“Oh, dear. It’s a good thing I don’t live close to my neighbors.” The older woman looked nervous.
Mystery reached back and absently patted the older woman’s hand. “I’ll handle this.”
“No,” Heath assured. “I will. Fidiot, am I?”
Axel nodded. “When someone threatens a target, why would you imagine it’s a good idea to take off and leave the one in danger with less protection?” Axel demanded.
“It is when one of my protectors is a cheating douchebag!” Mystery yelled at him, fists clenched, then headed toward the front door.
“Cheating?” As he charged after her, stepping onto the porch, the truth hit him. Somehow, Mystery had seen or heard him with Misty. He grabbed her arm. “You’ve got it wrong, princess. Sweet Pea and I are friends.”
She jerked her arm free. “So you cuddle all your friends on your lap and whisper words of devotion to them? Right, and I was born yesterday. I suppose you’re going to tell me next that you’ve never had sex with her.”
Axel gritted his teeth. The truth was only going to make everything exponentially shittier, but he refused to lie. “No. I have—more than once. Our relationship is complicated but it’s also over. If you’ll tell me why the hell you ran off yet again, then listen to me, I’ll explain everything.”
She turned her back on him and reached for the front door handle. “Save your lies. After growing up with my dad, I won’t have anything to do with a philandering prick.”
“Yeah?” He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back against him. “After growing up without my mom, I’m not interested in an unreliable flake.”
Mystery looked taken aback, as if the thought that she might have hurt him hadn’t occurred to her. “Oh.”
Axel gritted his teeth. How did she not grasp that taking off on him twice in less than twelve hours had been hurtful? “Now that we’re done exposing all our inner wounds or whatever, let’s talk in private.”
Heath shook his head. “Leave her alone.”
“She doesn’t need you to speak for her,” Axel spit out.
“Stop it!” Mystery snapped. “Both of you.”
“I would—if he’d stop the verbal equivalent of lifting his hind leg on you,” Axel muttered.
Heath rolled his eyes. “Coming from you, that’s rich. Barmy wanker.”
This asshole really crawled up his back, but Axel refused to keep giving the man so much of his energy. He had to focus on Mystery and figure out if they could have more than an inexplicable connection and great sex. Snipping at her bodyguard wasn’t going to win him any gold stars.
“Axel, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m tired.”
At nearly four in the morning, he wasn’t surprised. “I am, too. But we need this.”
“What’s the point? If you want someone else—”
“I don’t,” he insisted. “I’m willing to believe we’re just having a misunderstanding we can clear up quickly. Aren’t you even curious to hear what I have to say?”
“No.” She hesitated, then sighed. “All right.”
Relief pouring through him, Axel took Mystery’s hand. Her small fingers curled around him, and he clutched her warm palm to his.
He regarded her aunt. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. Sorry to come in arguing. We’ve got some things to settle if I’m going to protect her. Can we talk somewhere private?”
“Anywhere downstairs, I suppose. I didn’t expect you so late, young lady, and I’m going back to bed.”
“I’m sorry. I called you earlier to let you know,” Mystery explained. “Did Bible study run long?”
The woman shook her head. “Errands in Emporia, then a late dinner with some old school friends. Sorry I missed your call. Make yourselves at home. This old broad can’t stay awake another minute. See you in the morning.”
The trio wished her a good night, and the older woman disappeared up the stairs. On the second floor, a door slammed. No one spoke into the silence. Axel feared it would be a long night.
* * *
THE moment only grew more awkward as time dragged on. Mystery darted into the cozy white and mint-green kitchen. A pewter cross hung above the stove. Not much had changed since she was a kid. She remembered coming here with her mom every summer. The year she’d passed away, they’d visited during spring break. Mystery remembered the snow and being amazed that the white stuff could fall so close to April. That was the first time she’d ever played in a winter wonderland. She and her mom had been sledding, then shared a big mug of hot chocolate afterward.
The ghost of that memory lingered in the air, though now the space would be haunted by a new presence she didn’t think she’d ever forget: Axel.
He entered the kitchen after her, Heath hot on his heels. God, these two needed to back the hell down and stop arguing. Since they weren’t going to do that all by themselves, she had to put her foot down.
“Are you both on your man period or something?” she challenged.
They glared at her, neither deigning to acknowledge her remark.
“No? Then Heath, will you please give Axel and me a few minutes? If you want to go to bed, I’m sure my aunt left some pillows and blankets on the living room sofa or she made up the guest room upstairs. First door on the left.”
He looked ready to hit something and let out a frustrated breath. “I’ll secure the perimeter.”
Without another word, he let himself out the back door, and it rattled behind him.
Exhaustion weighing down her every limb, Mystery turned to look at Axel. He’d curled one hand into a fist, and to say he seemed tense would be a gross understatement.
Mystery sighed, bracing herself for a battle. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure why he’d come. For her or out of a sense of duty to her father?
She spied the kettle on the stove. Craving a warm cup of tea, she grabbed a box of teabags from the cabinet, then turned to him. “Want some?”
“No, thanks.” He sat in one of the small kitchen chairs, upholstered in vinyl with a leaf-and-grape pattern that had been outdated for twenty years. “Listen, Mystery, I am not sleeping with Sweet Pea.”
“By your own admission, you’ve taken her to bed before, so . . .” The thought of him with the little pixie of a brunette stabbed Mystery’s chest like a machete. She had to stop seeing them together in her head and torturing herself. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t! Will you just listen?”
God, she’d heard her parents have this argument a hundred times when she was a kid. Her father had always denied any wrongdoing and he’d always been full of shit. Mystery wanted to believe Axel, but she didn’t want to be gullible, either. How could she be rational when she was so freaking tired? Still, she loved him and had for years. For that reason alone, she would listen this once. If his speech smelled like BS, she’d figure out how to move on without him.
“Fine. If you weren’t seducing her last night, then what were you doing? She’s a pretty girl. So I doubt you two were playing a rousing game of checkers.”
“We weren’t playing checkers, but we weren’t fucking, either. Our relationship isn’t about that.”
Of course. She was “just a friend” or “just a coworker” or whatever convenient role Axel could fit her into, the way Mystery’s father always had when conning her mother. Now, she faced the stove, determined not to let Axel see her cry. She’d already shed too many tears over him. Her mother had cried too much for her father, and Mystery didn’t want to repeat the pattern. Maybe she should cut her losses now . . . but her stubborn heart didn’t want to give up.
Axel made his way to her, cupping her hips in his big hands and pulling her against him. The feel of his wide, solid chest at her back comforted her against her will. He felt like a safe haven. She felt as if she belonged to him. What was wrong with her?