“And Tate wants you to run it.”
“Yeah,” I said. I turned and faced Shelby. “I think I might do it, Shel.”
“You should.”
“Just wait a second. I can’t do it without you.”
“Without me?”
“You and me together,” I said. “You can do everything around here. You belong here with me. You know everything about this business.”
“Axel, wait a second,” she said. “I was barely involved years ago.”
“Look what you do now. You like your job, but why not this place? Right? I don’t want to hire someone to deal with the counter and the phones and shit. You should do it. I’m going to run the shop and you can do everything else. I can picture you…” I turned my head and looked at the front of the shop. Nothing was really completed yet. But I saw it… “You talking to someone about tattoos. Being able to draw up quick sketches of ideas for people while they wait. You know?”
“You’re giving me too much credit,” Shelby said with a laugh.
I slipped my hands around her wrists. “Never. You are so fucking talented. And maybe I want to keep you to myself here. All the time.”
“Oh, so that’s what it is,” she said. “You’re trying to lock me down.”
“Damn right I am,” I whispered.
I got closer to her and kissed her forehead.
“So… which room is yours? You’re going to be a big bad tattoo guy slash manager, right?”
I laughed. “I get the biggest room. I’m the boss.”
“Where’s that at?”
I took her hand and led the way to a partially framed office area.
At the entrance, I paused and looked at her. “You never want me to call you into this office, Shel. Not after tonight.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Because if I call you into my office, I’m firing your ass.”
She put her hand to my chest. “To be fair…” She moved to her toes and got her lips as close to my ear as possible. “… I bet I could talk my ass out of you firing me. And I probably wouldn’t even have to talk.”
I gritted my teeth.
I felt my blood boiling. Everywhere.
Her hand slowly inched down my chest. Her fingertips played with the bottom of my shirt. When her fingers touched bare skin, I sucked in a breath. Moving so perfectly, she unbuttoned my jeans as I stood there.
“Now, do you still want to fire me?” she whispered.
That’s when I made my move.
Grabbing her by her sweet curves, pulling her in front of me. Her body slamming against mine.
“You started this,” I whispered.
My hands cupped her ass and lifted her.
She let out a cry and clutched at my shirt.
I lowered myself down to the floor, Shelby in my arms.
I took her right there on the hard concrete floor. I used my clothes for her to rest on, which probably didn’t do much. My hands touched the soft skin between her thighs, inching their way to her warm desire. A playful touch, moving up, cutting between her folds, I kept going until my hand rested against her belly. She reached up and hooked her fingers behind my neck.
It wasn’t exactly the perfect position, but when the mood hit… there was no way I was fucking passing this up. Plus, we’d have our own story about the new tattoo shop that nobody else would know about. And we were the first ones to christen the place.
I lowered my body down to hers. She took me with a gasp as I gently eased into her. I watched as I offered myself to her, feeling the tightening warmth as it made me hiss. Once to the hilt, I held there and lowered my mouth down to hers. Instead of kissing me, she bit my lip and held tight.
I growled.
She groaned.
I thrust and she released her hold, gasping for air.
I pressed my lips to her chin and sucked in a deep breath.
Our eyes met as I started to love her.
Our bodies swelling, hearts racing, eyes flirting, hands exploring.
We kissed when we felt like it. Sometimes we didn’t even kiss at all. Our lips just touched for fun. I tasted her breath and she tasted mine. I felt her groans when we kissed and I grunted with each forceful deep thrust inside her.
Having a crush, falling in love, getting married, getting divorced, and falling in love again… that was just part of the adventure between us.
Of all the ink on my arms and my body, the most important tattoo was the one that nobody could ever see.
And that was her name on my heart… which she now had forever.
Twenty-Three
*MONTHS LATER*
Shelby
1.
“Jason, you can’t jump that hard onto Axel.”
“Are you calling me weak?” Axel asked as he popped up from the living room floor.
“No,” Kate said. “Maybe.”
“Don’t break anything,” I said to Axel.
“You know I’d never hurt Jason,” Axel said.
“I’m not worried about Jason,” I said with a wink.
“You’re both evil.”
The wrestling match ended a minute or so later, with Tate and Sawyer coming into the shop. They looked at Axel on the floor and both looked at me.
“He’s not drunk,” I said.
“Okay, good,” Tate said.
“Jason kicked his butt,” Kate said.
“Ah, that makes more sense,” Sawyer said.
Axel climbed to his feet. Which was a strange sight, when you consider how tall and big he was. It was sometimes scary to see Axel, but his heart was nothing but mush when it came to me and his St. Skin family. Except Prick. I think if given the chance, he’d break Prick’s jaw and never look back. Then again, everyone felt that way about him. Yet we all still loved him.
“You almost ready?” Kate asked Sawyer. “Jack is getting fussy and tired. And Jason needs a bath and bed.”
“I can take care of that tonight,” Tate said.
“You sure?” Kate asked.
I looked at Axel and he winked at me.
We listened to them all negotiate who was feeding who, and who was bathing who, and what story was going to be read, and what toys were going to be shipped between two houses. All that fun parenting stuff.
Did it hurt to hear that?
Yes.
Of course it did.
I made the promise to myself that I would forever be happy with the health I had right now. Dr. Deb talked to me for hours about the different options I had if I really wanted to have a family. Axel was with me in her office, holding my hand as we went through everything. Even with treatments, the chance of having a baby was very slim. I cried in Dr. Deb’s office. I cried on the ride home. Axel held me while I cried in bed and cried over my coffee. He stayed silent when I randomly broke down over the dumbest things, always by my side.
Finally, one day I just didn’t cry. And that was okay.
Sometimes, I still got upset at it. Sometimes it bothered me to be near Sawyer and Kate. To see baby Jack and his bright blue eyes. To know the life they all lived. To see Jason wrestling with Axel, knowing that Axel would always be the ultra-cool uncle and nothing more.
The one thing that got me through it all was the way that Axel looked at me.
Standing across the room at St. Skin, winking at me, letting me know that while this situation was still touchy, he loved me and we were good.
As I thought about all of this, Jason somehow walked into a table, hitting his head hard enough that he fell to his butt. It was instant tears and screaming, which ended up scaring Jack, who decided to cry too.
Parents were on duty, tending to the goose egg on Jason’s head, while rocking the stroller back and forth to soothe Jack.
I walked to Axel and slipped my hand into his.
“We’re going to head out,” Axel announced. “Getting a little loud in here.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Sawyer said.
“I’m in the mood for a drink,” I
whispered to Axel.
“Yeah? You and me… some drinks?”
I put my hand to his chest. “Will you fight someone if they look at me?”
“Of course I will. But there’s something I want to show you first.”
“I like where this is going.”
“There are kids here, love,” Axel said with a wink.
Sawyer and Tate crouched in front of Jason and had him calm. Jack let out a few weak whines, but nothing else.
“You have a great night,” Axel said.
“Tomorrow morning,” Tate said. “Meeting. Don’t mess this up.”
“We’ll see how I feel,” Axel said.
“Shelby, take it easy on him,” Tate said.
I laughed. “We’ll see.”
Axel held the door open for me and we were free.
Together.
We walked to his truck and he had a grin on his face that I didn’t like.
I knew that asking would do me no good.
Which meant I only had one choice.
Sit tight and see what he was up to.
2.
Axel pulled the truck over and hurried to jump out. For a second, I thought he was sick. He ran around the front of the truck and opened my door.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You know where we are?”
“Yes. I know where we are. I don’t want to be here.”
“Nobody does,” Axel said.
“Then why are we here?”
Axel offered his hand. “Come on. Quick.”
I got out of the truck. It was a risk to leave it running. Someone could slip right into the driver’s seat and have themselves a new vehicle.
I looked around the street and wasn’t exactly comfortable being in the area where I grew up. My old house was across the street. It had been all but destroyed by time. I couldn’t imagine someone living in the place.
“Right here,” Axel said.
He put a hand to a stop sign.
“Right here?”
“This is where I stood and tried to look cool in front of you.”
“Yes, it is. I remember it. Can we go?”
“Not yet. Listen to me.”
“I’m all ears. And I’m nervous.”
“Shel. This is the spot. This is where I fell in love with you. Watching you leave your house. Walk down the street. I only leaned on this because you made my knees weak.”
“That’s sweet.”
“I knew then that I wanted you for the rest of my life. It was just time and people in the way of that. But that isn’t the case anymore.”
“I know that. We have each other now, Axel.”
“Of course we do,” he said. “But I want more.”
“You want… more?”
My heart raced.
Then my heart stopped.
I watched as Axel dropped to one knee.
I covered my mouth as he took a ring out of his pocket.
“Shelby,” he said. “We fucked it all up the first time. And that led us here. So I’ll never regret it. But this time… I want it right. And I want it forever. Will you…?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
Axel slid the perfect diamond ring onto my finger and stood up.
He kissed me as I tried to contain the emotion.
“I’m not done,” he whispered.
“What?”
“The motorcycle is gone for good,” he said. “I still have the money. Well, some of it.” He touched the diamond on my finger. “The rest is going toward the wedding. I want you to have your dream wedding.”
“I’m marrying you, Axel. I have the dream already.”
“That’s cute, love. But do this the way you’ve always wanted. Because this is it… never again.”
I smiled. “Never again.”
We kissed one more time.
Then it was time to get the hell out of that area before we ended up in trouble.
I sat next to Axel with a diamond ring on my finger, a smile on my face, and my heart feeling safe.
I looked over at him and shook my head.
Just keep driving, Axel… keeping driving us toward forever.
From the authors:
Thanks for joining us again in the world of St. Skin. This book was written more as a stand alone novel because that’s just how it happened. Axel’s story was one of the first concepts… so it’s been a couple years of waiting for the right time to write this book.
We hope you enjoyed this book. This was the true power and test of a ‘second chance’ romance novel.
Jaxson & London
Please be sure to leave your review for NOTHING LASTS FOREVER right now. Find the book on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2jUsnmh
About the authors:
Stay social with Jaxson:
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Jaxson Kidman is the bestselling author of several novels, including:
Let You Go
When I’m Gone
Dear Everly
In Her Words
5 Years Later
Look for his upcoming novel, What You Don’t Know
London Casey (Karolyn James) is the author of the bestselling series, Back Down Devil MC
These books have no set reading order. They are all stand-alone novels set in the BDD MC world. She is also the author of several stand-alone novels, including:
This Crazy, Forbidden Thing
A Boy I Used to Love
Steal His Heart
Liked this book?
The St. Skin series are all full length, stand alone novels. What does that actually mean? It means you do NOT have to read them in any order! The series revolves around the town of Hundreds Falls Valley and the St. Skin tattoo shop. If you enjoyed NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, then please check out the rest of the books.
There’s a story about a man who doesn’t know he has a daughter. Or the story of a couple who agree to meet up in ten years… and then wonder if the other will show. Plus so much more!
Series titles (in order of publication date):
In Her Words
A Boy I Used to Love
Secret Exposure
Our Last Road
Nothing Lasts Forever
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. (This also includes the cover image and/or cover model(s) appearing on the cover. The context of this book does not in any way depict the personal life of said cover model(s). Image is licensed and used purely for fictional purpose only.)
First electronic edition June 2018
Copyright © 2018 by Jaxson Kidman, London Casey
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part of any form.
Copyright image iStock
Copyright cover Mayhem Covers
Nothing Lasts Forever Page 24