Page 15 of Jax
“I know.”
I froze, my throat dry. “Know what?”
His eyes locked on mine, sharp and unrelenting. “Everything.”
That one word was all it took for my breath to catch.
“I know why your file was too clean. Why every line was perfect. Why nothing fit right unless you knew where to look.”
My pulse thudded in my throat. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.” His tone was absolute, cutting off any denial before it left my lips. “You’re in WITSEC.”
My stomach dropped, and the room tilted. My fingers tightened around the edge of the table behind me like it could anchor me. “You can’t?—”
“Already did, baby.” He closed the distance between us in a single stride, crowding me back until the hard edge of the table bit into my hips. His hand came up, palm flat against the surface behind me, caging me in. The other gripped my hip.
My body shivered softly even while my mind screamed to push him away.
“You shouldn’t know that,” I whispered.
“But I do. And I don’t give a fuck what the marshals say.” His jaw flexed hard, teeth gritted. “No one is taking you from me.”
His claim should’ve scared me, but it made my heart race for a reason that was the complete opposite of fear. One that made no sense. “You don’t even?—”
“Don’t tell me I don’t know you.” His voice sharpened. “I’ve been in your head since the second I saw your file. You think you’ve been careful, but I see through every word you don’t say. Every lie you tell to keep yourself breathing.”
Heat burned behind my eyes, fear and longing tangled together. “So what, you think just because you kissed me, you get to decide what happens to me?”
“You kissed me back, baby.” He smirked. “And now you’re mine.”
Before I could reply, his palm slid up my spine and curled around the back of my neck again, rough and sure. Then he hauled me against him, his mouth crashing down on mine.
The kiss wasn’t like last night’s. This one was more like a brand pressed to my lips. His teeth scraped, his tongue claimed, and his body pressed so hard against mine, I could barely breathe.
I gasped into his mouth, and he swallowed the sound. Instead of pushing him away, my fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt and dragged him closer. The solid line of his thigh pushed between mine, and my body reacted before my mind caught up—arching, seeking, desperate for more.
“Jaxton—” I broke off on a moan as his mouth traced my jaw, his stubble burning a path to my ear.
“You’re mine,” he rasped against my skin. “Don’t care what name you use or what story you tell. They can come at me with badges, bullets, whatever the fuck they want. You’re not leaving me.”
Possession vibrated in every syllable, and instead of terrifying me, it unraveled something I hadn’t realized waswound so tight. He already knew everything and wanted me anyway.
And there was no hiding from how much I wanted him right back.
His mouth crashed back onto mine before I could find my next breath. Rougher this time. Hungrier. The sound that tore out of me was muffled against his lips, my body bowing into his as though I hadn’t spent the past two years teaching myself how to hold back.
His grip on me changed, and I gasped when he pushed me back, my hips catching the edge of the table. He lifted me effortlessly and set me on top, my knees parting instinctively. He stepped into the space without hesitation.
“Jaxton—” My protest died when his mouth found mine again, swallowing every sound. His kiss was a command, and I obeyed before I even realized it, fingers clawing into his shirt, trying to anchor myself against the storm he built inside me.
The scrape of his stubble burned down my throat as he trailed lower, nibbling, before his mouth closed over the frantic beat of my pulse. My hands shook when I knocked his hat loose and dragged them through his hair.
“Jaxton,” I breathed again, softer this time, already desperate.
His answer was a growl against my skin. “Mine.”
I’d never experienced anything like this before, but that didn’t stop me from pressing closer. From wanting more as the chemistry between us exploded.
