Page 22 of Axel

“I need to catch that flight.”

“I say this in the most loving way possible: What you need is to get your head out of your ass. Weren’t youjusttelling me lastnight how many new book ideas you have? You couldn’t even count them all. Tell me again how falling in love with Axel is ruining your ability to write books? Because from the way I see it, he’s actually your muse.”

Ididhave new book ideas. Lots of them. But I’d attributed them to the upcoming tropical adventure. Never mind that none of them were set on an island or even a beach town. Oh no. I’d come up with an entire series premise around volunteer firefighters in a small, mountainside town. All of them grumpy. All of them tattooed.

Shit.

Maybe Hope is right.

“Look, if I’m wrong about this—and for the record, I know I’m not—I’ll buy you a new plane ticket out of here,” Hope insists. “But not unless you take a chance and become the main character of your own love story first.”

13

AXEL

“You’re extra grumpy today,”Leeann says, sliding a coffee in front of me at the front desk.

“I’m fine,” I grumble, taking a sip of the black nectar. But even its bold, smoky flavor isn’t enough to shake me out of this funk. I don’t have any clients today because I’d purposely left today open on my schedule. I’d hoped to be celebrating all day long with Kelsey. Preferably naked and in my bed.

But she’s on a fucking plane to Hawaii.

“I know about her.” Leeann’s gentle tone causes my head to snap. “You really care about her, don’t you?”

I don’t even question how she figured it out. “She was always going to leave.”

“Doesn’t make it any easier.” Leeann sits on the edge of the desk, sipping on her own brew. “Maybe you should take the day off.”

“No. I need to be here.”

“Actually, you’ve done such a great job with your marketing lately that you’ll be living in the shop every day until Christmas. So, no. You don’t actuallyneedto be here today.”

I’m tempted to take a ride, but I know I’ll just end up at the library restaurant. Or at the airport. Doesn’t matter that her flight is scheduled to take off any minute. I’d head that way, hoping she decided to turn around.

It’s pathetic.

“I could pull Keigh out of school early? You two could have a dude’s day.”

The offer tempts me, but before I can give it any real thought, the bells jingle overhead. I look up and nearly fumble my coffee in my lap. By some miracle, Leeann catches the to-go cup before I burn my balls right off.

“I’ll be in the back if you need anything,” Leeann says in a low voice, patting me on the shoulder after setting my cup far back on the desk.

Kelsey Mathers stands just on the inside of the door, two suitcases and a laptop bag piled around her. She’s wearing the same blush pink tank top she had on the day I gave her the sunflower tattoo. The ink stain is barely noticeable, but it’s still there.

“Your flight get delayed?” I ask, forcing myself to stay put behind the desk. If she’s here to say goodbye, I don’t want to hear it.

“I think it’s taking off right now, actually.”

My pulse doubles, then triples. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but fuck I hope this means what I think it means. “Did they kick you off the plane because someone was reading one of your books and caused on incident?”

“Geesh, it was one burned pizza,” Kelsey says, a smile slowly spreading across her lips. That sparkle returning to her previously vacant eyes.

“You here to get another tattoo?” I ask, one corner of my mouth lifting in a smile. “I happen to have today open for walk-ins.”

“I’ll be getting more tattoos,” she says, swaying those hips as she approaches the front counter and walks around it. “But not today.”

“What’s today?”

“Today is the first day I embrace being the main character in my own story,” she says, stepping up to me, placing herself right between my open legs. My hands automatically reach for the back of her thighs. “Today is the first day I stop running.”

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