Chapter Forty
Axle
I wake before the sun.
For a few seconds, I just lie there, staring at the pale streak of light creeping through the curtains and feeling the weight of Jovie tucked against my chest.
Home.
I don’t know when she became home, but somewhere between a flooded cabin and insomniacs camping out on the floor, it happened.
I didn’t plan it and never saw it coming.
She was just someone to talk to, to share the night with, and by the time I realized I was falling for her, it was too damn late to do anything about it.
We didn’t mean to hurt anyone, especially Cabe. My brother is the last person I’d ever want to cause pain to.
I tried to leave.
Hell, I really did.
After Royce chewed my ass out, I packed my shit and headed to my parents’ place.
The first night, they didn’t ask any questions.
I spent most of the evening sitting on the back porch, looking out across the pasture toward my meadow while my phone rested in my hand.
I finally called Shawn and told him I was heading to Steamboat Springs and would ride out the rest of the summer series.
He wasn’t thrilled.
The academy still had several weeks left, and I’d made commitments to Bryce and the students.
Still, he didn’t argue and didn’t try to talk me out of it.
Just told me he’d call the people at Outlaw Heritage and see if they could move up my August ad campaign photo shoot.
“Better to get those pictures now,” he said. “Before another bull rearranges your face.”
I hid out all weekend, planning my escape. Ignoring every call and every text.
Like a coward.
When Jovie finally reached out, I typed a flippant reply and hit Send.
Like she’d done something wrong. And she hadn’t. Not a single damn thing.
Sunday night, when it came time to load my truck, Momma hugged me goodbye.
Then she leaned back and looked me square in the eyes.
“I don’t know what this is about, Axle,” she said softly. “But I doubt running away is the answer.”
I didn’t reply, but her words followed me all the way to the edge of town.
I was almost out of Wildhaven before I realized I couldn’t breathe.
For the first time in ten years, I didn’t want to leave. I wasn’t excited to hit the road again. I just wanted to stay.
I turned the truck around and drove straight back to the ranch, ready to face whatever consequences lay ahead.
The back deck light on Jovie’s cabin was still on, as if she had left it burning for me, like part of her had expected me to come home to her.
Her door was unlocked, so I slipped inside quietly and found her curled up on the far edge of the bed.
I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in beside her.
The second my arm wrapped around her waist, she relaxed, and every bit of tension left her body.
Then she whimpered into the darkness, “I missed you.”
God.
I close my eyes now and tighten my arms around her.
Jovie stirs. Her eyelashes flutter, and sleepy blue eyes blink up at me.
For a moment, she just stares as her hand slides across my chest.
“Axle?”
“Morning, Doc.”
Her eyebrows pinch together. “When did you get here?”
A guilty smile tugs at my mouth. “Early this morning.”
She pushes herself up slightly on one elbow, and the blanket slips down her shoulder. “Where have you been?”
I brush a strand of hair from her face. “I needed to clear my head.”
Confusion flickers across her features. “Okay.”
I sit up against the headboard and pull her into my arms. “Royce saw us together on Friday morning.”
Understanding hits her instantly, and her eyes widen. “Oh.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
For a moment, neither of us speaks. The sunrise filters through the curtains, bathing her skin in gold.
Finally, she asks quietly, “Is that why you left?”
I stare at the ceiling as I choose my words carefully.
“I needed space,” I admit. “Needed time to think about everything. Us. The future. Mine. Yours. To figure out if what we have is worth the risk.”
Her gaze searches mine. “The risk?”
I nod. “If what’s between us is real, we have to tell Cabe.”
The words feel heavy.
Her expression softens. “Axle—”
“No.” I shake my head. “Let me finish.”
She nods.
“When this started, I told myself we were just having fun. That it didn’t mean anything, so there was no harm.
But I was lying to myself. The minute I kissed you, there was harm—to all of us.
And there was no way we were all gonna come out of this situation unscathed.
But instead of manning up, I ignored it and let you become complacent in it. ”
“I’m a big girl, Axle.”
I cup her jaw. “I know, but this is on me.”
“You didn’t ask me to lie,” she says. “I could have been honest with Cabe.”
“I treated you like a secret. And that’s basically the same thing.”
Her bottom lip trembles, and her eyes well with unshed tears, confirming the truth.
“I’m gonna fix it,” I say as I rub a thumb over her lip. “And I’m gonna keep my ass in my own bed until I do because the next time I make love to you, it’s not gonna be a dirty little secret.”
She gasps. “You’d better be careful with your words, cowboy. You have to be in love to make love.”
I rest my forehead against hers. “I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I didn’t realize it could be this good.
The sex is incredible. We fit together perfectly, like my body was made for you, for your pleasure.
I’d had good sex before, but it was never enough to make me want to stay.
I’m not just attracted to you, Doc. I really like you.
I look forward to nights just so I can sit next to you on the floor, eating queso and watching questionable TV.
I enjoy watching you work, making you laugh, making you blush.
I want to be the man to build you that damn white picket fence someday. ”
She presses her lips together to hold back a laugh.
“If that doesn’t say I love you, I don’t know what does.”
She crawls into my lap, straddling my hips, and brings her mouth to mine. “I love you too.” The words skate across my lips.
I thread my fingers into her hair and kiss her, claiming her. She pours all her emotions into this kiss, and I swallow every whimper, every cry.
When she pulls back, her eyes are wild, and her lips are swollen. “What now?”
I smirk. “First, you’d better get off of my lap before I break my last promise.”
“Oh.”
She moves off me, slowly sliding her core over my painful erection.
“Mean,” I hiss.
She giggles.
“Second,” I continue after I recover, “we enjoy the rest of the summer. And come August, you have to go back to school, and I have to get back on the road. But I can come through Colorado every chance I get. And you can join me on breaks and holidays. It’s a year, and it’ll be a busy one, but we can make it work.
Then, hopefully, you’ll be joining the Pbr staff.
We’ll travel the world together. Then we can build that fence. ”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Almost,” I say. “We have two obstacles.”
“Two?”
“Yeah. We have to tell Cabe. And you’ll have to put up with Royce traveling the world with us too.”
“How are we gonna tell him?”
“I’ll talk to him first. Take the brunt of it.”
She shakes her head. “He’s my best friend.”
“I know, baby. But he’s my little brother. I need to talk to him, man to man. I owe him that.”
“Okay.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and then she wrinkles her nose. “I don’t have to share a bathroom with Royce, do I?”
I burst out laughing. “No, ma’am, you do not.”