OUR UNLIKELY BABY

by Paula Cox

  “Bet this one thinks it’s the other way around.”

  Jax started to step forward when the doe suddenly bolted. Leaping over a fallen tree, the animal scampered off into the distance, and she joined in Jax’s laughter as he turned her around to face him.

  “Still out of danger,” he promised.

  “I hope you can keep it that way.”

  As soon as she saw his smile start to fall into a frown, she reached under his chin and cradled his jaw, pulling him closer for another kiss as she fondled his hair.

  “Just watch me, Lena.”

  She sighed in delight at the feel of him lifting her off the ground, and as he carried her back to the bike, her body nearly back on the seat, Lena slipped to the ground and kissed his neck.

  “Can I ask you for something first?”

  “Anything, Lena. Although we really shouldn’t take any more time.”

  His fingers trailed up her skirt, and Lena moaned at the feel of hand on her thigh when she reluctantly shook her head over her shoulders. “Not that. Not that I don’t want to.”

  “Then what, Lena?” He waited as she licked her lips.

  “A drag, Jax?” she asked.

  Jax cocked his head to the side as he shifted back from the place where he stood. “Thought you only really liked the smell?” he teased.

  “Right now my nerves say otherwise.”

  He drew a stick from the pack and lit it fast, inhaling around the embers as he handed her the smoke. “Can’t have that,” he continued. “Let’s hope this calms you down.”

  Pulling on the cigarette, she choked at the smoke pouring down her throat and barely stifled a cough when his eyes flashed over a fresh smile.

  “Same old Lena,” he said.

  “In some ways. But not all.”

  Puffing again, she started to hang her head when he lifted her face to his eyes and stroked her cheeks. “You were with me,” he started. “You were only ever with me. The rest of it just doesn’t matter. Not to me.” His soft lips touched her brow, and she let the smoldering cigarette fall to the soil as he breathed into her neck. “Not to us.”

  The sound of that felt right, and she kissed his nose as she patted his cheek. “We keep moving?” she asked.

  “Glad we’re on the same page.”

  The woods continued to race by when more and more of the sky came into view. Despite the asphalt suddenly racing underneath them, Lena saw nothing but open fields and the stars just starting to poke through the sky. Nothing that even suggested the cover they needed most, and just when she was on the verge of fearing Jax had miscalculated and taken them somewhere far more dangerous than Deerfield, her eyes fixed on a small structure well off the road.

  Jax turned towards the sight, and Lena narrowed her eyes as a small house came into view. Passing the domicile, Jax brought his bike to a stop near the edge of a rickety shed and stepped away slowly. His arms were tender as he helped her off the chopper, and after he hid the bike from view, he returned to her side and took her hand. “We’re here,” he whispered. “Now we can rest.”

  Exhaustion wafted over her in waves, and Lena snuggled close to his side. Sleep seemed the sweetest thing, and she could almost feel the sheets drifting over her body when a shadowy figure hit the porch.

  “No, Jax!” she screamed. “We have to go back. Someone’s here!”

  “Relax, Lena. It’s okay.”

  She still muttered and moaned as he pressed his chest to her back and forced her eyes forward.

  “Just Artie,” he whispered. “See?”

  The bald man lumbered off the porch and awkwardly brushed his hands against his jeans as he struggled to smile. “All secure,” Artie said. “Main roads were way quicker.”

  “But you weren’t followed, right?” Jax asked.

  “So what if I was? Just a joyride. I’m not the one with a mark on my back.”

  Lena tugged on his sleeve, but Jax kissed the top of her head and clenched his jaw. “That’s why I took the back way,” Jax said. “And the place is all good?”

  “All good,” Artie echoed with a nod. His eyes softened at the sight of Lena, and she managed to keep her eyes steady as he touched her cheek. “You’re safe here,” he assured her. “At least for tonight.”

  But would that be long enough? What about tomorrow and the next day? She started to ask Jax for the next step when he pushed away from her and seized Artie’s arm.

  “You gonna buy me more time, right,” Jax pressed.

  “I wasted a whole fucking day securing the perimeter!” Artie insisted. “What more do you need?”

  “A chance,” Jax said. “I need Lena protected so I can make my way to the other side.”

  Sensing the trace of a sneer in Artie’s stare, Lena started to cower when the bald man’s face softened slightly and he patted Jax’s back.

  “She is pretty,” Artie said. Lena folded her arms across her chest and flinched as he stepped to her side. Thinking his designs mean-minded, she wondered why Jax wasn’t leaping to her defense when Artie just pinched her cheek with a grin. “Kind of get why you would go to all this trouble.”

  Lena relaxed as Artie turned away, and she hurried towards the house when her ears perked at the sound of Artie’s whisper.

  “You sure, Kid? Sure this is the right call?”

  Her eyes locked on Jax’s, and he nodded with a smile. “For her, I’d do just about anything.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Artie rode off, and Lena surveyed her new surroundings. The safe house, such as it was, contained little in the way of furnishings: a small table before a stove with three hard backed chairs resting around the rim and a tiny couch and a narrow coffee table. With another few steps, Lena glanced into a bathroom and flipped the switch on the wall. Harsh light filled the room, and she blinked at the sight of a small tub concealed by a tan curtain. Running her finger against the sink, she took note of the fact that the place was clean despite the sparseness, and she left one room for the next. Seeing a soft mattress sitting below a patchwork quilt, Lena thought of sleeping again, wanting nothing more than to give over to a dream and the possibility that there was no danger when Jax returned, his arms light and soft around her waist as he kissed her hair.

  “We are safe here, Lena,” he assured her. “And we can trust Artie.”

  “Can we?” she asked as she faced him and ran her fingers up and down his cheeks.

  “I do,” he said. “Do you trust me?”

  Maybe it was his skill on the bike or the adrenaline still bubbling in her veins. But Lena nodded and threw her arms around his neck. “Yes, Jax,” she murmured. “I’ve always trusted you.”

  He kissed her again, and she started to pull his body to the bed when he settled her gently on the edge of the mattress and knelt at her side.

  “How about some grub?” Jax asked with a small smile. “Have you eaten at all today?”

  “No,” she said. “You welched on breakfast.”

  He laughed at her pale joke, and she kept his hand in hers as he started to leave her side, her fingers swirling around his wrist as she sighed.

  “Then give me a chance to make it up to you,” Jax said.

  “How?” she asked.

  “By getting you dinner.”

  “Best I can remember you only did drive thru whenever we got hungry.”

  “And they always comped me,” he said as he waggled his eyebrows and stroked her cheek. “Do you remember that, too?”

  “Sure do.”

  Those where the days when he was all powerful, when he could fell any bully that dared to look at her the wrong way. But this was different; now the risk was more than Sawyer and Ric, and she started to speak when he pushed close to her face and kissed her eyes.

  “Time to show you something new,” he said. “You have to keep your strength up.”

  “For what?” she asked as her mind turned toward the promise that Artie might not be able to keep, but Jax just winked.

  “For e
verything I’m going to do you,” he said, his voice ragged as he twirled a single lock of her hair between his fingers. “Lena?”

  She moved from the bed and took hold of his face. As Jax waited for her answer, she kissed him quickly and smirked. “We still have so much time to make up for.” Lena was ready to toss him back the bed and mount him right then and there when he pushed her back with a tender smile.

  “How about you let me wine and dine you a little first,” he said. “Show you how special you are.”

  He started to drag her away from the bed when her feet felt fixed to the ground. Not too long ago, these were the words she wanted to hear from him most. And the idea that he could slip inside her again and send her senses reeling was beyond tempting. But now they were far from Deerfield, and she remembered what it was to feel Eric’s body on top of her, his flesh grinding against hers.

  “I’m not special,” she muttered. “Not anymore.”

  Lena bit down on her lip, her eyes starting to fill with ears when Jax pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly. “More than ever,” he whispered. “Don’t ever think anything else, Lena.”

  His strong arms surrounded her quivering frame. The feel of his breath pouring down her throat worked its way across her heart, and she relaxed in his hold, even as her pulled away and smiled into her eyes.

  “So dinner?” he asked as he kissed her cheeks and ran his hands down her arms, stopping only to take her hands in his. Lena nodded slowly, and she followed him out of the room. As soon as they hit the kitchen, he settled her in one of the three abandoned chairs and kissed her again before turning his attention towards the cabinets.

  “Now let’s see what we have to work with.” Jax brought a large pot to the sink and stated to fill it with water. A box of spaghetti soon followed, and as he tossed a jar of unopened sauce into the air and caught it just as quickly, he shot her a wink. “Hope you’re up for something Italian.”

  Lena pressed her fingers to her chin and peered up at him. “Kind of want to see how you’ll make this work.”

  “Prepare to be amazed, Lena.”

  Once the water came to a rolling boil, he cracked the noodles and let the pasta fall into the pot. Stirring it a few times, he opened the jar of sauce and dropped the contents into a smaller pot. It simmered and filled the room with a comforting scent, and Lena’s stomach growled as he located a box of sugar. She watched with wide eyes as he tossed a dash into the sauce and mixed the white grains into the red paste.

  “Sugar?” she asked. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “Just you wait,” he promised. “I think you’re going to love it.”

  He added some salt to the water and kept stirring as the pasta cooked. As soon as it was soft, he dumped the noodles into a colander and proceeded to pour most of his sauce into a large bowl. The spaghetti followed, and as the sauce coated his efforts, Jax poured the rest of his mixture over the pasta. With a quick swish of spoon and fork, he was able to dish out two hearty helpings of the most delicious looking plates, and he presented his handiwork as he ran a single hand down her back.

  “Eat up, Lena. I promise you’ll like it.”

  “Just like?” she asked as she started to take the fork into her hand.

  “You’ll love it,” Jax purred.

  He assumed the seat before her and started to eat quickly, his hunger rivaling hers. Despite some doubts, Lena could no longer resist the urge to taste. As soon as she slurped a single noodle, the specially-seasoned taste exploded across her tongue, and she kept eating as he held up and just watched her.

  “Good?” Jax asked.

  “Better than good,” she answered as she wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and swallowed with a smile. “Man of many talents,” she said. Jax appeared to blush, and Lena reached across the table for his hand. “Best meal I’ve had in a long time.”

  She drank from the glass at her side and smiled up at him as he pushed his chair close to hers. “So they don’t feed you so good at school?” he asked.

  “You don’t even know,” she started. “Toast so hard you could use it to plaster a wall. And mashed potatoes for the glue.”

  “That sounds awful,” Jax said as he kissed the sauce from her lips and rested his brow to hers.

  “The boys from Sigma Nu had a lot of fun with it.”

  Lena smiled at the memory of Danny and Jones concealing their hardened bread and turning it in with their term papers, their protests writ large in what was supposed to be jam as they slapped one another on the back. Harmless to be sure; childish at best. But they were sweet enough when she was granted an invite to one of their many parties. Danny flirted, and she danced with him a few times. Nothing beyond that.

  “Boys?” he breathed heavily. “So…so there were others?”

  “Others?” she asked as she dropped her fork and took another drink.

  “Thought you said you waited?”

  Lena started to explain when she suddenly pulled away from him again, and her body lifted to her feet. “I did,” she said. “Maybe I went to a few parties, but that doesn’t mean that I---”

  “But you still found some fun.” Jax’s eyes flashed, and he tossed his dish into the sink as he glared at her hard. “Guess I can’t blame you,” he said. “You had to want to forget, right?”

  Lena started to answer when she fully understood the weight of his implication. “Is… do you think that I would just spread my legs for anyone?” she spat. “Like I had to keep getting more and more to get away from his touch?” Jax started to reach for her again, but Lena shied away from his fingers and waved her hands in the air. “You know what he did to me,” she said. “So sorry that I tried to have a few nights where I didn’t have to cry myself to sleep.”

  She started for the front door when he grabbed her arm. “How did you manage that?” he asked. “You said that you---”

  She slapped his face hard and watched him fall away as she clenched her fists to her sides. “I told you that I only wanted you. And didn’t I run with you today?” When he had no answer, she stomped her foot to the floor and glowered into his eyes. “Just picked up and left,” she continued. “And there was only you… before… before…” Her body writhed at the memory of Eric’s hands, and when he tried to hold her again she pushed him back and shook her head. “But I see you now,” she said. “You can’t stand the idea that I so much as smiled when I wasn’t with you.”

  Lena stared to run, not knowing where she was or how she would ever find her way out when Jax seized her legs and eased her body to the floor. She squirmed and struggled under his touch, but he held her fast against the floor and pressed his lips to her brow.

  “That’s not it, Lena,” he said. “Not that at all.”

  Kissing her hard, he pulled her up into his arms, but Lena stayed tense and kept struggling as he eased her body against the wall and curled his hand under her chin.

  “Then what?” she asked.

  Jax moaned into her breasts, and when his lips neared hers, he paused before he rested his head to her belly. “It’s not that I don’t want you happy.”

  Lena started to run her fingers through his hair, and when their eyes met again, and she touched his cheek and held her tongue as he struggled to finish his thought.

  Jax sprang to his feet and gathered her in his arms. “I just want to be the only man who makes you smile.”

  He said nothing else, his hands suddenly light as he carried her back to the bed. Lena didn’t squirm or struggle as he laid her body on the bed and removed her shoes. Unveiling her feet, Jax suckled her toes, his tongue savoring the taste of her flesh as he started to kiss her heel, and Lena gripped his shoulders as she eased his eyes back to hers.

  “I only want to smile with you, Jax,” she said. “But not when your voice sounds so hard.”

  Jax shifted off the floor and laid at her side, his fingers stroking her cheek as he whispered into her ear. “Then please give me another chance, Lena. Let me
speak more softly.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jax licked her skin, and Lena sighed under the flick of his tongue. His hands stayed light, his touch like a feather as he caressed her hair and breathed into her eyes. Gazing up at him, she couldn’t help but hunger for more, and yet the force of his stare kept her body fixed to the bed as his hand finally met the line of her parted lips.

  “Is that a smile?” he asked. “I think so.”

  Pressing his fingers under her blouse, he dragged his hand across her sides, the sensation of his hold causing her body to tremble. As he tickled her sensitive flesh, Lena gave him what he wanted, what she could no longer hide.