Keeping Her Forever Read online

  “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