“I won’t repeat myself.” He watched her reaction closely.
He knew when he should push or retreat. If he saw any sign of
hesitation, that she began harboring doubts, he’d back off, find his
relief some other way. Not buried in another woman.
For some reason, Jax lost all interest in any other female but
her—the one he wanted with every aching bone in his body but didn’t
deserve. Too bad he was a greedy son-of-a-bitch. Soon enough, he’d
bury his dick inside her, own her in every way possible. Then he’d
claim that fucking sweet ass of hers.
Damn, but she drove him insane. Jax wanted to do plenty of
filthy things to that gorgeous body, to see those pouting lips gagged
by his dick.
Lia lifted her dress, blushing as she did as he asked, unveiling
the tiny and sexy little lace number she wore. It didn’t escape Jax she
purposely chose the dress and the matching black underwear.
She didn’t strike him as a frivolous woman, not when she kept
asking if buying this and that was too much. No. She’d done this for
him. He ran his hand up her thigh.
“Spread,” he ordered.
Pleasure filled him as she parted her thighs. He fingered the
thin lace covering his coveted prize, stroked back and forth through
the lace. She purred for him. Feeling her wetness, he smirked. Her
face and neck turned red.
“So wet for me already, sweetheart?”
She didn’t answer him. Maybe she couldn’t.
He gripped the waistband of her panties and shredded it. Fab-
ric tore. She gasped, stared at him like he was some kind of uncivi-
lized savage. Maybe he was, especially when it came to her. She
squirmed in his seat but didn’t protest when he lowered his head to
her groin. Jax knew how to make a woman scream for him. Gripping
her thighs to keep them apart, he circled his tongue around her swol-
len nub.
The little moans he wrangled from her sweet mouth only
turned him on. His dick dug against the zipper of his jeans, but he had
one task in mind. He promised her a taste. Jax would do exactly that.
He traced her pussy lips, sampling her. Fuck. So sweet. He thrust his
tongue into her inner folds, aware of her gasping above him, fingers
sliding into his hair.
He sucked, nipped, and tongue-fucked her until she cried out
above him. Jax bit on her swollen nub, and that did the trick. She let
out a little scream as he pulled his head back up. Jax enjoyed how her
entire face grew slack, how she curled against the seat, looking like a
contented little kitten.
Her lazy gaze flicked to his rock-hard erection.
“Next time,” he told her hoarsely, as much as he wanted to
fuck her senseless. “Heal up soon, sweetheart. The next time, you’ll
be on your knees, begging for my dick.”
She blinked, blushed. “Okay.” Her answer was accompanied
with a ragged whisper.
“I need to change my underwear,” she began, but he gripped
her arm, shaking his head.
“No panties.”
She widened her eyes. “W-what?”
“In case I want another taste.”
Stunned, she sat back and lowered her dress.
Good. Jax wanted to keep her in suspense. By the end of this
week, he’d have her craving him like a drug. Too bad the blade cut
both ways. She didn’t know it yet, but somehow, just remaining with
him, Lia had managed to dig her little hooks into his skin. Dangerous
because one tug would rip skin out. Jax didn’t care. He liked dancing
with danger, after all.
****
“Fuck!” Jax swore loud enough for Lia to pause.
She closed her book. She’d been reading a thriller they bought
from their previous convenience store stop, pretending to be interest-
ed in the story. Lia peered outside the window to see Jax standing a
little ways off the road, staring at the new disposable cell phone he
bought. Lia had never seen him look so mad before.
He never told her who he made these calls to, but she’d no-
ticed how they always left him in a foul mood. Jax stalked back to the
driver’s seat, clenching his bearded jaw so hard she was certain it
would break.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him before he put his hands on the
wheel.
“My entire fucking life.”
She winced at the anger in his voice. Lia had been traveling
with him for nine days now. He never once raised his hand to her,
didn’t curse her either. Instead, Jax withdrew inside himself, not
speaking to her for hours.
“That call—” she began.
“None of your goddamn business.”
Well, that stung. She bit on her lower lip as he started the en-
gine. Jax didn’t speak, not until an hour later. Lia pretended to read
her book again, waiting for him to cool down, but reading in a moving
vehicle always made her dizzy. She set it down, about to turn on the
radio, but he interrupted her.
“I need a drink. We’ll stop over there.” Jax jerked his head
toward a shabby-looking establishment up ahead. A bar, she realized.
Apprehension made her body tense. They’d never done anything like
this before.
Time’s money for truckers, Jax had said.
The less stops he makes, the more cash comes in.
“Are you sure? You won’t be able to drive tomorrow,” she
said in a small voice. He just picked up a shipment earlier that day
too, but reminding him of that might only worsen the situation.
She might feel safe with him, but Lia didn’t like being around
other people. Dwayne used to drag her around bars, making her sit on
his lap like some kind of pet while he chatted and joked with his pals.
Sometimes Dwayne became mean and loaned her out for cash. From
fairy tale prince to pimp, that was Dwayne.
Knowing nothing could change Jax’s mind in this mood, she
only said, “Fine. I’ll stay in the cab.”
They rolled into the dirt parking lot.
“Suit yourself,” Jax said.
After parking the truck, he got out without a word. She huffed,
watching him swagger toward the bar. God, that man sometimes
drove her nuts. Lia understood. After getting out of prison, Jax choose
this profession for a reason. Jax had been fine with long hours on the
road and being on his own. Lia had crashed into his life and ruined his
routine, but he hadn’t chased her out either.
She really wished he’d talk to her, especially when she’d be-
gun opening to him about her Dwayne and her old life. Whatever. Let
the asshole get roaring drunk. She flipped opened her book again,
found she forgot to mark the page. None of the words made sense.
Dread sat heavily on her chest.
What if another woman approached Jax? Bad boys were a
magnet for most women, right? She crossed her arms. Jealousy didn’t
sit well with her. She looked across the parking lot, at the lights in the bar. From the windows, she could see a couple of people there. Just
imagining walking on that grimy floor, music flooding her ears, and
the stares of men who on
ly saw her as walking pussy made her stom-
ach queasy.
What if Jax never came back tonight? It wasn’t hard to imag-
ine some skinny bitch wearing a micro mini-skirt and a halter top,
sliding over his lap and asking him if he wanted to have fun tonight.
Lia clenched her fists.
No way she’d let that happen. Bolstering her courage, she
opened the door, then looked at herself. Nights had been getting cold-
er, so she had a hoodie on. She unzipped it. Underneath, she wore
skinny jeans and a faded blue tank top. Lia choose the color because it
reminded her of Jax’s eyes.
She ran fingers through her hair and headed toward the bar,
hoping to God she looked like a woman who knew what she was do-
ing. Her resolve faltered as she opened the door. Country music filled
the bright space. Lia had to blink several times for her eyes to adjust.
The smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and other unpleasant scents hit her
nose.
“Excuse me, doll,” a drunk voice said. Realizing she blocked
the door, she stepped aside to let a man through. Hearing him vomit
later, she shook her head. Lia felt a couple of interested gazes on her
as she looked around.
Lia did her best to ignore them, to avoid attracting any kind of
attention. She found Jax by the bar, beer in hand, chatting with a leg-
gy and slender blonde who wore a suggestive smile. Her anger boiled,
seeing the blonde run her red-painted nails on his chest.
“You here alone, baby?” an oily voice asked next to her ear.
She jumped, warily turning around. Three men. The speaker
wore a button-down checkered shirt, beer in hand, beer belly slightly
poking out. His two friends eyed her with open interest, as if they
wanted to fuck her on the spot.
Being with Dwayne made you paranoid, a voice inside her
said.
“I—I need to go,” she blurted, recoiling as one of the men
touched her arm.
“What’s the rush, sweet thing?”
Another swatted her ass. She jumped, backing away. God. Lia
didn’t know what got into her. Memories of Dwayne kept flashing in
her head, how the men he sold her to looked like these three. They
only wanted one thing from her.
“Aw, she’s scared. You not around these parts, doll? Why
don’t you come with us? We’ll show you a good time,” the first man
said.
She swallowed, frozen in place only to find a large body in
front of her, familiar big and callused hands digging into her arm. Jax.
Relief flooded her as she buried her face into his warm muscled back.
“Fuck off. She’s mine,” Jax said, an edge to his words.
“Come on, man. We saw her first,” said one of the men.
“She’s. Fucking. Mine,” Jax repeated, emphasizing each word
as if he were talking to a child.
“Look here, asshole—” began the first guy who had spoken to
her.
Jax didn’t let the guy finish. One moment Jax stood next to
her, the next, Jax closed one hand on the back of the man’s neck and
shoved his head to the nearest table. She grimaced as bone clashed
with wood. Jax snatched the bottle the guy held, broke it on the table,
splashing the remaining beer, then pointing the jagged glass to the
guy’s neck.
Lia choked in a cry. Fear crawled down her spine. Oh God.
Jax had moved unthinkingly, his faded blue eyes narrowed, his teeth
bared like a predatory beast that had been set off. Even the man’s
friends had been taken aback, paralyzed.
“We’ve made a mistake, that’s all,” said the wiser of the men.
“There’s no need for all this. The bitch is off-limits. We get it.”
Jax said nothing, massive chest rising up and down. Every
muscle in his body, his face seemed like it had been hewn from rock.
The flat look in Jax’s eyes, devoid of mercy, of anything, frightened
her a little, but Lia remembered this was the same man who extended
his help to lost and bleeding woman.
“Jax?” she whispered. He jerked his head toward the direction
of her voice, but didn’t quite leave his attention off the men, as if he
expected them to retaliate. “We’re good here. Let’s leave?”
She phrased it as question, knowing this was one situation she
needed to be delicate with.
“Fine.” Jax practically gritted out the word, then released the
man. Jax grabbed her arm and began dragging her out the bar.
“You crazy son-of-a-bitch,” the man yelled.
Jax paused, looking torn between returning to finish what he
started and exiting the bar.
“Please,” she added. “Remember you don’t want trouble?”
They kept walking. Jax hadn’t taken his hand off her the entire
time, his face unreadable in the dark.
“Get in,” he commanded.
Hard to argue with that voice. Lia obeyed. Trembles went up
her arms. What had she done?
Chapter Six
Still pissed off as fuck, Jax drove in silence. Beside him, Lia
had gone so still it would have been easy to mistake her for a statue.
Seeing her frightened of him only made things worse. He gritted his
teeth, kept his mouth shut because if one of them started, it would
evolve into a nasty fight.
He didn’t know what got over him in the bar. Nancy not let-
ting him see his fucking son, his own flesh-and-blood, became a dis-
tant problem when he saw those three assholes hitting on his woman.
The last time Jax went off the rails like that, it landed him in jail.
He swore under his breath, focused on the empty road ahead,
and tried not to think about the woman next to him. One quick glance
showed Lia curled against her seat, as far away from him as possible.
She looked wary, as if she expected him to become violent any time
soon.
“I just want to check if you’re all right,” she finally had the
guts to say.
“I’m a grown-ass man,” he reminded her.
Jax controlled his harsh breathing and considered the situation
from a logical standpoint. If Lia hadn’t chased after him, he would
have agreed to one of the offers some of the women had made to him.
A decision he’d come to regret afterward.
He needed to lose himself in a complete stranger to forget, but
the only woman he ever wanted sat next him, so close, his for the tak-
ing. Jax didn’t want to fuck her after that hateful conversation with
Nancy. He’d only be using her as an outlet for his anger. Lia deserved
so much better than that.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He forced the words out with a
spat. “So you don’t need to look like a fucking terrified rabbit.”
Even if he didn’t look at her, Jax knew she glowered at him.
“I know,” Lia said. She let out a breath. “I don’t know how I
should act around you when you get like this, all quiet.”
Cold rage still lingered inside of him. Back in the bar, if Lia
hadn’t called to him he would have jammed those glass shards into
that bastard’s neck for even daring to look at Lia wrong. Over the past
few days, he’d become
obsessed, possessive of this prize. Did she re-
ally think he’d let those three bastards free?
Jax still didn’t trust himself to speak. He gripped the wheel so
hard, his knuckles turned white. Would he risk another prison sen-
tence over a chick he just met? Fuck. Before he met her, Jax could
barely tolerate the company of another person for so long. Even in
prison, he seldom spoke to his cell mate, didn’t join any groups be-
cause he could hold his own.
Lia had been riding with him for days, a taste of sunlight, a
drug he could no longer live without.
“Jealousy,” Lia said, “was what drew me out of the truck.
Thinking about some woman approaching you made me so mad.”
The anger in him turned into another emotion. Satisfaction.
Jax decided he liked her possessive too.
“Yeah?” He couldn’t keep the smugness out of his voice.
“I’d rather…” She trailed off.
Jax stopped the truck by the side of the road so they could
have a proper conversation. “Spit it out, sweetheart.”
She warily looked at him. “Are you in a better mood now?
You called me ‘sweetheart’.”
“Don’t avoid the topic,” he chided, gently. Jax had never a
met a woman capable of soothing out his temper or one who bothered
putting up with his changing moods.
Lia took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. Direct. He
liked that. When he first found her, she couldn’t meet his gaze.
“I’d rather you fuck me than some woman you pick up at the
bar,” she said, color rising to her cheeks and neck.
Fuck. His dick strained against his jeans. Need surged through
him as he dragged his gaze down her sweet lips, to her generous
breasts and her groin. The image of her languid face when he ate her
there rose up in his head.
Jax leaned forward, propriety hand on her denim-clad thigh.
“You sure about that, sweetheart? Because I won’t ask you again. I’ll
take what’s freely being offered and I’ve dreamed of burying my dick
so deep in you, you’ll scream out my name.”
“Kiss me?” Lia phrased it as a question.
How could he refuse? He gripped the back of her neck, an-
noyed by his seat belt. Jax made do, claiming her mouth rough and
Keeping Her Forever Page 4
