Page 58 of The Vigilante's Lover
4: Jax
This girl is something else.
Her eyes are wild as she lets a hunk of dirt fly at me. The effort causes her to lose her grip on the shawl and it glides back to the hay.
I sidestep so she misses but don’t stop looking at her.
So luscious.
The light from the cracks in the barn makes bright stripes on her skin. I’m not sure which I like better, her standing there, angry as hell, or lying back, enjoying my attention.
“Yes, I want my clothes,” she snaps.
I hold up my hands to fend off anything else she might throw at me. “I’ll fetch them.”
I’m still taken aback by her lack of experience. She’s definitely not in the Vigilante program. Honest-to-God virginity is a bit of a liability in that game. Besides, the training alone tends to throw young people together in ways that just seem to encourage a lot of carnal acts.
But this Mia. I don’t really know what to do with her.
Since I haven’t left the barn yet, she snatches my shirt, still lying at her feet, and sticks her arms through. It’s too large and ends about mid-thigh. I think she might look sexier in it than out of it, although perhapsthat’s because I imagine taking it off again.
It may be just as well Sam arrived. A situation like this takes some consideration. And time.
“Sometime this year, maybe?” Her voice spits fire. She probably didn’t appreciate Sam’s suggestion that I’m always with a woman. He’s not very good at saying the right thing in front of ladies.
Before I can answer, Sam and Colette are back. When Mia sees another woman has arrived, I can see her shrink back with dismay.
“Mon Dieu, what have you done to this poor girl?” Colette immediately heads straight for Mia. “Where are her clothes?” Her tirade continues with a half dozen French expletives.
She wraps her arm around Mia. “Let me get you away from this jackass,” she says.
“I have things in the car,” Mia says.
“She got hit by a poison dart,” I mention, rubbing the back of my neck.
“And all her clothes flew off?” Colette shoots back.
There is no point in arguing with an irate Colette. I step back as they pass me for the door. Colette scoops up the shoes on the way.
Sam shakes his head. When they are gone, he says, “That one’s going to cause you trouble.”
“What do you mean?” Sam couldn’t know who Mia is.
“You can’t take your eyes off her,” he says. “How did you sneak a Phase One out of training?”
“She has the shoes, but she’s civilian,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Not your usual type,” he says, leaning against the barn wall. He glances around. “Nor your usual venue. What happened at the silo in St. Louis?”
“Didn’t go well,” I say.
“Big surprise,” Sam says. “Saw the alert ordering you to New Attica. That’s one hell of a prison.”
I pick up the axe again and turn it over in my hand. “They wouldn’t listen.”
“Tried to tell you, boss.”
I shake my head. “Doesn’t make sense. Klaus was killed. His record was deleted. Then the safe-house records were altered.”
