La Revanche des Trois (Revenge of Three)

La Revanche des Trois (Revenge of Three) - Chapter 16.2

When she returned to her home, she felt almost serene. Her peace of mind had been gone most of the time, but once she got her test results back to show she was okay, she felt a lot better. She wouldn’t get her blood work back until tomorrow, but that was fine because she knew Treasure wouldn’t get her involved with someone on that level without knowing if he was okay or not.

After a shower and fighting with her hair, she started to get ready for her date with Axel Black.

A couple of hours later, nervous and excited, she watched as he pulled up in front of her home in a just off the showroom floor gray Mercedes Benz. She could almost smell the new car scent from the front window she was peeking out of. In a salmon colored dress with matching heels outfit which she had thought she would never wear in her life, she gleamed like a love sick schoolgirl watching him get out of the car and then retrieving a dozen roses out of his trunk along with something else he carefully hid behind his back.

Composing herself rubbing an extra hand over the French roll she mangled her tough hair into, she rushed to the door took a deep breath and calmed herself down so she wouldn’t look too sappy.

Putting on business self-control as she opened the door to let him into her home loving how he ducked down and entered with an eager smile on his lips.

“You look great!” he said.

“Thank you and thank you,” she said for the compliment and because he handed the flowers to her.

She hand’t gotten flowers from a guy in so long she wanted to cry.

“I wasn’t sure which flowers you liked because you never talk about what kind you like.”

Frowning, she asked, “What do you mean?”

“I read your blog all the time. You hardly talk about your personal interests, so I had to take a guess.”

She was too ecstatic to care how creepy this sounded.

“Because if you didn’t like the flowers, I thought you’d like this.” He pulled out a six pack of Red Bull.

She laughed and couldn’t help to hug him having to stand on her toes in order to do so. He kissed her cheek and they both looked at each other. There was this deep searching look in his odd colored eyes tha stirred her body. Suddenly the room felt very hot and she wanted him to carry her to her bedroom.

He moved away and put his head down. “I thought you’d be interested in finding out more about me tonight, Stefanie.”

“I-I do,” she said feeling flush. “I’d better put this away and then we can go.” She took the flowers and Red Bull in the kitchen. After putting the drinks in the refrigerator she found a dusty old vase under her sink and put the roses in promising to clean it off later.

She was glad for the minute away from him to gather herself. Of course she wanted to find out all she could about this extraordinary man. This was her dream, but all she could think about was what her so called friends would think.

Most likely they’d try to take him away or say she wasn’t good enough for him.

He came in the kitchen. “You are curious about me, aren’t you?” he questioned.

“I’m curious,” she admitted out loud coming around the counter to stand in front of him.

He rested on a stool to be her eye level. “Then ask,” he encouraged.

Did he know how silky deep his voice was? And the more excited he seemed to get, the more seductive he sounded. She could listen to him talk all day.

“What other things do you do to keep busy?”

“Other than writing security ware, I sale Internet Startups and focus on plugins for Content Management Systems.”

“How old are you?”

He smirked. “Actually, I’m thirty five, but a lot of people tell me I look younger. Most of what I know of my father’s family lives in Detroit, but my mother was a one night stand and she decided she wanted nothing to do with him – maybe because he was actually sane, while bits and pieces of her family were half past crazy. She died married to a black guy and then he married another woman after her death. Guardianship was passed around like a bank loan. Everybody wanted the money my guardianship entailed but no one really wanting me around.”

She understood the not wanting around. The only reason her mother kept her around was because of the government checks she received.

He continued. “I love Michigan, which is why I returned here after a stint around the world on business. I have lots of property here and also in Florida, Colorado, Massachusetts and just recently purchased some land in Italy and Japan. Detroit is logical for my company instead of Grand Rapids where my mother’s family is originally from, which is why I reside here inside of the city.”

“You do look young. I mean not that young, but young,” she agreed leaning on the counter.

“I feel young. I haven’t experienced much except in terms of education and business. My personal life is a void, but I’m sure you understand when it comes to sitting behind a computer and finding very few people who can deal with your love for your work or refer to it as the thingy you do.”

She smiled in pure understanding remembering that term being used more than once from Jezica and Lauren. It was too unbelievable how they had so much in common. “So my next question would be what rock did you craw out from, Axel? You seem too good to be true.”

He threw his head back and laughed deeply.

His laughter was sexy and infectious and Stefanie couldn’t help also laugh.

Answering her question, through spurts of chuckles, he said, “A very big rock, trust me. Like I said I’ve been stuck behind a computer since I was ten because my mother was all about appearance and back then she didn’t think I looked good enough to be her son. I’ve got three half sisters from my mother – through various other men – and they all feel outer beauty is so much more important because of my mother and for a while she made me think it too, until I just got tired of being someone I wasn’t.” He took her hand and tenderly touched his index finger down her pinkie finger. “When I hear people talk about you or read your blog, I feel a kindred soul, Stefanie. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why you hung around Jezica and Lauren.  I’d see you dragging your feet into the club reluctantly knowing you didn’t want to be there or around them.”

Stefanie picked up on what he said instantly and snatched her hand away. “What do you mean? You’ve been watching me? Stalking me?”