Jax made a ticking sound behind his teeth, barely audible over the sound of the country song on the radio. The Beck brothers were playing. She loved them.
“Brody wasn’t murder,” Jax said. “He was revenge. Any man who hurts a woman like that deserves worse than you gave him. He’s lucky. I would’ve done it slow.” Jax’s voice lowered and became too rough to be human. “I would’ve made it last a couple of days. Maybe given him to the Gray Backs when I was bored. Maybe let Damon light him up and devour his ashes. Trust me, Anna, you did Brody a favor he didn’t deserve. You’ll get no judgement from me or anyone else for She-Devil defending you like that.”
“I know who Damon is. I’ve been researching,” she said, holding up her phone and shaking it slightly. The sunlight caught the jewels on the skull case.
“Thata girl, and what did you learn?”
“Damon Daye, aka the blue dragon, reigns over these mountains. There are three crews. The Ashe Crew, the Boarlanders, and your Gray Backs. And most of them make a living by being lumberjacks. Ha. Are you a Lumberjack Werebear, Jax?”
He chuckled, slid his free hand over her thigh, and squeezed gently. Warmth immediately dumped into her center just from his easy and comfortable touch. He’d seen her at her worst over the last two days of traveling and trying to control She-Devil, and he was still here. Still laughing and touching her. Still supporting her.
He wore a blue baseball cap on backward today. He was scruffy-sexy with his unshaven face, dark eyes, white T-shirt, and jeans with holes at the knees. And he sat here with her, the epitome of a relaxed man, steering wheel turning in one hand, and an easy smile on his lips, like she wasn’t going to shift at any moment. He wasn’t scared of her at all.
Good man. Strong man. Her man.
“I did work logging jobs some of the seasons, but mostly I’m a worm farmer.” He slid her a huge grin. “Does that turn you on?”
“A worm farmer?” she asked, waiting for the punchline.
“It’s a family business. My ma built this worm empire from the ground up, and now her worms are the biggest name in bait worms and compost worms in the world. Willa’s Worms.”
“Oh, my gosh, I’ve seen those in the store! In the hunting and fishing section. They are stored in those little refrigerators by the cash register. The logo is pink and blue and has a cartoon worm. I always thought it was so cute.”
“Yep. I take care of shipping. They were there because I made it happen.”
“So you aren’t really a farmer then. You are on the business side.”
“Oh, no. Ma wanted me and my brother to learn the business from the bottom up. I had to work my way into shipping. I started out with my hands dirty.”
“And wormy,” she teased. “So sexy. Jaxon Barns, professional worm wrangler. I’m so turned on right now.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and snickered then tried to make a serious face and whispered, “Jax. I like your worm.”
“Stop it.”
“Maybe sometime, you wanna…stick it in my slimy wormhole.”
“God, seriously? You sound like Ma right now. My worm is getting limp.”
“Let me feel.” She reached across his lap and petted his crotch.
“Hands off my worm.”
“Heeeere, wormy, wormy, wormy.”
“Woman, seriously, you’re giving wormy a boner, cut it out. We’re almost there. Or don’t cut it out, but I’m gonna fuck you so hard against one of these trees, you’ll be screaming my name and get us busted.”
Holy hotness. “I wanna do that,” she rushed out. “I wanna scream your name.”
Jax slammed on the brakes, and the truck skidded sideways. He threw it into park the second it rocked to a stop and reached for her. “Take your pants off,” he demanded.
Okay then. Bossy Jax was sexy.
She stripped out of her shorts faster than a lady of the night named Cinnamon, and then she crawled across the console and straddled Jax’s lap. He already had his pants undone and shoved down his hips so his erection jutted up from between his powerful thighs. Hell yes to all of this—her body was already molten.
Jax gripped his cock as she lifted up and slid onto him, and together they let off twin groans of ecstasy as she lowered down slowly and took all of him. He gripped her hips so hard, it would’ve been uncomfortable if she was human, but She-Devil let off a snarl of appreciation.
“I fucking love when your eyes go gold like this,” Jaxon gritted out. He leaned forward and plucked at the claiming mark on her neck with teasing, biting kisses. “Sexy.” Bite. “Terrifying.” Bite. “Badass.” Bite. “Panther.”
The pressure in her middle was already building in intensity as she bucked against him, her hips crashing with Jax’s as he met her movement, stroke for stroke. They were already going too hard and too fast. This wouldn’t last long, but he didn’t seem to care. He pulled her down even harder on his dick, over and over until she was right on the verge, head thrown back, eyes closed to the world, yelling out his name. Orgasm exploded through her as he drove deep and shot warmth into her in throbbing spurts. Her mind was gone. There was no worry in this moment. There was only the bone-deep sensation of belonging.
He’d called her a sexy, terrifying, badass panther and told her he loved the gold in her eyes. It was a far cry from when he’d admitted he wished she was human, and it meant the world to her that he accepted her now.
They slowed their pace and dragged out each other’s aftershocks until they were twitching with sensitivity. And then she slid her hands up his chest and around his neck and nuzzled her cheek against his. She’d never done that with a man, but it felt right. It felt like saying I love you without the words, and she truly did. Something hummed between them, some electricity that hadn’t been there before.
“Can you feel it?” he asked as he rubbed his cheek against hers. “Can you feel our bond?”
“Yes,” she said, suddenly stunned. She eased back and looked down at their chests where it felt like a rope had been tied from his heart to hers, but there was nothing there. If he hadn’t pointed it out, she would’ve thought herself even crazier. She would’ve thought it was She-Devil messing with her mind again.
“I never wanted a bond until you,” Jax said, blazing green eyes locked on hers. “I wanted a half-life. I wanted an easy mate who wouldn’t call to my bear. Who wouldn’t make me wish for a better life.”
“And now?”
“And now you’re all I want. And if wishing for a better life means I can make you happy, keep you safe, and stable…well then, that’s what I want. I like you just the way you are, Anna.”
Her lip trembled, so she bit it to hide her emotions. “She-Devil and all?”
Jax leaned into her and angled his face, kissed her lips gently. And when he disengaged, she could see the utter honesty in his eyes when he murmured, “She-Devil and all.”
Chapter Twelve