Page 19 of Axel
“Next question.”
“You haven’t answered the previous one.”
“I wasn’t aware that there was one. And you are wasting my time. You already know my past. I was born in River Glades and left when I was seventeen to seek my fortune.”
“I want to know the years you actually spent here.” She was determined to move past the feeling of facing the firing squad.
“The basis of my story, the article I am writing on you is your life here. What you went through before you went away and what clinched it to make you finally leave here and pushed you in a direction that changed the course of your life. Things like that.” She lifted a hand helplessly.
Axel had noticed her the instant she alighted from her vehicle in front of his porch because he had been peering through the drapes that his mother had placed at the window.
He had watched her making her way towards the porch until she was standing in front of the double doors. On opening them, he had felt the jolt of desire and lust sizzling through his body to settle at the core of him.
“My childhood was uneventful.” He finally responded.
“I would not agree with that.”
His thick brows that were several shades darker than his hair, lifted. “You know differently?”
“Your dad ran out on you. I had a similar experience…”
His cynical laughter cut through her sentence.
“Whenever I face anything, whether it be an opponent, a friendly rival, hell, a potential friend, I do my due diligence. The company owns a very top of the line investigative firm.
Your father was in the navy as soon as he stepped out of high school and he met your mother soon after, presumably, fell in love and was with her for several years. It took them a while to conceive for whatever reason and then right after, the relationship crashed and burned.
Your dad resides very comfortably in a retirement community and is very much in your life. Your mom has been married three times.” His eyes flickered over her face and rested for a beat onher lips. “My old man skipped out on us and never returned until he realized that I had struck it rich.”
They stared at each other for a few pulsing minutes before she bent her head to stare at her iPod. “You checked into my life.”
“Don’t take it personally.” His sardonic tone had her looking up at him. “I do it for everyone who will be coming into my personal space. Anything else?”
She was thrown off. Her professionalism was shot to hell. He made her nervous and so acutely aware of her femininity that she was tempted to check if the lip gloss she had applied was all gone.
“The article…,” she cleared her throat and swallowed before continuing, “is based on your childhood. I have been getting a feel of the place. I have spoken to Rosalyn at the café and Mayor Adelson…”
“Did he take credit for my iconic rise to fame?” There was a derisive look on his face that had her smiling. The transformation to an already exotically beautiful face had his senses stirring dramatically, sending confusion and anger coursing through him.
He had to get rid of her. The room was suddenly exceedingly small and his awareness of her was increasing.
“I had a feeling he wanted to, but I ended the discussion before it got to that.”
She started when he glanced at his watch.
“Two more minutes,” he told her brusquely.
“Oh. I – er – your mom. She is…”
“The heroine in this story, not me. She held her family together against all odds. You want to know about my childhood? It was rough, there was never enough food to fill our bellies.
But Caitlin Lakeside was determined to provide for us, even though it meant taking three jobs. She cleaned people’s houses, tidied offices, stocked shelves, and did anything to feed her children. She is the ideal woman, something that is very rare.”
Ellie found herself shaken to the core by the passion in his deep voice. Speaking about his mother had stripped him of the cynicism that was so much a part of him. As if realizing that he had become vulnerable in front of her, he wiped the passion off his face for it to become an expressionless mask.
“Ask your questions and be done with it for today. I have real work to do.”
She gathered her composure enough to do just that and at precisely two minutes, with her scribbling furiously, he pushed away from his desk, indicating that the interview had ended.