Latte Darling: Book Two of The Darling Series

I’d made sure to plug my phone in while I was getting ready, but even with that, I still need to use the cord in Axel’s car to get it charged enough for the trip out.

Darling Lake is a great little town to live in, with a handful of shops and restaurants, but it doesn’t have the big-ticket stores. So here we are, flying down the highway in Axel’s fancy black car, on our way to the closest big suburb.

Axel’s hand is resting on my thigh, and I’m tracing the pretty rose design with one fingertip.

I want to ask him if it means anything, but I don’t know if that’s too intrusive. Asking about Brian’s mom was probably way more personal, but that was a question I absolutely needed an answer to. So now I’ll have to build up my bravery before asking another big one.

A slow car merges over in front of us, causing Axel to quickly check his blind spot and maneuver into the next lane.

He mumbles something under his breath about dumbass drivers and their dumbass cars and just like that, a light bulb pops on in my brain.

“Axel’s!” I nearly jump out of my seat, and his fingers dig into my leg in response.

“Jesus, woman!” his head whips over, eyes doing a split-second scan of me and our surroundings.

“Sorry,” I squeak.

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

I want to laugh, but he sounds so put out, I don’t dare.

His eyes slide back over to me, “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 normal. Right?

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 incredibly safe. So protected and cared for. It’s uncanny.

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 squeeze his fingers again.

Enough sad stuff.

I’m going to be happy today.

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 my hand. “That mean you’ll quit with the fucking dating app shit now?”

“Uh huh. I won’t even put them on my new phone.”

Axel grunts his approval and I start to get excited about the prospect of a new phone. I’ve been meaning to add some new content to the BeanBag Instagram account and the new phones have such nice cameras, it might actually be fun to take some pictures.

My mind is stuck daydreaming and before I know it, Axel’s pulling off the highway towards a little strip mall.

I glance at the dashboard and see that he didn’t use his GPS to get here. “How’d you know where to go?”

My own sense of direction is so bad I’d’ve needed to search the address even though I’ve been here a half dozen times.

Axel flips his blinker on as we pull up to a red light, “I have the same provider.”

“Oh.” My lips press together as I remember that the town he lives in isn’t far from Darling Lake, so this is probably the closest store for him, too.

I don’t think I’ll ever admit it to him, but I’ve spent a lot of time staring at the photo I took of his driver’s license, wondering how wrong it would be to look up his house on Google Maps.

I decided against it, figuring it was creepy enough that I knew his address, and therefore the town he lived in.

But I still pulled up the image more often than I should’ve. It’s hardly fair that Axel Davis looks hot as fuck in his state issued photo ID. Me? I look like a hungover troll in mine- but not him.

My eyes glance over at the man sitting next to me.

I didn’t expect to see him again, and I was never going to just show up at his house, but it was still comforting to know that he wasn’t far. Like there was some sort of emotional Bat Signal I could’ve sent him if I was ever in trouble.

Axel flips on the blinker and pulls into the parking lot, finding an open spot not far from the door.

“Ready?” he asks, turning off the ignition.

I nod, and we both climb out of the car.

Axel’s long strides bring him to my side of the car before I can close the door, and he does it for me.

His hand is outstretched, palm open, so I slip my hand into his and my heart lets out a little sigh.

This is nice.

A loud truck rumbles past and my brain goes back to the fact that Axel is the Axel.

Squeezing his much larger hand, I look up at the giant silver fox next to me. “So, a Bodyshop, huh?”

His fingers squeeze mine back and I see a smirk trying to appear when he looks down at me. “Yeah.”

“Does that mean you like cars as much as I like coffee?”

He lets out a small huff that might almost be a laugh, “That’s a high bar, Baby Doll. But yeah, I like cars. Always have.”

“How long have you had it? The shop?”

His head tilts as we continue down the sidewalk, “22 years.”

I’m about to open my mouth and say something about that being a pretty exact amount of time. But if his son is 20 then 22 years ago means Axel opened his shop about a year before he got a woman pregnant. I guess that’d be a fairly easy milestone to remember.

It’s killing me not to ask more about that whole situation – Brian, his mom, the relationship between all of them. Not to mention Brian in general. If today goes well, then I imagine we’ll see each other again. And what happens if we end up really dating? Eventually I’ll have to meet Brian and…

Nope. Not going there. Not right now.

An older man pushes out through the doors, exiting the store and Axel catches the door with his free hand.

Ushering me in first, I step past Axel and into the long blue room, hosting a handful of round white tables with matching uncomfortable chairs, and merchandise displays lining every wall.

All of the employees seem to be talking to customers, so I wander over to one of the displays and poke at one of the phone screens.

Axel’s elbow nudges my arm, and I look up to see him holding his phone out to me. “Add your contact information.”

His brows are furrowed, and I almost laugh at the expression on his face. He looks so serious, like there’s a chance that I wouldn’t give him my number.

Trying to stop my smile, I take his phone. Glancing up, I see his eyes are moving around the store, so I quick delete ‘Maddie’ and type ‘Baby Doll’ instead.

I don’t know why I like it so much when he calls me that. But I also don’t know how to tell him I like it without expiring of embarrassment on the spot.

“Can I help you?” a 20-something guy approaches, his eyes bouncing back and forth between me and Axel.

Handing Axel his phone back, I try to take the two of us in objectively.

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. Or something like that.

Axel drops a big palm on my shoulder, “She needs a new phone.”

        The guy, Dan – according to his nametag – nods to Axel, “We can do that.”

Dan is obviously under the impression that Axel’s in charge, and I don’t feel even the smallest urge to correct him.

It’s nice to have someone else in command for once.

I’ve been doing everything on my own for so long it’s become second nature. There’s no one else for me to fall back on. No one I can ask to help me, aside from Elouise. But I don’t want to be that friend, the one that’s constantly a burden.

We follow Dan towards one of the empty tables.

As we walk, I reach up and press my hand into the middle of Axel’s back, wanting to feel him and wanting him to feel me. My silent way of saying thank you.

The fingers he still has resting on my shoulder flex.

Once we’re seated, I give Dan all the info he needs to open my account and it only takes a few minutes to figure out which phone I want. I was going to get the slightly cheaper one with the smaller amount of storage, but Axel convinced me to go big.

“You should go pick out a case.” Axel points to the rows of cases hanging along the back wall.

“Oh, um, I figured I’d order one online,” I whisper, feeling bad saying that in front of the employee.

Axel shakes his head, “We can still order you one, but you don’t want your phone unprotected for however many days it’ll take to get a new one delivered.”

I bite my lip.

I don’t want to waste money on an extra case, but he does make a good point. And I did really like the way he said we.

Sighing, I push back from the table. “Okay, you’re right.”