“W-who are you?” she blurted.
“Don’t you remember, sweetheart? You begged to get inside
my truck.” He smiled, showing his teeth.
Fuck, seeing her look torn between getting out of the truck and
staying put only aroused him further. She surprised him when a hint
of steel replaced the initial softness in her eyes.
“Yes, I remember,” she whispered in a hoarse voice.
Deciding she might be thirsty, he grabbed a water bottle by the
dashboard. He kept a steady supply of water with him all the time to
keep himself hydrated. Jax showed her the sealed cap first, in case
she’d wonder if he put something in it, before handing it over.
She hesitated, then closed her soft fingers on his. She didn’t
pull away immediately, telling him she hadn’t been repulsed by his
touch. Instead, she rubbed at his fingers. He let out a wrangled breath.
Electricity ran up his arm, went right to his dick. Lethal. Her
touch was lethal, but then again he hadn’t let a woman touch him like
that in a long time. Even when he agreed to a quickie with a woman,
he did all the work—all the touching and fucking.
Sometimes they left nail marks on his skin because he rode
them too hard. Those faceless women belonged to the same world as
he did, one made up of late-night shifts and getting laid by truckers
and strangers who came and went like the wind. It was the same re-
petitive cycle. Like an addict who craved for touch, he kept doing it,
kept picking up eager bitches who wanted to experience the same
high as he did. Casual sex provided momentary reprieve from their
shitty lives, after all.
If men like Jax belonged to the dark, then this woman be-
longed to the light. Her light touch had been tentative, gentle almost.
Jesus. Jax knew jack shit about her but a certain kind of innocence
clung to her, drew him to her. He guessed she’d made some wrong
choices in her life but she would soon find out she made another bad
mistake in choosing to ride with a monster.
“Thank you,” she said, greedily opening the water bottle. She
took huge gulps.
“Slow down,” he told her in a reprimanding tone. “Or you’ll
choke.”
She obeyed, taking smaller sips this time.
“Good girl.” Those words felt right on his lips.
At that, she glared at him. Jax chuckled. Oh, he liked how he
didn’t just pick up some damsel in distress. Then again, the marks on
her body told her story. She was a survivor. Jax definitely lucked out.
He should have known she had balls when she adamantly clung to his
truck and practically demanded he help her.
She swiped the remaining droplets of water on her lips. The
woman reminded him of a wary animal, not prey but something small
with claws and teeth. A wildcat.
She then asked him, “Do you have anything to eat?”
She certainly had gotten a lot braver. Jax debated whether he
ought to show her different. How would react if she knew more about
him? He shook those thoughts away. She’d been through enough. For
tonight, he’d play the gentleman.
Jax grabbed the paper bag on the dashboard containing the
two ham and cheese sandwiches he’d bought from a convenience
store earlier that day. This time, she didn’t hesitate to swipe them
away. She looked at him with apprehension. Seemingly satisfied, she
tore the wrapping off and bit huge hunks. All the while, she watched
him, as if he’d take them away.
What kind of hell did she go through that she felt she had to
hide the food?
Jax said nothing as she finished one sandwich, then decimated
the next. She took another sip of water.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
She hesitated. Jax wondered if she’d give him a fake name.
Those hazel eyes looked a little wary now, cautious. She had every
right to be. Would she bolt after learning he might be in the same
league as the fucker or whoever she’d been running away from?
“Liana. Lia,” she said.
“Jax. Now get that sexy little ass of yours out of the chair.
We’re going to the back of my truck,” Jax said, opening his cab door.
He wondered what went on in her mind. Probably nothing
good.
“I—I mean, if we’re doing this, we might as well do it here.
Right?” She spoke too fast.
“This?” He raised an eyebrow.
She gripped the hem of her dress, biting down on her lower
lip. Dread filled her features, making Jax feel like a bastard for not
explaining himself. Fuck. She’d been the one who came to the wrong
conclusion.
Sure, he wanted her, eventually planned on burying his dick
inside her sweet little cunt, but not like this. Jax might be an ex-con, a man who wouldn’t hesitate to use violence to get out of a nasty situation, but he never forced himself on a woman. She had to willingly
come to him on her own.
“Stop,” he told her. “That’s not what I meant. I have a medical
supplies in the back, as well as a bed. I want to see how badly injured
you are. Look.”
Jax gestured to the space behind the seat. She followed his
finger, relief filling her features.
Her neck and cheeks somehow turned redder as she tentatively
let go of her dress.
“Oh,” Lia said in a small voice. Hearing the vulnerability there
clawed his heart to shreds. Then she turned those brilliant hazel eyes
to him, alit with hints of fire. She pouted. “You could have told me
earlier.”
Fuck. He knew this woman was bad news.
“Get in the back, sweetheart, or I’m dragging you out and
tossing you over my shoulder,” he said in a tone even most hardened
criminals knew to be wary of.
****
The dangerous glint in Jax’s eyes made Lia scurry to obey.
With food and water in her belly, she felt a lot better. It didn’t escape her the way he handed her the top of the water bottle first, as if he
wanted her to see it remained sealed.
When he said he wasn’t interested in sex, she wanted to die on
the spot out of embarrassment. Of course Jax wouldn’t be attracted to
her. She probably looked like a puffy, bruised mess, but Lia hadn’t
imagined the hunger in his eyes when she woke up. That look had
been feral, no mistaking it.
She clambered out of her seat and into the spacious room at
the back. She nearly stumbled but he caught her elbow. Lia let out a
sound of protest. He probably didn’t realize there was a bruise there.
Jax loosened his grip as she found her balance.
“I have slippers and extra clothes too,” he said.
She studied the surprisingly homey space—it had a bed, a tiny
shelf containing some magazines, and even a TV mounted on the
wall. Huh. Interesting.
Unable to help herself, Lia looked out the windows and spot-
ted more trees as far as the eye could see. No other vehicles passed
them. It felt like a whole different world with just the two of them, her and this dangerous stranger.
Jax
turned on the light switch and she could see him more
clearly now.
He looked like he’d been hewn out of rock, all muscle under
his red plaid shirt and faded jeans. He looked younger than she’d ini-
tially thought, maybe in his early thirties, his features more rough than handsome. Ink peeked from the collar of his shirt. More tattoos
sleeved his arms.
Any sensible woman would turn tail and run by now. A logi-
cal being wouldn’t let a muscled and inked stranger lead her willingly
to the back of his monster truck. Yet, Jax had given her water and fed
her. That was something. He could have left her on the roadside too,
but he didn’t.
“Why do you have bed in here?” she found herself asking.
“Most long-haul drivers do. We need to sleep, too.”
Okay, his answer made complete sense. She felt foolish.
“Medical supplies?” she asked.
Jax snorted. “Clinics and hospitals aren’t exactly common
around these parts.”
The bed looked harmless, but Lia knew better. She remained
rooted to the spot. This felt like one of those horror flicks, where the
serial killer would soon show his true colors. Did he have a hidden
knife and some ropes somewhere? Her mind played tricks on her
again, but after what she’d gone through, she had every right to be
paranoid.
“Sit down,” Jax said. He’d used that voice again, that firm
tone that had scared her when he first used it. This was a man who
was used to getting what he wanted, to being obeyed.
Lia hadn’t imagined the challenge blazing in those eyes. De-
spite her better judgment, she took a deep breath and sat down, wait-
ing for his next move.
Chapter Three
Certain she wouldn’t be going anywhere, or make the stub-
born-headed decision to suddenly bolt, Jax grabbed his first aid-kit
from the storage system under the bed. From the corner of his eye, he
saw that Lia continued watching him like wary animal. He didn’t
blame her, didn’t dissuade her from thinking he was anything but
dangerous.
“Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Good. She understood he wasn’t like normal men.
“Don’t think about running, sweetheart, because you look like
you’re about to collapse any moment.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
Lia fingered the sheets, looking like a girl at her first dance.
“I don’t bite, unless you tell me to.” Jax smiled, showing teeth.
He sat next to her. When she didn’t move away from him, or jerked
away from his touch when he lifted her wrist, he considered it a good
sign. “Come on. Take your dress off. Let’s see how bad your injuries
are.”
Maybe he hadn’t say the right words.
She took her wrist back and wrapped her arms around her
waist, a protective gesture which didn’t help his mood. He snarled and
she flinched. Fuck. Seeing her like this gutted him. What kind of
fucker had been capable of messing up a strong-willed woman like
this?
“Where’s the fucking fire I saw earlier? I told you before. I
ain’t going to touch you, not that way, not unless you ask.”
Her lip quivered. She didn’t meet his gaze as she spoke. “I’m
sorry.”
Jax didn’t like that. Tipping her chin, he grazed her bottom lip
with his thumb. She darted her tongue out, sucked at his digit. Then
she widened her eyes. “I don’t know why I did that either. It’s so con-
fusing,” she admitted.
She wanted to talk? Jax didn’t do emotional shit. When he
served time, he severed all those emotions to show the other men he
wasn’t someone they could pick on. He couldn’t deny curiosity got
the better of him, though, and besides, if talking would get her to trust him, even a fraction, it wouldn’t hurt.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re dangerous. I sensed that when I waved you over—”
“Ran right in front of my truck and demanded I take you with
me,” Jax cut off.
That made her smile.
“But you ended up being this incredibly nice guy who gave
me food and water,” she finished.
“Let’s get one thing straight, sweetheart.” Jax took the kit and
began pawing through it, taking out what he guessed they needed.
“I’m not a good man, probably not far from the asshole you’re run-
ning away from.”
She fell silent a few moments, then tugged the hem of her
shirt. Lia pulled it off her head and for a second, Jax couldn’t do any-
thing but stare at the mess her body had become. Rage boiled inside
of him, seeing the new and fading bruises on her fair skin. One jagged
scar below her ribs caught his eye. He clenched his jaw.
“Will you do this to me?” she asked him.
“No, but say the word and I’ll hunt this fucker down and make
him pay a hundred times over.”
Lia hung her mouth open to an “O” and Jax could no longer
hold himself back. He leaned in close and stole a quick kiss. Jax
didn’t kiss the women he hooked up with and they played by the same
rules. Sure, he liked them on their knees, his dick between their lips,
but never on the mouth.
He soon forgot about all the other women he’d fucked. They
paled in comparison to the curvy beauty in front of him who pos-
sessed the courage of ten men and yet remained good and innocent in
many ways.
The bastard who used her as punching bag might have ruined
her body, but bruises healed. Jax, of all people, understood some scars
remained on the inside, but with time, she’d recover.
He imagined she’d become a fucking bombshell, someone
who’d shine in a roomful of people. If that happened, Jax wouldn’t be
able to stand on the same ground as her anymore. Creatures like him
belonged to the fucking dark, after all, and had no business with
someone like her.
Lia kissed him back, tentatively at first, before she planted one
hand over his left pectoral, where his heart beat a little faster for her.
Jax didn’t get it, why his body reacted like this, why he placed his
hand over her smaller one, and gave her fingers a squeeze.
He used the other to grip the back of her neck, ensuring she
wouldn’t escape. Lia parted her lips and he thrust his tongue down her
throat. When he pulled away, he couldn’t help but notice her tits
poked out of her cotton bra. His dick dug painfully against the zipper
of his jeans, but there would be no relief tonight, not when she was at
her most vulnerable.
“I’ve never been kissed like that before,” she whispered.
“You’ve never been with a real man before.” Jax tried his best
not to stare at her body, at her fucking tempting curves and her soft
skin.
Unblemished, she’d look like a fucking goddess underneath
him, able to take a huge guy like him. He thought of other things
while he focused on cleaning the scratches on her skin. Fuck. Jax
guessed whoever chased her had her
running in the woods for some
time.
He tried to put himself in her shoes. He did his best, swiping
all the dirt, blood, and grime with alcohol, but she probably wanted to
wash up, clean the reminders of her escape.
“I don’t have a bathroom, but I got some wet wipes. I’ll see if
we can stop by a roadside motel,” he told her later.
She hadn’t spoken over the last thirty minutes while he tended
to her wounds.
“Thank you. That would be wonderful.”
“You in any pain or discomfort?” He ran his hand through his
hair, unsure of what else to say. He had never been much of a talker.
That was one of the reasons why he chose this particular occupation.
He’d gotten so used to being on his own, to long silences that it felt
natural. Odd. He didn’t like when other women blabbed, especially
during or after sex, but he liked hearing the sound of her voice. It
soothed him.
“No, I feel a lot better.”
“We can look for a hospital nearby.”
Fuck. He was really the worst. He should have asked her that
question in the first place, but the hospital staff might have questions.
Even worse, they might send over a cop. From there it would be easy
to dig up his record. The assholes might even assume he’d been the
one to hit her.
“No!” He waited and she continued, “Besides, I don’t have
any cash on me and I don’t want any personal questions.”
Jax didn’t tell her how much relief those words brought him.
“Um…” She hesitated.
“Spit it out, sweetheart. I don’t like mincing words,” he told
her. Jax grabbed a spare shirt from the duffel next to the bed and set it beside her. She probably didn’t want to remain in just her bra and
panties.
“You were unexpectedly good at this. First aid, I mean.”
“While I was in prison, I helped out the doctor sometimes. He
said I had steady hands.”
She stared up at him. “Prison? You’re an ex-con?”
“I told you I’m not the safest man to be around with.” Jax
knew she had questions, but now wasn’t the time to ask them. She had
to be beat and he planned to cover more ground. He needed to drop