Chapter Four
“Good catch, Nick,” Axel praised as Nick gathered Jenna in his arms and Axel caught the gun, the cold metal biting into his palm.
“Hey, I'm young and fast, old man,” Nick chuckled.
“Put her on the couch,” Axel instructed. He was way too concerned about Jenna passing out than to pay attention to Nick’s joke.
“Never had a woman faint on me before,” Nick said after he gently lay Jenna on the couch.
Axel shot him a sharp look, unable to find the humor in any of this. His stomach dropped, a cold dread settling in his bones at her deathly pale face.
He quickly assessed her.
Her hair was damp, clinging to her neck and shoulders, and she wore nothing, but a large towel wrapped tightly around her body.
The sight of her, vulnerable, half-dressed, unaware, hit him like a punch. They shouldn’t have come in like this. Not like this.
He realized she must have just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t heard them knock or heard them enter. They’d used the spare house key Cyn had given them before she’d hurriedly driven off in her car.
Axel figured Cyn hadn’t wanted a confrontation with Jenna as per the prison conversation about Jenna possibly firing her when she found out what Cyn had done in getting them released and bringing them here.
He wanted to reach out and touch Jenna. To make sure she was real, but Nick beat him to it.
“She is out cold, and she feels really warm,” Nick commented as he lay a hand on her forehead.
“I’ll get some wet washcloths.” Axel said.
A sense of urgency had him rushing down the hallway. He passed one bedroom, then two others, and finally located the bathroom near the end of the hall.
Light blue washcloths and matching towels were folded on a shelf.
Blue. Her favorite colour. The memory slid in uninvited, softening him in a way he didn’t have time for.
He grabbed one of each. Drenched the towel and the face cloth in cold water, squeezed out the excess, then rushed back to find Nick fanning a newspaper close to her face. She was still out cold.
The sight of her still motionless made his throat tighten. He put a chilly cloth over her forehead and wrapped her wrists into the wet towel.
He stared at her chest. It moved up and down slowly. Okay she was breathing at a normal rate.
But why wasn't she waking up?
“So, this is the famous Jenna. She’s really pretty. Her pictures didn’t do her justice, man,” Nick said in a cool, controlled voice.
Why wasn’t Nick worried? Maybe Axel was overreacting?
Hell, he’d never seen Jenna faint before. She’d always been tough as nails. They must have really scared her.
“Yeah, this is Jenna,” Axel whispered.
She looked the same. Yet different. Her hair was a bit shorter now and dyed a striking red instead of its familiar auburn shade.
His fingers twitched with the urge to trace the curve of her cheek, to relearn her by touch.
Her perfectly shaped nose was the same and he remembered how he’d sometimes kiss the tip of it during foreplay.
Her sweet mouth was in a pout, but oh those luscious dewy lips had him wanting to kiss her awake like he was the prince, and she was his Sleeping Beauty.
He noticed the freckles scattered across her shoulders, a detail he’d somehow forgotten. How could such a thing as her freckles have slipped away from him? He’d always loved those freckles.
Her face was a bit plumper, and she was even more attractive than he remembered.
Regret gnawed its way through him like a slithering snake.
After he’d been incarcerated she had tried to visit him in prison on numerous occasions, but he’d refused to see her.
He’d written her a scathing letter telling her he didn't love her anymore.
That she had to go on with her life because he was out of the picture. Permanently.
Now as he gazed at her, his heart brutally clenched with pain at being so cruel to her. The guilt was pushed aside by the same love he’d always felt for her.
“She's waking up,” Nick’s deep voice destroyed his thoughts, and he watched Jenna’s long eyelashes flutter as she struggled to open her eyes.
Axel’s pulse spiked. Panic surged. It was raw, instinctive, impossible to ignore.
An overwhelming rush of wanting Nick and himself to get out of here before she fully awoke snapped through him.
They could leave. Go back to prison. She would just think she’d had some crazy hallucination.
He sure didn’t want to bring her any more heartbreak.
Too late.
Her blue eyes were open wide now as she looked at him, her gaze filled with the same pain she’d shown years ago when he’d confessed to her that he had lost control and killed someone. The moment her gaze locked onto his, the years between them collapsed, and so did every defense he’d built.
Jenna stared at Axel trying to figure out if she was still dreaming. Her head felt thick, as if she were surfacing from deep water and the room tilted in slow, disorienting waves.
“Are you really here?” she heard herself mutter.
Her voice sounded as shaky as she felt. At the same time she reached out a trembling hand, fully expecting it to go through him, and she gasped with surprise as she touched his belly.
The heat of him jolted through her like a live wire, too real, too familiar.
Hard, hot muscles rippled beneath her fingertips through the thin shirt he wore.
“Yeah, it's me. In the flesh.”
Oh my gosh, his voice. It wrapped around her like a memory she’d spent years trying to bury and she fell in love with him all over again.
Concern flooded his face. Concern and a tightness around his mouth that he didn't have before.
“Did you escape?” she asked numbly.
Her stomach clenched, dread and hope tangling in a way that made her breath hitch.
Would she be able to turn him in? No, she would never trust the system again where he was concerned.
From what he’d confessed to her about beating up the men who’d crippled his father; she’d figured he’d get voluntary manslaughter at best for what he’d done. Instead, they’d thrown the book at him.
“No, ma'am. We are here because Cyn got us out using your Cowboys Online program. Said she had connections and you needed help, so she fast tracked us through the system,” the other man said.
Cowboys Online? Jenna’s senses swirled.
There were just too many reasons why this was all wrong.
Conflict of interest was one of the issues.
She’d already gone through rough audits and severe questioning by the government for placing female convicts with her two brothers, even though she had stepped aside during those times allowing Cyn to handle those placements.
What the hell had Cyn been thinking bringing these two men here?
She had gone through the audits and questioning right along with Jenna.
There had been warnings that Cowboys Online could be shut down if this happened again. Cyn knew better than this.
“Where is she?” Jenna asked as she made a move to sit up.
The stranger stopped her. His strong hands wrapped around her upper arms, holding her still. His grip was firm but careful, and the unexpected gentleness steadied her. When she stopped moving, he lifted his hands away.
“Just lie there a little longer. It’s best to make sure you aren’t lightheaded,” the man instructed.
She noted the cool, wet cloth on her forehead. The refreshing damp towel wrapped around her wrists. A flush crawled up her neck, mortification prickling across her skin that she was dressed only in a towel in front of a complete stranger.
“How long have I been out?” she asked them, suddenly feeling worried for her baby.
Had she fallen to the floor? Had she hurt the baby?
Where was Cyn?
She would give that woman a piece of her mind and then she would fire her.
“You've been unconscious a few minutes. You fainted,” the stranger replied.
Her head ached and a touch of nausea zipped along her tummy. Morning sickness.
Oh crap. Being sick was not what she needed.
She stared at Axel again and inhaled at the awesome tightening of her vagina. Why was she still so attracted to him? And there was so much concern and other emotions she couldn't put a name to flooding his features.
“Where is Cyn?” she asked Axel. This was just too much to handle. She needed details. They might not even be able to stay here. Her tummy hollowed out in horror at the thought of losing Axel when he’d just gotten here.
“She dropped us off. Said she had business to attend to and that these would be our babysitters,” Axel said as he lifted his leg and then his left pant leg. She spied an ankle monitor.
“We've got an allowance of a twenty mile radius before it goes off. Something to do with helping you here and at Sam's place.”
Jenna frowned. How did Cyn know about Sam? She hadn’t told anyone that she was caring for his place too.
Or maybe she’d put Axel and Nick under Sam’s name in the program? That might work.
She made a move to unwrap the towel from her wrists. This time neither man stopped her as she sat up.
There was a hint of dizziness and then it thankfully passed.
“I need to get over to Sam's place and take care of his animals. Oh, damn.”
Suddenly her vision blurred and the room tilted as her stomach lurched violently.
“Jenna? You look sick,” Axel growled.
Before she could so much as nod, a plastic wastebasket was thrust beneath her chin.
Embarrassment rocked her as she puked. A gentle hand patted her upper back and instinctively she knew it was Axel trying to comfort her. The warmth of his hand through the towel made her throat tighten with something far more complicated than embarrassment.
How in the world could she tell him that she was pregnant?
Her nausea went away after she puked. Just as quick as it came. Concern for her baby was beginning to mount.
“Did I hit the ground hard?” she asked as she grabbed the facecloth and used it to clean around her quivering lips.
She didn't feel any aches or pains, but that didn’t mean anything.