This is my J&C adaptation of Susan Sizemore’s novel, "His Last Best Hope"

"Hernando!" Jax’s shout caused Chloe to startle. "Make ready to cast away!"

A short, swarthy, disreputable-looking man strolled up to Jax. "Just about everyone’s back on board the Isabella, Pantera," he reported. Despite Jax’s prediction, Chloe could feel the man’s gaze raking her body. She shivered a little, even in the tropical sun, and found herself edging closer to Jax.

Jax either failed to notice or chose not to comment on Chloe’s sudden loss of aversion to him. "Good. I want you to set a course that will put us in Montserrat by morning."

Hernando used a word in Spanish that Chloe guessed was probably not exactly used in polite conversation. "Montserrat? Why would you want to go there, Pantera? You know that Corinthos will be waiting there for you. Do you *enjoy* tempting Death?"

Another man came up behind Hernando and clapped him on the back with a lewd smile. "You have been out in the sun too long, Nando!! Have you forgotten our reward?" He winked at Jax and chewed on the stub of a cigar in his mouth. "A night with the talented ladies at Leanita’s – courtesy of El Pantera!!"

There were more obscene mutterings and laughs but then Chloe smothered her gasp as she felt Jax’s arm wind around her waist. "D*mn straight, Enrique!" He rolled his eyes as he glanced down at Chloe. "After we make the delivery to Cassidine, we get to enjoy some decent food, good wine….." Jax let his hand drift below Chloe’s waist in the back. "…..and soft places to rest our weary bodies!"

As Chloe felt Jax’s hand pass over her behind lightly, she squealed aloud and tried to pull away from him. There was a chorus of raucous laughter, and Jax managed to grab her left wrist with his right hand before she could escape his embrace. When he pulled her against his chest again, she was spitting and hissing like an angry cat. "You b*stard!" she screamed, trying to get away, much to the crew’s delight.

{Yep. You’re right. I’m a b*stard.} Jax silently cursed himself for his lusty behavior. {But you have to keep up the charade, Jax. You can’t blow your cover now. El Pantera WOULD behave like a b*stard and humiliate a woman like this. That’s why you have to get her to the Isabella. And to Padre Tomas, and out of your complicated life as soon as possible…..}

Jax tried to hold Chloe fast against him but she was struggling for all she was worth. Inadvertently, he caught her beneath the buttocks and pulled her against him to try to keep her from sending both of them sprawling on the deck. When her female softness pressed intimately against Jax’s manhood, his body reacted quickly to the fact that he hadn’t been with a woman in a long time.

Chloe’s eyes went wide and she gasped aloud again. As Jax realized what had happened, his hold on her loosened for a split second. Seizing the opportunity, Chloe pulled her right hand back and delivered a stinging slap to Jax’s cheek.

Silence fell on the deck as though a shot had been fired. Chloe could see the angry red imprint of her hand on Jax’s face. His chest heaved, either from the effort of the struggle or from anger at her rebellious reaction. She fully expected him to hit her back, or pull that lethal knife from his hip and slash her throat right there and then. His eyes reflected his stormy emotions, swirling with shades of blue, gray and green.

Jax froze for a few seconds as the crew waited for his reaction. {El Pantera would kill her. D*mn, why did she have to do that?} As Chloe waited for the sting of the blade on her neck, Jax finally made a move. With grace and swiftness characteristic of his feline namesake, he stepped back from Chloe, put his right shoulder to her waist, and flung her over in one smooth move. Her feet flailed in the air and she screamed even louder at the indignity of being carried like a sack of potatoes.

"Cast off, mates!" Jax shouted. He gave Chloe a loud slap on her wiggling behind for good measure, eliciting another scream from the victim and another loud round of cheers from his crew. Striding as quickly as he could considering Chloe’s agitation, Jax jumped up to the gangplank linking the Isabella to the Morgana. He ran across carrying his most precious cargo, followed by the few crew members that had remained on the boat.

Chloe was sputtering indignantly as Jax headed for the steps that lead below deck. Just as he was about to duck his head to descend to his quarters, she braced herself on his chest to try to look back over her shoulder at him. "Jax, what do you think you’re do……"

Fortunately, there was a loud noise as the connecting planks were hauled back aboard the Isabella. Jax cut off any further comment with another slap to Chloe’s posterior. "Silencio!" he growled. Fortunately, he didn’t have to repeat himself as Chloe dissolved into angry tears. He strode silently to his cabin, managed to shift her weight to open the door, and then went inside, kicking the door shut behind him.

He set Chloe back on her feet and locked the door in one swift motion. Before she could draw a breath to say anything, Jax had pulled her against him again and stared into her eyes with barely-contained rage. "Don’t EVER do that again!"

"What?" Chloe sniffled, trying in vain to push him away. "Try to keep you from pawing me in public?"

Jax tightened his embrace. "No! Don’t EVER call me by that name again in front of my crew!!"

Chloe’s lower lip started to quiver and Jax felt his insides turn to jelly with guilt. "But……but I thought you said I could…….I thought you said that right after I ch…..ch…changed my clothes……."

Jax felt like Chloe had punched him in the gut with a velvet glove. Those soft, innocent, dark brown eyes brimming with tears that HE had caused. How could she know the anguish that keeping his identity a secret caused him? He had frightened her to death, manhandled her (for her own protection, he argued), and then railed at her, when he was really contradicting himself.

The air slowly left Jax’s lungs and his eyes lost some of their fire. "I……uh…….I did," he admitted. He turned loose of her so abruptly that Chloe almost lost her balance. Jax turned away from her and grimaced at his own stupidity, then composed himself and turned back to face her bewilderment. "It’s just that most of the men in my crew are mercenaries. I’d like to think they’re loyal to me, but most of them would sell me out in a second for the right amount of dinero." Chloe frowned and Jax rubbed his fingers together. "Money." She raised her eyebrows in understanding. "As long as they only know me as Pantera, it somehow inspires their respect. I’d like to keep it that way."

Chloe nodded once and swallowed visibly. "I understand," she whispered.

"Good." Jax ran his hand through his hair. "Good," he repeated. He pointed towards a far door of the cabin. "There’s a head in there if you need……if you want……." Chloe was surprised when a blush was visible beneath his tan. "……well, there’s a head in there," he finished awkwardly. He glanced above him. "I’m going back up on deck to make sure we don’t run into Faison again before we get into Montserrat."

Chloe nodded again after looking back over her shoulder at the door to the head. "Thank you," she whispered again. She folded her arms self-consciously over her unsupported breasts.

A smile teased at the corners of Jax’s mouth. He turned to leave but then abruptly swung back towards Chloe and walked to where she stood. He didn’t touch her, but his chest rubbed against her arms, creating pleasurable sparks that traveled up her spine. "Anger can be a good thing when it’s properly channeled, Miss Morgan," he advised, looking deeply into her eyes. "I respect your hatred more than fear." He lifted a finger towards her cheek as if to touch it, but then stopped and lowered his hand back to his side. "Don’t wait up for me," Jax growled, and then spun on his heel and walked to the door.

Chloe didn’t move until the door slammed behind him. She heard the click as he locked her inside the cabin. Then, once she heard his footsteps echo down the corridor and up the steps to the deck, she finally allowed her feelings free reign. With an angry shriek, she took off a canvas shoe and threw it at the closed door. Her chest heaving, she waited, almost expecting Jax to come back and discipline her for her outburst. But then, the gravity of her situation and a feeling of being alone in the world overtook her, and she sank to the floor in uncontrollable sobbing.

*********************

The quiet hum of the Isabella’s motors was like music to Jax’s ears. As he stood with one foot propped on the rail of the deck, the setting sun cast a fiery glow over the Caribbean. He inhaled deeply, trying to sort things out in his mind – desperately trying to figure out how he was going to be able to spend the night with his beautiful captive and not give in to his natural urges.

"Beautiful night, eh, Pantera?" Hernando’s voice behind him caused Jax to jump ever so slightly. The gruff second-in-command took up a place at Jax’s side and mirrored his stance as he stared off into the distance. "The gods of the sea are with us – we should make Montserrat by daybreak."

Jax nodded and turned his face towards the hot breeze. His hair ruffled gently and he closed his eyes. "Good work, Nando," he muttered, taking another deep breath.

"It is like a second nature to you, is it not?" Jax opened his eyes to find Hernando staring at him with a serene smile. "The sea – the wind – it seems like you are one with it, no?"

Jax sighed and looked off towards the horizon. "It’s like it’s calling me sometime, you know?" He looked towards Nando and smiled, shaking his head at his own folly. "Sometimes, I wish I could just take the Isabella and sail as far as I could – just get away from everything. Just forget that the rest of the world exists. It would just be me, and the boat, and the water……"

{And sure as bloody h*ll not this case. You could have told Commander Donnelly "no." You didn’t have to take on this mission…….Naval Intelligence could have assigned someone else to bringing Cassidine down. It’s not like you’d lose your stripes……} As Jax continued to gaze thoughtfully at the line where the clouds met the water, he knew he was lying to himself. As soon as Frisco had been killed, Jax had sworn to finish the job and make sure his partner hadn’t died in vain. Jax had never known Lieutenant Jones to make mistakes, and in the end, it wasn’t a mistake that put a bullet in his temple.

{You can’t let yourself suffer the same weakness, Jax. You can’t allow her to see through your cover. If you let down your guard – let her see too much what JAX is like, and not what PANTERA is like – she’ll be your downfall, the same way that Frisco’s woman was to him.}

Hernando’s lecherous laugh brought Jax out of his contemplation. "Ehhhhh, Pantera, I think that if you sailed away tonight, it would not just be you and the water……not with the beautiful woman that waits in your cabin, no?" He thumped Jax heartily on the back as Jax was forced to keep up the charade as The Panther.

"Es verdad, Nando!" Jax chuckled lustily. He tossed out a few guttural comments in Spanish about Chloe’s physical attributes that caused Hernando to convulse in ribald laughter again.

"Then what are you still doing up on deck with an old seadog like me?" Hernando pushed Jax away from the rail and towards the steps. "Enjoy yourself, Pantera! You are entitled!!"

Hernando’s lewd speculation about how far Chloe could wrap her legs around his hips didn’t do much to relieve the ache that was gathering in Jax’s groin. As Jax descended towards the cabin and his un-planned captive, he shook his head. How would he ever manage to keep up the charade until they docked in Montserrat?

Jax made his way to the door of his cabin. When he reached it, he paused, sighed loudly, and then reached into his pocket for the key. Already his jeans were becoming uncomfortably tight, just at the thought of the attractive blonde spitfire who waited for him – and who was his to command for the night.

*********************

Chloe tensed when she heard Jax’s footsteps in the hallway. She had been expecting them for several hours, actually. Quickly she became familiar with other sets of footsteps and realized that they weren’t his. But as soon as she heard the confident, quick, heavy stride coming towards the door, she caught her breath and dove beneath the covers of the small bunk.

After she had nearly cried herself to exhaustion, Chloe had managed to pull herself together enough to realize she had to take care of herself. She rose from the floor and went to the head, ostensibly to splash some cold water on her eyes. But as soon as she saw the toilet, Mother Nature reminded her of basic needs. The facilities were clean and inviting, so Chloe performed a quick clean-up and afterwards had to admit to herself that she felt almost human again.

She came back out into the cabin and wandered around for a while, but Pantera obviously was a man of simple tastes. No books, no tapes, no CD’s – {Geez, what do smugglers and gun runners do in their spare time?} She went over to the porthole and looked out, briefly considering whether or not she could squeeze through and jump into the Caribbean. But soon, the gentle rocking motion of the boat, the warm, humid atmosphere inside the cabin, and the emotional strain of the day robbed her of energy. She went over to the bunk that was attached to a wall and sat down gingerly, then stretched out full length.

{Well, Chloe, Ned certainly couldn’t accuse you of being "dull" if he saw you now!! I wish I could send him a postcard – "Sorry I haven’t had time to write before this, darling, but my BORING life was keeping me too busy, being nearly killed and then kidnapped by smugglers. It’s a shame you and the exciting Alexis didn’t come along with me. You could have met the charming pig who locked me in his cabin. Sorry I can’t write more, but he’s due back at any minute to rape me……..Miss you……"}

Chloe sighed and tried to put Ned’s annoying face out of her mind. But when she rolled over, she couldn’t help but notice that the blankets smelled like Jax. Even though she had only known the man for less than 12 hours, his distinctive masculine scent permeated the bedding, teasing at her senses. Her eyelids drooped and she almost nodded off several times, but then jerked rudely awake as soon as she heard footsteps in the hallway.

She must have dozed off because when she heard Jax’s footfalls stop in front of the door, the cabin was dark. The sun had set, and long shadows added to the cabin’s eerie stillness. When she heard the click of the key in the lock, Chloe began to breathe faster. {You should have been happier when you were alone. Now he’s back, and he’s going to do God knows what to you…..but maybe……}

Remembering one of her favorite fairy tales, Chloe did what the best blonde heroines did when found in the Big Bad Bear’s bed – she pretended to be asleep.

*********************

Jax’s eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness of the cabin – a trick he had learned early in his training in Naval Intelligence. He frowned briefly but then smiled when he made out Chloe’s huddled form in his bed.

{No wonder she’s tired – the poor thing’s been through a long day. To lose her family like that, and then think that she was probably next…….} Jax bit his cheek and swore at himself. {That’s not what Pantera would think, Jax……you’ve got to stop feeling sorry for her……and that’s not what the crew thinks Pantera would be doing with her, either……}

Moving with the quiet stealth of his namesake, Jax went to the desk and removed his shoulder holster. He stretched his arms and rubbed his hair briskly, but then just as his hands went to his belt to remove his knife and scabbard, he saw it and froze. In the bed. In the dark. One brown eye. Open, and watching him.

{Bloody h*ll!! She’s awake, the little sneak!! And she’s watching me!}

As Jax watched, the eye snapped shut quickly. He grinned silently, and then watched as it fluttered and then opened just a crack. {Well, if the lady wants a show, the lady’ll get a show!!} Moving with deliberate slowness for the benefit of his audience, Jax first slipped out of his shoes. Normally, the simple task would have been accomplished without a sound. But just to make sure Chloe knew exactly what he was doing, Jax fumbled a little with the second worn canvas shoe. When his hand went to the top of his zipper, Jax swore he saw Chloe shudder a little beneath the covers and he had to stifle his snicker.

The sound of the zipper being lowered echoed from every corner of the room. Another chuckle threatened to explode from Jax’s chest as he saw Chloe’s eyes scrunch shut even tighter. He pushed the worn denim down over his hips, sliding it with agonizing indolence past his thighs. {D*mn! If I would have known I was this good at it, I could have gotten a job at Leanita’s stripping!} The jeans hit the floor with a resounding "swish" and Jax stepped out of them into a small pool of moonlight that shone through the porthole. He waited deliberately until he saw Chloe’s one eye open again and then, remaining where he knew the lighting would be most effective, he turned his back on his captive and bent over to retrieve his discarded trousers.

{Oh my God! Surely he’s not going to …….I mean, he’s going to put something on……or he’s going to sleep on the floor…….he wouldn’t just sleep like that – in the same bed – with…..}

Chloe’s worries were interrupted when Jax turned back to face her again and she resumed her "sleeping" pose. Finally putting some of his training to use, he stepped back into the shadows and donned a pair of navy silk boxers with lightning speed. Making sure that his bare feet slapped against the wooden floor of the cabin, Jax walked slowly towards the bunk.

Chloe almost screamed when she felt the bunk bow with Jax’s weight. {But he thinks I’m asleep. And if he didn’t try something before this, maybe he just is going to let me sle……}

Her hopes were dashed when El Pantera staked his claim. With a move that sent the wind flying from her lungs, Jax rolled over and pulled Chloe beneath him. Her hands came up defensively but Jax quickly grabbed them at the wrist and pinned them on the pillow on either side of her head. As he settled comfortably between her spread legs, Jax gave her a sarcastic grin. "Awwww……did I wake you?"

"You’re…….you’re…….a filthy, disgusting animal!" Chloe sputtered, struggling to free her hands. The wriggling movements of her legs only inflamed Jax’s desire and when she felt his body’s reaction, she froze, her eyes going wide.

Jax had to consciously fight the feelings that were churning inside. How good it felt to have her cradle him intimately; how much he wanted to let go of her wrists and bury his hands in her hair; how shocked and uncomfortable she looked at having a man nestled against her. A faint noise from above them reminded him of his priorities – to keep up the charade as El Pantera, and to get Chloe Morgan to Padre Tomas as quickly as possible.

She was still breathing hard, fearing what his next move would be, when Jax lowered his head to the crook of her neck and whispered in her ear. "Scream."

Chloe froze. She frowned and tried to look into Jax’s face. "What did you just say?"

He raised his head and azure eyes locked with hazel ones. One hand slid from her wrist to her neck and then down towards her chest. "I said, SCREAM!!"

When his fingers slipped beneath the tank top and stroked the first swell of Chloe’s breast, an ear-splitting shriek bounced off the walls of the cabin. Jax smiled, and when his hand started to move even further beneath her shirt, she obliged him with another screech.

Lightning-quick, the hand shot out of her shirt and clamped over her mouth. Jax pursed his lips, making a motion for her to be silent, and raised his eyes to look up towards the ceiling. After a few seconds of silence, the sound of footsteps and low hum of conversations could be heard again. Jax looked back down at her. "Now that we’ve satisfied their curiosity, we can all get some rest."

Before she could even blink her eyes again, Jax rolled off Chloe to her right. He pinned her to the bunk by swinging a lean, muscled leg over her legs. His left arm snaked beneath her shoulders and pulled her against him, forcing her head to rest on his chest. With a contented purr, he settled his head onto the pillow, his chin brushing the top of her head, and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Only a valiant effort kept the smile from Jax’s face. "What the…..what do you think…….you can’t……" she sputtered, pushing ineffectually at Jax’s chest, trying for the leverage to push herself back to her side of the bunk.

He opened one eye to stare into her beautiful confused ones. "My boat. My bed. I’m tired." Jax closed his eye again but then it popped open at her snort of indignation. "And do try to control your more carnal instincts for the night, Miss Morgan," he drawled. "It’s been a long day and I’ve got half a headache."

After a pause of a few seconds, Chloe hissed, "Aren’t you afraid that you’ll fall asleep and I’ll get away?" He finally loosened his grip enough that she could look up at him. "That I’ll crawl over you and go get your gun and shoot you in your sleep?"

Jax shook his head. "You forget that we cats are very light sleepers by nature, Miss Morgan." Then his right hand disappeared beneath the bunk for just a second, only to re-appear holding the scabbard and knife. "And besides – Boy Scout training never leaves a man. I’m always…….prepared."

She flopped back down on Jax’s chest with a growl. There was a few minutes of silence, but then Jax heard her muttering again in the dark. "I can’t sleep like this."

Jax rose above her, his bare chest glistening with perspiration in the humid tropical moonlight. "I thought you were sleeping so *soundly* when I came into the cabin before," he accused with a smile. Chloe’s eyes widened with guilt. "But," he continued with a lazy drawl, dragging the fingers of his right hand across her bare chest, "if you’re *really* not tired, I can think of a few ways to work up some satisfied exhaustion……"

Chloe settled back into the crook of Jax’s arm and closed her eyes. "I’m tired. Sleepy. See? This is me – sleepy."

She felt the vibrations of the chuckle that rumbled in Jax’s chest. "I thought so." He lay back down and pulled her against him again and in a few minutes, she felt the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest that signaled a deep sleep. Chloe bit her lower lip with indecision, but then shifted ever so slightly to gaze up into the face of her captor.

His blonde eyelashes formed a delicate fringe above his cheekbones. Chloe almost found herself regretting that he was asleep. {You can’t see those amazing eyes when he’s asleep. How can they be such a contradiction? Bedroom eyes – that make you think of slowly revolving ceiling fans, a candlelit room with gauzy white curtains, and cotton sheets soaked with perspiration. Yet the eyes of a killer. And those dimples – how can he have such an engaging smile, and yet swing that knife like it was just an extension of his arm?}

The gentle rocking of the boat and the warm darkness in the cabin soon took their toll on Chloe. She fell asleep with her head tilted toward Jax’s, her breath gently caressing his chest, her right hand resting on his shoulder.

*********************

"You’ve got to stop! I can’t ……. You’re going too fast!!"

Chloe struggled to draw a breath as Jax pulled her along the streets of the one main town on Montserrat. She had been rudely awakened that morning when Jax delivered a resounding slap to her backside. Somehow, he had managed to slip out of bed without waking her. When her eyes flew open, he was standing next to the door of the cabin, already wearing his jeans and a light blue chambray shirt. The shirt was left unbuttoned, either in deference to the tropical heat or so that Jax could have ready access to the shoulder holster that he wore again.

"Good morning, Miss Morgan," he had drawled with a lewd smile. One of his crew stood in the doorway and gave her a look that made her skin crawl. Jax walked slowly back over to the bunk as Chloe pulled the sheet higher up to cover her breasts. He leaned down and brushed his lips gently across hers, sliding a hand up her body. To Hernando, it appeared that they had become lovers during the night.

Jax leaned in close to her and growled into her ear, "Unless you wish to allow Hernando a turn in my bed tonight, you’ll play along." Then he drew back and raised an eyebrow at her in question. She nodded so slightly that only Jax was able to receive her answer. "We’ve docked in Montserrat," he announced to her loudly. "Be ready in five minutes."

Chloe inhaled to ask him what she should be ready for but before she could, Jax brushed her lips again and quickly strode to the door. He slammed and locked it behind him, leaving her still staring open-mouthed and trembling. She was going to try to sort out her feelings, but then, remembering his threat about the greasy little dark man, Chloe jumped out of the bunk and went to the head to answer nature’s call.

It was a good thing she did as she was ordered. Five minutes later, Jax appeared in the doorway again and ordered her to come with him. He pulled her up on deck to the jeering whistles and catcalls from the crew. Ignoring their comments, Jax kept an iron grip on her wrist and led her down the gangplank and onto solid land for the first time in four days. He never noticed the two dark, short men whose eyes brightened at the sight of the tall blonde gunrunner.

Chloe quickly decided that when God made Montserrat, He created it as a home for mountain goats and not humans. It was almost entirely hills, and it seemed that Jax picked all of the steepest ones to travel that morning. She squinted against the bright morning sun and was soon drenched in perspiration from her efforts to keep up with Jax’s quick pace.

"Are you going to tell me where we’re going? Or are you just going to drag me along with you?" Chloe’s questions were met with silence. Her temper started to rise despite her fear of this confusing tender/ruthless man who refused to let her go.

Meanwhile, Jax was trying to focus his energy – to keep his eye on the goal, as he had been so diligently trained in Naval Intelligence. His goal on this day was St. Isabel’s Mission and Padre Tomas, but a fierce tropical storm that had blown through Montserrat days earlier was making achieving it difficult. Tree limbs dotted the narrow streets, and it appeared that power was off on most of the island. No doubt, Stefan Cassidine’s resort on the far side of the island was running on power provided by his private generator. By that afternoon when Jax delivered the contraband shipment being unloaded from the Isabella, he could be enjoying air conditioning and a cold beer. But now, he had to maneuver around scattered palm fronds while pulling almost 100 pounds of angry, inquisitive female.

Chloe tried to dig in her heels but to no avail. Jax just yanked that much harder on her wrist. "Could we at least stop so I can catch my breath? I’m going to have a heart attack here!!" No response. Chloe snorted indignantly. "I’m beginning to feel like one of those baby toys – one of those little ducks that have the feet that slap on the ground while the baby pulls it behind him……"

Jax finally halted and whirled around to face Chloe. "At least the bloody toy duck doesn’t keep asking questions!" He yanked her against his chest and she felt his breath on her damp forehead. "I thought we had that straight – no questions, just follow my orders!!"

Chloe refused to be intimidated. "I have a right to know where you’re taking me!"

"Didn’t you ever hear what happened to that feline relative of mine when it was too curious?" Jax suddenly spied the two dark men watching him and Chloe. He almost knocked the wind out of her when he abruptly pushed her against the brick wall in the narrow alley adjacent to the street where they had been standing. "Don’t make a sound," he hissed in her ear, lowering his head to trail his lips down the side of her neck.

"What……what are you……" Chloe’s words came out on a strangled breath. Her eyes drifted shut as the most marvelous electric thrill raced through her body at the touch of Jax’s lips on her skin. It was her turn to fight to remain focused. "Why……"

Jax didn’t leave as much as a hair’s breadth between their bodies, placing his hands flat on the brick wall on either side of her shoulders to support his weight. When he looked into her eyes, Chloe inhaled sharply at the swirling emotions she saw. "Didn’t I tell you not to ask so many questions, Miss Morgan?" he whispered huskily, lowering his face to tease the side of her lips with his tongue. He nuzzled the side of her neck again. "We’re being watched. Cassidine’s men are everywhere."

Chloe clutched fistfuls of Jax’s shirt into her flailing hands. "Oh…….watched," she mumbled as she seemed to lose the power to stand upright. When Jax slid one of his hands down the wall and then up her back under her shirt, she arched helplessly against him. It seemed like her skin was on fire everywhere his fingers touched. He finally drew back and she opened her eyes to stare into his. "That’s good, that you only did that because we were being watched, because you almost……well, you looked like you …….like you wanted to kiss me……."

Jax pressed his hips against hers, causing Chloe to gasp aloud. "And YOU looked like you wanted me to do a h*ll of a lot more than that, Miss Morgan," he rasped.

Chloe spine stiffened with rage and indignation when they both heard it. There were some muffled screams, and then high-pitched whining and hissing noises. When a chunk of plaster seemed to explode from the wall above Chloe’s head, she turned ghostly pale and stared at Jax. "What was that?"

He only hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Bullets," he muttered, and then grasped her hand tightly. Pulling her behind him, they ran down the alley in a hail of gunfire.

To be continued…….