Chapter 75 - 0075: Say You Don’t Want This

Chapter 75: Chapter 0075: Say You Don’t Want This

Elena’s Point Of View

"I don’t belong to you," I spat, my voice shaking with a dangerous mix of defiance and lingering heat. "Stop being delusional, Jaxx. You’re a pervert."

Jaxx didn’t lose his temper. He didn’t even blink. Instead, a slow, wicked curve of his lips formed, a smirk that made my stomach drop into a freefall. He lazily snapped the latches on the medical kit closed, the metallic click echoing in the heavy silence between us.

For a moment neither of us moved, the tension stretching taut like a wire about to snap, and I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see which one of us would break first.

Then, before I could step back, he leaned in fast. His hand cupped the back of my neck, holding me still while his dark eyes locked onto mine, pinning me in place more effectively than any physical restraint could.

He tilted his head, caught my bottom lip between his teeth, and bit down... just hard enough to spark a sharp gasp from my throat, before tugging gently and letting it slip free with a soft, maddening pop. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out every rational thought that might have told me to pull away, and for one humiliating second, I leaned into him instead of away.

"We’ll see about that, Bambina," he murmured against my swollen lips.

He picked up the kit and turned on his heel, strolling out of the room like he hadn’t just completely shattered my composure. The door hadn’t even clicked shut behind him before I pressed my fingers to my mouth, as if I could hold in whatever traitorous feeling had just clawed its way to the surface.

I collapsed back against the velvet cushions of the couch, pressing a trembling palm over my ribcage. My heart thumped so violently against my chest wall that I could feel it in my teeth. Am I about to have a heart attack? I thought frantically, staring at the empty doorway. He’s so infuriating. He’s actually going to give me a cardiac arrest.

I pressed my fingers to my lips again, half expecting them to be burned, and hated myself a little for how much I wanted to feel that again. It scared me, this pull toward a man who so clearly delighted in unraveling me thread by thread.

A few minutes later, heavy footsteps announced his return. He threw a folded piece of dark charcoal fabric into my lap. It was a massive, high-end cotton button-down shirt, the fabric soft and heavy in a way that spoke of quiet, obscene wealth... the kind of fabric that had never known a discount rack.

"Put it on," he instructed, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, his dark gaze tracing the way I clutched the towel to my chest. "I bought it for you."

I blinked, looking from the oversized shirt up to his unbothered expression, searching for some crack in that infuriating calm. I found none. "What about my clothes? My dress?"

"Your dress was ruined, Elena," Jaxx said smoothly, taking a step into the room. "Torn, covered in mud and glass from the wreck. I trashed it."

"You trashed my dress?" The indignation in my voice sounded almost comical even to my own ears, but it was easier to focus on the dress than on the way my body still hummed from his touch, easier to be angry about fabric than about the ache he’d left behind on my lip.

"It was beyond saving," he replied without a shred of remorse. "The rest of the clothes I bought for you are downstairs in the car. You’ll change into a proper outfit once we leave."

"I don’t want your charity, Jaxx."

"It’s not charity, it’s basic decency," he shot back, a teasing edge creeping into his low voice. "Unless you prefer walking through the city draped in my bath towel? Because as much as I enjoy the view, I doubt you want the rest of the world seeing what’s mine."

"I am not yours," I snapped, though my face burned crimson, betraying the very thing I was trying to deny.

"Put the shirt on, Elena. I’ll give you two minutes."

He turned his back, stepping out into the hallway and pulling the door shut behind him to give me privacy. Only then did I let myself breathe again, the air rushing out of me in a shudder I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

I let out a ragged breath, uncurling my fingers from the black terrycloth. My body was still humming, my nerves frayed and hyper-sensitive from his touch. Quickly, trembling slightly, I pulled the massive cotton shirt over my head and buttoned it up. It swam on me... the hem hit past my knees, and the sleeves completely swallowed my hands, carrying the rich, woodsy aroma of his cologne and warm cedar.

Something about wearing his scent against my skin felt more intimate than the bite still throbbing on my lip, and I hated how much I didn’t mind it. I caught my reflection in the dark window glass, barely recognizing the flushed, wide-eyed woman staring back at me.

I rolled the sleeves up past my wrists, took a deep breath to steady my skittering pulse, and called out, "I’m done."

The door swung open instantly, as though he’d been standing just on the other side, waiting. Jaxx stood there, his dark eyes sweeping over me in the oversized shirt, lingering a beat too long at the collar, the hem, the bare skin of my knees. Something possessive flared in his gaze, but he masked it quickly, tucking it away behind that maddening composure of his. For just a heartbeat, though, I thought I saw something rawer underneath ... something almost like relief.

"I’m taking you home, Elena," he said, his voice quiet, almost grounded, stripped of its usual mocking edge.

Relief washed over me so hard my knees felt weak. "Okay. Thank you."

I was genuinely thankful. I didn’t know if I could survive remaining in this suffocating, electric environment with him for another hour without completely losing my mind... or my control. Every second in his presence felt like standing too close to a fire, warm and dangerous all at once, and I was tired of not knowing whether I wanted to step closer or run.

"Your purse and phone are already in the car," he added, gesturing for me to move. "Let’s go."

He led the way down the grand mahogany staircase, his tall frame cutting a sharp silhouette through the dimly lit mansion. I trailed a pace behind him, watching the broad expanse of his shoulders, fighting the ridiculous urge to reach out and touch him again, to test whether the warmth radiating from him was real or something I’d conjured out of sheer, exhausted desperation. The mansion around us felt like a held breath, all shadow and silence, as if it too were waiting to see what I would do.

We reached the subterranean garage, where a sleek, matte-black SUV waited under the ambient LED strips, its surface gleaming like something out of a dream I hadn’t asked for.

Jaxx opened the passenger side door for me, his large hand resting on the frame right above my head as I climbed in, close enough that I caught his scent again, cedar and something darker underneath, something that made my thoughts scatter before I could gather them.

Once he slid into the driver’s seat, the engine roared to life with a deep, guttural purr. He pulled out of the estate garage and onto the rain-slicked highway, the dark landscape blurring past outside the tinted glass, streetlights smearing into gold streaks against the black. I watched his hands on the wheel, steady and sure, and wondered how someone so controlled could make me feel so completely unmoored.

After ten minutes of heavy, lingering silence, I frowned, looking out the window at the unfamiliar exits, a fresh wave of unease creeping through my chest.

"You don’t even know where I live," I said, turning my head to glare at his side profile.

A slow, devastating smirk spread across Jaxx’s face. He didn’t take his eyes off the road, his large hands gripping the leather steering wheel with effortless control, as though nothing in the world could shake him.

"I know more about you than you’d ever believe, Bambina," he said smoothly.

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry, unease and something else entirely twisting together in my stomach. The certainty in his voice unsettled me more than any threat could have. I muttered under my breath, "Creep."

Jaxx chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that vibrated right through the leather seat and straight into my spine. "Call it whatever you want, sweetheart. It keeps you safe."

As he drove, the rain hit the windshield in heavy, rhythmic sheets, turning the world outside the leather-bound cabin into a blurred haze of city lights. The hum of the engine cut out, leaving a thick, suffocating silence in its wake... the kind that vibrated straight through the floorboards and set every nerve under my skin on edge.

I stared at the smeared reflections sliding down the glass, wishing I could focus on anything other than the man beside me. My mind kept circling back to how I’d gotten here, to the string of choices that had led me into this car, into this storm, into him.

I shifted in the passenger seat, my thighs brushing together under my damp skirt. The sudden, hot slickness between my legs had nothing to do with the storm outside anymore. It was all him. The heavy scent of rain, expensive cedarwood cologne, and raw leather filled the tight space, suffocating and intoxicating all at once.

I kept my eyes locked on the glove compartment, desperately trying to ignore the heat radiating from his side of the car, trying to ignore the sheer size of him occupying the driver’s seat. Every inch of him seemed to demand attention, a gravity I couldn’t outrun no matter how hard I tried.

Even the way he held the wheel... loose, confident, utterly unbothered by the chaos outside, felt like a quiet demonstration of control, one more reminder of how effortlessly he commanded every space he entered.

"I shouldn’t be here," I whispered, the words barely carrying over the faint pitter-patter on the roof. "This is a mistake, Jaxx. A massive one."

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he let the silence stretch, as though he wanted me to hear my own doubt echo back at me. The quiet pressed against my chest, heavier than any argument he could have made. He reached over, his heavy fingers brushing against my knee before gripping the gear shift to set the car in park.

The light glance of his knuckles made my breath catch in my throat, and I hated how easily he could unravel me with the smallest touch, how a single point of contact could undo hours of careful resolve.

"But you are, Elena," he murmured, his voice a low, gravelly hum that vibrated deep in his chest.

He reached into the back seat and pulled up a thick, plush coat along with a folded set of dry clothes, the fabric still holding a faint trace of cedar and clean linen. "Put these on. You’re shivering, and I want you warm."

"I can manage," I lied, my jaw tight, though the tremor in my hands betrayed me. The cold had settled deep into my bones, but it was nothing compared to the heat he stirred just by existing beside me.

"Wear the clothes, Bambina," he said, his tone softening just enough to feel dangerous, a velvet order wrapped in absolute authority. "Change. I won’t look."

I didn’t move. The cabin felt entirely too small, every breath of air stolen by the sheer weight of his presence. Even as he stared straight out into the dark, rain-streaked alley, I could feel the invisible drag of his attention heavy on my skin, as though he could see through me without even trying. My pulse thudded in my ears, loud enough that I wondered if he could hear it too.

"Unless you want me to look," he added, a slow, wicked tilt touching the corner of his lips.

I huffed a breath, attempting a glare that completely lacked teeth. "Turn around."

He chuckled... a deep, chest-rumbling sound, and turned his torso away, staring out his side window. My fingers trembled as I unbuttoned the shirt, peeling the fabric away from my skin, achingly aware of how close he sat, how easily he could turn his head and shatter the fragile privacy I clung to.

My breasts tightened instantly in the cool air, nipples hard and aching. I scrambled into the dry sweater and pulled the oversized coat around my shoulders, buttoning it up halfway to hide the rapid, chaotic rise and fall of my chest. For a moment, I let myself breathe, grateful for the brief reprieve from his gaze, though my body still hummed with awareness of him.

"You can look now," I breathed out.

Jaxx turned back slow, unhurried, as if savoring the anticipation more than the sight itself. There was something almost ritualistic in the way he moved, a patience that made the waiting feel like its own kind of intimacy.

When his eyes landed on me, the atmosphere in the car shifted instantly. His dark gaze dragged down my frame, heavy and deliberate, like a matchstick scraping against the rough edge of a box, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. He reached out, his thick, calloused thumb catching a stray, wet strand of dark hair near my cheek and tucking it gently behind my ear.

The gesture was so tender it startled me, a contradiction to the raw hunger simmering just beneath his composed exterior. I found myself searching his face, trying to reconcile the softness of that single touch with the intensity I knew simmered beneath it.

"You look good in that coat," he murmured, his thumb lingering on the soft curve of my jawline, testing the heat of my skin.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry. "You like buying me things now?"

"I like seeing you warm," he said, his fingers trailing down the column of my neck, tracing the delicate collarbone hidden under the fabric. "Comfortable. Safe. Yours is a body that deserves to be taken care of, even if you insist on fighting me every step of the way."

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. His hand didn’t drop; it slid lower, fingers hooking into the heavy lapel of the coat, tugging me just an inch closer across the console.

I could feel the warmth of him now, bleeding into the small space between us, and it terrified me how much I wanted to close what remained of the distance. Every rational thought I’d clung to on the drive over dissolved a little more with each second his hand stayed on me.

"You’re annoying," I whispered, my voice betraying the sheer desperation pooling between my hips.

"I know I am," he purred, his thumb lightly brushing the base of my throat, where my pulse was leaping wildly. "But you love it. You crave it."

Silence stretched between us, taut and ready to snap. The air grew thick, heavy with the scent of unfulfilled promise and the damp wool of his coat. I exhaled a ragged breath, the sound barely audible over the storm, and for a moment I forgot how to want anything else but this... him, close, and unbearably patient. Some small, defiant part of me wished he would just decide for me, take the choice out of my trembling hands entirely.

"Jaxx..."

He leaned in closer, bringing his face inches from mine. His hot breath fanned across my lips, tasting of dark coffee and rich tobacco, a scent that had already carved itself into memory, one I suspected I’d never fully separate from moments like this one.

"Say you don’t want this, Elena," he whispered, his voice dropping into that dark, hypnotic register that always stripped away my defenses. "Say the word, tell me to drive you home, and I’ll stop right now. I’ll take you back, drop you off, and pretend I don’t know how wet you are right now."