Page 33 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘Well, it was.’

She gulped. ‘Was it that bad?’

Bad? Axel’s conscience pricked for giving her the wrong impression. ‘No, it was amazing. But I could have hurt you, Hope. I’m much bigger than you. If I hadn’t noticed…’

‘But you did. And it wasn’t so sore…only for a moment. I didn’t want you to stop.’

Once again her honesty caught him off guard. Axel was glad she had no clue how difficult it would have been for him to pull back from that brink of extreme pleasure.

‘How are you still a virgin in this day and age?’

Now she avoided his eye and plucked at the sheet. She mumbled something incoherent.

‘I can’t hear you,’ Axel said softly.

She looked up at him. ‘I said, I never felt inclined before now. That’s all.’

Axel looked at her suspiciously. There was more to it than that but he was reluctant to push her. He had a sense of her not trusting people easily after her past, her experience of growing up…discarded, unwanted. She trusted you. And Axel knew that was a red flag but then, as if hearing his thoughts, she said with a touch of bravado, ‘What’s the big deal anyway?’

Axel didn’t believe it for a second. He folded his arms and didn’t miss the way her eyes tracked the movement, lingering on his biceps. His body stirred more forcibly. But he couldn’t take her again until she knew exactly the situation.

‘I don’t sleep with virgins, Hope.’

She blinked. ‘I hate to point out the obvious…’

‘What I mean is that my lovers are experienced and know how things work.’

‘How things work.’

‘Yes. As in…they know not to confuse sex with emotion. They know sex doesn’t mean that I want more.’

‘I know that. You’ve made it abundantly clear.’

He was trying to gauge if she was being sincere.

She asked, ‘You really don’t believe in love at all, do you?’

‘No.’ But then Axel thought of his brother and the feeling in his chest whenever he’d looked at him and had known he’d failed him. It had been like a vice tightening around his heart. Painful.

He looked at Hope. ‘But you do believe in it, Hope, and I need to be really clear that it’s not on offer. Ever.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Axel, I get it. Don’t fall for you. I really don’t see you in my future. You can relax.’

Why didn’t he feel reassured? Why did that actually niggle at him? The way those words just rolled off her tongue?

‘So what happens now?’ she asked.

It was very irritating to feel that somehow Hope had a better grasp on what was going on here than he did.

He said, ‘This will recalibrate things.’

She put her head on one side. ‘Do you always talk like this?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like you’re discussing a business strategy?’

Axel forced down the totally irrational spike of irritation that she was taking this with such equanimity. ‘This is a business strategy. It’s a strategic relationship. That hasn’t changed. I don’t do warm and fuzzy.’