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Penny
For the second time that day, Penny felt as if she were walking among the clouds. This time, it wasn’t because of a kiss; it was because of the heady experience of being pressed snuggly up against Jaxson while riding a motorcycle under the moonlight.
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.”
“You said it. I just agreed with you.”
“Close enough.” She went back to cleaning his face with tender strokes. “Do you know why they attacked you?”
“No, but I figure it’s got to be one of two things based on what they said. Either someone doesn’t want me talking to Sam Appelhoff or someone is trying to warn me away from you.”
“What did they say?”
“ ‘Stay away from her if you know what’s good for you.’ ”
She stepped back and went into the bathroom to rinse the cloth, and she spotted the ice bucket. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
Penny froze halfway to the door. The command in his voice was absolute, his gray-green eyes as stormy as she’d ever seen them. She held her breath as he lifted the towel from the floor, the bleached white now dotted with patches of blood from her feet.
“What the hell, Penny?”
“I stepped on some glass in the parking lot,” she said quietly. “It’s no big deal.”
“Really? Because it looks like a pretty big fucking deal to me. Come here. Let me take a look.”
She didn’t want to. He looked angry. Really angry. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear lightning flashed in his eyes. She shook her head.
He rose to standing. Had he been that tall and wide before? Or did the clenched, sculpted jaw and thunderous expression just make him appear that way?
She took another step toward the door.
“Don’t,” he warned.
“You’re not the boss of me,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Then, she turned and resumed her short path to the door, her heart jackhammering in her chest.
She didn’t hear him move. All she knew was, when she reached for the knob, her feet were no longer touching the ground. The ice bucket clattered to the floor as a large arm wound around her midsection and hauled her back to the bed in an impressive show of strength because she was no lightweight.
Their positions had reversed. Penny was now the one sitting on the bed, and Jaxson was tending to her. He lifted her feet, upsetting her balance and forcing her to put her elbows behind her to remain semi-upright and see what he would do next.
For as strong as he was, his touch was gentle as he used the damp cloth to wipe away some of the blood, grime, and pine tar. It might have been a tender moment if her feet were not quite so ticklish. He stroked a spot along her arch, and she reflexively kicked out, catching him in the face.
“I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed.
“You’re a menace, did anyone ever tell you that?”
“All the time,” she admitted.
“Sit still. You’ve still got some glass in here.”
“I can’t help it!”
“Roll over.”
“I don’t want to.”
He growled. Actually growled. She’d read about alpha-male types doing that in books, but she’d never actually heard the sound before. Low and guttural, it sent butterflies alight in her core along with a healthy wave of lust.
She probably shouldn’t be feeling that.
In another unexpected display of strength and skill, he flipped her onto her stomach and then turned and straddled her legs, effectively sitting on the backs of her thighs. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t displace him. Half-laughing, half-howling, she had no choice but to acquiesce as he cleaned and tended to her cuts.
When he was finished, he stepped away, and she immediately scrambled to sitting.
“Stay off of them for a few minutes,” he commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
He picked the bucket off the floor along with the plastic bag insert, and with one last warning look back at her, he went in search of the ice machine.
Penny didn’t know what to do at that point. Part of her wanted to get up and walk out, just for spite. But another part of her—a bigger part—recognized that he was more concerned with her trivial injuries than his own, and that brought back some of that euphoria she’d been feeling earlier.
She was still debating what to do when he returned a few minutes later. He seemed surprised to find her in the same place. She was kind of surprised, too.
He pulled the bag of ice out of the bucket and twisted it shut, then wrapped it in a clean towel. “Here. This will help.”
She shoved it back at him. “You need it more than I do.”
He exhaled and sank down into a chair, bringing the bag to his swollen jaw and reminding her that his injuries hadn’t been self-inflicted.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with Sam,” she said finally. “The Sanctuary guys are protective of their wives, but they don’t do things like this.”
“So, this is because of you?”
“Maybe,” Penny admitted, hating the idea that she was the reason Jaxson had gotten hurt again. “But it might be less about me and more about you.”
“Care to explain?”
She shook her head. “It won’t make sense.”
“Try me anyway.”
“Okay, but I need to give you some history first, I think.”
“All right.”
“Before Sanctuary was Sanctuary, it was the Winston resort—restaurant, hotel, all-around popular vacation destination for those looking for a mountain getaway. The Winstons were powerful, too, having been around since Sumneyville was first founded. They were active in local politics and very community-oriented. They hosted our proms, weddings, and held events where they invited the whole town.”
Penny had many fond memories of those days. Fourth of July picnics. Fall harvest balls. Christmas sleigh rides with special appearances by “Santa.”
“They were well-respected pillars of the community, but as always, there were those who resented them for that.”
Jaxson nodded in understanding.
“It didn’t really matter. No one paid the grumblers much mind—sour grapes and all that. But then things changed. After Matt enlisted in the Navy, there was a terrible fire. The resort was destroyed, and the entire family died, except for Matt because he wasn’t there.”
“Arson?” he guessed.
“It was ruled an accident,” she answered carefully. There had been rumors that the then-new fire chief, Jerry Petraski, who wasn’t a big fan of the Winstons, hadn’t done a proper investigation. “Everyone was devastated. Well, almost everyone.”
Penny frowned and then continued, “Fast-forward to a few years ago. Matt Winston returned with plans for rebuilding the family resort as a place for veterans to reacclimate back into society.”
“Let me guess,” Jaxson said. “Not everyone was pleased.”
“Exactly. Most of the town supports them, but there are those who’d rather not see the return of a Winston in local politics. They’ve been spreading rumors about the place, whispering absurdities, inciting fear among the locals to try to discredit Matt and his guys.”
“Okay,” Jaxson said slowly, “but what does any of that have to do with me? I mean, I get that I’m former military, but I’m not associated with them.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Penny said, shaking her head. “Guilt by association. You’re like them, and that’s close enough.”
“Why do I get the feeling there’s more you’re not telling me?”
This was where things got tricky. She had some theories, but that was all they were—theories.
“Since Matt and the guys came to Sumneyville and started building Sanctuary, several local women have ended up with them. Sam was the first, but there’ve been others, including one of Lenny’s best friends. He, and others, took it as a betrayal of sorts.”
Penny clamped her lips shut and let Jaxson put the pieces together. It didn’t take him long.
“So, basically, what you’re saying is, this is an attempt to keep you in the local dating pool?”
Penny shrugged. “I told you it wouldn’t make sense. It sounds ridiculous, but yeah, that’s what I think. I can’t imagine what else it could be.” Not that she was anyone’s first choice, but she might be considered a decent consolation prize. “You didn’t piss anybody off, did you?”
“Only you.”
She smiled at that, feeling the heat suffuse her cheeks. “Frustrated is more accurate than pissed off. I don’t really get mad.”
“You get even?” he asked.
“No. More like I try to figure out where I went wrong and try to do better next time. But I usually end up making things worse.”
He shook his head. “Penny Hoffmeier, what am I going to do with you?”
“Are you really asking me that? Because I have a few ideas.”
Heat flashed in his eyes before he shuttered them. “Bad ideas, I’m sure.”
“I guess that depends on your definition of bad.”
“You should go.”
“I thought you said I should stay off of my feet?” she said, wiggling them.