Page 13 of Total Obsession

There was a hint of a smile on his lips, and he squeezed my knee slightly. "Then, don't tell me you're not worried. I know you too well for that."

I gave him a sad smile back. "I don't want to just spend the entire day telling you all the things I'm upset about," I said.

"Why not?" he asked me, his expression genuine.

"Because that's not fair to you."

"Fair to me?" he said with a chuckle. "I get to spend the entire day with a long-lost friend who, in our absence, has become more beautiful with each passing day? And she wants to open up to me and reconnect? Tell me what's not fair about that?"

"You're not like other men," I found myself admitting to him.

He let out a genuine laugh. "Thank goodness for that! I find that most of my contemporaries lack manners these days."

I smiled at him, feeling more at ease. "Where have you been all this time?" I couldn't help but ask.

He raised his hand up to my face, and butterflies ran through my entire body. His movements were slow and deliberate, and I felt his eyes moving across my face before finally looking deeply into my eyes. "Missing you every day," he said in a hushed voice.

I knew I was blushing furiously at his words. "I've missed you so much, too," I couldn't help but say.

He moved closer to me and his scent surrounded me, making it hard to breathe in anything but him. His strong fingers were still at my face, and he moved them to the back of my neck to bring me in closer to him.

"I'd really like to kiss you now, Zoey," he said to me. "Would that be alright?"

I could feel his breath move across my lips. We were so close and all I could see was the green of his eyes, dark with desire and all for me.

"Yes," I breathed out.

"Yes?" he confirmed, and I nodded.

"Yes."

His lips were on mine. They were soft and warm, and it was as if his heat instantly moved through my body. He pushed his tongue into my mouth and I let him, wanting to taste him, wanting to take as much as I could from the moment with me. I'd never been so turned on by just a kiss before, and I'd never found myself wanting more the way I wanted more of Axe.

I moved to try and deepen it, but he was in control. He sucked at my lower lip, biting it suddenly, making me gasp, before pulling away with a bit of a satisfied growl.

I was about to ask why on Earth he stopped until I realized that it was the car that had stopped. The driver came around to my side of the door, opening it while I was still breathing hard and looking at him. He winked at me before getting out of the car himself, and I took a moment to gather a deep breath and center myself.

It's pretty clear that Axe Michelson already had me completely off balance.

four

ZOEY

I stood in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in downtown Manhattan. An exhibit by Barbara Kruger was screaming at me from all angles. Phrases that reflected my own were plastered in giant black and white font onto the walls and floors around me, not giving me a safe place to look.

I tried to close my eyes because that was the only way I could escape the noise. The same noise that was echoing within my soul.

Thiswasabout Axe.

No.

It was aboutme.

No.

It was aboutus.

No.