Page 5 of Her Devoted Warrior

Disappearing is just a short-term solution while the cops catch the rest of the gang members involved, and if Officer Riffle trusts this mountain of a man to protect me, then I will trust him as well.

Jackson Riffle, or Jax, is nothing like his soft-spoken, baby-faced brother. Heck, I wouldn’t have ever pegged them as brothers if the cop hadn’t told me. While they both have blue eyes, their likeness ends there. Where Officer Riffle is an average-looking man with neatly styled blond hair, Jax is a mammoth with long dark hair that falls to his shoulders, a sharp jaw that could pierce through glass, and a body carved from marble.

The man also raises a fire in me that’s unlike anything I have ever felt in my life, but I refuse to think about it.

I refuse to think about the heat that spread to my core the moment I noticed Jax in the boxing ring. Watching him as his muscular, heavily tattooed body threw his fists with such controlled strength did something to me that no one else has ever done before, and when he turned around and fixed those sharp eyes on me, I was a goner.

“We’re here,” he says, snapping me out of my thoughts. My eyes shoot up to see a small cabin seated on the bank of a small pond. The picturesque little structure looks straight out of a book, and for a second, I imagine I’ve dreamed up this place. “No one will find you here.”

“Right,” I whisper, breaking away from the trees and walking toward the clearing, forgetting all about my shaky legs until suddenly, they’re giving in. I don’t touch the ground, though, because my giant reaches out and grabs my arm, easily catching me before I can fall.

“Easy there,” he says roughly, sliding his arm around my waist to hold me up. “Are you okay?”

“No,” I breathe. “My feet feel like Jell-O, and my chest hurts.”

“Let’s get you inside and settled in,” he starts, but I grab his arm to stop him.

“No, let's stay out here for a while,” I say, urging him to lower me down to the ground. I fall back against the grass and look up at the clear skies. I feel more than see Jax drop down next to me, and we both stay locked in an awkward silence for a while before he decides to break it.

“Did you ever see Sam Kemp before? The guy you identified as the bank robber.”

“I met him the morning of the robbery,” I say, chuckling ruefully.

“How did you remember him so clearly?”

“We were together for quite a while opening his safety deposit box, then again in the room when he made me stand in the corner, though I wasn’t looking at him then. I’d noticed almost as soon as I met him that he has this gaudy yellow and black snake tattoo that I imagine many people don’t get unless they’re either crazy, drunk, or both,” I say, laughing at my own joke. “He looked successful and well-dressed from a distance, but up close, there was something off about him that made me uneasy.”

Long seconds tick by without a response from Jax, forcing me to turn my head and look at him. I find him watching me with those perfect ocean-blue eyes, and for a moment, I forget how to breathe.

“Gwen,” Jax says, his voice much softer than I’ve ever heard before and Christ, I love it just as much as I love his hard, rough voice. “What you did was really brave.”

“Huh?” I whisper, losing myself in his eyes, and his words don’t register for a full minute, but when they do, my eyes widen in shock.

“What? I didn’t do anything. I just stood there in the corner. I didn’t even try to make it to the silent alarm.”

“Sometimes, complying is the best thing you can do. He had a gun, and he’s clearly the kind of guy who wouldn’t have thought twice about using it. You stayed calm, and you stayed alive. Then you helped the police catch him. The man is clearly arrogant and stupid since he left you unharmed after seeing his face.”

My cheeks flush in mortification even as a laugh bubbles up my throat, but nothing about this situation is funny. I’ve seen plenty of movies that suggest the only reason a robber would let you see their face if they plan to kill you. But I don’t want to dwell on that. The fact is, for whatever reason, he hadn’t tried to hurt me, not really.

“Wow,” I say with a dry laugh, turning my head away from Jax and looking up at the skies. “It’s not like it is in the movies, is it? Why do you think he just let me go?”

“Honestly? He probably didn’t think you’d remember him so clearly. The police said the photo on the ID you scanned wasn’t actually him, just someone who kind of looked like him, right? He likely believed the police would use that photo to try to find him and either wouldn’t ask you for a description or would assume you were wrong. I bet he saw you and figured you were nothing more than a pretty face. The whole thing went so smoothly, I’d bet he’d done that kind of thing before.”

He called me pretty. Don’t read too much into it, Gwen.

“I’m not just a pretty face,” I say defensively.

Jax doesn’t respond as he climbs back to his feet, extending his hand for me to grab and helping me up when I do so. My legs are not shaky anymore as we walk toward the cabin that doesn’t look as small up close.

“Only my brother knows about this place,” Jax says, taking out a key to unlock the door. “I also have security installed all around the forest, so we’ll know if anyone trespasses onto the private property.”

I am awed by the efficiency of it all, but more than impressed, I am jealous. I wonder how many girls like me he’s brought here to need a place like this and how far he’s taken it with his clients.

I ignore the wave of shame that rocks me for judging this man unfairly. For all I know, he could be the ultimate professional, but even so, I can’t ignore the gutted sensation at the thought of Jax showing someone around the way he’s doing with me. I have no right to feel anything but grateful that this man is willing to protect me. I shouldn’t let this jealousy make our time here awkward. so why can’t I get the thought out of my head?

“. . . And this is the bathroom, we have two separate—”

“What are you exactly?” I ask when I can’t take it anymore.

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