Page 19 of Bound By Temptation

I pulled away. “Talk to you later. Okay?”

“Later.” I turned and made my way to Meadow, hearing his feet on the floor and out the door.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, dropping my cup in the garbage and going straight to the sink to wash my hands.

“Don’t be mad,” she started, and I became alarmed.

“If the dino cake is…”

She shook her head quickly. “No, but we had an order come in this morning for two flat sheet cakes. Marley burned both of them.”

My shoulders fell. “Seriously?”

She smiled. “Nope. Just could see you wanted to be done with Blaine, so I gave you an out, and you took it.” She shrugged. “I’m always there for ya, babe.”

I pulled her in my arms and hugged her tight. “Thank you. I like him, it’s just…” I trailed off, not finishing.

“Him. I know.”

I pulled back from her and stared in her eyes. She did know. It was there plain as day. Fuck. I thought I’d hid it well. “Let’s not go there. Okay?”

“Love you. Now get the dino done.”

“Okay, drill sergeant,” I teased. "Love you too.”

Making my way to the back, the bell over the door went off. “Welcome!” I called out and turned to the door. My breath caught as shock hit me like a sledgehammer. Walking into the shop was Bella, Ax’s mom.

Holy shit. It had been a while since she’d come here, and each time she got the same reaction from me.

Her smile was warm as always. She had never showed me anything but respect and kindness over the years.

We saw each other occasionally when she came in, but every single time she did my heart hurt. Part of me missed her. As crazy as that sounded, when I wept for Ax, I wept for her too. She’d taken on the role of second mom so easily, always being there to talk to.

The more I thought about it over time, I’d come to the conclusion that she was just a person I connected to at a young age. Her not being in my life the same way as before hurt, but like everything else to do with Ax Monroe, I pushed it down deep. It was how it had to be for what little sanity I had left.

Grabbing a towel, I wiped my hands and came to the counter. “Mrs. Monroe, how are you?”

She smiled then shook her head. “Young lady, you call me Mrs. Monroe one more time, and I’m feedin’ ya to the fishes.”

This had me bursting out laughing. We had a running joke. One that came so naturally that I didn’t even realize I said it until it came from my lips.

“But you are,” I challenged.

“True, but no one calls me that. Makes me feel old,” she replied on a dazzling smile.

She was nowhere near the ‘old’ she thought. Whatever she’d been doing to her skin over the years, I needed to find out and steal the idea. It was so creamy and smooth. There was no way she had any foundation on, just her eyes popping with mascara.

Natural beauty. That was what she had, and she’d passed it along to her boys. They had her dark hair while they got the twin gene from their father.

“You know you’re not old one bit.”

The woman standing next to her was just as breathtaking as Bella. I’d seen her around town and knew her name, but really didn’t know her. “Hi, Tanner. Nice to meet you.”

Her hand went on her jetted out hip. “What the hell? How come I get the Tanner?”

At first I thought she was serious, and my heart stopped, thinking I’d been disrespectful. She must’ve seen the look on my face because she burst out laughing. “Joking! Just joking!”

Only then did I let out a breath. Not only was this Ax’s mom and her friend, but these were ol’ ladies in the Ravage Motorcycle Club. If anyone messed with these two, their husbands would go crazy. And Tanner’s man, Rhys—holy hell. Met him one time, and I pissed my pants.

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