too attached. But I can’t help it. It’s been so long since I’ve put my heart on the line for anyone. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever really have. Not since… I ...

I’m with a handsome man and we’re going on a- “Is this a date?” I blurt out the question. Axel takes a long moment to reply – like he hadn’t really thought of it, “I guess it is.” I bite my lip to keep from smiling, “A date to the phone store.” “I’ll admit, I’m a little out of practice.” Even biting down harder doesn’t stop my smile from growing. He glances over, his own lips quirking at my expression. “That makes you happy?” “Yep!” I pop the p. Axel squeezes...

Axel in his worn jeans, slightly messy hair, intense blue eyes, and a tight white t-shirt. I don’t think it’s meant to be tight, but Axel is just so built, that no normal shirt will fit him. The material is stretched tight around his massive chest – which is eye level for me – and the dark lines of his tattoos are just visible through the light color of the cotton. It’s fantastic.

And then there’s me. Full face of makeup. Hair dried into somewhat styled curls. Wearing pink flats and a bright yellow summer dress. The straps are wide, hiding my bra – a padded push-up number to satisfy Axel’s desire for me to wear something “thicker”. But instead of making my breasts more modest, it just makes them more pronounced. The scoop neckline would probably be perfectly conservative if I didn’t have big boobs, but I do, so it isn’t.

Moral of the story, we make quite the pair. The voluptuous beauty and the burly beast...

I don’t know if she’s my girlfriend, but she sure as fuck isn’t my daughter.

Smiling like an idiot, I grab the “More Coffee Please” phone case off the wall.

“It wasn’t safe to have an old phone.” I open my mouth to argue but his fingers tighten just the smallest bit on my chin, silencing me. “How many times did you wake up to a dead battery?” This time I don’t need help staying quiet, because the answer is many. I’ve woken up many times to a dead phone. And even though it’s never been an issue, it could’ve been. “It wasn’t safe,” He repeats, then leans closer, “I want to keep you safe.”

It’s not the money. Him spending money buying my phone case – or maybe my whole new phone – isn’t what has my heart folding in on itself. It’s the act. The fact that he wants to protect me. The fact that he even cares at all.

I’m just still trying to process what happened. Since I was supposed to be meeting someone else that night we met, I’m not counting that as a date between us. So, this is it. Our first date. And he bought me a phone. A really expensive phone.

“What if you get sick of me?” Axel’s just put the car in park when I blurt out my question. Slowly, so slowly, he turns his head to face me. “Excuse me?” My teeth clamp down on my lip, but I can’t back down now that I’ve started. “What if you-” his eyes narrow and I decide to change my wording. “What if this doesn’t work out? Between us? I mean, we barely know each other…” My eyes lower to his chin as I trail off, not wanting to look at him while I think about this.

“What do you want to know?” My eyes move back up to meet his. “Huh?” He turns in his seat to face me more, the hand on my thigh sliding higher. “What do you want to know about me, Maddie? Because I can promise you that the conversations we’ve had,” he dips his head towards me, “have covered more than I’ve shared with anyone in a long time.” “Oh.” The look he gives me says Yeah, Oh.

“I just…” I stop and start again. “This is a really big gift.” I hold up the bag, lamely. Axel shakes his head, “It’s not.” I open my mouth and his palm slides higher. “It’s not. And I’m not arg...

“I’m not saying this to sound like an asshole, but I have money. Plenty of money to buy you a little fucking phone. So if I want to, I’m going to. And if, for some reason,” he growls those last three words, “you decide you don’t want to go out with me again, the phone has nothing to do with it. It’s yours. You owe me nothing.” His hand moves a little higher, his ring finger brushing over my shorts now. “But you better have a damn good reason if you want to be done with me, because I’m not gonna go quietly.”

“What about Brian?” As long as I’m diving in, I might as well jump straight into the deep end. “What about him?” Axel challenges. “You said it yourself that you two didn’t talk much.” “Well, no,” I concede. “And did you tell him anything personal? Share any of the stories that you told me with him?” I shake my head. “Did you tell him he was too nice?” I bite my lip. “Did you call him sweet?” I shake my head again. “Did you tell him he was handsome?” “No,” I whisper. “Then he’s not yours.”

He says it with such finality that it takes me a second to realize what he’s really saying. That he’s mine.

“And you sure as fuck didn’t show him your pretty little pussy, so I don’t se...

I laugh more and slap his hand away. “What are you doing?” “Looking for the end of it.” I snort, and that finally elicits the smallest smile out of Axel. “Isn’t easy access kinda the point of lingerie?” he asks incredulously. “I’d need a pair of shears to get you out of that.”

“Oh my god,” I groan. “It’s not lingerie.” “Then what is it?” He’s so lost, and it’s so cute, that I can’t stop smiling. “They’re chub rub shorts,” I try to explain. Axel’s expression turns stony. “Don’t say that about yourself.” He’s so mad on my behalf it makes my heart squeeze. “It’s just what they’re called. They keep my thighs from chafing. Which I know isn’t a sexy topic, but it’s reality. And they, well, they smooth everything else out.”

“Keep the jiggling to a minimum. Ya know?” “I clearly didn’t do a good job explaining what I like last night,” Axel grits out, his hand dragging a path across my thighs and up my stomach. “Because all that jiggling, that’s what I fucking crave, ...

“Now get out of the car, before I drive us straight home and break my promise.” “Your promise?” “Yeah. My promise to wait until...

Like I’m gonna let some asshole named Griff give my girl a ride home. I see how that skirt rides up her legs when she’s sitting in a car. No way in hell am I letting another man see that. Not up-fucking-close.

I’m an idiot. Maddie wasn’t trying to dismiss me. She just didn’t want to ask me for a favor. “Fuck,” I run a hand down my face. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry. I’m an asshole.” I press my lips to the top of her head. Her back rises with an inhale, then she melts into me. “You’re not an asshole.” She’s so small that my arms encircle her, and the fragility of it all seems to hit me all at once. “I am. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“If you’re gonna be with me, you’ll eventually see all my flaws.” “You don’t have flaws.” “Aw, Baby, you’re cute but you’re wrong.” I can feel her scoff. “My first, and biggest flaw, is that I’m a jealous piece of shit.”

She shakes her head against me. “You’re not a piece of shit.” “More than I hope you’ll ever know. Can you forgive me?” “There’s nothing to forgive.” Maddie’s hands press into my back, on either side of my spine. Her arms are too short – or I’m just too big – for her hands to meet behind me. “And I promise there’s nothing for you to be jealous ...

My cock starts to thicken and I squeeze my eyes shut. I’m trying to apologize for being a dick. I can’t walk into her work with a hard-on. Then stop picturing her pinn...

So, this is Griff. A gangly teen. Great, now I feel like even more of an idiot. Then the kid lets out a whistle, “Looking good, Boss.” And I’m back to hating him.

“Griff, this is Axel.” She pauses and it’s obvious she isn’t sure what to call me. Which is fair, since I think we’re still on our first date. “Axel, this is Griff, my best employee.” Griff presses a hand to his stomach as he holds his other arm out to the side and takes a bow. “I live to serve.”

Maddie’s hand is making a cutting motion, and I’m guessing she’s trying to subtly gesture for the kid to stop speaking. But either he doesn’t pick up on it, or he doesn’t care, because he snaps his fingers. “Is this him?” “Him who?” I ask, letting my stance relax. I tip my head towards Maddie, “She’s been talking about me?” “If you’re the guy-” “Griff!” Maddie practically shouts his name, cutting him off. Instead of looking chastised, he just grins. “Yeah, you’re the guy.”

I worry my lip. Again. Seriously, if I keep up this level of anxiety, I’m gonna need lip injections.

It’s been – I glance at the clock behind the counter – hours. It’s been freaking hours and Axel’s just been sitting here. Granted he’s in one of the big, overstuffed chairs that I have over by the fireplace. The fire isn’t on, since it’s summer and hot enough on its own, but I like to think that it’s still a cozy spot.

He’s in my favorite chair, looking mouth-watering, lounging back, with one foot propped on the opposite knee. And I want nothing more than to wal...

I’ve never sat on a man’s lap until this morning, but I liked it. I liked it a lot and I’d like to do it again. M...

“Taste this,” he lifts the mug. “Wh-why?” I ask, slowly pulling my hands out of my pockets. Before I touch the mug, he turns it, so I’ll be pressing my lips against the same spot where his had been. “Because this is maybe the best drink I’ve ever had, and I need you to feel as proud of it, as I feel proud of you.”