Full Load: A Second Chance Romance

by Piper King

  I took a deep breath and said the words I was almost too afraid to utter. It felt wild somehow, reckless, but it also made my bones feel right and still, a feeling I’d never experienced in the city. There, I’d felt restless and trapped, like I was in search of something I couldn’t even see.

  But being back home, I felt…free.

  It was time to go tell Axel the good news. I wasn’t entirely sure how he’d take it, though I had a hunch. Even though we’d left most things unsaid the night before, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted our night together to be a start of something more, something that we’d both been dreaming about for years.

  At least I hoped we were on the same page.

  As I walked across the damp grass, excitement and pure nervous energy soared through my veins. It was funny, I almost felt as if I was on my way to ask Axel Lee to marry me. This decision felt just as large and just as important as that. Staying meant declaring a serious commitment to being together, one that I hoped would never end.

  I took a deep breath, walked up the front steps of his porch, and knocked the same knock we’d used as kids. Three times in quick succession, and then once slow. The house had a doorbell, but Axel and I had always used our secret knock, only for each other.

  The door swung open, and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach so hard I almost doubled over from the shock of it. Standing before me was not my wonderful, hot-as-sin man with his tight muscles and swirling tattoos. No, it was someone else entirely. Someone that made tears prick into my eyes.

  It was Beth, the girl I’d seen leaving Axel’s place the morning before.

  He’d said he’d never been with anyone else, and yet she’d been there yesterday morning and here she was again. Only hours after Axel had been fucking me in the back of his truck.

  It couldn’t be possible.

  It just couldn’t be.

  “Where’s Axel?” I asked in a voice that sounded choked and strained, like some kind of wild animal instead of a woman.

  The girl frowned, clearly as confused to see me as I was to see her. He must not have told her about me, and that fact alone felt like another punch to the gut.

  “He’s upstairs getting dressed.”

  Getting.

  Dressed.

  I couldn’t breathe. Dark spots crept into my vision. Shaking my head, I backed away so quickly, I almost tripped over my own feet. Axel had lied. He truly had moved on, at least when it came to his bed. We’d just been naked in each other’s arms mere hours ago, and already he had another woman in his house. No telling what they had done together if he was still getting dressed from it.

  It was hard to imagine Axel Lee doing something like this.

  But he had. I was staring the evidence right in the face.

  I’d been an idiot. Such a moron to think that we could rewind back to a time when everything had been good in my life. A complete imbecile for thinking I could have the man of my dreams after leaving him five years before.

  Maybe he did blame me after all. It would certainly explain this slap in the face.

  I had to get the hell out of this town.

  And this time, I would never come back.

  21

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as I made my way down the creaking stairs. Beth was standing at the bottom, her face carved into concern. She kept glancing at the door, as if it held the answer to some puzzle she couldn’t quite understand.

  “Your ex-girlfriend. Is she a really pretty brunette? Kind of short and petite?”

  Alarm bells clanged in my head, though I couldn’t understand why. Something felt wrong, and the expression on Beth’s face only enhanced my unease. Why was she asking about Annie? Of course I’d told her all about her just as she’d told me all about her own romantic woes. Most of the guys in this town were assholes like Derek Baker, a fact she’d had the unfortunate luck to find out.

  “I think she knocked on your door, and she was shocked, to say the least, to see me standing here.” Beth frowned at the door again. “I have the feeling she thinks we’re hooking up.”

  “Fuck,” I said, shoving my hands into my hair. Everyone got the wrong idea about me and Beth, and I hadn’t felt the need to clear things up, if only because it was no one’s damn business who I slept with. But Beth was just a friend, a potential employee. She wanted to be a trucker, and I’d been going over the various regulations with her on the weekends before she took the exam.

  It had been purely professional. But Annie had no way of knowing that.

  And if she’d shown up here the morning after our mind-blowing night of make-up sex…Shit. She was probably going out of her mind.

  “Listen.” I grabbed my boots. “We’re going to have to rain-check this after all. I swear we’ll make up the time next weekend, but I need to go and sort this out.”

  “Dude, seriously. It’s fine.” She gave me a smile. “It’s about damn time.”

  22

  I was out the door with my bag in less than fifteen minutes. Whitney begged me to stay, proclaiming there must have been some sort of misunderstanding. But when I demanded she give me an alternative scenario to the sordid one playing through my head, she couldn’t. She just stared at me, silent and wide-eyed.

  After throwing myself into the car, I backed out of the driveway at a speed that almost gave me whiplash. My feet found the gas pedal, and it pressed down as hard as it could. And as soon as the sight of his house disappeared in my rearview mirror, the tears began to fall down my cheeks, sobs shaking my body so hard that I had to grip the steering wheel to keep myself steady.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  My heart physically hurt.

  My stomach felt as if it had been punched a hundred times.

  I’d given myself to Axel again, and he’d taken that love and shoved it down my throat.

  I would never get over this.

  Never. Not for the rest of my miserable life.

  I was crying so hard that I didn’t see the fallen tree jutting out into the middle of the road until it was too late.

  My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I tried to swerve, but my tires slammed into the tree. My body jolted forward. The air bag exploded in my face.

  And everything went black.

  23

  “Where’s Annie?” I threw open the door and ran into the Jackson house. Whitney was pacing back and forth in the sparse living room and threw her hand to her heart when I charged inside.

  “She just left,” she said in a rush of words, eyes wide. I could see damp spots on her cheeks where she’d been crying, and it strengthened my resolve even more. I needed to find Annie. Now. “I tried to stop her, but she was convinced you were fucking Beth this morning. Were you?”

  “Of course not,” I barked out. “If for any reason she comes back, stop her from leaving again. Nothing has ever happened between me and Beth, and nothing ever will. I love Annie, for fuck’s sake.”

  “Then go after her,” Whitney whispered.

  And with that, I was back out the door and inside my truck within seconds.

  It didn’t take long to find Annie. She’d made it about half a mile down the road before her car had slammed into a the trunk of a fallen tree. The engine was smoking, the front of the car crumpled from the impact. I swore and jumped out of the truck with the engine still running, heart slamming hard into my ribcage.

  She had to be okay.

  Annie couldn’t be hurt.

  If she was, I’d never forgive myself.

  When I reached the driver’s side of the car, I saw Annie’s face pressed against the air bag, her eyes closed. Ripping open the door, I pulled her roughly into my arms before carrying her away from the smoking car, my whole body gripped with fear. An accident had taken her away from me once. Surely now that we’d found each other again, another accident wouldn’t take her away from me for forever.

  “Axel,” she murmured into my chest, and I stilled.

  “Annie.”
I lifted her into my arms and pressed her hair away from her face, desperately searching her eyes. They were open and wide and full of a clarity that took my breath away. She was okay. My Annie was fine.

  My heart shook so hard in my chest that it felt as if it might explode at any moment.

  But then she realized exactly who held her, and she started squirming to get away.

  “You!” She tried to pull away, but I held her close. “Let go of me!”

  “Annie,” I said, still holding my arms tight around her, desperate to make her listen to what I had to say. “What you saw isn’t what you think. I’ve been teaching Beth about trucking standards. She wants to be one of my drivers as soon as she turns twenty-one next month.”

  Annie stopped fighting, dropping back her head to meet my eyes. For a moment, she just stared at me, as if she were searching for the truth deep down in my soul. We’d known each other for so long that we could read each other better than we could read ourselves. She would know if I was lying. Or at least I had to hope that she still could.

  I couldn’t lose her now, not after coming so close to getting her back.

  “You were just teaching her,” Annie repeated, the fight in her body slowly melting into my arms. “Why did she say you were upstairs getting dressed?”

  “Because I thought it was you at the door.” I gave her a wink. “When I saw it wasn’t, I thought I better get some clothes on.”

  She met my eyes for one long moment before a brilliant smile lit up her face. “Oh, Axel. Take me home.”

  So I did.

  Annie stood naked before me, suddenly shy. She had a big blue bruise on her shoulder from where she’d slammed against the air bag, but she’d never looked more beautiful in her life. She held a hand to her delicate throat and watched as I undressed, her eyes drinking in my rock-hard abs and cock. It was ready for her, as ready as it would ever be. I wanted to plunge deep into her depths and hear her scream. But first, I wanted to take my time, exploring every inch of her skin.

  I pressed her back onto the bed and spread her legs, kneeling before her and dragging my tongue across her perfect clit. She moaned and pressed herself closer to me, and my excitement only increased, so turned on by how much she wanted me, how much she needed me. Her body was mine, and I was going to show her exactly how good I could make her feel.

  I pushed my tongue into her wet pussy, tasting her juices. She gasped and reached for me, digging her hands into my hair. Feeling the hardness of my own desire, I fucked her with my tongue, faster and faster until the tremors of her orgasm shot a flood of sweet, delicious juices into my mouth. God, she tasted good. I wanted to drink her pleasure every night for the rest of my life.

  “Turn over and stick your ass in the air, baby,” I said, growling as she flipped over, still panting heavily from coming so hard and so fast. “I want to take you from behind the way you like.”

  Eagerly, she got on all fours and presented herself to me. I moved behind her and pressed on her back so that her face was hard against the bed. It made me feel so animalistic to take her this way, like she belonged to me, heart and soul and body.

  Her tight little walls closed in around me as I pushed myself all the way inside. She’d always felt so fucking good. She was small and tight and could barely hold me, and the shudders of her body only made my cock harden even more.

  I fucked her slowly at first, hearing her sweet little gasp every time I hit her sensitive spot. That sound always drove me wild. My hips picked up speed, slamming into her round little ass as our combined pleasure built to a crescendo. I wanted to fuck her for hours, but she felt too damn good to hold back.

  We came together, my balls slapping her ass and her juices running down my thigh.

  After I emptied all my seed into her body, I gave her a ten-minute break, and then I took her as mine all over again.

  Epilogue

  I’d never been happier in my life. I whistled as I closed up the library for the start of the Christmas holiday break, smiling at the festive decorations donning the school. The past few months working here had been more a dream come true than my job in the city had been in all of its five years.

  Not to mention the fact that every night I got to go home to Axel Lee.

  And I couldn’t wait to see him tonight.

  We had a whole weekend planned for just the two of us.

  Well…the three of us really. I patted my belly and smiled. All our love-making the day I’d tried to leave had led to more than one wonderful thing in our new life together. We were having a baby.

  At home, I smiled as I pulled into the driveway, waving at Whitney next door. She was putting the finishing touches on her light display, adding a reindeer to the crazy ensemble she’d put together this year. Whitney had taken on a lot of projects since moving into the house. I had a feeling she was lonely, but I knew it wouldn’t take long for her to find a good man.

  She was a wonderful girl, and she deserved someone good in her life.

  Axel had tried to set her up with a single guy he knew from work, but Whitney had refused to go on a blind date. He was from out of town, and she was more than a little bit shy about going out with someone she’d never met before.

  I had a feeling we were wearing her down though.

  When I walked through the front door, I was immediately hit by the scent of spiced pumpkin. My stomach growled. I’d been so hungry ever since I got pregnant. Insatiable really. No matter how much I ate, I was always still hungry.

  And food wasn’t the only thing I was constantly hungry for…

  I couldn’t get enough of Axel. On the couch, in the kitchen, in the shower, on the stairs.

  I wanted him every chance I could get.

  And we was always more than happy to oblige.

  Smiling, I kicked off my shoes and headed into the kitchen where I found Axel hovering around the stove, an oven mitt on one hand and a spatula in the other. He looked way out of his depth, but it was one of the most adorable things I’d ever seen.

  “What in the name of sanity are you doing back here?” I asked, easing on one of the stools by the kitchen island. Food and dishes were scattered everywhere.

  “I wanted to make you something special.” He shot me a grin. “This is our first holiday in this house together, so I wanted to make it memorable.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be memorable alright.” I noted that there was a hint of burnt meat in the air. “But you do know that Christmas isn’t actually for another ten days.”

  “This isn’t Christmas dinner.” He whirled and pushed a button on the oven before turning back to me. “This is to celebrate something else.”

  I cocked my head. Was there some kind of anniversary I was forgetting? It wouldn’t have surprised me. My pregnancy brain was getting worse every day. I left keys in the refrigerator, my shoes under the sink. I was glad that I had some time off from work, because the kids were starting to really tease me about my forgetfulness.

  Suddenly, Axel looked very nervous. He set the glove and the spatula onto the island and pressed down the front of his flannel shirt.

  “What’s wrong, Axel?” I asked.

  “Nothing is wrong.” He slid his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a small black box. I gasped and pressed my hand to my throat, heart suddenly loud and quick in my ears.

  He went down on one knee, his hands shaking. Holding up the ring before him, he met my eyes, and I swore he had tears in the corners of his own.

  “Annie Jackson. I love you more than you’ll ever understand.” He took a deep breath. “When you left five years ago, I thought I’d never be able to move on. Well, turns out I didn’t. I was waiting for you all this time, even if I didn’t quite realize it. And you’ve made me the happiest man alive by being back here with me. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s where you belong.”

  I nodded. Of course it was. I’d been an idiot to think anywhere else could ever do.

  “I almost asked you this five years
ago, and I’m not going to wait any longer to ask you now.” He held the ring higher. “Will you marry me?”

  Heart full of hope and happiness, I said yes.

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  What To Read Next

  DIESEL

  I’m a long haul trucker with a full load.

  I f*ck who I want. When I want. And I always leave them begging for more. I roll into town, take the best piece of ass I can find, and then move on before the sun rolls into the morning clouds.

  But not Lucy, the sunshine of a girl who works at the truck stop diner off Exit 276. She’s too sweet and too fragile for a bad boy like me to screw over. My past is mine to bear alone.

  Except one look at those gorgeous green eyes, and I’m toast. Hell, I’m only a f*cking man. And a man can’t resist what he wants no matter how hard he tries.

  LUCY

  I had big dreams for my life, but they flew right out the window when I used all my college savings to bail my brother out of an awful mess.

  So, now I work in the grimy truck stop diner every night, serving up greasy food to leering men. It’s the only way to get by.

  There’s one trucker I don’t mind so much though. Mysterious, rugged, dangerous. He’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen, and he looks like he likes to f*ck hard.

  Turns out he does.

  Now I’ve had his baby. Too bad he’s disappeared without a trace. Even though I try to hate him, I can’t get him off my mind. I want him to come back and be a father to our child. But that’s not the only thing I want.

  I want to give him my heart.