Wilde Edge (12 page)

The second they were alone, Tag
hauled
Jolena
tight against him and dropped his head
to slant a scorching kiss on her upturned lips. It wasn’t a kiss so much as a
claiming, hot as a branding iron against her skin. Lips slanted over hers, his
tongue sweeping into her mouth to tangle with hers until she was moaning and
trembling like a leaf in the path of a hurricane.

“Let that be the last thing that
asshole sees as he drives away,” Tag muttered when he finally broke the kiss.

“Possessive much?” she asked,
teasing.

“When it comes to you? Fuck, yes.
He’s scum, angel, and if he ever comes near you again, I’m going to hurt him,
badly.”

“After what you
just did to him?
I don’t think he’ll be back anytime soon. Let’s go back
inside and get dried off and warmed up. If I have to spend the rest of the
night giving statements instead of sleeping next to you, I’m going to need
coffee.”

He walked her back to the door,
keeping his arm wrapped tight around her shoulders. “Tomorrow we’re going to
see about getting your Order of Protection renewed. I want him to know what a
bad idea it would be to come anywhere near you.”

 
“Maybe he’ll just go away now. I mean, you did
just have him arrested for assaulting you,” Jo said, but even as she uttered
the words she knew it wouldn’t be that simple. With Greg, it never was. He was
too selfish and angry to be rational about anything.

Tag ushered her inside and locked
the door before turning to look down at her, his expression deadly serious as
he took her hands in his. “He threatened you tonight. He said he was going to
teach you a lesson if you didn’t answer your phone the next time he calls.
We’re going to get you legal protection, and I’m not letting you out of my
sight until this is all over and I know he’s not a threat anymore.”

She waited for the fear to hit her
like it had the last time Greg had shown up and threatened her, but it didn’t
come. No icy terror, no sense of being frozen, unable to think or do anything
out of fear that he might come back. This time was different. She wasn’t going to
be a victim anymore. “If he threatened me then I guess I need to press charges
this time, as many as we can think of. I don’t want him coming to the house, or
work, or near either one of us. I’ve given that bastard too much of my time and
energy already.”

“Agreed.
And might I say that you’re incredibly fucking sexy when you get all riled.
Especially when you’re wearing my clothes.”
Tag’s grim
expression softened as he pulled her against his cold, wet body and hugged her.
The blanket he’d been holding around them fell to the floor, forgotten as he
bent to kiss her. Jo didn’t wait for him to come to her. She threw her arms
around his neck, stretching up onto her tiptoes to meet him halfway.

“Thank you,” she whispered against
his lips and kissed him, but Tag stiffened, pulling back a few inches so that
he was staring into her eyes.

“Don’t you ever fucking thank me
for protecting what’s
mine.
That’s my job, angel. I
take care of the ones I love.” There was such intensity in his words it took a
moment for everything he’d just said to sink in.

“You said…” she whispered.

“I know what I said. I meant it
too. I love you.” His green and gold eyes burned with an inner fire as he
stroked a finger down her cheek.

“I can’t—I don’t know what to say
to that,” she stammered past the lump in her throat.

It was too soon, wasn’t it? There
was no way he could know. No way
he could
be certain.
Not yet.

“You don’t have to say anything.
You’re just going to have to live with the fact that I got to say it first. You
and me, we’re going to happen, angel. We’ve already happened. You just don’t
know it yet.”

“And how do
you
know it?”

“Because I said it, and I’ve never
said that word to anyone I wasn’t related to by blood.” His smile broadened,
transforming into a wicked grin that made her feel like the world was spinning
a little faster than it should be.

“Ever?”

“Never.
You’re the only one. You’re mine.”

“I thought you said you weren’t
promising forever?” she asked, reminding him of the conversation they’d had
after their first date.

“That was what, nearly a week ago?
Things have changed.” He leaned in until their foreheads were touching, their
gazes still locked. “Are you really going to argue with me about this?”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a
pushy ass sometimes?”

“Yep.
It’s
one of my better known qualities, along with my modesty and my amazing sexual
prowess.”

“Modesty, huh?”
Jo started laughing, the anger and the fear of earlier fading away, replaced by
joy, light and the heat of her passion for this wonderful, impossible man.

“If you have already forgotten what
we did earlier, I can happily refresh your memory. Right after we dry off and
deal with the detectives who will be here any minute.”

“I didn’t forget, but I think I’d
like a refresher anyway.” She wasn’t going to sleep tonight, and Jo would much
rather pass the hours until morning making love to the man who believed he was
her future, instead of dwelling on the one out of her unhappy past.

Chapter Nine

The more Tag learned about the
legal system from the victim’s perspective, the less he liked it.
Jolena
had found her old list of contact numbers and
started making calls the next morning while he cooked them breakfast, and she’d
stayed on the phone a good portion of the day. It seemed to him that the
victims had to take on all the work just to protect themselves from the people
out to hurt them.

He’d gone with her to the
courthouse, stood by as she’d shared her story to the judge, opening her
personal life to the scrutiny of the courts just to obtain a document that
stated her ex could not contact her through any means, and had to stay away
from her home and office. Tag knew damned well that it only worked to a point,
but it was a necessary step in the process.

When the law reached the limits of
what it could do, that’s where Tag intended to take over.

As the days passed, the two of them
settled into a routine that ensured she was never on her own. Greg had been
served with his copy of the Order of Protection, but neither Tag nor
Jolena
believed it would keep him away forever.

Most days, Tag rode with
Jolena
to the garage. While she went about her business he
stayed in his small corner of the large shop, working on Tiffany. Having access
to first-rate equipment and a garage full of men who shared his passion for cars
meant that what had started off as a few minor improvements had turned into a
complete overhaul.

He was happy. Energized in a way he
hadn’t been since the shooting. Every day he got to enjoy the opportunity to
watch his angel leaning over an open hood or vanishing under a car chassis, her
hair a chaotic tumble of red curls and her freckled face streaked with engine
grease. They spent their nights together too, laughing, talking, and learning
about each other before falling into bed and burning up the sheets.

She was as generous in bed as she
was in every other part of her life. After a lifetime of casual sex and
short-term flings, Tag finally understood what Ben and others had been saying.
When you were connected to the person in bed with you, the sex could be
mind-blowing.
Jolena
had blown his mind that first
night, and it had only gotten better since then.

As their first week ended, Tag knew
without a doubt that he’d been right. The two of them were fated for each
other. The thought should have had him running the other way. It didn’t. He
should be mourning the loss of his free and easy bachelor days, but it just
didn’t seem that big a deal when he got
Jolena
in
exchange. Now all he had to do was keep her safe and wait for her to accept
what he already knew was true.

She was his, and always would be.

They were working, after-hours, at
the garage. It was Friday night, and the place was empty except for the two of
them. The silence was strange after the constant noise and bustle of the day,
so Tag switched the battered old shop radio back on. The scent of engines,
steel and oil filled the air, and as he listened to the slightly tinny strains
of “Eye of the Tiger,” it was as if he’d been transported back in time. He
could almost hear his dad talking to him, walking him through steps as they’d
restored their first car together.

It had been a long time since he’d
spent time with his dad that way. Maybe he could invite him over to the garage
sometime soon. The two of them could drink coffee and bullshit for a bit while
Tag showed him what he’d learned from the guys at
Jolena’s
shop.

It
might be a nice way for him to meet
Jolena
too ...

Lost in thought, Tag didn’t hear
her come up behind him and he was startled when she spoke.

“Penny for your
thoughts.”

Jolena’s
husky voice never failed to make his cock stir and his blood heat. Her arms
slid around his waist and he grinned as she playfully wriggled herself up tight
behind him, pinning him lightly against the side of the car.

“These thoughts?
They’re worth at least a buck. Some of them are pretty raunchy.”

The soft curve of her breast and
belly pressed up against his back, initiating a surge of fresh blood to his
dick, which was now hard enough he could pound out dents with it.

“I’m starting to think that’s all
you think about, Taggart Wilde.
Sex and cars.”

“You forgot food.
Apart from that?
I think you summed me up pretty well. And
if you don’t stop rubbing that sweet bod of yours up against mine, you’re going
to wind up having sex
on
a car in the
very near future.”

“Do you think Tiffany would forgive
us?”

“She likes you, so…maybe.”

 
Jolena’s
hand slid
down the front of his body, her fingertips just barely brushing the tip of his
dick where it was trying to tear through his jeans. “I have a better idea.
Let’s go home. You can fuck me on a nice, soft bed instead.”

He caught her hand and moved it
lower, so her palm was pressed to his aching cock. “Feel that? That’s what
you’ve done to me. I’m not good at delayed gratification, so I think I’m going
to fuck you here, and then take you home to bed and do it all over again.”

“Here?” she asked, her hand
stroking up and down his erection.

“Did you lock the doors?”

“An hour ago.”

“Then yes, here.
Now.”

She was already moving her hands,
working the button on his jeans as she rubbed her breasts against his back. The
pebbled peaks of her nipples were hard enough he could feel them through the
clothing.

“I have an idea. Come with me.” She
let go of him and his cock twitched, protesting the loss of her touch. She
moved away and he followed. He’d follow her to the ends of the earth, but she
didn’t go very far at all. She just opened Tiffany’s passenger side door and
sat down so she was facing out, her feet on the concrete floor and her hands
beckoning him to come closer.

“This isn’t quite what I had in
mind, angel.” No, what he had in mind was her, stretched out on the hood of his
car, naked and moaning his name while he fucked her.

“We’ll get to your fantasies in a
minute. First, I want to do this.” She snagged her fingers in the belt loops of
his jeans and pulled him in close enough that her head was brushing his
stomach. When she dipped her head lower and brushed her mouth over the hard
ridge of his denim-clad cock, he nearly came in his jeans.

Tag braced one hand against the
doorframe and buried the fingers of his other hand into her hair. “Fuck, angel.
If you want to suck me off, all you had to do was say so.”

“You have such a charming way with
words,” she said, her voice burbling with barely restrained laughter. Before he
could come up with a retort, she had his dick out of his briefs and between her
lips. The moment her mouth closed around his shaft, his train of thought
derailed completely. He just hung on and reveled in the pleasure of her touch.

Roughened fingers pumped the base
of his cock, working in time to the swirl and swipe of her tongue as she took
the head of his cock deeper into her mouth a fraction of an inch at a time. She
took her time, savoring and exploring while he fought to stay still, but it was
a losing battle. Before long his hips were rocking gently, fucking her hot
mouth. She used the tip of her tongue to lap at his slit, swallowing down his
pre-cum with a moan that turned his blood to molten steel.

She opened her mouth wider, taking
more of him into that sinful heat. When the head of his cock touched the back
of her throat he threw back his head and groaned. “Just like that, angel. Fuck,
you have a wicked tongue. You’re going to turn me inside out if you keep that
up.”

A low hum was her only response,
and Tag felt his control unravel even further. She flattened her tongue,
pressing it to the sensitive underside of his cock as she started to bob her
head up and down. Her fingers wrapped around the base of his shaft, pumping him
with hard, firm strokes. His release uncoiled, like a spring wound too tight,
and his hips jerked as he exploded into her mouth.

Fingers and tongue worked his
length, holding his senses captive as she took everything he had to give.
Pleasure blended with the scents and sounds of the garage, gasoline and sex,
cold steel and the silken heat of her mouth.