His voice dipped. “I never wanna hurt you, Hattie.”

Emotions moved over her features, at first surprised, then gorgeous and shining.

Oh yeah.

She was falling in love with him.

Maybe already there.

After today, he knew he was.

And wasn’t that the fuck of it.

Jordan would have been all over his ass for being a dick to Hattie.

But he would have loved it, knowing a fight that was partly about him, led Axl to truly realize the kind of woman Hattie was and that she was the woman for him.

“Please stop being so hard on yourself,” she urged. “That upsets me. Having honest reactions and being real with me does not.”

Yeah.

She was the woman for him.

On that thought, he decided it was time to kiss her hello.

So that was what he did.

And he did such a complete job of it, Elvira clicked by them, ordering, “Good Lord, take it to a room.”

That was also a good idea.

So Axl broke the kiss, took her hand, moved her to his Jeep and helped her in.

Then he got in and took them to a room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Stolen Base

AXL

It was Sunday morning, they were out on the deck with fresh coffee, warm biscuits from a tube that Axl had thrown into the oven, a plate of butter and a jar of apple butter.

And Hattie had just declared, “Tonight, Jacuzzi time,” when his phone rang.

He looked down at it on the table, saw it was his dad, and he really wanted to ignore it.

Especially since he’d rather talk about planning Jacuzzi time with Hattie.

It’d be the perfect thing to look forward to if shit went south with her dad at the game that day.

Don had said yes.

Axl was a little surprised.

A little encouraged.

And a lot concerned.

But considering how cagey Axl’s mom was being, he figured he should talk to his dad just in case, by some minor miracle, Axl could ferret something out of him about what was going on with those two.

“Definitely,” he said to her as he reached for his phone. “Gotta take this, babe.”

She nodded, staring at his phone like it was a snake that could bite him.

He put it to his ear. “Hey, Dad.”

“The girl you’re dating is a stripper?”

“Be back,” he said to Hattie, rising from his seat.

She watched him closely but said nothing.

“Is she there with you right now?” his father demanded incredulously.

“Yeah,” he answered, moving into the house and making certain the door was shut behind him.

“How serious is this?”

“She’s been to dinner at my parents’ house. How serious do you think it is?” Axl returned, stopping at the kitchen sink and aiming his eyes out the window.

“I cannot believe you brought a stripper into your mother’s and my home,” Sylas bit out.

“I cannot believe you investigated my girlfriend.”

“We have an in-house investigator, as you know, and you come from money. I wouldn’t be a good father if I didn’t do it.”

Axl couldn’t believe his ears.

“Right, and what else did you find, Dad? That she’s an artist as well as a dancer? That she pays her bills, has never been arrested, has no problems with drugs or alcohol, has a lot of good friends who love her and are loyal to her because she’s lovable and inspires loyalty? Did you find all that out and then call me to bitch about her having been a stripper? Is that what a good dad does?”

“I can’t understand you,” Sylas spat. “You’re a good-looking man. You have a nice home. A job that pays well. You could have any woman you wanted. What on earth are you doing with a stripper?”

Axl had a ready reply, but he didn’t get to say it because his father spoke again, not to Axl.

“Yes, I’m confronting him about it. Of course, I’m confronting him about it.” A pause and then, “Are you insane?”

“Dad,” he clipped.

His phone buzzed in his hand.

He looked down at it and saw he had an incoming call from his mother.

Jesus Christ.

He put it back to his ear only to hear his father demand, “Do not answer that. We’re not done.”

“’Bye, Dad,” he said, selected the button to disconnect and pick up, put the phone back to his ear and said, “Ma, I’m good.”

“Don’t listen to your father, Hattie’s a lovely girl.”

“I know that, Mom.”

“Hang up with him right now,” he could hear his father ordering.

“I’m not hanging up with my son,” she snapped. “And I’m not letting him listen to your rubbish.”

“This is unbelievable. He’s a smart guy. How he can be this stupid is beyond me. She’s after his money,” his father declared.

“You mean you think she’s after your money,” his mom said.

“Family money,” his dad shot back.

“Your money, Sylas. And I regret to inform you of this, but it is not always all about you.”

“Rachel!” It was a distant shout.

She was moving away.

“Axl, sweetheart, forget this even happened,” she urged into the phone.

“That’s impossible because this is serious, Mom, what I have with Hattie. And he has a choice to accept her and be kind and respectful to her or he doesn’t see either of us. Is this understood?”

“Perfectly,” she stated with no hesitation. “Now, on another note, I need some of your time soon. Later in the week. Could you have lunch with me?”

Shit.

He put it right out there.

“You’re leaving him.”

There was a hesitation then.

“I … well, darling, how did you know?”

She sounded freaked.

The door opened and Axl spoke his next while looking in Hattie’s eyes as she came inside.

“You always put up with his shit. You’re not putting up with his shit anymore.”

“Rachel!”

“I can’t talk about this now, Axl,” Rachel said quickly. “And I hope I can trust you not to mention anything to your father. I don’t quite have all my ducks in a row.”

“This secret is seriously safe with me,” he assured.