"I'm sorry," said Axel, removing his hat, tousling his hair to give it life after being squished under the cap. "Sorry for the way I stormed off last night. I needed...a moment."

"A moment?" I wrapped my hands around my mug, still in disbelief that he was here, that he was talking to me. "You disappeared for the rest of the night. Not that I blame you, I just...I'm trying to understand."

"A moment, an entire night...does it matter? I needed to get away from everything and...think." He winced. "A lot."

I spied Chi gesturing their mimosa at me, asking if I wanted one. After a brief shake of my head, I refocused on Axel.

"I don't think you have anything to apologize for. Except," I lowered my volume, sighting a few intruders looking over at our table, "hiding all this from me from the get-go. The fact that you'd researched me, requested me, wanted to meet me. Couldn't you have...emailed that to me? Sent me a picture, set up a meeting for when I got to the hotel?"

Axel rubbed between his eyebrows. "That's why I'm apologizing. I could have approached things differently, and we wouldn't be sitting here awkwardly rehashing the past three days and all that we did."

I noticed more gazes floating our way. I frowned and peered into my coffee mug. "Awkwardly rehashing as everyone awkwardly watches us." I twitched, envisioning all the ways this could go wrong. "Should we take this conversation elsewhere?"

Axel spun in his seat to discover the bridesmaids, two of the groomsmen, and other unnamed guests staring at him. He returned to his original position and snickered. "I don't care. You shouldn't care. Because after this brunch, you no longer work for me. Technically, you already don't; I signed your last check this morning and you'll be receiving it soon." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "They can all fuck off, because you and I can sit here and have breakfast together if we want to, and there's nothing they can do about it. They can't report you, and if your firm sent spies," he rolled his eyes, "then there's nothing to see here. Nothing illegal."

He was right, yet I struggled to swallow my coffee and my stomach gurgled, anticipating the food I'd ordered. "I accept your apology," I said, picking up my fork, to keep my hand occupied. "But what now? What next?"

"Well," Axel reached behind him for the mug of java he'd left at his table, "you're off the hook. What happens next is something I'll leave up to you. After today...you could choose to never speak to me again, and I'd accept that."

"Is that what you want?" My gaze narrowed on his fingers as they slid into his mug's handle.

"To never speak to you again?" He shrugged. "It would hurt. It would confuse me. Because you said you liked me, and if you walked away now it wouldn't make much sense."

"Oh," I flinched, tightening my grip on my fork, "you remembered that."

"How could I forget?" He cocked his head, studying me though I avoided his gaze. "It's the reason I freaked out and stomped off. Because when you said it, I realized...well, fuck, I like you, too. And it terrifies me."

My neck snapped up. "What?" My cheeks flushed with heat, my heart raced inside my rib-cage. "You...you do?"

"This sounds shitty of me, but put yourself in my shoes," he said, using a finger to wipe excess coffee from his lips. "For a man of my stature, in my position...dating is hard. It's confusing. It's scary. I never know if someone likes me or my money. If they're genuinely into me or after something else. That's why I stay out of the press, and anyone I date does too. As much as I'd researched you, I don't know you. I don't know what you are after, your relationship history, that sort of stuff. So you liking me...threw me off guard."

I couldn't stop ogling his lips, but I registered his words. He took me and my feelings seriously, and was actually considering them. Considering his own.

What did that mean?

"I...don't know what to say," I mumbled, finally allowing my eyes to meet his. "I didn't plan this, didn't rehearse this. You, me, what we've done, none of it was...I never meant to..." I combed a few fingers through my hair, my nails scratching at my scalp, soothing the pressure there. "I came here to organize a wedding, not to seduce the man paying for it. Not to get roped up in feelings for him. Not to..."

"I know." A waiter arrived to deposit my food, and brought a plate of goods for Axel, too, without him having to ask.

Perks of being the owner?

"In the few days we've spent together, I've observed you, listened to you. We spent more time exploring each other's bodies, yes, but who said you can't get to know someone through that, too?" He picked up a piece of bacon and chewed off a small bite. "Your anxiety showed me this wasn't something you did often; picking up dudes at the locations you work at. Not your type at all."

"No," I shook my head so fervently, I saw stars, "not my type at all."

"So," he cut a portion of omelet and slid it into his mouth, chewing, swallowing, "you can move on and forget about all this. No regrets, no hard feelings. Or we can keep," he whispered, "fucking. Ignoring our feelings, no strings attached. That's cool with me as long as we set boundaries. I'm not the friend with benefits type, but if it means I get to see you, I'll deal. Or," he stiffened, his gaze firm, "we can go further."

"Further?" I paused the hand holding the bacon I'd been about to shove into my mouth. "As in, date? Not have sex all the time?"

He chuckled. "We can have sex as much as you want; with you, I'm insatiable." For a spell, his voice was serious, sexy, so low in his throat I wasn't sure I heard it properly. "But yes, date. Discreetly, of course. We don't want to start rumors about how we got together."

"Of course." I squinted at him. "But you did give the impression that wasn't what you were looking for."

He grimaced, giving a slow shake of his head. "Can you stop judging me based on what you think you know? Your comments, your spilling of feelings...they surprised me, that's all. You gave the impression you were only interested in a quick round of sex; forbidden sex, at that. And you kept swirling around me, taunting me—"

"—you were taunting me!" My hissed whisper came out louder than I'd hoped, but luckily, no one reacted to it. Or if they did, I didn't realize it.

"We taunted each other, then," he arched an eyebrow, "but anyway, you then tell me you might have feelings? It was out of the blue, and the night before, I assumed we'd never see each other again. I needed to mull it over."

"And you...mulled it over, then?" I was desperate for a refill of coffee, and regretted not accepting Chi's offer of a mimosa. Digesting all these developments would have been easier with some booze in my system. "And you're saying that...you like me too?"

Axel said nothing, but nodded once, his expression so stern, it sent a shockwave of chills up my arms.

"You like me because I said it first? Or," I gulped, "were you already thinking it?"

I'd spent the whole night convincing myself that Axel and I not pursuing anything was for the best. That I wouldn't be able to handle his lifestyle, that he'd disapprove of mine, that we wouldn't fit together. I'd ended a relationship with someone wealthy because of their changed attitude; would starting something with another wealthy person put me in the same position again? Having to be second best, no longer a priority because dollar signs were involved?

Olivia had put me aside, dove headfirst into luxury and prestige, and didn't care to help me navigate our new life together.

Would Axel be the same way? Could I risk dating him?

I was melting; literally melting, sweat dripping down my back, between my breasts, sticking my legs together. One mention of potential, of a possibility of seeing this man more often, and in a setting that was more or less legal, had shifted all my thoughts, all the promises I'd made to myself.

How?

"I was already thinking it, but I didn't realize it." Axel sucked his lips in, inhaled, then opened his mouth to release a long exhale. "Reading your profile, looking at you in pictures...I was intrigued before I met you. Then that night, and the next day, and the next night...the more I saw you, the more layers you unraveled...the more I wanted from you. And it was frightening. It made me rethink everything, all my goals, my fears. What I wanted, what I needed."

"And," I joined my hands to stop their shaking, "what do you want? What do you need?"

"I'm not sure." Axel inspected his mug, cringed, then whipped his neck up, his chocolaty gaze connecting to mine, startling mine. It was bright, sunny, but swelling with all the same questions as those within my head. "But I think we should fly back to the States together and figure it out."

"What?" My legs jolted under the table, my knees slamming into the top. I groaned, wincing at the noise I'd made, and at the curious gazes that wandered my way. "Fly back together? When? How? I have a ticket already, for tomorrow. I have to get home, I have to—"

"—cancel that ticket." Axel placed his hand in the middle of the table, palm facing upward, inviting mine. "Come with me on my private plane."

"Private plane?" I couldn't breathe, couldn't swallow. "Okay, but I live in Los Angeles, and you're in New York—"

"—I have a pad in L.A." He smirked. "So that's not a good argument."

"Of course you have a pad there." I glared at his hand, wondering what would happen if I touched it, right there, in public. Did that mean I accepted his invitation? Did that mean we were doing this, starting something? "And of course you have a private plane. Not a jet; a plane."

"Well, a tiny jet won't get me far, with all the international traveling I do." Axel looked smug as he brought his mug to his lips. "It had to be a plane."

I scoffed. "A plane is big. Is anyone else using it?"

His eyebrows scrunched. "You mean is anyone else going to be on that plane with us?" I nodded. "My staff, yeah. But Violet and Reece are taking off for their honeymoon tonight, and Estelle and Harvey have their own means to get home. It'll be just me." He put his mug down and set his now free hand on the table, near his other, palm also facing upward. "Please, Vivienne. Come with me."

The notion of soaring out of St. Tropez on a fancy private plane with a sexy CEO who'd stolen my heart—priceless. But also alarming. Nothing like I'd ever expected or dreamed of.

Our adventure started out as forbidden, frowned upon, dangerous; and now I had the opportunity to fully indulge in it, in him, without consequences?

Something felt off, too easy. I never had it easy.

But this man had done something to me. To my body, my soul, my heart. He'd swept me off my feet and helped me move on from Olivia, without meaning to. Without knowing. And I'd moved on right into him, colliding into his large frame, intoxicated by his delicious aroma, enraptured by every movement of his lips, his hips, his shoulders.

Was it too late to turn back? And did I want to?

"It doesn't mean we're dating," I said, biting my lip. "I don't know if I'm ready for any kind of commitment."

It was no lie—after Olivia, after the proximity to riches and how it'd been our downfall, I wasn't certain I wanted this. But I wanted Axel.

And also, he wasn't newly rich, like Olivia. He was born that way. He wasn't learning the ropes, he already knew them.

Think of all the perks, the opportunities, the lifestyle change...

Axel wasn't Olivia; he'd shown that by never taking me for granted. Never leaving me alone to navigate a room packed with wealthy investors. Never once looking down on me because I wasn't as successful as him.

"I understand," he said, no variation in his demeanor, no shock at my hesitation. "We take it slow, get to know each other. That's what I want, too. For us to be allowed to see each other without hiding, without having to fuck in dark corners and in haste."

I glimpsed Chi—they were having a lively debate with another guest—and took a deep breath. "Okay. Fuck it. I'll live a little. But let me pack first."

☼☼☼