Hers, Untamed
Page 21
His woman.
Alyssa’s heart swelled. Jax’s crew gave a few nods of greeting and tried to conceal their grins.
“Right. Get back to whatever you were doing,” Jax told them. “Alyssa and I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Aye aye, captain,” someone said in an amused voice as Jax turned away from them. The room broke into hoots and applause. Jax only grinned.
He strode down another corridor, showing no sign of wanting to put her down. By now, Alyssa’s head had cleared and she could have walked on her own, but Jax held her as if he never wanted to let her go.
“Are you pirates?” she asked him, confused by the novelty of everything she was seeing.
“Not today. The only thing we robbed off that ship was you.”
Alyssa blinked. He stopped and boarded that ship just for me?
She felt like a treasure. Or like a stolen princess.
“I’m sorry about the stun,” he said. “We didn’t know where in the ship you were, so we just had to knock everybody out. I hope it didn’t hit you too hard.”
She gave him a dreamy smile. “I’m fine.”
She would always be fine as long as she was in his arms. Jax paused in front of a metal door painted olive green like the rest of the hallway.
“Here’s my quarters,” he said. “I don’t have a hand free. Would you type in the password for me?”
“Sure.” Alyssa reached for the keypad. “What is it?”
“Your name.”
Oh, Jax…
Alyssa typed in her name and the door swooshed open. The dimly lit quarters were large for a space ship, but far from luxurious. Alyssa immediately loved it. The door closed behind them. Jax’s calm, professional air disappeared. He dropped her on her feet, pushed her against the door, grasped her face and crushed his mouth on hers. Alyssa turned dizzy in an instant. She first clutched the door for support, and then Jax.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he growled between fierce kisses. “I’ve been waiting…hoping…I was going crazy without you!”
“I came as soon as I could,” she replied, running her fingers through his hair, returning his kisses.
“I thought you’d never leave Silenia. I was gonna storm the goddamn planet!”
“Oh, Jax. I’m here now.”
She sensed several months’ worth of pent-up desire in the way he crushed her against the door and kissed her, his alien tongue plundering her mouth. Alyssa mewled, helpless before his onslaught.
He tore at her clothing. “I need you. Need to be inside you.”
Alyssa turned breathless. Heat rushed into her belly. She tried to help him, but desire made her light-headed. She felt listless, like a doll, when Jax ripped her clothes off her. A few pieces of his armor fell on the floor with a clatter, but he had no patience to strip. He only pulled down the zipper at the front of his suit and yanked his cock out. Still wearing his gear, he grasped her thighs and lifted her off her feet. Alyssa clutched his neck as he thrust inside her.
“Oh God.”
Nothing had ever felt so good, burned so deep. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Jax groaned with pleasure. “Alyssa. My sweet Alyssa.”
He buried his face in her neck and pounded into her, his breath coming hard. He rammed her against the door, his hands gripping her buttocks. Alyssa could only hold on. She felt as if she was riding a hurricane. She’d never felt so wanted, so consumed by desire. The sound of his harsh breathing filled her world. His cock plundered her while his big, armored body trapped her against the door, squeezing the air out of her lungs.
Her climax rushed toward her like a speeding train. She clawed at his back, her fingers meeting only metal and the strappings of his armor. She kicked, but he had her wedged so tightly in place that her feet only met air. She dropped her head back.
“Jax!”
He only growled in response, not hesitating in the slightest as he banged into her. Alyssa tried to hold back, but it was too much. She kicked and screamed as her orgasm swamped her, exploding through her in waves of white-hot pleasure. Jax’s movements turned more urgent. He snarled as he slammed into her three more times. Then he stiffened, ground his hips against hers and poured his seed deep inside her.
Jax pulled out and let her slide down on her feet. Alyssa felt limp, her legs barely carrying her. Once her bare feet touched the floor, she leaned her forehead against Jax’s shoulder, one arm hooked around his neck to hold herself upright. She heaved deep, shaky breaths.
“Shit,” Jax rasped out. “Sorry.”
“What?” Alyssa mumbled, dazed. She looked up at him.
Jax’s eyes still had a feverish glint in them. He put his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her temple.
“I didn’t mean to maul you like that. I must have hurt you. Shit, I’m sorry…” He pawed her hair with a clumsy hand.
“I’m not hurt,” Alyssa said.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he rumbled, hanging his head in shame. “Finally had you in my arms again…I just couldn’t wait.”
Warmth pulsed inside her. She touched his cheek and made him look her in the eyes. “It’s all good. I missed you, too.”
She was wildly flattered that he’d lost control, that he’d fantasized about her so much. Jax’s grin returned. He scooped her up and carried her to his bed. Alyssa smiled as he gently set her down. The sheets smelled like metal, man’s soap and musk. She had missed his smell. Her gaze slid over his body, taking in his appearance. He looked so different, so rugged and dangerous. He wore a rust-colored jumpsuit with pieces of battered armor over it…extra straps and pockets everywhere to hold tools, small grenades, and clips of ammo. A holstered pistol strapped to his thigh, twin knives sticking out of his belt, a third knife strapped to his left upper arm. Everything looked dirty and worn but deadly.
Alyssa ran her fingers over the metal pad covering his left shoulder. She realized she no longer thought of him as a pet. He was a man. He was a different species, but nothing that would make him unequal to her. She could never imagine putting a collar on him again. Disturbingly, she realized she could imagine marrying him, even though on Silenia it would be a scandal.
“I better strip out of this junk,” he said.
A flush crept up on her cheeks as he undressed. He was just as hot and muscular as she remembered him. Once naked, he crawled into bed with her and tucked her body against his.
“You’ve come to stay, haven’t you, baby?” he murmured, kissing her hair.
“I’ve come to stay,” Alyssa replied, snuggling into him. It felt wonderful to be close to him again.
“I’ll make you space in this room. You’ll be living here with me. Sleeping in this bed. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds heavenly.”
“I even have a job for you. You’re handy with robots, right? This ship is…well, to call it second hand would be praise. The life support is leaking like a sieve and the radiation shielding is completely missing from the lower decks. We’re still working on patching it up. Maybe you’ll help with repairs?”
“Oh, I would love that.”
“I know the ship is old and dingy. I can’t offer you a palace like what you had at home, but…”
Alyssa shook her head. “I wasn’t happy on Silenia anymore. I want to see new things. I want to see them with you.”
Jax turned more alert. “I’ll take you anywhere you want. Just name it. Want to see Earth from up close? We’ll do it. Hong Kong? New York? New Berlin? Or maybe a tropical island?”
She grinned. “Sounds great. I want to see everything.”
“You got it.” Jax heaved a deep, contented sigh. “You’ve made me the happiest scoundrel in the galaxy.”
“And you’ve made me a very happy woman.”
“You have no idea what kind of torture it was when you sent me out to the shuttle and stayed behind. I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again. It felt as if someone stabbed me in the chest and kept twisting the knife over and
over again. I thought the pain would never stop. I didn’t know emotions could hurt so fucking bad. I’ve been hurting ever since. The pain only went away just now.”
Alyssa blinked tears from her eyes. “I was hurting, too.”
“I lay awake every night while hitching a ride in one spaceship or another. Just staring in the dark, listening to the hum of the engines. Thinking how alone and lost I felt without you. How badly I needed you in my arms.”
Alyssa put her hand on his chest. Feeling his heartbeat against her palm reassured her, made it easier to believe he was truly here. Jax put his big hand on hers.
“I swore I would go back for you,” he said. “But I needed a new ship first.”
“So you made it to Earth on the ore ship?”
“Yeah. I got the chip dug out of my neck, first thing. Then I traveled to the quadrant where I’d lost my ship to find out what happened to it. Sold for spare parts, as I expected. I moved on, dug up some old loot I’d hidden on Tau Ceti Prime and bought this clunker. I figured that if I was going to go back for you, I needed help. So I hired a crew. They’re a trustworthy bunch; mostly old friends and friends of friends. All that took a while. Once I got this ship in better shape, I was gonna head for Silenia. But then I heard that a beautiful woman had been asking about me near Mars…” He traced the line of her jaw. “Hell, I couldn’t get here fast enough.”
Alyssa gave him a wicked smile. “I would have come looking for you sooner, but I was in prison. They put me in isolation for three months for helping you escape.”
She was fiercely proud of those three months. She had been through something harsh and unusual, and come out the other side unshaken.
Jax’s eyes widened. “Fuck, if I’d known—”
“You would’ve done something stupid,” Alyssa finished for him. “I knew what I was doing. I didn’t need a rescue.”
“You told me you would only get a fine!”
“So I mislead you a little bit. It was for our own good.”
Jax rolled on top of her. “What else have you misled me about?”
“N-nothing.”
“Truth now, Alyssa.”
“It’s the truth. I only wanted to make sure that you’d stay on Silenia for the right reasons.”
He shook his head slowly and chuckled. “You’re incredible. You’re so sweet and tough. And yet so naughty.”
“You like naughty?”
“Hell yeah. I don’t know anyone else who’d have the guts to put me in chains and call me a pet.”
Alyssa smoothed his hair away from his face. “I kept hoping you’d stay. But I understand now that you don’t belong in a cage.”
“Damn straight. But I’ll tell you a secret. I would do it all over again because it brought us together.”
They shared a grin and then his mouth closed over hers. Jax kissed her deep while rolling on his side and pulling her against him. Alyssa melted into him. She never wanted it to end.
“Tell me you won’t leave me,” she whispered when he broke the kiss.
“I’ll never leave you, Alyssa.”
Her heart sang with joy. “You mean it?”
“I swear. You’re everything to me.”
“You’ll always be mine?”
A tender grin appeared on his lips. “My possessive little vixen.” He cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking her lower lip. The look in his eyes promised all the love and passion she could ever want. “Yeah, I’ll be yours. And you’ll be mine. You’re crazy if you think I’ll ever let you out of my sight again.”
###
Thank you for reading Hers, Untamed! I hope you enjoyed Jax and Alyssa, I had a lot of fun writing about them. Please consider telling the world what you thought about this book, your opinion is important. Direct feedback is also very welcome. You can reach me at my center of operations www.annaadlerbooks.com or by email anna@annaadlerbooks.com or you can catch me on Twitter: @AnnaAdlerWrites.
Want a chance to read all my books for free? Subscribe to my newsletter!
newsletter.annaadlerbooks.com
Free Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of my new books, paperback giveaways, exclusive free bonus material and other cool things!
Want to know what happened to Lucia? For my subscribers only: a free Lucia POV bonus chapter. Subscribe at newsletter.annaadlerbooks.com and you’ll find out what kind of hunk Lucia picked.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wonderful beta readers and critique partners for the time and effort spent reading my manuscript and giving honest feedback. You are amazing.
I also want to thank my husband for the endless support and lending a hand in IT matters—leaving me with more time to write. I couldn’t be happier.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25