Chapter 14 Taji Sloane
TAJI SLOANE
Groggily, I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I quickly clamped them closed again. It was unbelievable how bright the world was. While most of my body was blissfully numb, I had a slight pain against my right shoulder along with a little bit of a headache.
“Baby?”
Baby?
Sighing, I held my breath to steady my firing thoughts until reality flooded in on me. I’d bought lingerie and was going home to prepare a surprise for—
Wait, the voice called me baby.
For a moment, all my mind was filled with was fog. It was as if clawing my way through a jungle covered in a shroud of grey.
Slowly, that fog cleared.
Yes, I was heading home to prepare for Mayson Calhoune—the one man who’d managed to restore my faith in the men of the world. He’d held me, soothed me, turned me into a perfect little slut with his hands and his mouth.
Then, instead of feeling shame, all I wanted to do was stay in his arms and do all the dirty little things over and over—
I couldn’t catch my breath due to the excitement.
He was the only man I wanted to show that side of me, the only man I wanted to give that part of me to.
Yes—I’m his baby.
That thought excited me causing the beeps around me to quicken but not enough to cause concern.
Exhaling slowly, I opened my eyes and looked up into his worried gaze. It broke my heart seeing that pain in him.
Desperately, I smiled at him, and he exhaled as if he hadn’t done so in years. While I wanted to touch his face, get him closer to me, feel his kiss, I couldn’t move my hands all that much. Frustrated, I looked down to see I had an IV in my arm and pain floated through me.
Trucker tenderly rained kisses against my forehead, between my eyes, the tip of my nose.
“Those beautiful eyes.” Trucker’s voice broke. “You have no idea how good it is to see those eyes.”
I couldn’t seem to form words.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” His whispered.
How can that be? I like you—a lot.
Trucker pressed his face into my neck, and I lifted one arm as best as I could.
The arm that wasn’t pulsing, I used it to hold the back of his head, keeping him against me.
“I’m still standing.” I managed. “More or less.”
Trucker sat back on the chair and drew it up so he could look into my face. He caressed my cheek gently, then held my hand.
“How are you feeling?” Trucker asked. “Your doctor said you declined the heavy stuff.”
I smiled at him.
“I’m in a little bit of pain.” I admitted. “But not so much that I need the heavy stuff. I’ll be fine—eventually.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“You’re doing it—you’re here.”
“There has to be something else.” Trucker smoothed a palm over my forehead.
“I’m okay. I promise.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” Trucker asked.
“Mayson. Don’t do that alpha thing where you try to protect me from everything.”
He hung his head.
“I went to stock up on a few things.” I began then coughed. “Water?”
“Sure.”
He quickly rushed from the room and returned with a cup filled with ice-cubes. After I sucked one gone, he fed me another.
“I picked up a new camera, laptop and—” I continued, then remembered what else I bought and flushed.
“And?”
“I was leaving the tech store and for some reason I was thinking about our time together.” I cleared my throat. “And I started thinking I didn’t have anything sexy to wear for you.”
I averted my eyes.
“You don’t really need anything sexy to wear.”
“Just…”
“I’m serious.” Trucker was insistent.
“I get it.” I offered him a smile.
Trucker nodded, but he still had that crease in the center of his forehead that stretched down between his eyes. He was still in protective lover mode, and I didn’t think he’d stand down until my story was finished.
“So, I stopped at a store to pick up a few things.” I confessed. “I was on my way back when someone in a red SUV rammed me from behind.”
I held his hand tighter, needing the strength from him.
“I thought it was an accident.” I continued. “Maybe they were following too close, on their phone or fiddling with their radio—but I soon figured it wasn’t that.”
I had flashbacks.
“Then they hit me a second time and I knew, it couldn’t be an accident.” He continued. “I tried getting them to go around but they just pulled up beside me and crashed into the side of my car. Oh my god, Trucker, they tried to kill me!”
I couldn’t breathe.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as the realization swam in on me, slamming into my soul like a tidal wave.
“They were trying to kill me!”
“Shh.” Trucker climbed into the bed beside me. “It’s okay and I got you. You’re safe—I promise.”
He drew me into the warmth of his body and held on to me. It was as if I was being folded into the world’s warmest blanket—a bullet proof blanket that kept me safe.
I tried desperately to ward off a panic attack as it coiled into my chest like a fist. It had been years since I suffered through one—and it wasn’t fun.
As it grew worse, I turned my face into his chest and resting my forehead against his chin.
Trucker’s arms tightened around me as much as they could and I ignored the slight pain it all caused and moaned.
We stayed that way until the doctor came in to check on me followed by a nurse with something for me to eat.
Frowning into the bowl I wasn’t sure what I was looking at.
“What is this?” I asked her.
“Oatmeal.” The nurse replied.
“Are you sure?” I used the spoon to scoop some up and let it fall back into the bowl. “It doesn’t look edible.”
She eyed me warily.
“Yeah—I’m not eating that.” I set the bowl of goop back on the roll away table.
“Baby, be nice.” Trucker told me.
I scrunched my nose at him while reaching for the smaller container of Jell-O.
“Trucker.” I called when we were alone again.
“Mm?”
“I’d kill for a burger.” I admitted.
“Soon.” He promised. “In the meantime, eat your goop.”
He handed me the bowl of oatmeal.
I pouted and lifted some to inspect. It didn’t look very appetizing.
Nope.
One day bled into another.
Between visits from the sheriff—which I was sure wouldn’t amount to anything—and Trucker’s cadets, I had someone with me all the time.
I knew what was happening and I wasn’t sure how to feel about all of it.
With someone trying to take me out, Trucker was exercising his Alpha.
I tried to not be irritated with it.
That was the kind of man my grandfather had been—always trying to protect the people he loved whether they liked it or not.
I also knew that come hell or high water, he was going to do what he had to, to make that happen—including having his friends over.
I knew he meant well.
He was worried.
He’d apologized for not protecting me.
The truth was, I didn’t blame him.
As much I’d like to think my man was Superman, Trucker wasn’t. He couldn’t be with me every second of every day.
He couldn’t be in two places at once.
Bad things were going to happen to me and there wasn’t anything he or anyone else in my life could do about most of them.
Another few days passed, and after the doctors checked me out, I was allowed to go home. Trucker showed up early and sat in the hall, waiting for the nurses to finish helping me dress.
When I looked up, he was standing at the door, shoulder against the frame and his arms across his chest.
How long had he been standing there?
“Hi.” I smiled.
“You’re standing.” Trucker’s voice was small. “On your own.”
I nodded while extending a hand to him.
Slowly, he walked over and accepted the hand to tug me in for a kiss.
It was chaste, and soft and I wanted more but I settled for it. Trucker picked up my bag and hefted it over one shoulder.
Taking one last look around, I reached for the teddy bear sitting on my pillows, took Trucker’s hand and allowed him to take me out of there.
As we drove through town, a few people flagged Trucker down to see how I was doing. They may not be my friends, but they were humans and were worried.
Eventually, he got me home and after convincing him I was strong enough to shower alone, I stripped in the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. Though the cuts and scrapes had pretty much healed, and my bruises were going away, I still looked pretty bad.
As time went by, Trucker still tried helping me with everything.
My chest still hurt from where the airbag crashed into me, but other than that and the broken finger, I was fine.
None of that stopped me from working.
It only slowed me down.
I couldn’t type as fast, but I could still get some things done.
Since I’d been in the hospital for a while, I had to quickly email my clients and explain to them why I’d been ghosting them.
Thankfully, most of them were understanding.
One client called me unprofessional as if I woke up one morning and decided to drive myself into a forest gully for shits and giggles.
Under Trucker’s care, I wasn’t allowed to work a full day and at about lunchtime, Andi brought me lunch and companionship.
To my surprise, his cadets had saved my new laptop and camera from the car wreck. They weren’t damaged as the back seat of the vehicle had been saved from the fall. Sitting between the boxes was the gold and black bag with the lingerie I’d purchased.
I quickly picked it up and hid it under my pillow in the bedroom. There was a strong possibility he’d seen what was in it.
Sighing, I stretched out on my bed for a few minutes then went to find him.
“Okay.” He was on the phone. “Send Kaos. Once he gets there, I’ll have backup waiting for him—no, I can’t leave Taji. She has enough on her plate trying to heal and I don’t want to do anything to get in the way of that.”
There was a pause.
“I know and I will tell her once she’s gotten some rest.” Trucker continued. “No—I can sleep when this is all over.”
Pause again.
“I can’t do that. And maybe it’s just me but you have to understand. I don’t trust anyone else with her right now.”
He stopped, lifted his face to the dying sun as his shoulders fell, heavily.
“I know,” he said. “Thanks for doing this, Zulu. I owe you.”
Trucker laughed.
“Yeah, yeah.” He grunted, dragging his free hand over his head. “The doctors gave her a once over before we left the hospital. They aren’t worried and that helps. But I can’t get myself—I can’t go very far from her side. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
He listened again.
“I promise. Talk soon.”
After he hung up, I cleared my throat behind him, and he turned to frown at me.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.” He told me. “Why are we wandering around?”
“I’ve spent the last few days in bed.” I pouted. “I would like to take a shower, and eat ice cream from the tub since I can’t work anymore today—maybe steal you for a movie?”
Trucker offered me a soft smile as he approached me to wrap his arms around my hips.
“Where are you sending Zoom’s husband?” I wanted to know.
“You heard that?” He frowned at me.
“You weren’t exactly quiet, or you suck at being secretive.” I arched a brow at him. “I heard you as I was coming down the hall. Now, don’t change the subject.”
“Lennox and I figured out who ran you off the road.”
“Really? Who?”
“Can I tell you when we’re sure?” I asked. “I don’t want to open that box if we’re wrong.”
I thought about it, then exhaled. “Under one condition.”
“Oh?”
“You take a shower with me and.” I pushed to my toes to whisper in his ear. “While we’re in the shower, you have to feel me up.”
Trucker laughed heartily as he scooped me into his arms and kissed me.
“I’ll take that deal any day!”
Giggling, I allowed him to take me into the bathroom.
While I wanted to take a bath, I knew the splint on my finger and how tired I get quite easily wouldn’t allow that. Instead, I allowed Trucker to wash me.
It turned me on having his large, work-roughened hands all over me.
As one of his hands slipped between my thighs, I moaned when a finger passed over my clit.
I licked at his neck, panting and moving his hand slightly to the right before pressing my hips down.
His long, thick finger slid deeper into me, and I sighed.
“You’re mine, Taji.” He whispered against my ear as I rode his finger. “And I dare anyone to say otherwise.”
There was something about hearing those words from him that pushed me over the edge.
Every part of my body trembled of because him. The orgasm left me weak and breathless as I tumbled forward against his chest.
“Are you okay with that?” Trucker asked, turning me to lean me to the wall. “Stick your ass out for me.”
“Okay with what?” I panted.
I couldn’t think straight.
“Being mine.”
“Yes.” I replied honestly.
“Good.”
Trucker filled me roughly from behind and I screamed for him.
“All yours.” I whispered repeatedly.
He pulled back and drove into me again.
I had no thoughts after that.
My body moved on its own, riding back against him, taking him deeper and deeper until another orgasm fired through me.
I rested my forehead to the wall and shamelessly stuck my ass out.
“More, Taji?”
“Always.”
This was the kind of love-making they wrote about. It was the kind that blew my mind and had me wanting him to come for me—repeatedly.
When he finally came, his spunk landed hot against my ass.
I licked my lips while looking over a shoulder to watch the way he trembled. I love knowing I was the cause of him losing himself like that, his pecs dancing under what I’d done to him.
He bathed me again and after I returned the favour, he carried me to the bedroom, dried our bodies and we tumbled onto the bed.
“Are you okay?” He wanted to know. “I lost control here—did I aggravate any wounds or—”
I pressed a finger to his lips to silence him, then kissed him.
“I’m fine.” I promised. “I might be a little bit sore tomorrow but nothing a little TLC can’t cure.”
“Tender loving care? I can do that.”
“No. Trucker loving care.” I corrected.
Trucker groaned.
I giggled, quite proud of my joke.
“I should spank you for that.” Trucker threatened, reaching down to tweak one of my nipples.
I moaned and rolled over to push at him with my ass.
“Bad girl!” Trucker tapped my ass.