Latte Darling: Book Two of The Darling Series

Ahead of us, a car pulls out of its spot directly in front of a stout building and I see the large sign reading Squeeze Me above the front door.

Axel slows, then proceeds to masterfully parallel park in the newly vacated spot.

My fingers have shredded the small box my new case came in, dropping the pieces into the bottom of the little paper bag.

Axel left the radio playing during the ride over and I appreciated the reprieve from talking.

It wasn’t bad, the silence between us. And I knew Axel wasn’t uncomfortable since he kept his hand on my bare knee the whole time. Using his other hand to steer and tap his fingers to the beat of the music.

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.

It makes a little more sense now, why he pushed for the higher storage and new case. He wasn’t concerned about making it cost more for me, because he was making it cost more for him.

But why?

I know he likes me. But…

“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 arguing with you, Baby, I’m just telling you how it is.” His pinky finger traces along the bottom seam of the shorts I’m wearing under my dress. I watch as his eyes dart down to my lap, but he keeps talking. “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.”

It’s getting hard to breathe.

Why is it so hard to breathe?

“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 see what the problem is.” Axel’s hand moves another inch higher, and he finally breaks eye contact to look down at my lap. “What the hell are you wearing?”

The pure confusion in his voice breaks the fragile bubble of my stunned state, and I burst into laughter.

Not waiting for a response, Axel pulls the skirt of my dress up, exposing the white spandex shorts underneath.

His bewildered expression just makes me laugh harder.

Clearly curious, Axel bunches the material up more, looking for the top of the shorts. But since they go almost all the way up to my bra, all he can see is more white material, stretched to torturous lengths.

The whole situation is too funny for me to overthink how my tummy looks in the shorts, knowing full well that my chuckling is shaking everything.

Letting my skirt drop, Axel gives the front of my neckline a gentle tug, so he can look down my dress.

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.” I shrug, my blush finally breaking through my humor. “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, Baby Doll. If you’re not bouncing around, I’m not doing it right.” He leans back in his seat. “Now get out of the car, before I drive us straight home and break my promise.”

“Your promise?”

 “Yeah. My promise to wait until tonight to fuck you into tomorrow.”