“I don’t know.” A mean shiver runs through me, and I watch as his affect dissipates to nothing. “I’m not sure we were ever truly off. There’s a reason I was never with another man after you.” I gird myself as the words come bubbling up my throat. “I never really considered us over. You were always mine, Ax.”
He needles me with a laser precision. “And you were always mine.” He leans over the table and offers up a chaste kiss.
“That’s a start.” We share a rumbling laugh with enough heat to set this entire bar on fire.
Serena takes our orders, and we talk for an hour straight, mostly about Emilia, mostly about how happy she made us.
“Remember that time she was angry with you?” I ask, trying to recall the exact reason her anger was sponsored.
“I let her know her boyfriend was a buffoon.”
I slap my hands together in victory. “That’s right! She said the two of you got into it, and it turned into a physical altercation.” I laugh so hard I’m wheezing. My chest seizes with every other breath. “I’ll never forget how wildly pissed she was.”
“She pulled my hair so hard I had a bald spot for a month.” He cups the back of his head, and tears come to the party right along with the laughter. “It’s good to see you happy again.” He pulls my hands forward, and the moment grows serious. “Let’s get out of here, Lex.”
Axel throws a wad of cash down onto the table, and we say goodbye to Serena.
We get outside, and the sun is already starting to set.
Axel glides his finger gently over my cheek, and I pull him in and kiss the tip. “Where to?”
“I think there’s only one place we can go.”
“I agree.”
Axel doesn’t even ask. He simply drives us up the switchbacks, to the overlook, to the Witch’s Cauldron. It shouldn’t surprise me that we know one another so well. It seems that even when we were at our worst we had the same mind, same destructive thoughts about ourselves. I truly believe that there isn’t another person on the planet who could have healed me, watched me so patiently heal, other than Axel.
He parks between the overlook and the Witch’s Cauldron, and we get out looking left then right wondering which way to go first.
He takes up my hand and gently threads our fingers. “How about we rewrite a bit of history?” We walk down toward the hot spring while the scent of fresh evergreens permeates the cool autumn air. A bed of dried pine needles crunch under our feet as we step softly to the spring with its rocky border. The cauldron itself is oblong—God’s natural hot tub, and for as much as I’ve detested frolicking in nature, I’ve been known to sneak off on my own, roll up my jeans, and dip my feet in the heated splendor.
We step just shy of the hot spring, and I pull him in. Axel Collins has always had the most mesmerizing eyes—glowing, serious, mysterious. But my favorite part about them—about him—has been his ability to really see me—not in the natural, but in the supernatural. Axel sees me right down to my deformed soul. And he has never judged me for who I am at the core. In a weird way, he’s celebrated it.
I press a quiet kiss to his lips, and we linger a moment. “So here we are. The perfect place.”
“Anyplace with you is perfect.” His arms circle me as my body adheres to his chest. “I love you, Lex.” He bears into me with thunderous intensity, and I feel his sincerity right down to my marrow. “I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. You can’t stop me.”
A small laugh trembles from us both.
“Good.” I brush a kiss over his stubbled cheek. “I’m not going to stop loving you either. You think we’ll make it this time?” I wince as I ask. At this point the question feels rhetorical.
He gives a solemn nod. “We will. We have to. I can’t breathe without you. You’re the only means of survival for me.” He gives my hips a quick pinch. “Plus, we’ll have cute kids.”
“Kids?” I squeak with a laugh—this is so not like me. It’s almost alarming, but I’ve always appreciated the way Axel was able to pull me from my shell. “As in human children?”
“Yes, I assure you they’re the very best kind, and I hear they’re fun to make.”
“Making babies.” I shake my head in wonder at this beautiful man. “Well, Strudel is getting up there in age. I was thinking he should probably have a buddy.”
He grimaces, and even in that he looks stunningly handsome. Axel’s classically good looks never seem to fail him. “I might keep our newborn away from the dog for a bit. But yes, I very much think Strudel needs a brother or a sister.”
My heart warms when he references Strudel as a member of the family. “You know the way to my heart, don’t you?”
“I’d like to think so.” His Adam’s apple rises and falls as if the moment just grew serious. “You are my heart, Lex.” He leans in and brushes my lips with his before settling into something deeper, darker as we fall into one another, rewriting history at the Witch’s Cauldron, wiping away the grime from the past, making the present sparkle and shine with our newfound love for one another.
Axel eases off my skirt, my shirt. He strips down to his boxers, and we carefully dip down into the heated waters as the steam rises around us, secluding us from the rest of the world. Above us the evergreens arch into the night sky. A shooting star leaves a spray of magic in its wake, and we marvel at the sight.
“It’s pure magic. It’s a sign.” I float over his lap, with my wrists locked around his neck.
“It’s Emilia.” His breath cools my neck. “She’s sending her love—her approval. When we broke up, she told me you were a shooting star, and I had gotten caught up in the stardust.”
My stomach bucks as I struggle to hold back tears. “And now you’re coming along for the ride.”
“Just try to get rid of me. I’m in it forever.”
I thread my fingers through the thick ropes of his hair as we get lost in one another’s eyes. “Forever. Thank you for that.”
We fall into a kiss that goes on exactly forever. Our hearts knit to one another under the stars, under Emilia’s supervision, under God’s. One thing is for certain—from here on out, neither of us would have to battle through this world alone.
Axel and I found our way back, and that magic is worth a million shooting stars.
Axel
At the end of the day Lex Ximena Maxfield is an old-fashioned girl, and at the end of the day the same can be said for me. That’s precisely why I’m doing two things.
I present her brother with the report I’ve printed out.
Marlin frowns into it, his go-to expression with me. I somehow coerced him to meet me at the coffee shop at the foot of my building. It’s not Hallowed Grounds, but it works for the purpose of our meeting.
“Ms. Cheryl Kazouski.” He shakes his head. “Quite a string of previous arrests. No felonies. What about her?”
“Just wanted to see if she had any outstanding warrants, anything that might make her go away.”
“You want her to go away?” He pumps out a dry smile and looks eerily like Lex in the process. It’s unnerving seeing her face lurking there in that of her brother’s who has a long-standing history of heavily disliking me. “Here’s what you do. Invite her to dinner and start in on a nice long conversation. That repels just about most women in your life—right? It worked with my sister. The only tragedy is it took a year.” He tosses the printout back to me.
“Funny.” I fold my hands, trying to buy some patience. Maybe this was a big mistake. “This woman has been harassing your sister for the better part of three months. The cops don’t really give a crap. I thought maybe you might.”
“What?” He snaps the page back toward him and glares at her image as if he were suddenly moved to murder. That’s the thing about Marlin. He loves his sisters. He’d die and perhaps kill for them. I should know. I was almost at the receiving end of the latter. I went back to Hollow Brook the summer after that nasty breakup Lex and I had, and it was Marlin who shoved me t
hrough a plate glass window. I ran into Lex having dinner with her family and all but begged for a chance to speak with her. When I wouldn’t take the hint and leave her alone, it was Marlin who kindly showed me to the door—in reality, he made a whole new exit. The cops were called, and, well, according to Lex, that was the night he decided to look into becoming an officer of the law himself. “What the hell does this woman want with Lex?”
I start in on “Stumpy” and the insanity that led to Lex quickly becoming the pariah of every dog lover, including just about everyone at the institute for the deaf and hard of hearing without meaning to.
“Crap. I ran right through those protesters the day I came looking for Lex and found her in your bed. It never even occurred to me they were there for her.” He smacks his eye with his palm. “And you let this crap fly for three solid months?”
“No, I monitored it. What I didn’t let fly was our breakup. Lex and I are back together.”
Marlin groans as if I just struck him in the gut full force with a baseball bat. “You sure she’s on the same page? Lex might let you think you’re back together, but she’s probably plotting your demise.” A thin smile creeps up his face as if he might be doing the same.
“She’s in.” Marlin and I glare at one another as if this were a standoff that was about to end with a gunshot, and considering he’s the only one armed in this scenario, it very well might. “Look—we both care about Lex, and this woman right here is making her existence miserable. She’s even got The Pelican covered with protesters. Lex can’t catch a break. The last thing I need is for this to escalate further. Nobody hurts Lex on my watch, and I say this ends today.”
He clicks his tongue, shaking his head at Stumpy’s picture again. Lex even has me calling her that. You have to admit it’s catchy. “Give me a minute.”
In less than thirty seconds, Marlin discovers that sure enough good ol’ Stumpy has an arrest warrant for an entire slew of outstanding parking citations as long as my arm.
Marlin pulls out his phone. “I’ll call the boys over in Hollow Brook and give Lex an early Christmas present.” He growls over at me. “Don’t worry, lover boy. I plan on letting her know it was all your doing. Go on now. Get lost. You’ve done your good deed for the day. Just know if you break my sister’s heart again, I’ll have your body pumped full of bullets, and then I’ll make sure the guy who did it gets thrown away for a very long time.” He gives an obnoxious grin. “I’m all about justice.” He flicks his badge with his finger.
“Cute.” I rap my knuckles over the table two times fast. “This isn’t the only reason I called you down here. I’m planning on asking Lex to marry me, and seeing that your father is no longer with us—I was hoping you’d give me your blessing.”
He lets out a sharp howl of a laugh, and my stomach plummets. Everything in me sinks like lead right to the core of the earth. Deep down, I knew this wasn’t my brightest idea.
“You really want to marry Lex?” He ticks his head back with a strangled look of shock as if he couldn’t understand why anyone would. “You have met her, right?”
“Yes. And if you would spend a little time with her, you’ll see she’s changed. She’s softer, kinder, but at the core still very much herself. She’s had a tough past few months.”
“Only because you’ve been in ’em.”
I shake my head, not sure which way to go with it. He is right. “You’re full of it today, aren’t you?” I take a breath and stare at this masculine version of the woman I love. “So what’s it going to be? Do I have your blessing? Or do I go on without it? Because right now those are my only two choices.”
Marlin leans back, expanding his chest in that navy uniform, only to elicit a sigh from a couple of women walking by. Marlin is a player from what I can remember. I heard there was a short marriage thrown in there between now and the last relationship Lex and I had. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to dump him, seeing that he’s so easy to get along with.
We growl at one another for a few moments before he shakes his head at me. “You got it. You can have my sister’s hand in marriage under one circumstance.”
“What’s that?”
“You make a better point of getting to know Serena and me, too. We’re a package deal. Part of the reason I wasn’t a fan the first time around was the secrecy. Dude, you dated my sister a year before I knew you existed. If you’re going to be family, you better start acting like it.”
“I will. I swear I will.” A rush of relief fills me. “In fact, Lex and I will happily host Sunday dinners. We’ll have the entire clan over. I know how Lex feels about the Knights, too.”
He grunts, “Good.” He stands, and I do the same. “I’ll get cracking on this nutcase.” He snaps the paper off the table. “And I’ll wait for Lex to tell me the good news.” He glares at me a moment before breaking out into a genuine smile—a pained smile, but nonetheless. He wraps an arm around me and offers a quick jostle. “And if she says yes, welcome to the family, kid. I won’t make you regret it too much. Lex is a prize.” He gives a wistful shake of the head. “Let’s hope she feels the same about you.”
“Let’s hope indeed.”
The Sloppy Pelican is pumping tonight—and the banquet room is also brimming with guests. Lex looks beautiful in her lace floral gown. Something I probably won’t see her donning again anytime soon, but it’s a shame—Lex is a stunner in it. We walk arm in arm down the aisle and watch as Low and Levi become husband and wife while Raven looses it on the sidelines.
Once Levi and Low speed back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Masterson, the room explodes in celebratory howls.
Raven boo-hoos as if she were at Low’s funeral. But Lex is right there smacking her over the arm and telling her to get over it before she throws her arms around me.
“Looks like we survived.” Lex lifts a cheek as if the entire event were annoying, and I can’t help but laugh. “What? I had ten bucks that you’d lock your knees and pass out.”
“All right.” I give her thigh a quick pinch. “You’re a riot. You know who didn’t survive?” I glance to an inconsolable Raven sobbing into her floral bouquet. “She could probably use a friend.” I lean in. “One that doesn’t use the words get over it?”
Lex snarls a moment before sagging into me. “I’ll be right back.” She takes off in Raven’s direction, and before I know it, they’re locked in an embrace with Lex whispering soothing words—one can only hope—into Raven’s ear.
A hand slaps over my shoulder, and I turn to find Brody looking every bit the lady-killer. “Looks like things are looking up for you. Everything good with you and Lex?”
“Everything’s great. Lex and I are right on track. In fact”—I pull him in by the elbow—“I’m gunning for a wedding of my own. And if everything goes well, that will happen soon.”
“No kidding?” Brody hops back on one leg, that brimming grin widening on his face. “That’s great. I’m sure it will all work out for you.” He folds his arms across his chest and looks out at the crowd with a sober expression. I’ve known Brody long enough to realize something’s getting to him.
“What’s the long face for?”
“Nah—it’s nothing.” He scratches the back of his head. “It’s just that the other night you mentioned something about me being the forever bachelor. I don’t know. Something about it got to me.”
“You thinking about slowing your roll?” I give him a mock sock. “Afraid your junk will fall off?”
“A little of both.”
“You have your sight set on anyone yet? Or should I put out a general warning, letting the girls of Hollow Brook know it’s time to duck and cover?”
“You’re not funny.” He scans the crowd as if he’s looking for someone. “Anyway, I’m good. I’m sure whatever is meant to be will work out in the end.”
“Good.” I slap my hand over his shoulder as if bringing him back into the room with me. “I’m a firm believer in that myself.”
Brod
y stares off at the entrance to the banquet hall, and I spot Raven and Lex heading this way. The music starts up, and as fate would have it, Brody and I have unwittingly planted ourselves on the dance floor. Bodies fill in around us, all of them swaying and laughing, and the reception gets underway.
Lex lunges at me and wraps her arms around my waist. “I got her all cleaned up and ready to knock back champagne with the rest of us.” She pulls Raven over and strokes her long dark hair. “Maybe we’ll find you a dance partner so you don’t look so lonely.”
A thought comes to me. “Brody, why don’t you dance with Raven? Help her get back in the game.”
“Please.” Raven scoffs. “The wolfman doesn’t dance. He gyrates”—she averts her eyes a moment—“indiscriminately, with all women.”
Lex gives Raven a firm shove in Brody’s direction. “Shut up and dance with him.”
We share a quiet laugh as Raven and Brody get to the odd task of detangling and rearranging limbs.
“They look uncomfortable,” I point out.
Lex grunts, “Ten bucks says they’re knocking boots by New Year’s.”
“What?” I pull back and examine her for a head injury. “No way. They fight like cats in a bathtub. Besides, they grew up together. They’re practically brother and sister.”
“I don’t know if they quite see things that way,” Lex muses. “He’s her brother’s best friend. She’s his best friend’s little sister. Enemies to lovers, friends to lovers. I think they cover about half the romance tropes in existence. Besides, they’d be ridiculously hot together. Not to mention the fact Levi would detest it. He might even lose his hair over the ordeal.”
I belt out a laugh before burying a kiss just under her ear. “And what trope would we fall under? Endless love?”
“That’s not a trope. It’s a fact. We would fall under second chance romance.”
“Lucky for us we won’t need a third.”
“Good thing”—she shoots back with a sly look in her eye—“because there isn’t one.”
Summer Breeze Kisses Page 101