Exhilarating didn’t begin to describe it. It was all the big E feels. Exhilarating, Exciting, Euphoric.
When Penny got up to her apartment, she kicked her shoes off and moved to the window, watching as Jaxson quietly walked the bike past her parents’ house. She appreciated his thoughtfulness. Nearly midnight, most of the street’s residents were already tucked away in bed. Hearing a Harley would definitely raise questions—not to mention, a few eyebrows.
She watched until Jaxson disappeared from view and then lingered for a few seconds longer. She was just about to step away when she saw a dark pickup cruising past the house. That in itself wasn’t unusual. Half the people in Sumneyville drove big, dark trucks. But the fact that it didn’t have its headlights on and was moving at a snail’s pace? That was suspicious.
Penny crept back down the outside stairs, then went out as far as the sidewalk, so she could look down the street. Jaxson had been swallowed up by the darkness, but she could hear him starting his motorcycle down a few blocks, where her street intersected with Main Street. That was when the truck put its headlights on and followed.
That pleasantly warm tingle in her belly turned icy and slithery. Jaxson was in trouble.
Without stopping to think, Penny turned and broke into a run. She skirted around the garage, moving quickly and quietly through backyards and empty lots until she reached the section of woods that separated the back parking lot of Mel’s from the residential area.
She was breathing heavily by the time she got there and made a mental note to lay off the slushies and add more physical activity to her daily routine. Jaxson’s motorcycle was already there. Peering closely, she spotted the dark truck, too, barely visible in the shadows of the back corner, where the lot light was out.
No one was inside the vehicle, which only made her stomach cramp more. On an impulse, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a picture of the license plate.
Two men came rushing from the direction of the rear entrance wearing ski masks, which definitely wasn’t normal. Penny stepped back into the woods, her foot catching on a root and sending her tumbling onto her ass. She scrambled behind a tree.
“Did you hear something?” one of the guys asked. It was a gruff voice. And familiar.
She was sure she’d heard it before, though she couldn’t immediately place it.
Penny held her breath, squeezed her eyes tightly shut, and made herself as small as possible as a powerful beam of light swept over where she’d been only seconds earlier.
“Is that a—shit. Let’s go.”
Penny opened one eye to see what it was they had seen, almost wishing she hadn’t when a noxious scent hit her nostrils.
The truck peeled out of the parking lot. Penny waited until the skunk ambled out of immediate firing range and came out from her hiding place. Thanks to the thick trunk and dense brush, she hadn’t taken a direct hit, but like with hand grenades and horseshoes, almost being sprayed by a skunk totally counted. Luckily, her mom still had cans of tomato juice in the pantry from the time their dog had tried to make friends with one.
That was the least of her worries, however. Concerned for Jaxson, she bolted across the parking lot, hissing when pieces of broken glass cut into her bare feet. She was about to open the door when a groan made her look down into the bushes at the side.
“Jaxson!”
Penny went down to her knees, where Jaxson was struggling to get to a sitting position.
“Oh my ... are you okay? No, of course you’re not okay. What happened? Come on. Let’s get you inside.”
“I’m fine.” He tried to push her away, but she was persistent.
“You’re not fine, and if you don’t let me help you, I’m going to call 911. In fact, I should probably do that anyway.” She reached for her phone.
“No,” he protested. “Don’t.”
“You’ll let me help?”
He nodded once, a reluctant, brisk single tilt of his head. She’d take it.
She helped him to his feet, slipping her shoulder under his arm and acting as his crutch until they got into his room.
The light revealed a split lip and a rapidly swelling eye. Penny got him to sit on the bed and then ran into the bathroom to give herself a quick perusal. Most of the cuts on her feet weren’t deep. They could wait. Jaxson was in worse shape and needed her attention more.
She hastily removed a lingering shard or two, and then she grabbed two hand towels and soaked them in cold water.
When she returned, Jaxson was still sitting on the bed, where she’d left him. She placed one of the towels on the floor, and then she stepped between his legs and began to dab at his wounds with the other. The cold soothed the bottoms of her stinging feet.
“You’re barefoot,” he said, looking down.
“You have a keen grasp of the obvious.”
“Why?” He shook his head, and then he scrunched up his nose and decided to go down a different path. “What are you doing here? And why do you reek?”
“I saw someone following you, and I had a bad feeling,” she told him honestly, pressing a little harder on his cut than necessary. Then, she felt bad about that and went back to light dabs. “So, I cut through the woods and ended up downwind of a skunk. And I hadn’t taken the time to put on my shoes before I did. Is that really your biggest issue right now?”
He reached up and grabbed her wrist. She stilled. The feel of his hand around her, the steely strength in those fingers, shouldn’t have excited her as much as it did. He was hurt, and they had bigger problems than her unsatisfied libido.
Just that quickly, he let go—both of her wrist and his attitude—and exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
She resumed tending to his wounds, uncertain how to process that. She opted for levity. “Would you mind repeating that? I’d like to record it on my phone.”
His lips began to curve upward, but his smile turned into a wince when he reopened the cut on his lip. He decided to chastise her further instead. It seemed to be a favorite pastime of his. “That wasn’t very smart. You shouldn’t have followed. You could have been hurt.”
“You care, do you?”
He sighed, as if resigned. “Yes. I shouldn’t, but I do.”
She didn’t comment, opting to unwrap that later. “Did you get a look at who did this to you?”
“No. They jumped me from behind.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t identify them. All I know is, they looked and sounded familiar. I did manage to get a picture of the license plate though.”
He stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. “You’re ...”
“Brilliant? Brave? Clever? Wonderful? Kind?”
His lips quirked. “I was going to say reckless and foolish, but yes, those, too.”
Outwardly, nothing had changed, but inwardly, something warm expanded in her chest. Between his legs as she was, with her standing and him sitting, she was in the perfect position to kiss him.
So, she did.
She leaned in and lightly pressed her lips to the side of his mouth that wasn’t bleeding. The faint coppery taste was nothing compared to the taste of him.
“Jaxson Adams, that might just be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”