Page 11 of New Roots
FOUR
STELLA
“Hey Stel, don’t forget I have to head out early to go pick up my mom from the airport,” Luna called out to me from the doorway.
I was in the kitchen getting some items prepped for tomorrow since Milo was off today.
“Yep, no worries,” I told her. “I’ll get that last batch of cinnamon twists set and put in the fridge, and then Axel is coming back soon for some follow-up questions.”
“Ooooo, Axel is coming,” Luna said, smiling huge and continuing to stand in the doorway so she could keep an eye on whether customers needed her while still talking to me. “He is so sexy, Stella. You should definitely try the horizontal tango with him.”
My only response was to give a little chuckle, a nervous one. Normally, Luna and I could talk about sexy—and not-so-sexy—guys all day, but for some reason, talking about Axel in that way made me blush.
“He gives off such badass vibes. I bet he would be awesome in bed,” Luna added.
“What exactly is a badass vibe?”
“I don’t know exactly, just that he’s hot, filled with muscles and mystery, and is obviously one of the good guys since heworks with Anna’s husband…so…you know…badass material,” Luna said, shrugging as if this was obvious conjecture.
The bell over the front door jingled as Luna turned around to look toward it. A moment later, she turned back to me with a huge smile on her face.
“Your tango instructor has arrived,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows exaggeratedly.
My hands were still covered in dough, and I didn’t want to stop now and mess up the process.
“Can you ask him to have a seat and tell him I’ll be there in five?” I asked Luna. “I just want to get these finished.”
Plus, I also wanted the opportunity to clean myself up a little since I knew I likely still had flour on my arms, and I had been known to get some on my face and hair before too.
“I got you,” Luna responded and then went back to the front of the bakery, the door swinging closed behind her.
Two moments later, the door swung back open and Luna and Axel walked through. “I told him you were finishing up, but you couldn’twaitto chat with him, so I offered to bring him back.”
“Thank you,” Axel said to her.
“My pleasure,” she said to him before turning back to me, a wide grin on her face. “As soon as Nell gets here, I’m going to head out.”
I nodded at her in response since my hands were covered in dough still as I grabbed large chunks, rolled them out, and twisted them into knots.
“Do you want me to wait out front instead?” he asked me. “You look busy.”
I was, and it probably would be better to have him out front, but Luna had told him it was no big deal, and I didn’t want to appear rude.
“It’s okay. I’m just finishing up. Sorry.”
He nodded and then proceeded to just watch me knead and twist the dough. I’d done this a thousand times with people watching me, and I never gave it another thought. Axel’s gaze, though, seared through me, and I found it quite nerve-wracking.
“Ummm…everything go okay this morning?” I asked him, hoping to distract myself through conversation.
“What?”
“You said you had a meeting this morning,” I reminded him. “Did everything go okay?”
After the words were out of my mouth, I wondered if maybe it was a private case or something that he couldn’t talk about and maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
“Oh, yes, I was training at the restaurant next door to Ranger Shield,” he said, surprising me. “Have you been to the Watering Hole?”
“Um, no, I haven’t, but Anna has mentioned it a few times,” I told him, wondering why he would be training there. “What exactly are you training for?”
