Rules

Chapter One

Axel Rules couldn’t believe he was in Adeline’s Coffee Shop once again.

He had attempted to avoid this place for one reason—the owner, Joey Sinclair.

The moment he stepped foot in the coffee shop, his gaze was drawn to her, like it had been for so long.

Joey was a beautiful woman. She took his breath away.

Long, blonde hair that was always pulled back into a clip at the back of her head.

She rarely wore any makeup, and of course, her usual jeans and a short-sleeved shirt were in place, with it being summer.

If it was winter, she would often be in a sweater or long-sleeved shirt. The fact he knew this ... alarmed him.

He was not a man to notice these things about women. He never got close to women as he took his name seriously. Axel Rules followed three of his own rules:

One, never kiss a woman. This one was simple. He used his mouth on women, but never to kiss them, especially not on the lips. He could kiss their body, lick, suck, all of it, but not on the lips.

Two, he never slept over. Sex was sex, and he didn’t fall asleep. Once the deed was done, he was out of there, which meant no woman ever slept at his place. It made them become too attached, and that was the last thing he wanted.

The third and final rule—never, ever date single mothers.

Joey Sinclair was a single mother. Adeline, who the coffee shop was named after, was her nine-year-old daughter.

He already knew too much about this woman, but then, living in a small town, it was hard not to notice these things. He was the town handyman, following in his father’s footsteps. He was aware of what people called him. The town “bad boy,” the “rebel,” and also “the guy most women wanted to fuck.”

The notches on his bedpost were extensive, but it stopped him from ever getting hurt. This is what his father warned him about. It was why, even to this day, he lived by these rules.

Of course, a lot of people knew, including himself, that his father had been in love with Axel’s mom. She had died giving birth to him, and since that moment, his father had fallen out of love. That was when Axel came up with the rules.

His father never found love again. He just danced his way through woman after woman, until he had died a couple of years ago from cancer. It had been a brief illness. His father had given up. Axel knew the only person his father had wanted was his wife.

Axel stuck with his father’s teachings. He saw what happened when a man fell in love with a woman and then lost her. It broke his soul, shattered his being. And he was never going to fall for that, which is why he had avoided coming into this fucking coffee shop, and yet here he was.

He was a few customers away from looking into Joey’s smiling face.

She always seemed to be smiling. He didn’t know her complete history, but he knew enough.

Adeline’s father was no longer in the picture.

That was because the asshole had started to beat the shit out of Joey.

He had heard the rumors of a bruise here and a cut lip there, and then one day, Joey was pregnant and ended up in the hospital.

Once she got out, within a week, the sheriff was called to her home, and it turned out Joey had stood up and hit the fuck back. Axel had never seen or heard of that fucker since. George Moseley. Piece of shit.

He was ten years older than Joey, and he’d gone to school with George. That prick had been a bastard even then, hitting girls, hurting them. There were a few times Axel had stopped him. He’d never been afraid of the little shit, but that little shit had been afraid of him.

Axel didn’t hurt women. He simply didn’t fall in love with them.

“Well, hello,” Joey said. “It’s a shock to see you here again. What is this, five days in a row?”

“You’re counting down the hours until you see me next?” he asked.

She laughed. “Not at all. I heard through town rumor that you don’t even like my coffee. I seem to recall you think I serve shit coffee.”

Axel chuckled. He’d used that excuse quite a few times. “Don’t you know you can’t believe everything you hear?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got a bit of a hunch this one is accurate. Anyway, your usual, or do you want to try something different?”

His usual was a strong black coffee. He wasn’t very adventurous with his drinks, but when it came to the bedroom, he was on fire.

Axel looked at her and knew he shouldn’t even be considering anything with her, yet that was exactly what he was doing.

He wanted her, badly. This was a big fucking mistake.

“You got it,” he said.

She turned to her coffee machines, and he couldn’t help but look down the curve of her ass. She was absolutely stunning. Full ass, rounded hips, and he knew she had a nice pair of tits. Joey was a walking dream. This is why he kept coming here and breaking his own damn rules.

It had been nearly six months since he was last with a woman. He was surprised some of the women in town hadn’t called the hospital to get him checked in. The simple truth was, after a small encounter with Joey six months ago, he had lost all interest in the other women throwing themselves at him.

Joey hadn’t. She’d just wanted to enjoy a nice cold beer, alone. He asked her to dance, and she refused. She thanked him and said she just wanted to have a drink and leave, and that was exactly what she did.

Since then, he’d been hooked. No woman had ever turned him down, and yet Joey didn’t even look his way.

****

“Mommy!”

Adeline’s excited squeal pulled Joey out of her cleaning as she crouched down toward her nine-year-old daughter and pulled her into a hug. She loved this little pumpkin and wished she could cover her in bubble wrap for her whole life, so no one ever hurt her.

“How is my little pumpkin?” Joey asked, blowing raspberries on her daughter’s cheek, to which she giggled. It wasn’t long before she started on her neck, her little girl wriggled, and Joey pulled away.

“How was time with your grandma?” Joey didn’t look toward her mother, as she watched the excitement build in Adeline’s eyes.

School was out for summer, so rather than have Adeline at the coffee shop all day, most days, her parents offered to babysit when needed. Her parents adored Adeline.

George’s parents had moved out of town after he was arrested. He’d even attempted to have her arrested for assault. The bruises and recent admission to the hospital made him retract his statement.

In the early days of them dating, when she was eighteen and he was twenty-eight, George had seemed nice. So calm. So stable. She’d fallen in love with him fast, and for the first couple of years, it had all been fine.

Then, it was like a switch had gone off.

He began to yell at her. Then, he slapped her.

It had been once, but he’d been so sorry, she had forgiven him.

A few months later, he slapped her again.

He wasn’t quite as sorry, but she forgave him, and the attacks started to pick up, from every few weeks to daily abuse.

When she got pregnant with Adeline, she thought things would settle down. They didn’t. Ending up in the hospital had been a wakeup call. One of the nurses knew her predicament, and her advice had been to run as far away from George as possible.

Joey didn’t run away. She stood her ground.

George wasn’t prepared for her to fight back. He hit her, and she hit him back. It had been dangerous, but she had also called the cops when she saw he was in that mood. She never should have allowed it to go on for so long.

He didn’t want anything to do with Adeline, and she didn’t want anything to do with him. In the last nine years, she hadn’t heard anything. She didn’t want his money or anything else from him. She had given birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl, and she only wanted her daughter.

Pulling out of those memories, she smiled toward her mom, as Adeline started to tell her how they had gone for a long walk in the park, and she got to play with Princess, their gorgeous Jack Russell terrier, who still at times acted like a puppy, although they got her nearly four years ago.

Joey loved her, as did Adeline. They both doted on her.

Knowing her mother, Princess was waiting back in the car.

It was near closing time anyway. She had already put the CLOSED sign on the door, and the last customer was nearly half an hour ago.

“How about you go grab my things and get ready to leave while I finish up?” Joey said.

Adeline didn’t argue and rushed off toward her office.

“She’s growing up so fast,” her mother, Alice, said.

“Too fast.”

Joey had a feeling her mother wanted to say something else, and she sat and waited, hoping whatever came out of her mouth had nothing to do with her dating.

“So, your father and I were talking, and we were thinking of taking Adeline for the weekend.”

“The weekend?”

“Yeah, he wants to drive down to our cabin, teach Adeline how to fish. All that kind of stuff.”

“Why?”

“Just giving you some alone time, and to enjoy some relaxing time to yourself.”

“Mom, what are you trying to do?”

“I’m not trying to do anything.” Alice walked toward her and cupped her cheeks. “You’ve been a hardworking mom for a long time, and your father and I want to do everything we can to help.”

Her parents had long retired. She also had a sister, Ashley, but she had gone to the big city to become some big-shot lawyer, and she was doing amazingly well.

Ashley had come home to help with the divorce, as well as the potential criminal proceedings.

Her sister had wanted to make sure George ended up behind bars.

That hadn’t happened. She talked to Ashley every single day.

Joey had a sneaking feeling her parents were up to something, but the truth was, right now, she was way too tired. She smiled at her mother, and rather than judge her and criticize what was being offered, she accepted it and thanked her.

Alice moved in close and hugged her tightly. “You know, I don’t know if I have ever said this to you before, but I am so proud of you. So, so, so proud.”

It was a few hours later, after walking Princess and putting Adeline to bed, that she told her sister, over a video call, what their mother had said.

“She’s hoping for you to find someone,” Ashley said.

“Find someone?”

“Yeah, you know, like a guy, or a girl, whichever choice you want to make.”

“But that is like, insane.”

“No, it’s not.”

Joey laughed. “How am I supposed to find someone in a weekend?”

“Think about it, sis. Mom and Dad are taking Adeline for the whole weekend, including Friday.” Her sister did a little wolf whistle. “That can only mean one thing. Our darling parents expect you to find a man on Friday and fall in love on Sunday.”

“That is insane. I’m a mom.”

“And moms still have feelings, and you better not tell me you’re in love with George, because I think I would fly down there and slap some sense into you.” Ashley immediately winced. “Shit, was that too much?”

She smiled at her sister. “No, it’s not too much.”

Ashley let out a sigh. “Thank God, because I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

“You haven’t, don’t worry.”

She smiled at her sister.

“You don’t have to meet a guy, Joey. You could just go out, have some fun. Why not dance, and you know, do your thing, enjoy a weekend of not being a mom but being yourself? Does that make sense?”

It did make sense.

“And if it leads to sex, what is the harm?”

She rolled her eyes but burst out laughing. She should count on her sister to be blunt.