Rules

Chapter Three

“It’s a little early for a beer, don’t you think?” Uncle Rick asked.

Axel was not in the mood for games. “I’m not here to have a drink. I’m here to pick up my bike.”

He saw the shock on his uncle’s face. “So, I take it things went well last night with Joey?”

Axel swung his keys between his fingers and debated talking to his uncle. He had broken all three rules for Joey Sinclair. They had gone to his place. He had fucked her three times, and he’d kissed her. It had been amazing, the best feeling in the world.

Only, this morning he had woken up, and if it wasn’t for his memory, he would have assumed it was nothing more than a dream. Joey was nowhere to be found. No purse, no clothing, no car. She had snuck out on him, and it pissed him off.

Had she used him? She didn’t seem like the kind of woman to do that.

“Does Joey do this often?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Pick guys up in bars?” Axel asked.

Uncle Rick bent over and laughed, then kept laughing. It wasn’t funny what he had asked, and he was starting to lose his patience.

“Oh, I am sorry. It’s just ... do you not hear yourself? Joey never picks up guys in bars. Joey never picks up a guy at all. The only guy she has ever been with was that fucker George Moseley, and I never liked him.” Uncle Rick’s face looked disgusted.

“I know what that bastard did.”

Uncle Rick shook his head. “Yeah, well, even before he was beating her up, he was picking women up in this very fucking bar. Piece of shit. I would always try to warn him that he had a good woman at home, but he would tell me to mind my own fucking business. There were so many times I wanted to take my shotgun to that piece of shit. Joey’s a good woman. ”

Axel wasn’t going to argue with him there, but she did run off this morning without a word.

“I know you’re doubting me but think about Joey. She’s a single mom. The last time she got close to a man, married him, he hurt her. He nearly hurt their kid. She’s not going to be very trusting, and last night was the first time in forever that I saw that woman look ... happy.”

“You don’t have to tell me this stuff.”

“Look, you broke your rules last night, Axel. I saw you, but I want you to think about this. Your dad made those rules after your momma passed.” Uncle Rick shrugged. “There was a time your dad had no rules.”

And with that, Uncle Rick made his way into the bar.

He flicked his keys around his finger and had every intention of going back to do his job. It was a Saturday, and most weekends, he got a lot of work done on the ranch, only once he was on his bike, he didn’t go to the fucking ranch.

He parked outside of the coffee shop. It was still early, so they weren’t open yet.

Climbing off his bike, he went to the door and rang the bell.

He did so repeatedly, so Joey would know she couldn’t ignore him.

His persistence paid off, as she came toward the door, and there was a frown on her face, but she didn’t keep him waiting.

She opened the door, and he immediately stepped through and closed the door, flicking the lock into place.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“You want to tell me why you ran off this morning?”

“I didn’t run off. I had to go home and get ready for work.”

He saw there was more to it than that. He didn’t want the town looking into the shop window, so he grabbed her hand and walked out of sight, going toward her office. Everything was super neat and tidy. On her desk were a few files, and he saw her computer was on and open.

“You ran away.”

“I didn’t. I have work, and besides, do you want to do that awkward morning-after thing?” she asked.

“Morning after?”

“Isn’t it meant to be awkward?” she asked. “I have never done this before, and I didn’t want to wake up and have you freak out because I was still in your bed. You think I haven’t heard the women talk about you in this town? You go and you leave.”

“You were in my bed,” Axel said.

“So?”

“I’ve already broken that freaking rule, because you were in my bed. Not in yours. I wanted to wake up next to you.” He had no idea what he was freaking saying, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and gripped the back of her neck, pulling her in close. Staring into her eyes, he couldn’t look away, and he didn’t want to.

And then, he kissed her. He didn’t want to hold back as he pressed her ass against the edge of her desk and kissed her, hard. Sliding his tongue against her lips, she let out a gasp, opened up to him, and he growled her name, not wanting to stop. He kissed her harder.

“Please,” she said, moaning.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

“No.”

“Good.”

He lifted her up on the desk and then cupped her face with both his hands as he ravished her mouth. Axel didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop kissing her. It was like he was a drowning man, and she was his oxygen.

Letting go of her face, he ran his hands down her body, touching her everywhere.

“Tonight, when you close, I’m coming to get you,” he said. “And this time, you’re not going to leave my bed, do you understand me?”

He saw the surprise in her eyes, but he wasn’t backing down. He couldn’t believe what he was doing. This broke every single rule for a second time. But he wasn’t going home tonight without her.

He wanted her, and he was going to enjoy her.

****

All day Joey replayed that kiss though her head, trying to figure out what it all meant. This was crazy. She never went out with guys. She never went on dates. Her parents had been telling her for years to get back out there, but she refused. She had Adeline to think about.

There were not a lot of men who were happy with a woman who already had a kid. She got it, and there was no judgement. She had a child, and a failed marriage. There was baggage, and the truth was, she didn’t want to get hurt again. George had blindsided her.

Long before their marriage was over, she had stopped loving him. She knew he was cheating on her, and she had even seen him in the act. Not that he had known, but she had been pregnant at the time, and she wanted to try and make it work. She’d been so young and foolish. Now, she wasn’t.

Axel was nothing like George. He wasn’t looking to settle down, and he was looking for some fun. Her parents and her sister said she needed to have fun.

Only, she had never been the woman to just have some fun. She had to keep reminding herself this was not permanent. Axel liked to play around. He had a lot of women chasing after him, and she was not going to allow herself to get hurt.

Once the weekend was over, that was it, they would be over. That was what she kept telling herself, even as he pulled up around the back of the shop on his bike. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, and he turned off the ignition.

She had her bag across her body, and she looked at him with doubt.

“Climb on.”

“You do realize that is a death trap,” she said.

“And you need to learn to enjoy a little excitement in your life.”

It was the strangest thing because that was what her sister had said as well. She wondered if by some weird twist of fate, her sister and Axel talked. There was no way that was possible. Ashley on many occasions told her she hadn’t stayed in touch with anyone from home.

She looked at the back of Axel’s bike, and even as her heart raced, she couldn’t deny she was a little curious about what this would be like.

So, she swung her leg over the back of the bike, wrapped her arms around his waist, then took another deep breath, and was more than prepared for what was about to happen.

“Hold on tight.”

Joey would have much preferred a helmet, but she was going to live slightly recklessly, and if this was awful, her daughter was never going on the back of a bike.

Axel pulled out of the back of the shop and started on the road, heading toward his home.

She couldn’t believe she was doing this, but tomorrow was Sunday, and she wasn’t needed at the shop. Unless it was a special event in town, the shop remained closed on Sunday. Most people were not interested in going out and getting coffee. At least, not in her shop.

They drove right back to his home, and it took her a couple of minutes of holding onto Axel, but she did eventually let go.

The ride was actually quite thrilling, in more ways than she thought was possible. She closed her eyes and felt the slight breeze as it washed through her long hair. It felt freeing. And it made her feel so alive. She had not felt this way in a long time.

For the longest time, she had been trying to make up for George’s absence.

She wanted to be everything for her daughter.

A mother, a father, a best friend, everything.

George didn’t want anything to do with her.

He wasn’t there at her birth, and Joey had talked with her sister about monitored visitation, but George didn’t want that.

The divorce hadn’t been contested. Her sister had said it was a very quick and clean divorce.

Joey had moved out of the house they had together.

There was a small settlement, enough for her to put a small down payment on a house, as well as her coffee shop.

She had to agree to stop getting in touch about Adeline.

George didn’t want her. So, to save her daughter the pain, she had stopped trying.

“Here we are,” Axel said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked up at his home. “Well, did you hate it, or were you able to open your mind just a smidge?”

“Fine, fine, fine, it was good, it was a lot of fun.”

He laughed.

She climbed off the bike, and if Axel hadn’t reacted quickly, she would have fallen on her ass.

“I’ve got you.”

She couldn’t help but think that if he had been George, he’d have let her fall.

In fact, he would have probably helped her fall by giving her a shove.

Shaking her head, she was immediately pulled out of any comparisons as Axel cupped her face.

He was so delicate with her, and yet it felt so erotic as he held her.

One of his thumbs stroked across her lips, and he groaned. “All day I’ve been wanting to do this,” and he closed the distance between them and kissed her.

The moment their lips touched, Joey knew she had to stop thinking about George. Axel was not George.

The way she felt with Axel was out of this world.

There had never been fireworks with George.

All it had been was a stupid young woman crush that had nearly destroyed her very soul.

Thankfully, it hadn’t. She had been lucky, she knew that.

There was no way she was ever going to paint Axel with that same brush.

He was not George, and he was never going to be George.

Axel broke the kiss and took her hand, leading her inside the house. The other night, she didn’t get the chance to see much. They had been heading for one destination—his bedroom. She was not the kind of woman to snoop.

“Welcome to my home.”

“You did all of this, didn’t you?” she asked. “The refurbishing. Decorating.”

“That’s right.”

“It looks amazing,” she said. He flicked on the light, and just from the main hallway, she saw the love and dedication he had put into it.

From the doorway, she could see into the sitting room.

That was on the left, and on the right was the dining room table.

All of it was expertly crafted. Axel had been known to work well with his hands, and the proof surrounded her.

“So, come on,” he said.

He took her hands, and Joey thought he might just want to get straight to the sex, however, she was so wrong. He walked her to the kitchen, sat her down, and poured her a full glass of water.

“You’re not much of a drinker, are you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“So, rest and relax, and let me take care of you.”

Joey didn’t recall any of Axel’s previous women describing him like this. She didn’t say a word, but watched, waited, and listened. She took a sip of the refreshing water as Axel went to the fridge, which was fully stocked.

“You cook?” she asked.

“Hell, yeah, it was one of the things my dad taught me to do, but he had to learn himself, you know.”

“Your mom passed away.”

Axel nodded. “I never got a chance to meet her, but Dad didn’t mind talking about her, and we had a lot of pictures around.”

“He never remarried, did he?”

“Nah. I mean, he dated a lot.”

Joey knew that was accurate. Axel’s father had slept around with a lot of women.

He was a man who many had described as broken, because he fell in love and lost his wife.

It was sad. A lot of women had hoped to win him over but never had.

He had died of cancer a few years ago. Again, this was all town gossip she was privy to being the owner of a coffee shop.

“No one could ever compete with my mom,” Axel said. “There was a time I thought he might hate me, you know. With everything that happened.”

“I doubt that.”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t doubt it so much, but we talked it out, and he loved me.”

She had no doubt at all.

“But with Mom gone, he had to learn how to take care of himself, as she had taken care of him. He taught me to cook and take care of myself too.”