That night Jax tossed and turned. He couldn't figure out how to make it work. The best solution he could think of was to have Layne stay at their homestead and tend to the garden so that they would have food security by the time he came back. If he could bring Jonathan home with him, he wanted to have a good and solid presentable home to bring him to. He wanted his brother to be proud of him; to see that he was able to survive on his own. And not just survive, but flourish.
And he was very proud of the homestead, just as he was proud of Layne. She was unbelievably beautiful and competent and smart, too. And he was sure that Layne was proud of him. Jax was rippling with muscles and raw strength that would make survival very difficult, almost impossible without it. Layne had built some muscle herself, and her lean body was tight with athletic ability all her own. He couldn't get enough of her body and she couldn't get enough of his. He couldn't possibly fathom leaving her for even a day, let alone the entire time it would take him to travel to Al's community alone and however long it might take for him to safely search for his brother. He wished that he had asked Al how far away his community was. He'd lacked the presence of mind though, and sighed loudly into the dark, quiet bedroom.
Layne was roused from her sleep and turned over onto her side, her clear, almond shaped eyes peering at him through her dark lashes. She propped her head up on her elbow and touched his cheek gently. Jax almost cried then, it would've been easy. Layne could make him feel so vulnerable. Or maybe he felt vulnerable all the time and he just felt safe showing it with her.
“I know you need to find your brother.”
“I can't possibly ask you to give up everything that you've worked so hard for. It wouldn't be fair to you. Just to find my stupid brother. That isn't right. Before we met, this is all you wanted.”
“Before we met, all you wanted was to find your brother. What kind of a horrible person would I be to hold you back from doing that? I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to stop you. In fact, I could go with you and do my best to help."
“I would never ask you to do that. It's way too dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you. It's going to be winter soon, and you know how hard it is in the wintertime. I need you to stay here and take care of things for me. It's much better for you if you were able to do this. I don't think anybody would bother you, most of them are never up this far north during the winter. I don't know why Al would bother going on a recruiting mission this late in the season. Most people would think he's crazy."
“Maybe he is crazy," Layne said thoughtfully. “Or maybe he's actually a double agent, working for the Jackals. Everybody at Hex knew about your brother, didn't they? It wouldn't be surprising if they would have found someone that good at manipulation to get you back for killing those two disgusting Jackal guys when we first met. What if it's a trap? Maybe they want us to leave the homestead vulnerable or maybe they want to lead you in the wrong direction and get you back to make you pay for what you did to those guys.”
“I don't think even the Jackals would miss Orson and Buggy very much,” Jax said, raising his eyebrow and making Layne laugh.
“Who knows," Layne said with a shrug. “I just want you to be careful and keep an open mind to every possibility.”
“Yeah...” Jax said, running his strong hand down Layne's delicate shoulder. She was sleeping in a silk nightie that she had found in the cabin's closet. When she had surprised him with it, he had forgotten that lingerie existed and nearly cried out loud in an unexpected rush of longing. Now it was hard to keep his hands off of her any time he saw her wearing it; its thin lacy straps hanging loosely over her sun-kissed shoulders.
She closed her eyes in sleepy appreciation of his touch and inhaled silently as his fingers roamed down the contours of her body and grazed the sensitive, firm mound of her nipple. A look of bliss creased her face as he stroked it with his broad thumb, and he swiftly lifted her on top of him so that her long, light brown hair tickled his bare abdomen.
He had taken to sleeping in boxers, and sighed in pleasure as Layne's hot middle settled on top of his. He could feel that she was wet already and swallowed hard, instantly aroused. She gently pulled the silk nightie off, revealing her perfect naked body gleaming silver in the moonlight. Her hands moved up and down his muscular torso, finding their way under the waistline of his boxers and touching every erogenous part of his body. She licked and nibbled his neck, her hands roaming and squeezing, until he was so engorged with longing that he sat up and spun her to the mattress, spreading her legs wide open with his hands and making her gasp in surprise as the sensitive head of his penis found its way between her legs.
He took a few moments to stimulate her clit, rubbing it gently with expert thrusts of his hips. He went tantalizingly slowly, until she was panting softly against his bicep, writhing against him and silently begging for more. He was more than ready to oblige her and plunged in, bringing a low moan from her lips that aroused him more than anything – even her nightie – ever could.
Layne wrapped her arms around his neck, her breasts bobbing with the rhythm of his hips as they thrust into her, her hard nipples scraping against his chest. She sighed into his ear and he brought his hands up and down her torso, gripping her breasts in both hands, lowering his hot lips onto one and kneading the other gently. She hissed in pleasure as his tongue flicked her, buckling her hips against him and riding on the waves of her pleasure until her body tensed up. Jax knew what this meant and began to thrust faster, elevating his own pleasure as her climax began, the hot muscles inside of her squeezing him blissfully as their bodies rammed against each other.
He waited until he saw the tense look on her face relax in the light of her orgasm before he allowed himself to unleash the fury of his load inside of her, and they panted together as he pulled out and scooped her up in his strong arms, laying her comfortably on the pillow, curled into him. He had all he could ever want right here in this room, and they fell asleep together, saving all the serious talk about Jonathan for tomorrow.