Page 97 of The Vigilante's Lover
“Most people do,” I tell her, and surprise her again when I plunge back into her body.
21: Mia
When I wake up a few hours later, Jax is standing at the window, looking out. He’s naked still, and I take a moment to admire all of him. The light from the device delineates the muscles on his chest and the indentations of his abs.
I drop a little lower and feel a blush come over me. He’s perfectly trimmed down there, and I remember what it was like with him hovering over me, erect and ready.
I take a little assessment of my body. Lots of aches. My wrists hurt, probably from where that Klaus guy tied me. And down below, a sweet sort of swollen pulsing throb.
Jax notices I’m awake. “You feeling okay?” he asks. His voice isn’t exactly tender, but he’s asking, so I’ll take it.
“I’m all right.” I pull the sheet up to my neck, feeling inexplicably shy.
“I’m trying to decide if we’ll wait for dawn to leave.” He looks out the window again.
“Where are we going?”
Jax’s fist tightens against his bicep, the only outward sign of any emotion. “Back to your house.”
I jump from the bed, not caring that I’m naked. “You can’t take me home again!”
Jax appraises my body and I flush with heat. “I’m not going to leave you there, Mia. Obviously if Klaus found you, my attachment to you is already known. You’re safer with me.”
Attachment? I hum inside at the word. Jax cares? And people know it?
Suddenly everything makes sense. Jax knew he couldn’t leave me alone anymore. I glance down at my skin, flushed pink in places where his beard roughed it up. That’s why he was willing to do this with me when he wasn’t before.
I try to keep my voice steady, like he hasn’t just rocked my world.
“Do you think Klaus is still there? I’m not sure my rope ties werethatgood,” I say. It’s been all night. Surely he’s gotten free.
“He’s not,” Jax says. When he turns around to face me, I can see that my jumping from the bed has affected him. “Sam reports that all the monitors there show no activity.”
“Are they coming here?” I’m torn between that hot erection and getting dressed before Jax’s friends find us in yet another compromising position.
“No. They have their regular Vigilante duties to attend to, lest their assistance to me is discovered.” He starts walking toward me.
My body responds with every step. The aches are erased in an instant as soon as my blood starts pumping. “So we’re in no hurry?” I ask.
He lifts me up into his arms and covers the rest of the distance to the bed. “Not that much of one.”
22: Jax
While Mia showers, I ball up the sheets and drop several large bills on top. I don’t really want to deal with an innkeeper.
I spread out the stolen tech Mia took from Klaus. I don’t expect that we will go much longer without intercepting him, and possibly Jovana. He’s going to know I will come after him. The fact that he visited Mia alone is puzzling. From her account, he was fishing for information. No doubt he is as flummoxed as I am about her lack of data in the Vigilante network.
The onyx ring she was wearing is on the floor by the bed. I pick it up. It’s a curious piece, oval, and way too big for her fingers. I remember spotting it in the stash at her house that first night and slipping it on my finger to see if it had some special feature I didn’t know about. By all appearances, it is just a ring. Maybe it made it into the Vigilante boxes by mistake. I drop it in the pile.
Mia comes out, still in the pajamas. She’s all shy, eyes cast to the floor, plucking at her pajama shirt. She holds up the pair of men’s shoes. “I forgot about these. Are they going to catch us now?”
She seems so frightened and lost that I want to comfort her. I force myself to smile instead. “Only trainees have trackers in their shoes,” I say.
Her face shows so much relief that I laugh, a genuine one this time. “We’ll stop somewhere that I can pick up an outfit for you,” I tell her.
“We’re going to my house, right?” she asks. “I can get my own things there.”
I’m not sure how much to warn her about what’s ahead. Even though the shoes aren’t tracked and the car is wiped of Klaus, if he and Jovana have any sense, they will see our next move.
