CHAPTER31
LUCIA
Ifeel the heat of Jax’s gaze on my skin and it’s even fiercer than the flames of the fire a few feet in front of me. I glance sideways at him, not daring to look him full in the eye for fear of what I’ll see. Maybe I took the whole being his boss thing too far. I mean, I live to push his buttons, but sometimes I don’t know when to stop.
He picks up the two empty beer bottles beside him and then stands, wiping dust from his jeans. “I’m going to call it a night. Sleep tight, assholes,” he says in his low rumbly growl.
I look up at him and can’t determine how pissed he is at me because his face is unreadable. He turns and starts to walk away.
Shit! I did go too far. He’s going to bed without me. He takes two paces then says one word and it proves to everyone sitting around this campfire who is really in charge. “Lucia.”
I place my empty bottle into the trash can beside me and stand. “Night, guys.”
“Night,” they chorus. Cody flashes his eyebrows at me, as though he knows exactly how much trouble I am in.
My cheeks are already warm from the fire, but now they blaze with heat of an entirely different kind. I follow Jax as he remains two steps ahead of me. He stays silent and I do too, unsure what I can say that won’t make him any angrier than he already seems to be. He continues walking and I frown as we pass the house.
Where the hell are we going? I daren’t ask in case maybe he didn’t want me to follow. I want so much to be close to him, so I continue walking behind him in silence.
When we reach the small barn a few hundred yards from the house, he stops outside the door. He turns to look at me, his eyes narrowed. “You trust me, Lucia?” he growls.
“Yes,” I whisper, because I do, and he is one of the very few people in the world I can say that about.
He nods and then he opens the door and holds it wide. I take that as my cue to step inside. I look around the small space. It’s dark, illuminated only by the light of the full moon. It smells of wood and oil and I see the long workbench in the center of the room. Jax flicks on a small lamp and the room is filled with a soft amber glow. There is a tractor in here, an old Chevy with no hood on it, a Harley Davidson, and various vehicle parts.
“Is this your workshop?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper. I know that he likes to tinker with engines when he has some downtime, not that he ever has much.
He doesn’t reply. Instead he walks toward the bench and places the two empty bottles on it. I almost forgot he was carrying them and wonder why he didn’t toss them into the trash. But I don’t have time to unpick that thought as he crosses the small space between us. He wraps his hand gently around my throat and I gasp. I look up at him expectantly, licking my lips as I wait for him to kiss me, but he spins me around and walks me over to the bench. As we reach it he slides his hand to my back, pushing between my shoulder blades until I’m bent over the wooden table.
“Jax?” I whisper.
“If you’re going to act like a spoiled brat, Lucia, then you’re going to be treated like one,” he growls. My insides contract and goosebumps prickle along my forearms.
He picks up a length of rope and then reaches for my hands, pulling them over my head and securing my wrists to the wooden support beam the bench is pressed against.
I shiver in anticipation and a whisper of fear dances up my spine as he goes on working in silence. When he has tied me securely, his hands run over my back until they reach the waistband of my jeans. With deft fingers, he undoes my button and zipper and starts to pull them off over my hips, hooking his fingers into my panties and taking them along too. He pulls them to my knees and stops.
I suck in a breath as my bare ass is exposed to the cool air but warmth spreads through my center. Why does this feel so damn hot?
Jax rubs his hand over my ass cheeks before he draws it back and slaps me.
“Ouch!” I yelp, but is one of surprise rather than any real pain. I know how strong he is and he held almost everything back.
“Isn’t this what you want, Lucia?” he spanks me again and this time I moan.
“Isn’t this why you put on your little show for the guys?”
Smack.
“Testing me?”
Smack.
“Wondering how far you could push me?”
Smack. This time it’s harder and I yelp for real. “Yes,” I gasp, because that is the truth. I do want to see how far I can push him. Ever since he joked about putting me over his knee, this is what I’ve wanted from him. I have never explored this side of myself before, but I want to with Jax.
“Thought so,” he growls but he doesn’t spank me again. Not yet.