Jas and Dax took the lead together after their stop. It seemed natural to both of them, which freaked the fuck out of both of them. Having never ridden together, they should not be in sync this much. It took Jas weeks to ride beside Doc, she was used to riding with her fathers, and knew the way they drove. It was important to know that when you rode beside someone. For example, Slider hugged the edge of the white line, and Cajun rode the other side. They never switched, ever. But once they had gotten on the road, Dax had pulled up beside her, and she had taken the outside while Dax took the inside, protecting her from oncoming traffic.
Roger was behind them and seemed to be in his element as he rode. Jas smiled to herself; this was going to work out fine. They would make the meet, drop the package, and then come back before she headed back to London and do a pick-up. Nothing weird if someone was watching.
Jas wanted to know more about how Dax had been compromised. As far as she knew, the only players were the man she was dropping off to and picking up from. She wasn’t quite sure how Dax played into this, but she was going to find out. She had to, especially if she was going to be with this dude for like a month.
Plus, she needed to get a hold on her emotions, she was attracted to him, but she was not going to act on it. That was why she was here, to ride around, think of her future, and also to think about something that had been swirling around in her head. There were things she wanted to do that her parents were going to be pissed about. One of them was letting go of her past, and the only way she was going to that was to take a little trip where she had been held hostage and grew up on the streets. She had to because until she did, Jas didn’t think she would ever let the past go. Therapy and shit like that actually helped, she needed closure, and she needed to go by herself.
Jas wanted to have a healthy relationship without either lying to the guy about what she was or the guy knowing about her past and treated her like she was a fragile little flower. Trey had wanted to protect her, the man she lost her virginity to thought she was traveling from the east coast with her club. Normal guys got off on making it with a biker chick. She didn’t give a shit; she wanted to get laid and put her past behind her.
He didn’t know why, but Dax had pulled up right next to Jas. There was something about her, and he had no idea how the fuck to deal with it. In the past, he had scratched that itch with women he knew didn’t want a commitment. For all he knew, Jas didn’t want a commitment either, but it felt wrong, and he didn’t know why.
When he had pulled up to her side, she had moved and taken the spot right next to him, it felt right, in a way Dax had never had before. It confused him, and he didn’t like it. Dax liked to be in control of things, but this felt like something other than Jas or him was in control.
When she had gotten off the bike at the gas station, there was no way he couldn’t have stared at her ass. It was perfection, and her tits, yeah, they were too, but that wasn’t what attracted him to her. It was her eyes, they held maturity far beyond he would have imagined, but there was a softness she tried to hide, and that was what he was attracted to. She was not a pushover, she stood her ground, and that was what he was attracted to as well. And worse, the attraction was getting more and more powerful the time he spent with her. Fuckin’ a, five hours, and he was ready to fuck her before he even knew a damn thing about her. So not like him.
He was going to have to find a way to be with her without being with her. It sucked, but her mother would cut off his balls and serve them to him for dinner. The mission, he needed to focus on the mission, making the drop, then wandering around Europe so they would not be seen, and finally picking up the package and taking it back. Approximately four weeks of sleeping with her in the same room, they were supposed to be newlyweds.
The man they were meeting was a bit interesting, really interesting. He was in the military and looked like a fucking geek, but he was so not a geek. He was a trained assassin, and someone he knew the clubs trusted. However, he was a little quirky, and if he didn’t want to meet them, he would not. If he thought there was a danger, he would show to protect Jas, and that was it. He and Roger were on their own, mostly because of the change in plan; this man did not like protecting too many people.
He looked down and saw they were almost to their nightly destination. He almost groaned at the thought of sharing a space with Jas; this was going to suck seriously. Dax motioned to her and Roger, and both nodded. After ten more minutes, they were pulling into a quaint little bed and breakfast Jas had picked before Dax became involved. He hoped there was room for Roger because he did need a chaperone, so he didn’t fuck this chick all night long until they got this shit out of their system.
Jas jumped off her bike like she hadn’t ridden for the last eight hours, and he frowned. She should be tired, hell his ass was tired, but it had been a while since he had ridden that much. Still, she shouldn’t be so perky. Pulling off his helmet, he glared at her as she stored her helmet and grabbed her bag, and waited. Roger got off his bike slowly and then shook out his legs.
“Damn, I have a dead ass; think we need to walk around a bit before we settle down, or tomorrow I am going to have issues.”
Jas grinned. “No probs, there is a little café down the street we can walk to. I already planned on going there.”
Roger walked right up to Jas and kissed her on her cheek. It surprised both Jas and Dax but in different ways. Jas seemed to be happy about it, and Dax was slightly pissed. Why was Roger getting to kiss the woman he had been thinking about all fucking day long? What the hell was up with that?
He felt jealousy stir up, and then he wanted to kick his own ass. When had he ever been jealous of anyone? He couldn’t remember. This was throwing off his game, one he could not afford to be off on.
One mistake, and he would be dead, not to mention Jas and Roger, who were with him, they too could die. These people were serious about keeping their secrets, Dax knew it, especially since they tried to kill him, and he had no idea what he knew that would garner that response. He only knew his mission, and after thinking about it, especially when they were riding, Dax had come up with the question of who cared if he got a drive and sent it back. There had to be more to this shit, taking a shot at him was dangerous, and would have not actually stopped the mission, anyone would do it. So, what was it about him that they were trying to keep him from sharing?
Dax racked his brain and had not come up with one damn thing he knew that anyone with try to kill him for. Until he figured it out, Dax didn’t think he would be safe, or anyone around him. He looked as Jas and Roger walked up the stairs to bed and breakfast, and he finally shook off his thoughts and followed them. When he entered the small bed and breakfast, he wanted to laugh. They decorated the place in mid-century Victorian, totally fu-fu. He knew he would not sit in any of the chairs; they looked like they would not hold a man his size. Shit, this was going to be a long trip if they stayed in places like this across Europe.
“We need and extra room,” Jas said, and Dax wanted to groan, he forgot they had an extra person. Shit, they needed to call every place they were set to stay to make sure they had room. He was not leaving Roger out there by himself. Especially when he assumed they knew he was close to Roger. He walked up to the woman who was adding a room and pulled out his new credit card that had his fake name on it and put it on the counter.
Jas’s head swung around, and Roger went to take the card back when Dax said, “Leave it. We need to add rooms everywhere, so I need a list.”
Jas frowned and then finally nodded and said under her breath, “At dinner.”
Dax stepped back and waited for their rooms and when they were finally done with the chatty owner who was bound and determined to find out everything about them. Since they were Americans, she had a lot of questions. On the way up the stairs with their bags, Jas said to Roger, “Meet thirty minutes from now so we can get cleaned up.”
Roger nodded, “Until then.”
Dax followed Jas to the room they would be sharing and entered behind her. It was clean and neat. The style very feminine; it made him feel like he handed over his man card in the lobby. When Dax went to say something, Jas held up her hand and turned.
“Don’t,” she said, “Don’t say it, I know this is painful for a man whose knuckles drag on the floor like most of the men I know. But this was supposed to be a single trip, and I didn’t want to cancel. So, suck it up, there may be more manly places on the way to even it out.”
“Okay, we need to get some things straight here. I know we had a rocky start, but if we are gonna be riding and sharing the same space, I would like to do it without us wanting to kill each other. From now on, I pay, if you feel the need to contribute, then you can do so with gas, or food on the road. But hotels and anything expensive is mine.”
“Uh, that is not…” Jas started, and Dax said.
“Non-negotiable,” Dax said firmly, and Jas sighed and shook her head.
“Fine, I will use my money on the road,” she said giving in, mostly because she knew Dax was like her fathers, and he would not change his mind no matter how much she argued.
“Second,” he said. “I sleep closest to the door, no matter what.”
Jas frowned and looked at the room; she was trying to figure out exactly why this was an issue when it finally dawned on her. He wanted to be closest to the door in case someone tried to get in, so he could protect her. Jas refused to argue with this knowing it would be futile.
“Fine,” she said, shifting on her feet and throwing her bag on the other side of the room. She saw Dax nod out of the corner of her eye, and she wanted to roll hers. He totally felt like he had control; she would give him that. Because she didn’t want to argue right this second, but she was going to argue soon about a few things, mainly that she could take care of herself, that was her biggest beef, he had no clue what her training was. But she was going to show him.
“And last,” he said firmly, and Jas turned and raised an eyebrow, really, there was more she thought. He was seriously pushing his luck; she felt herself tense at some other rule he was going to throw out there. “On the road, I drive on the outside, always.”
She already knew that since when they were riding, that is where he placed himself, once again, put himself in danger and not her. Shit, she kinda liked that he did it. Jas turned to him and said abruptly, wanting to put distance between them, “I need to clean up.”
Dax tossed his bag on the bed and nodded. “I will go to Rogers and see if I can get cleaned up there.
“Cool,” she snapped and grabbed her bag, and stomped into the bathroom. What in the holy fuck was she doing? This sidewalk was not what she expected, and now all kinds of crazy thoughts were running through her head. She wanted to kick her own ass for sounding like a wimp.
Once she was in the bathroom, she set her bag on the floor and opened it, the entire time she was muttering under her breath about men, especially military me who were all protective and shit. She turned around and looked at herself and grimaced at the dirt on her face. Grabbing a clean cloth and wetting it, she began to get cleaned up until she could take a full-fledge shower, which she would do later tonight.
She changed her clothes and was so happy she didn’t have that dusty feeling like everywhere on her body Jas almost busted out dancing. Since she was alone, she could do that she thought with a grin, but then she thought about Dax and wondered if he dances. No, don’t go there, she thought.
No more fucking around, she needed food, and the place they were going was local and had a wonderful local menu. Bangers and mash were the first things she wanted to try because she had only good reviews for that and fish and chips. Apparently, Europe made their fries different than the US, better somehow. Jas could totally get on top of that.
Grabbing her jacket, she went out the door and downstairs to wait. At dinner, Dax explained everything that happened the day he was shot at. But it was not what she had thought. He had not blown his cover; someone had found out he had a cover and found him. Whoever the traitor is, she wanted a piece of him. What if she had never met Dax because they had killed him? She didn’t really want an answer to that.
As they walked back to the bed and breakfast, the tension grew between Dax and Jas so much Roger was laughing to himself. These two, they had no fucking clue what was going on between them. Roger did, he could feel it right when they met, and he hoped that Dax would pull his head out of his ass and listen to what his heart was saying. Jas was a wild card, he was not sure if she would listen to what she was feeling, he certainly hoped so, but time would only tell.