by Cathryn Fox
“Ink is permanent,” I say, inching closer.
“I know,” she whispers, her warm breath falling over my face.
“So if I put the symbol here,” I begin, and run my fingers over her thighs, “does it mean you’re interested in creating your own reality?”
“Yes,” she says, and my heart beats so hard, I’m sure it’s going to break a rib. Hope moves through me, and in this instance, I know if I want a future with her, I need to lay my heart on the line. Am I ready for that? Hell yeah, I am. This is sweet Kylee Jensen, and I wouldn’t trust my heart in anyone’s hands but hers.
“Kylee,” I begin. “I never raped—”
She puts her finger to my lips to hush me. “I know.”
I frown as old painful memories bombard me. But that’s what they are now. Memories. It’s time to live in the present and not let the past define my actions. “I take it you looked up the court case.”
“No. I didn’t need to.” The lump in my throat doubles in size.
“Really?” I choke out. She didn’t need to read the case to believe in me?
“I believe you, Jamie. I believe in you.”“You didn’t at first.”
“It was a knee-jerk reaction. Everything was coming at me fast and my rational brain went right to the facts: You did something wrong, which was why the guys beat you up. But it didn’t feel right in my gut, even as I asked the question.”
“They beat me up because they thought I raped their sister. Any of my brothers would have done the same, but they all jumped me when I was alone. None of us would have done that.”
“I’m so sorry they did that to you.” She touches my hair, pushing it from my face. “For the record, I was never engag—”
This time I put my finger to her lips. “I know. The truth is, I was hurt in the past, deeply. I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit by a rich, pampered girl who was bored and looking for fun. I put you in that category, didn’t expect you to be any different. But you proved to be so different, and I totally fell in love with you.”
“You . . . you love me?” she says, and sniffs.
I shake my head. “Of course I love you.”
She looks down for a second, a moment of silence, then says, “I’m not here to tell you all the things I love about you, Jamie.”
I freeze, the blood in my veins turning to ice. I glance over her face as I inch back. My stomach turns, worry gnawing at me. “What do you mean?” Oh, fuck, does she not want to try to make this work between us? I can’t let that happen. I have to find a way to convince her we’re meant to be together. Walking away from her was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, and I refuse to lose her again. She’s mine. She was mine from the second I looked at her lounging in her bikini. Yeah, she was trouble in a bikini, all right—my trouble—and I plan to fight for her.
“Jamie,” she begins. “I’m here to tell you all the things I don’t love about you,” she whispers.
Fear flashes through me, and I let loose a long, slow breath to prepare myself for what she’s about to say to me. I move back on shaky legs, but she captures my hand and pulls me back beside her.
“I don’t love you because you’re the bravest, kindest guy I know.” I swallow, and when understanding dawns, I slide my hand around her neck, the happiest fucking man alive. “I don’t love you because you’re talented, passionate, and really and truly care about other people.” She gives me a small smile and my insides soar. “I don’t love you because you overstepped boundaries and went to Indigo Blue Boutique. I don’t love you because you put me first, care about me, support my true passion in life.”
“Kylee,” I whisper my heart overflowing with all the love I feel for her.
She presses a soft kiss onto my mouth. “I love you because this summer you became my best friend, and you make me brave.”
“I love you, Kylee,” I say and nearly sob with the happiness bubbling up inside me. “I don’t ever want to lose you again.” I pull her into my arms, and hug her until she’s gasping for breath. “I was so stupid to walk away, but I swear to you, I won’t let anything ever come between us again.”
“Trevor asked me to marry him.”
Ice goes through my veins, never wanting to hear that man’s name on her lips again. I inch back to see her face. When our eyes connect and I see the grief, I stiffen. “And?”
“My father said yes for me.”
I grab a fistful of hair and tug. My pulse stutters. If we love each other, how the fuck could this be happening? “Jesus Christ.”
“After my father answered for me, he demanded I answer Trevor too, and I told him, I will.”
The room spins around me and I grip the side of my tattoo chair to hang on. “You will? As in you will marry him?”
“No, as in I will answer him. And the answer was no, of course.”
I exhale a sharp breath. “Fuck, you scared me for a second there.”
Her gaze races over mine, and while I see love in her eyes, I also see fear and worry. “I left my job, and my father has practically disowned me.”
“He’ll come around, Kylee. When he sees you truly happy that you are making your own clothes, he’ll come around.”
“Maybe,” she says. “I’m so sorry for what the Jackson brothers did to you. If they ever come after you because of me—”
“Let them. You’re worth the fight.”
“But Jamie—”
“Kylee, they jumped me. It wasn’t a fair fight. I was a kid and still managed to break a few of their bones. They come at me again, they’ll have me and my army of brothers and cousins to deal with.”
She nods and I take her hand and lift her from the chair. I walk her into the room I just finished painting. “This is where we go.”
She looks around the new add-on. “What is this?”
“This is why I was barely around last month. I was adding an extension, for you.”
“For me?”
“Yeah, I want you to open your own boutique right here, attached to the tattoo shop. That way we can be together.” I wink and add, “I’d even let you hum.”
She grins but then she shakes her head. “Jamie, I can’t believe you did this.”
“I’d do anything for you.”
Her eyes are wide as she takes it all in. “I’m going to need help.”
“I’ll help you.”
She puts her hand on my chest and I close mine over it. “You’ll be busy doing your own work. I was thinking I’d like to hire a friend.”
“Oh, who?”
“Miranda. I know her from . . .”
“ . . . the shelter,” I say.
Her eyes go wide. “You know her?”
“She wears your clothes well.” There is real warmth in her eyes when she realizes I know all about her trips to Hope Falls. “I want permanent,” I say.
“I thought ink was the only permanent thing in your life,” she teases.
I take my shirt off and when her gaze goes to my heart, and the word Kylee written over it—compliments of Ryan—she covers her mouth with her hand. “I was coming for you, Kylee. I was just getting everything ready before I went to Atlanta to convince you we belong together.”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her tight. Tears are streaming down her face and I kiss them away. “I was thinking, we could hang a sign and call the place Body Art, because you know, you put clothes on the body and I put tattoos on it, and they’re both art.”
The happiness in her eyes makes me feel more alive than I have ever felt before. “Or we could just call it Jamie and Kylee’s Place.”
“Better yet, how about Owens and Owens?”
Her eyes go big and she squeals. “Jamie . . .”
“Marry me, Kylee. Make me the happiest man in the world.”
“On one condition,” she says, her voice teasing.
I angle my head, take in her mischievous grin. “You have a condition?”
She turns from me, gives a little shake to her backside and
says, “You said you wanted to take me everywhere, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Jesus fuck,” I say.
She grins at me over her shoulder. “Exactly.”
I scoop her up. “Not here. Let’s take you home, and I’ll give you anything and everything you want.”
Home.
My God, I’m really going to make a home with Kylee Jensen. I am the luckiest fucking man alive.
“Oh, and I also want a dog or two, and at least five kids or more. We can’t stop until we get Gram her girl. And we’ll need to expand the cottage to make room for everyone, and—”
I laugh. “You can have all those things, but for now, can we just start with me putting my cock inside you?”
“Whatever you say, sweet boy.”
“Sweet boy? Haven’t we been over that?”
She blinks, feigning innocence. “I don’t remember.”
“Maybe the girl needs a reminder of just how not sweet I am,” I say, slipping into our game, not because I want to keep an emotional distance. I don’t. But just because this fantasy has become a reality, it doesn’t mean the good girl doesn’t want to be a little bad.
She smiles at me. “I believe the girl does.”
Acknowledgments
A huge thank-you to the team behind my Blue Bay series. From my amazing editor, Holly, to the marketing and production staff at St. Martin’s Press, you’ve all done so much to help me make these books shine.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cathryn Fox is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie), pizza, and red wine. Cathryn has two teenagers who keep her busy and a husband who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. When not writing, Cathryn can be found laughing over lunch with friends, hanging out with her kids, or watching a big action flick with her husband.
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Also by Cathryn Fox
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Chapter One: Jamie
Chapter Two: Kylee
Chapter Three: Jamie
Chapter Four: Kylee
Chapter Five: Jamie
Chapter Six: Kylee
Chapter Seven: Jamie
Chapter Eight: Kylee
Chapter Nine: Jamie
Chapter Ten: Kylee
Chapter Eleven: Jamie
Chapter Twelve: Kylee
Chapter Thirteen: Jamie
Chapter Fourteen: Jamie
Chapter Fifteen: Kylee
Chapter Sixteen: Jamie
Chapter Seventeen: Kylee
Chapter Eighteen: Jamie
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Cathryn Fox
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
LEVELED. Copyright © 2018 by Cathryn Fox. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Danielle Mazzella di Boscco
Cover photographs: man © Arthur-studio10/Shutterstock.com; tattoo © Recommended Vectors/Shutterstock.com
ISBN 978-1-250-15296-1 (ebook)
First Edition: January 2018
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