Following Her (Unexpected Heroes #2.5)(18)

“You shouldn’t be so cavalier about this, Ella. Your testimony can lock this man away for years to come. Don’t you think that’s worth being cautious about? If he has such connections, he’s going to use them,” Axel warned.

“He’s a lowlife and he’ll have justice served to him on a silver platter. I won’t allow him to scare me and I won’t change my life to run from him.” She didn’t break eye contact with Axel, needing him to hear her.

They both stared intently for several breathless moments before his lips turned up just the slightest. “Damn, woman. You’re a pain in the ass, you realize that, don’t you?”

“I have a lot of alpha cousins. I had to learn to be tough really fast.”

“Point taken. Just as long as you know I’m not leaving until you’re safe.” Gauntlet thrown.

“Fine, if you truly have nothing better to do, but you won’t ever find me cowering in a corner.”

“I wouldn’t expect to.”

They changed the subject as they finished their meal, and then suddenly Axel was standing, catching her off guard. “Let’s dance, Ella. I need to hold you.”

Oh, that timbre of his voice, the way he looked in his suit jacket with his hand held out for hers. If he asked her to slip off to a quiet corner to make love she was sure she’d say yes.


Silently, she took his hand and practically floated onto the dance floor, sighing when he cradled her in his arms and began to slowly move her across the small space.

“I wouldn’t have imagined a man as big as you would dance so smoothly,” she said, leaning back so she could look into his face. She was only a few inches shorter than him thanks to her heels and she loved how their bodies were lining up.

“Dancing and sex go hand in hand. If you’re good at one, then you’re good at both,” he said, a seductive smile spreading across his face.

“I don’t know how you manage to get away with saying such obnoxious things yet make it sound almost sexy, but I have to tell you, I’m slightly impressed,” she said with a laugh that died quickly when he pushed the flat of his hand against her lower back and pulled her against the hardness of his body.

Her mouth formed an O, and her tongue darted out to moisten her suddenly dry lips. His gaze zeroed in on the movement before his hand ran slowly up her back, then traveled downward, smoothing across her backside, only to return and rest on her lower back.

As he slowly spun her in a circle, her breathing deepened and her head felt like it was as light as a feather. She couldn’t draw enough oxygen, couldn’t get her heart to stop racing. Some said dancing was foreplay. After tonight, she had to agree.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, the tip of his tongue feathering across her bottom lip before his teeth gently nipped and sucked it partly into his mouth while he pulled her against his hardness and ground his hips.

“Oh,” she gasped, hungry for so much more than food.

“Are we still strangers, Ella?” he asked.

She knew exactly what he was getting at. One and a half dates shouldn’t have been enough for her to allow him into her bed, but she couldn’t say no, couldn’t shake her head, couldn’t imagine how she’d survive the night if she didn’t go home with this man.

“We aren’t strangers,” she whispered, and felt a little better when she heard a sharp intake of breath from him.

“Are you sure?” Now that he asked, she was more than sure.

“I want you, Axel, and I don’t want to fight it anymore,” she said before he closed the distance between them and sealed the deal with a kiss so hot she didn’t know how they didn’t erupt into flames.

“We have to get out of here now before we get arrested,” he said, his voice strained. The urgency in his tone called to her in a way that gave her the exact same urgency she could tell he was feeling.

“Then I suggest we hurry.”

Axel said nothing else as he took her hand and made a beeline for their table, where he slapped money down and then rushed her out the door.

Not even the chilly night air was enough to temper her excitement. Ella wanted this man, and tonight she would have him.





Axel’s adrenaline pulsed as he pinned Ella to the side of his car and consumed her lips, his hands molding the back of her body in her barely there dress. He didn’t know where to kiss her first, where to move his hands.

“I need you alone, Axel, please,” Ella begged when their lips parted.

“I’m trying to hold it together,” he growled as he finally released her and opened the car door, letting his hands make a quick sweep of her toned thighs before shutting the door and rushing around to the driver’s side.

Damn, why had he picked a restaurant so far from her place? Her home was still closer than his hotel, so putting his foot to the gas he pulled out into traffic, ignoring the horns sounding off at his impatience.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re wearing anything underneath that dress,” he said, his teeth clamped together as they stopped at a light and she leaned over and ran her tongue down the side of his neck, causing a shudder to course through him.

“I’m not,” she whispered in his ear, sending his pulse rocketing.

“Why in the hell are there so many damn people on the road!” he practically shouted as the light finally changed.