Page 3 of Axe Marks the Spot

“Maybe instead of watching the speed climbing, I’ll just go home and nap. I could use the sleep instead. I can pick up Kas’s room, too, while she’s with you.”

“Nope. Not happening. And why are you cleaning Kas’s room? She’s old enough to do that on her own.”

My stomach sours and gurgles, the acidic lemonade turning into heartburn. Nathan’s question is valid, and I know it’s not meant to be mean, but it only reinforces this idea I have of myself: I’m not a great mom. I probably let Kas get away with too much, but she’s been through a lot between her dad and me breaking up and then moving to a small town. I think it also hurt when her grandma left. The two of them had become close. My mom tried her best but deemed small-town life not for her. She moved back to our home city, Santa Solana, at the beginning of the year.

“I—wait, where is Kas? She should be done by now.”

Nathan points up ahead. “I’ve got eyes on her. She’s talking to some kids.”

I peer in that direction and see she’s chatting with a boy and girl her age. My heart warms at seeing it, and a bit of my stomachache eases. Besides her best friend, Moira, whose birthday I forgot about—which reminds me, I need to get the kid a gift—she doesn’t have many friends. She’s like me in that way, too.

I turn back to Nathan to find him still staring at me. But I don’t want to get into why I clean my kid’s room, so I divert. “Okay, fine. I’ll go to the speed climbing event now, and still meet you all at Moose’s later. But only if you stop asking if I’m okay.”

Nathan looks hesitant at first but eventually nods. “Fine.”

“Uncle Nate!” Kas runs up to the side of the picnic table. Her short auburn hair swishes around her cherubic face. “Tyler and Sara are here for the course, too. Can we go now?”

He glances at the two kids behind me with a smile and stands. “Of course we can.”

I stand, too, and move from the table over to Kas, who’s bouncing on her feet and looks more than happy about her new afternoon plans. I thought Kas only wanted to play video games and hang with Moira, but maybe that’s because I don’t get her out enough to be with more kids. I’m just so busy and tired from working three twelve-hour shifts a week and picking up extras.

I wipe off a bit of powdered sugar still on her cheek. “Have fun, and don’t get hurt.”

“If I do, you’ll fix me. You’re a nurse.”

My heart clenches, and I pull Kas in for a hug. She goes willingly, and I’m glad she hasn’t hit that phase yet where she finds me embarrassing. “I’d rather not have to fix you. Now go, have fun.” She lets out a little excited noise and runs toward her friends.

Kas yells for Nathan, and he bumps my shoulder with his. “Go have fun, Linds. You deserve it. And you’d better not go home!”

I watch them leave while debating if I should defy my brother or stay. I could get some cleaning done, maybe even take a bath instead of having a nap.

But then I remember I need to get a gift for Moira. Ugh, Mom life.

I walk out of the open-sided tent and head toward the parking lot instead of the speed climbing event. There’s a toy store not far from here, but I’m not sure they’re open today—the downside of living in a small town is the stores are all closed on random days and times, even on Saturdays.

I pull my phone from my purse to look it up and get only two steps before I run into something hard.

A startled yelp escapes me as a solid weight slams into my body, knocking me off-balance. Gravity yanks at my spine, the ground tilting away beneath me. But before I can fall, strong hands clamp around my biceps. Air rushes past my ears, my stomach flipping with the sudden shift in direction.

In a split second, I’m upright again, feet planted, chest flush against a sturdy and warm chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and inhale a breath, the scent of cedar and spicy vanilla wafting into my nose.

“Are you okay?”

The deep male voice thrums through my body like the vibrations of a guitar string. If my pussy could meow, I think she’d be doing it. I was horny before, but that voice mixed with his warm body and touch has clicked the lock of my self-imposed chastity belt wide open. I don’t even know what he looks like, but in a way, I don’t think I even need to.

“Miss?”

Did he just call me miss? I think I love him already. People usually call me ma’am now that I’m over thirty.

I take in another breath and open my eyes, but part of me wishes I hadn’t. If I didn’t have thick thighs and he wasn’t looking at my face, he’d have seen me squeeze my legs together because holy lumbersnack.

Determined hazel eyes stare into mine. They’re a mix of blue and green with flecks of golden brown and a dark-brown ring around the iris. The midday sun above us only adds to their power, drawing me in and making me forget my own name and the fact that I’m pressed against a strange man who I’m staring at like a cut of Wagyu beef.

“Do you need help?” His light-pink lips, framed by a well-trimmed dark-brown, nearly black beard mixed with silver hairs, say the magic words that finally break me from my spell.

“No, no. I’m fine.”

He makes no move to pull away, but I don’t, either. His hands on my biceps squeeze gently as he studies me with those beautiful eyes of his. My nipples, which, like my vagina, have a mind of their own all of a sudden, harden against what feels like a very muscular chest. Heat rises to my cheeks, and I step back, forcing him to drop his grip.