Page 20 of Traitorous Lies
“Do I want to know what thoughts are running through your head right now, princess? You're blushing,” he added when her brow furrowed.
“Uh, it was nothing. So you really weren't messing with me? What possessed you to even think up the idea of cutting up oranges and putting them in your cheesy pasta?” she asked as they started walking again. As exhausting as it was traipsing through the forest, neither of them with any idea of which direction they should be heading in, talking helped to keep her distracted enough that the pain and fear swimming inside her didn't take over.
Jax was there.
Jax would keep her safe.
Already he’d killed for her, and made a fire to keep them warm, he wore the weapons he’d taken from the dead guards confidently, and he had in fact been a surprisingly comfortable bed as they’d slept tangled in each other’s arms.
For warmth, nothing else.
Totally nothing else.
“I guess it was when I was around six or seven. My mom died when I was four and my brother Jake was six. Our dad served as well, in Delta Force, and after Mom died, he didn't want to leave the job he loved. That meant that Jake and I had to be bumped around from relative torelative, and all of them made it pretty clear that caring for two little boys who were grieving their mom and just wanted love and stability was the last thing they were interested in doing.”
Reaching for Jax’s hand was as instinctual as breathing, and this time it had nothing to do with needing a steady hand to help keep her balanced with the dizziness. She knew exactly how Jax and his brother had felt. The same way she felt growing up without a mom, with a dad who was never there, and grandparents who thought raising her was the nanny’s job.
“I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm glad you had a brother to be there for you.” Maybe she wouldn't have been so lonely if she’d had a sibling. Monique had always wanted a little brother or sister, but her dad had never remarried after divorcing her mom, so siblings hadn't been in the cards for her.
“Yeah, me too. Since we knew no one wanted to care for us when Dad was away, we learned pretty young to start doing things for ourselves. Including cooking.”
“I always wanted to cook when I was a kid, but apparently that was not an appropriate interest for a Kerr.” She and her grandparents had had drastically different ideas of what her life was going to look like, and she was so glad she’d managed to break away from them and make her own way. “So you decided to try thinking up the most disgusting ideas you could?”
Jax laughed again. “Actually, it was a bet. One night, I complained that I had missed a snack and I was hungry. Jake was making cheesy pasta for our dinner, and he dared me to put my fruit in it. We were stupid kids doing stupid things, but turns out that fruit with pasta is actually delicious.”
“There is no way I am ever going to buy that. I think you're crazy.” It was one thing to be silly as a kid, but to still eat that as an adult … ugh.
“I bet I could convert you.”
“Not in a million lifetimes,” she assured him. She loved cooking, was always up for trying something new, but there was zero percent chance she was going to eat pasta with cut-up pieces of apple, pears, or oranges in it.
Zero.
“I can be very persistent,” he teased, arching a brow, and she felt that look right between her legs. She didn't have a doubt he could convince her to do a whole lot in the bedroom, all the things she’d always wanted to do but never found a lover she was comfortable enough with to ask.
Before things could get awkward, her stomach let out the loudest gurgle.
“Food time,” Jax said immediately, snapping right back into protector mode. “I don’t have much to hunt with, I'd rather not use the guns unless we’re desperate, but I can probably catch us something to eat.”
“No,” Monique said quickly. “I don’t eat meat. I hate the thought of animals dying to feed me. Don’t worry, I'm not one of those vegetarians who is always trying to convince others. Other people can eat whatever they want, I'm fine with it and don’t look down on them or anything. I just love animals too much to ever eat one.”
“I understand having principles, princess, and I would never judge you for them. But we’re in a survival situation here, we’re going to need fuel, and we have to take what we can find.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” Jax had been her white knight, riding in and saving her life, and taking care of her in the aftermath. But now it was time for their roles to reverse. “So I told you that I'm an introverted homebody, and you know I love animals. Well, I have another hobby, and it turns out that it’s one that’s actually going to wind up saving our lives.”
Chapter
Six
November 2nd
10:54 A.M.
The excitement on Monique’s face as she found some berries that she deemed safe for consumption was well and truly worth the slight hunger pains and the desire for a more filling meal of meat.
Jax was quickly devolving into an addict where this woman was concerned.
Every time she smiled at him, he lost a little more resistance, gave in a little more, fell a little harder.
