Only Forever Is Enough

By Alexa Kane

Cage Matthews has made it his mission in life to steer clear of the female population and focus on his career, but being a star quarterback in the NFL can make that difficult. Rosie comes into Cages life just when he decides to make a change, he’s ready to settle down and everything seems to be falling into place for him. But his plans for the future come crashing down when he finds out that Rosie has history with one of his teammates.

Rosie Bradley has been stuck in Willowby, Alabama her entire life. One night, while working the graveyard shift at the local diner she meets Cage. They instantly hit it off and she finally feels that spark she has been missing ever since her high school sweetheart left her high and dry eight years ago. But then her ex shows up at the diner looking for Cage and all those old feelings come roaring back to life. Can she ignore old feelings to explore a new love, or are her feelings towards her ex too strong to ignore?

Only Forever Is Enough is the fourth instalment in the For Keeps series but can be read as a standalone. Due to its explicit content, bad language and graphic sexual content, Only Forever Is Enough is recommended for mature readers of eighteen years and above.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexa Kane
• Release date: Apr 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781370501960

Alexa Kane

Alexa Kane is a contemporary romance author and Secrets and Deception is her debut novel.Alexa lives in Australia with her husband but she calls New Zealand home.

Book preview

For Keeps Series Book Four

By Alexa Kane

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This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Published by Alexa Kane

Copyright 2020 by Alexa Kane

All Rights Reserved. ©

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

The author acknowledges all song titles, song lyrics, film titles, film characters, trademarked statuses, brands, mentioned in this book are the property of, and belong to, their respective owners. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized / associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Author’s Note

Because of its explicit sexual content, mature themes and bad language, it is suitable for readers over 18 years of age.

I hope you enjoy reading Cage’s story.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Author’s Note

Prologue

Chapter 1 - Rosie

Chapter 2 - Cage

Chapter 3 - Rosie

Chapter 4 - Cage

Chapter 5 - Rosie

Chapter 6 - Rosie

Chapter 7 - Rosie

Chapter 8 - Rosie

Chapter 9 - Rosie

Chapter 10 - Rosie

Chapter 11 - Cage

Chapter 12 - Rosie

Chapter 13 - Lucas

Chapter 14 - Cage

Chapter 15 - Rosie

Chapter 16 - Cage

Chapter 17 - Rosie

Chapter 18 - Cage

Chapter 19 - Rosie

Chapter 20 - Cage

Chapter 21 - Rosie

Chapter 22 - Lucas

Chapter 23 - Rosie

Chapter 24 - Cage

Chapter 25 - Rosie

Chapter 26 - Rosie

Chapter 27 - Cage

Chapter 28 - Rosie

Chapter 29 - Cage

Chapter 30 - Rosie

Chapter 31 - Cage

Chapter 32 - Rosie

Chapter 33 - Cage

Chapter 34 - Rosie

Chapter 35 - Cage

Chapter 36 - Rosie

Chapter 37 - Cage

Chapter 38 - Rosie

Chapter 39 - Rosie

Chapter 40 - Lucas

Chapter 41 - Rosie

Chapter 42 – Cage

Chapter 43 - Rosie

Chapter 44 - Rosie

Thank you very much for reading

Prologue

Promise me this isn’t the end.

My boyfriend is leaving for college tomorrow and I’m going to be stuck here, in Willowby. I only have one more year left at high school but I’m terrified that he won’t come back for me.

I love him beyond words and I am desperate to make this work, make our relationship last. People have been telling me for the last few months that this can never work, that we will never last, and it’s starting to get to me.

I’m starting to let doubt creep in.

I promise baby, I told you that I would come back to see you all the time, he seems so sincere with his words that I desperately want to believe him, I love him so much.

You know your father will think of reasons to keep you away, he hates me. His father has already been around to my trailer this morning, rubbing salt into my wounds that this will be the end.

This will be the last time that I ever see him.

I’m the girl from the wrong side of the tracks and my boyfriend is from the most prestigious and wealthiest family in this small town. When he finishes college, I have no doubt he will be drafted into the NFL and as far as his father is concerned, I’m in the way.

A problem.

So far, we have been able to overcome his manipulation but that’s only because we sneak away to see each other every day.

He is going to go away to college and girls will be fawning all over him. They do it here now, right in front of me, even though they know we are together. It drives me insane, but these will be college girls, experienced college girls, I’m scared when he gets there, that I will become a distant memory.

That he will forget all about me and move on.

He doesn’t hate you and it doesn’t matter what he thinks, I love you and that’s all that matters, he leans over to kiss me. I can’t get enough of his kisses; I don’t know how I will last a whole year without them. I’m coming back for you, you’ll see, nothing and no one could keep me away from you.

Those words are exactly what I need to hear but it doesn’t stop the anxiety forming in the pit of my stomach that is telling me it won’t be enough.

His father will be right.

This will be the end.

The end of us.

Baby, in a few years, none of this will matter, remember our plan? College, marriage, football career and babies, lots and lots of babies.

I can’t help the smile that crosses my face as he lays out our plan, we have been talking about this plan for the last year and it always seemed like a fantasy to me.

But maybe, just maybe, it can come true.

Just one more year and I will get everything I ever wanted.

One more year and my dreams will come true.

We will prove everyone wrong, especially his family, I won’t be a hindrance to his career, I will help him flourish.

I won’t be a gold digger like they all call me behind his back, I will have a career of my own, as a writer. I will become a successful career woman and I won’t need to depend on him anymore. I will be able to buy him things like he does for me, I will be able to spoil the man I love more than anything with my own money. I won’t have to make him home made presents ever again.

I can be someone that he will be proud of.

We will get through this next year and come out the other side, stronger than ever.

We will get married and have lots and lots of babies, just like he said.

We will be together forever, just like he promised.

I love you Lucas, more than you could ever imagine.

I love you too Rosie, now no more talking, I don’t want to waste a second of the time we have left together. I have sixteen hours left and I’m going to use every spare second I have memorizing your body.

Chapter 1

Rosie

Order up Rosie.

Sorry, I’m coming, I have been working my butt off for the last thirteen hours, my feet are killing me and I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment.

Only one hour to go, I can do this.

When the opportunity came up for an extra shift, I couldn’t say no.

I need the money, badly.

I make enough at the local diner to make ends meet and any extra shifts, means that I get to tuck money away so I can get out of this town.

I had the opportunity to leave Willowby during my senior year of high school, my daddy finally got a big break and was offered a job down in Florida with his cousin. Both of my parents begged me to come with them but I was too stubborn.

Stupidly, I stayed behind for a boy and then that boy ended up breaking my heart.

More like smashing my heart into smithereens and I still haven’t gotten over him.

How pathetic is that?

So, now I’m stuck here, trying to make my own way out of this town. I’m too prideful to take a bus down to Florida and live with my parents, I’m determined to do this on my own.

Here we are Frank, house special, can I get you anything else? Coffee? Frank is a sweet old man who comes in most days for the special, he lost his wife a few years back and hasn’t mastered the art of cooking but mostly I think he likes the company.

That would be lovely dear, did you hear the news? he asks as his eyes light up.

I really enjoy serving Frank, mostly because he’s not a gossip like the rest of this town but he must be making an exception today.

What news is that? I ask as I refill his coffee mug. I’m sure I would have already heard this news in the last thirteen hours. I swear half the time our customers aren’t interested in what we serve, they only come in here to talk and I just so happen to be the person they like to talk to the most.

Lucas James is coming back to town for the weekend, his parents are planning some big party or something, but what’s new there right? They are always throwing parties.

The moment the words Lucas James leaves Franks lips, I feel like I have been stabbed in the chest.

He is coming back to town.

After all this time, he is finally coming back.

The last time I saw him was a month after I graduated high school, he accused me of cheating on him even though I loved him more than I loved myself.

He was my everything and it wasn’t physically possible for me to cheat on him, my heart, body and soul only ever wanted Lucas James. But he wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. Apparently, he had proof and I was nothing but a lying whore, his father was right about me, I was nothing but worthless trailer trash.

His words had cut me deep that day and they still do, my heart still breaks over the boy who left me eight years ago.

Over the years, bits and pieces have filtered through the grapevine about Lucas’ life and I have had to endure that same pain of losing him over and over again. I couldn’t just forget about him and move on, not when the town liked to talk about him so much.

When Lucas was drafted into the NFL straight out of college, it was all the town could talk about for months. I had to hear his name day in and day out. I had to endure the whispers and the looks of pity, that he had moved on with his life and I was still here, still in Willowby, working the same job I had when I was in high school and living in an almost identical trailer to the one I was raised in.

Most people stopped talking about Lucas in front of me about two years ago when I basically lost the plot with poor old Marie Higgins. Lucas was nearing the end of his first NFL season and she was talking about the different woman she saw him photographed with, about how outrageous it was that he could date a new girl every week.

I couldn’t help it, I completely lost it.

I had been staying away from the papers on purpose, knowing that he would have girls fawning all over him. But when Marie Higgins said he had been photographed at a nightclub with his hand up some woman’s dress, I threw her scrambled eggs at the wall and started screaming.

It took me two days to get over my mortification at my outburst and go back to work. If I could have afforded to, I think I would have stayed away longer, or moved.

I have never been able to move on from Lucas, plenty of guys have asked me out over the years and I have accepted a few offers but I can’t seem to get past the first date. I’m never able to feel anything with anyone else, I never get butterflies in my stomach or get so nervous that I think I might throw up.

I haven’t felt anything for another man since Lucas James walked out of my life for good.

Not even for the visiting town doctor who spent three months here, last year. He was beyond attractive, kind, caring, generous and well-articulated, he was a catch. But we went on three dates together and when he dropped me home after the third date, he tried to kiss me. I ended up panicking and shook his hand instead.

It’s safe to assume I never got a fourth date.

Now, Lucas was coming home.

Hopefully, he chose to stay on his side of the tracks and I wouldn’t have to deal with him.

The only reason Lucas came in here when we were in high school is because I worked here, there would be no reason for him to come to this side of town anymore.

I would make sure that the next time Lucas James set foot in Willowby, I would be long gone from this town.

It was time I moved on.

Put my past and Lucas James behind me, once and for all.

Chapter 2

Cage

Thanks for coming with me man, I appreciate it.

No worries Lucas, I could use the distraction. I leave out the part that I am only coming along because Willowby, Alabama is only a few hours’ drive from Atlanta and I want to check out the city.

I’ve been the quarterback for Seattle ever since I was drafted into the NFL straight out of college, but lately I have felt like a change. I’ve been living in Seattle since I was eighteen and the closer I get to thirty, the more I want to find a good woman and make a life with her. The only problem is that I’m pretty sure I’m not going to find what I’m looking for in Seattle.

My contract with Seattle will be up at the end of this season and I haven’t signed a new one yet, I have been getting offers from a few different teams but I haven’t made my mind up yet about what I should do.

I like my life in Seattle and I have a few great friends there, but I can’t imagine building a home there, raising a family there.

The only person I have told about my other offers is my good friend Eva, she said I should take a trip to help me make up my mind and well, here I am.

Lucas and I get on pretty well, he’s a few years younger than me and is the teams running back. He has been with the team for five years and has had some pretty big ups and downs, he has been benched more than once for his bad behavior but that doesn’t seem to slow him down. He is one cocky son of a bitch.

I just hope this trip with him is a good idea.

That’s right, your friend was attacked, how’s she holding up? his question is innocent enough but I don’t like talking about it. Walking in to find your friend being attacked by her father in law isn’t an easy pill to swallow.

I’m just glad that it was me who found them and not Mason, I have no doubt if her husband saw what I did, he would have killed his father that day. If Eva hadn’t looked so scared and vulnerable, I think I would have killed the man myself, but my first priority was getting her to safety.

I hate men like him, men that prey on woman because they view them as weak. I’ve dealt with a lot of men similar to him in my youth and I thought I put those days behind me.

The only reason I’m even on this trip is because Douglas has been captured and is behind bars, awaiting his trial. Eva means a lot to me and I made a promise to Mason that I would help protect her and I am determined to keep that promise.

If Douglas doesn’t get sentenced to life in prison like we are expecting, then I might need to rethink my options, staying in Seattle for a while longer wouldn’t be the end of the world. Not if it meant keeping her safe.

She’s fine, she’s not really that fine but she will be, when her father in law is locked up at least. You seem nervous about going home, don’t like your folks or something? I ask, trying to get him off the subject of Eva.

Nah, I love my folks, just haven’t been home in a long time that’s all…last time I was here, I vowed never to come back. A dark look comes over his face that I haven’t seen before, it’s not often he’s real with anyone on the team.

What happened? I presume a girl? at my assumption he grips the steering wheel so tight, his knuckles have turned white. I think I hit the nail on the head with that one, it’s always about some girl.

That’s why I try to steer clear of them and focus on my career instead, when that special someone comes along, I’ll know.

Something like that. He turns the radio up to let me know he’s done taking.

I figured Lucas would come from money and pulling up in front of his parent’s house confirms it, I just hope he told them I was coming. Wealthy southern mamas generally aren’t too fond of me.

Lucas, darling, you are home, a woman calls out as soon as he cuts the engine.

Two well-dressed people who I presume are his parents walk down the steps to greet Lucas and I end up getting ignored. It’s like high school all over again.

As his mother looks me over, I can tell she doesn’t approve. Having a shaved head and being covered in tattoos has that effect on some people.

Lucas, you brought a friend…to our wedding anniversary weekend, his mother says while looking at me with distain.

Yeah, he definitely didn’t tell his parents I was coming and they are not impressed, maybe I should go straight to Atlanta, stay there for the weekend.

Yeah, this is Cage, remember, he is the team quarterback, is it not okay that he’s here? Lucas asks with an innocent expression on his face.

I’m pretty sure that Lucas knew this wouldn’t be alright and it is his way of getting back at his parents for making him come down here, shit like this pisses me off, I hate being used.

He should have just been straight