Axel couldn’t find any words. He really wasn’t expecting to see Hadley and the shock of having her pop up behind him out of the blue had him struggling to find any words. Especially words that explained why he was looking at pictures of her in a bikini.

“I was just about to… message you,” he said, trying to recover with a little dignity. “To see how you’re doing. That’s why I’m on your Facebook page.”

“Oh,” Hadley said, dropping her arms as her face softened. “I just thought…”

“No,” Axel said, shaking his head as he forced out an awkward laugh. “I wasn’t about to masturbate to your pictures.”

“What?!?” she said, taking a step back with a horrified look on her face. “I was worried you were stalking my Facebook page. Were you going to…?”

Axel shut the laptop closed and placed it on the chair behind him. It was time for a total change of conversation. This one wasn’t going well at all. “I thought you went back home,” he said, ignoring her question. “It’s great to see you!”

Her skeptical look faded away and she suddenly looked nervous, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she held her elbow.

She looked beautiful as always with her long blonde hair tumbling down in waves. Her face looked like a doll’s with her dainty little nose and soft pink lips.

Hadley glanced behind her and Axel took the opportunity to let his eyes roam over her body, taking in every beautiful curve. She was a curvy woman, just how Axel liked them. He held back a groan as he remembered the amazing night when he got to explore each one of those curves.

“I came to talk to you,” she said, turning back to him. There was a shakiness in her voice, but Axel couldn’t focus on that.

His heart was swelling inside of his chest. Was she here for him? He had thought his feelings were too strong to be one-sided, and he was right. Hadley had returned to Colwood, Montana to tell him that she wanted a relationship. Axel couldn’t believe his luck. Everything that he had hoped for was coming true.

“Yes!” he blurted out with a thrilled look on his face. Yes to everything. Yes to her moving here. Yes to her feelings. Yes to being in a relationship. Yes! Yes! Yes!

“Excuse me?” she said, tilting her head as she watched him with a look of confusion on her face. “Yes, what? I never asked you anything.”

“I’m sorry,” Axel said, embarrassed that he got ahead of himself. “Please proceed. You came here to be with me…”

“To talk to you,” she corrected. She took a deep breath as she ran her hands down her shirt, smoothing out the fabric.

Axel couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her curves and big breasts were making his heart race as he remembered how amazing they had felt under his fingertips.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” she said, glancing around uneasily, “so I’m just going to say it. I’m pregnant.”

Axel’s mouth dropped open as he leaned forward. Pregnant?

He couldn’t speak. This was the best news he’d ever heard and he was too excited to think straight.

“I’m sorry to come here and unload this bombshell on you,” Hadley said with her voice racing, “but it was pretty shocking to me as well.”

Axel wanted to run down the street screaming the good news for everyone to hear, but he was still in a bit of shock and couldn’t move.

“I want you to know that I’m keeping the baby,” she said in a tone that was final. “You are definitely the father, but I’m not expecting anything from you. I’m going to raise the child in Philadelphia and you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to be.”

Axel couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“Let’s get married!” he blurted out with a huge smile on his face.

“What?” Hadley said, jerking her head back in shock.

“Let’s get married!”

“No!”

“Why not?” Axel asked, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach.

“Well, for one,” Hadley said, staring at him in disbelief, “we hardly know each other.”

“We had a great time on our date,” Axel said.

“We barely talked!” Hadley snapped back. “You had your tongue down my throat the entire time as well as… other places.”

“See?” Axel said, nodding his head. “We had fun!”

Hadley let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed her forehead. “I’m not marrying a stranger. Not to mention we live twelve hours away from each other.”

“You can move in here,” Axel said, pointing to the firehouse behind him. Draven would let her and the baby move in. Hopefully.

On second thought, maybe I should have asked Draven first.

“Move in there?” she asked, crinkling her nose up as she pointed at the building.

“Yes!”

“Into the firehouse?”

“Yeah!”

“With five guys?”

“Yes!” Axel said, nodding with an excited smile on his face. “It will be great!”

“Are you crazy?”

Axel’s face dropped. “If you don’t want to live there, then we can buy a house.”

Hadley raised her hands and took a step back. “Okay. Slow down. Waayyyy down.”

“A house with a pool,” Axel said, getting carried away again.

“I don’t even know your last name,” Hadley said, staring at him in disbelief.

“And we can get one of those large pool floats that we can both sit on,” Axel said, already picturing it. “One that has drink holders for our cocktails.”

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath like she was trying to reign this situation back under control. “Like I said, I’m going to be living in Philadelphia. I’m not movi—”

The words vanished from her mouth when Axel dropped to his knee.

“What are you doing?” she asked as all color drained from her face. It wasn’t the reaction that Axel was hoping for, but his knee was already on the pavement and it was too late to back out now.

“Will you marry me, Hadley?” he asked, looking up at her with a big smile on his face. “I promise I’ll buy you a really shiny ring if you say yes.”

Hadley covered her eyes and shook her head. She’s about to say yes!

“This is so crazy,” she muttered under her breath.

“I know,” Axel said as his eyes started to well up in tears. “I can’t believe it either.”

“No,” she said, staring down at him. “I meant you’re crazy. I’m not going to marry you.”

Axel gasped at her crushing words. It felt like someone had their hand wrapped around his poor heart and was squeezing the life out of it.

He finally managed to compose himself enough to speak. “Why not?” he asked, wondering if he should get up or keep kneeling in case she changed her mind.

“I just… we don’t… can you just get up please?” she asked, looking very uncomfortable.

Axel climbed to his feet and stared into her light brown eyes, wishing she felt the same way that he did. How could she not see how amazing it all could be? They could be husband and wife, raising their own little bear cub in America’s most perfect town. Axel knew that he would make a great father. He had endless energy for piggyback rides and puppet shows and spaghetti fights. If only she would give him a chance, he knew that she wouldn’t regret it. He would treat her right and do everything he could to make her happy.

“Look, Axel,” she said as her body tightened. “That was very nice of you to do the honorable thing and propose, but you don’t have to. I’m completely capable of raising this baby on my own and I intend to do just that. In Philadelphia. By myself.”

Axel’s stomach dropped as cruel reality set in. She was here to tell him about the baby, not to reconnect with him. She didn’t want his help. She didn’t want him.

But Axel wasn’t one to give up easily. He didn’t give up when Jax had dared him to eat fifty-three hot dogs in one sitting and he wasn’t about to give up now.

There was still time to turn this all around.

As long as Hadley was here in Colwood, he had a shot to make her fall in love with him, and that was exactly what he was going to try and make happen.

Just because she couldn’t see it now, didn’t mean it wasn’t a possibility. They could be a family—just him, her, and their little cub.

All he had to do was make her fall in love with him before she left.

“When is your flight home?” he asked, trying not to panic. He would need at least a few days to properly woo her and get her nice and in love with him. Maybe even a few weeks.

“Tomorrow morning,” she answered.

Axel gulped.

That’s a tall order.

This was going to be harder than he thought.