by Cynthia Eden
No one spoke as she turned and climbed those stairs. When she disappeared at the top, Drake wasn’t surprised to see both Saxon and Victor head toward him.
“What in the hell…” Victor grated, voice low because Drake knew the guy didn’t want Jasmine overhearing this, “are you doing? You screwed her, and now you think you can take over her life?”
“She took my life.” He faced off against the two men and knew that both Noah and Trace had closed in behind him. They always had his back. “And I will protect her with every bit of power that I have. She doesn’t need to be afraid any longer—”
“Because she has you?” Saxon cut in. “I didn’t see you doing a whole lot of protecting back at that cabin—”
Drake drove his fist into Saxon’s gut. The guy grunted.
“For the cabin,” Drake murmured. “Because it was my grandfather’s, and I loved that place. You should’ve found another way inside.”
Saxon’s eyes glinted. Not with the rage Drake had expected. Almost with…humor? “I thought you’d hit harder.”
“If you hadn’t gotten her out of that warehouse, I would’ve.”
Saxon nodded.
“This is bullshit!” Victor wasn’t softening at all. “Jasmine is under federal protection. You can’t just take her out of here! I won’t let you!”
“Your federal protection didn’t stop me from finding her. It won’t stop him.” Flat. True. “You need more power than the Feds are giving you. Work with me. We’ll take out Case, and then you’ll know that Jasmine is safe.”
Victor’s face twisted. “I don’t like you, dammit!”
“Because I’m the asshole who—”
“You aren’t good enough for her.” Victor’s words fired out. “You’re too dangerous and you’re unstable. You lack control, and you live on the edge too much. Jasmine needs someone different. Someone safe.”
Drake knew he would never be safe. And the edge—that was the only place he knew. He also knew one more thing. “You’re right. I’m not good enough.”
Surprise rippled across Victor’s face.
“And I’m dangerous and uncontrolled, just like you said. But maybe that’s what she needs. Maybe she needs someone who isn’t afraid to kill in order to protect her.”
“I’m a federal agent, you can’t tell me—”
“I would break any law, I would do anything, to keep her safe. No one will hurt her, not ever again, because I’ll be with her.”
Beside Victor, Saxon gave another grim nod. “That’s what a man should do. Kick the ass of anyone who threatens his woman.”
“Jasmine isn’t his.” Victor was still furious. “They just met. She’s something different for him. She’s—”
“She is different, and she made me…different, too.”
Then he heard the faint sound of Jasmine’s footsteps. Coming back.
“You’ll throw her away when you’re done.” Victor’s eyes blazed. “Throw her to the lions at the door.”
Drake shook his head. “No one will take her from me.” He paused a beat. “Not Case. Not you. You may be her family, but I’m going to be her future.” His low words were a vow.
“I-I’m ready.”
He turned toward her voice. Jasmine was at the base of the stairs, a small, black bag clutched in her left hand. Her right hand was curled around a piece of paper. No, not paper. As she moved toward Noah, Drake saw that Jasmine was actually holding a photograph.
“I thought you might like this. Our…our mother is the one holding you.” Her lips hitched up in a half-smile. “And the people behind her—well, you know them, right? The thing I liked most about that picture…you can already see the love in their eyes.”
Noah’s hand trembled when he took the photo.
Jasmine gave him another of her dazzling smiles. Noah just stared at her, lost.
I know the feeling, buddy.
Then Jasmine hugged Noah. A quick, fast hug. She tried to pull back, but Noah’s arms locked around her and he held her tightly. He whispered something to her, but Drake couldn’t catch the words. When Jasmine pulled back, her eyes glinted.
She eased toward Drake. “Wh-what’s the plan?”
She had tears in her eyes. But Jasmine quickly blinked them away.
He frowned at Noah. “The plan is that Noah and Trace will stay here, keeping guard and making sure we aren’t followed. You and I are heading for the helicopter. We’re getting out of here, now.” Because his intel told him that this place had been compromised.
That’s how I found it. The location had already been compromised. I was just lucky enough to beat the bastard here.
Victor shook his head. “Jasmine, you don’t have to leave with him. We can protect you.”
The guy needed to let it go. Drake glowered.
“I do have to go. Because when I left without him before, it ripped my heart out.”
Drake’s gaze flew toward her.
She was staring at him. “I want to see what can happen.”
I’ve never been in love, Drake, but I think…I really think I came close with you.
He took the bag from her. Twined the fingers of his left hand with hers. He didn’t head for the front door. His motorcycle was back behind the cabin. Hidden in the trees.
Noah crossed his path. “Keep her safe.”
Always.
Then Noah leaned toward him. “I love you like a brother, man, but if you do anything to hurt her, ever, I will bury you.”
Drake nodded. Fair enough. It looked as if Saxon and Victor weren’t the only angry big brothers he’d be facing.
But for Jasmine, he was realizing that he’d face anyone. Anytime.
He slipped from the cabin with Jasmine at his side.
***
Saxon crossed his arms over his chest and studied Trace Weston and Noah York. “So what happens now?”
“Now…we spring our trap.”
Victor was wobbling on his cast. The guy liked to pace when he was angry, and Saxon knew that cast was seriously cramping his buddy’s style.
“And if that trap backfires?” Victor wanted to know. “What if Drake winds up getting Jasmine killed?” Victor stopped wobbling and pointed at Noah. “If she’s really your sister, you should be scared as all hell. Drake Archer doesn’t have the kind of history you can trust. He’s a playboy and an adrenaline junkie!”
“He loves her,” Noah said simply.
Saxon nodded. He’d already figured that out for himself.
Victor’s mouth hung open. “What? There’s no way. He doesn’t love anyone or anything—”
“You saw him when that warehouse exploded.” Trace Weston’s voice was low. “You already know how he feels, but you don’t want to admit it because you don’t want to lose her.”
Victor swallowed.
“Now we have plans to put in place. Because according to our intel, Maxwell is already on his way here.”
“What?”
“We didn’t tell Jasmine because if she’d known…Drake didn’t think she’d leave the two of you behind.”
Drake had been right. Saxon rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. “That intel of yours had better not be wrong.”
“It isn’t.” Trace seemed certain. “We found your location because it had already been leaked. We just managed to beat Maxwell here, but he is coming. And we have to be ready for him.”
Saxon had been waiting for his chance at the guy. Ever since the sonofabitch had punched Jasmine. Right in front of me. He hadn’t seen the blow coming. And it had wrecked him.
I’m so sorry, Jazz.
“We wait,” Trace said, “and when he gets close enough, the bastard is ours.”
Chapter Fifteen
The motorcycle roared to a stop in what looked like the middle of nowhere.
Jasmine tightened her hold on Drake even as he braked the bike. What were they doing? She didn’t see a helicopter there.
He rose, and she followed him, ditching the helmet
that he’d given to her. “Drake? Drake, why are we stopping here?” The stars—looked like a million of them—glinted down on her.
“Because I can’t go anymore…I need you too much.”
It couldn’t be as much as she needed him.
“Jasmine…we have to talk. There were things I couldn’t say with those two guards of yours listening to our every word.”
Her guards—Victor and Saxon? She turned away from him and nervously rubbed her arms. She felt chilled out there.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. “Do you know what it was like for me?”
“I—” No, she didn’t. Jasmine didn’t have a clue.
His mouth pressed to her neck, scorching her with his kiss.
She trembled. They were surrounded by the woods. He’d pulled off the narrow road, and they were far away from prying eyes.
It’s just us.
“When I saw the fire…when I saw that place explode, do you know what it was like for me?”
Helplessly, Jasmine shook her head.
He kissed her neck again.
“I was ready to burn with you.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. She never wanted Drake to suffer because of her.
“I didn’t plan on you.” He seemed to surround all of her. Jasmine could feel the heat of his arousal pressing against her. Only fair considering that she’d just nearly melted with the light caress of his lips against her throat. “I knew better than to trust a beautiful face.”
Because of Anna Jean. Would that woman’s ghost never stop haunting her?
“You risked your life for me.”
He nipped her with his teeth then. A gentle punishment that had her aching even more.
“You stared at danger. You fucking made me laugh, and you caught me. You slipped beneath my guard when I should have been watching…”
One hand rose and slid up her side, resting just beneath her breast. In that wilderness, they seemed totally isolated. Just her. Just Drake. Just the faint howl of the wind through the trees.
His hand curled around her breast. Her nipple was already tight and hard with arousal, and she gasped at the electric contact.
“You lied to me.” His mouth was on the spot where her shoulder and neck met, that curve that she’d never realized was so incredibly sensitive.
He kissed her there even as his hand fondled her breast. The wind seemed to kick up around her, and her long skirt blew back against her legs.
“I-I had to lie…”
“You deserve your punishments.”
Both of his hands were on her now. Strong, rough hands. Her hips squirmed, pushing back against him.
“I knew you lied…and I didn’t care.”
Once more, she felt the nip of his teeth. Jasmine was pretty sure her panties were soaked. I missed him so much.
One of his hands slid down her stomach. He caught her billowing skirt and slid under it. She pushed up onto her toes and tried to widen her legs a bit more.
“I heard the recording they made of you. You told Case that I wouldn’t come after you. That I didn’t care.”
His fingers brushed over her panties. Her eyes closed as a moan built in her throat.
“You were supposed to lie to him, but those words didn’t sound like a lie.”
Helplessly, Jasmine shook her head.
His fingers pulled the panties to the side, and then he was touching her. Stroking her with his slightly callused fingers—sliding two fingers into her.
“You weren’t lying to him. You thought you didn’t matter to me.”
Faster, harder, he worked her sex with one hand while his other stroked her breast. Jasmine’s whole body was bow tight. A release was coming. Just seconds away—
He spun her around. “You thought wrong, princess.” He jerked open his jeans. His cock sprang out. Before she could suck in a deep breath, he’d lifted her up—she loved that man’s strength—and he was inside of her. Surging deep and hard, filling her so much that she ached, and the ache felt good. “You.” Thrust. “Were.” Hard thrust. “Wrong.”
His hands were steel bands around her waist as he lifted her into each thrust. Strong and hard and wild. She couldn’t slow down his rhythm. She didn’t want to. Jasmine just held onto him, squeezing him with her sex, and when the pleasure burst through her, she kissed him as she tried to give him back some of that blazing euphoria.
The pleasure lashed her whole body. Inside. Out. Pulsed through her with a sensual energy that ignited her.
Her hands sank into his hair. She kept kissing him, deep, sensually, and with all the passion that she had.
She felt him come inside of her. Long, hot jets that just made her tremble all the more.
He didn’t ease his hold on her. She didn’t let him go. They were still in the night. She wished that they could just stay there, alone, and forget the rest of the world. Forget the danger and the fear.
But his hands were slowly sliding down her body. He eased her back to her feet. Her knees shook and he held her when she trembled.
He pressed a faint kiss to her forehead. It was…tender. Jasmine had to swallow the lump in her throat. “Where is that helicopter going to take us?” Jasmine whispered.
“Any place you want to go.”
She just wanted to be with him.
He straightened her clothes, again with movements that were strangely tender. She’d thought he was furious with her, but he didn’t act like a man enraged as he settled her back on the motorcycle. He handed her the helmet. Hesitated. “Go back to red.”
She blinked at him and tried to catch her breath.
“I miss the red hair.”
Her lips curled. “And here I thought blondes had more fun.”
“You’re beautiful any way, and I’ll take you…” His voice roughened. “Any way I can get you.”
That was how she’d take him, too. Did that make her desperate? Lost? Jasmine didn’t really care.
His hand curled around her thigh and seemed to scorch her right through that fabric. “You matter to me.” The words were growled, heavy with arousal. “I would have walked through that fire for you. You matter.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “You matter to me, too,” she said softly. But those weren’t the words she wanted to say. Fear held them back.
“I don’t even know when it happened, but I do know this…when that warehouse caught on fire, I knew my life was over, if you weren’t in it.”
She didn’t want to cry. Not again. She’d done plenty of that in the last week so she quickly blinked away the water that wanted to fill her eyes.
“Stay with me. Now…and for the days that are coming. See what we can be for each other.”
Didn’t he realize what she’d done? She’d already made that choice. When she’d left Victor and the safety of the FBI, she’d been choosing the life she might have with him. The life she wanted. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” Because she’d finally found the home that she’d sought for so long.
And that home—it was wherever Drake was.
He gave a grim nod, then climbed onto the bike. The motorcycle’s engine snarled to life once more, and soon they were whipping through the night. Her arms curled around him as the darkness passed in a blur, and she held him so tightly.
I love you. Those were the words she’d wanted to give him. Too fast. Too soon. That didn’t matter to her. Drake was in her heart, and when the moment was right, she would tell him.
Fear wouldn’t hold her back forever.
***
Drake didn’t stop again, not until they reached a small strip of pavement in the darkness. A landing pad. The lights on the helicopter were shining and the blades were already whirling. Drake had told the pilot to start up as soon as he saw them coming.
He tossed aside his helmet and reached for Jasmine’s hand. “Come on!” The wind from the helicopter blew against him. The sooner they got on that bird, the better.
/> “Wait, my bag!” Jasmine bent to retrieve the small bag that he’d stuffed into the motorcycle’s saddlebag.
The pilot was inside the chopper. The helicopter’s lights were blazing, so Drake couldn’t see inside to the guy, but he knew Quincy Cole would follow orders. He’d made special arrangements to have Quincy come with him to the mountains because the fellow was one of the few Drake trusted completely. The guy was good in a—
Gunfire rang out. The blast hit Drake in the shoulder and he stumbled back.
“Drake!” Jasmine grabbed for him.
Another shot rang out. Only this time, that shot hit her. It slammed into Jasmine even as Drake tried to twist his body and protect her.
But he wasn’t fast enough.
“No!” Drake roared as he pulled her tightly against him. He could feel her blood, pulsing from a wound on her stomach. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t.
“Did you really think you’d be a step ahead of me? There was no way I’d let you beat me to Jasmine,” a familiar voice called out. Not Quincy. Not Quincy… “I was just waiting until I could get you both together. It’s fitting for you to go out this way!”
Drake turned his head. The pilot had come out of the chopper, only it definitely wasn’t Quincy. This man was taller, bigger, and even though the light was behind him and Drake couldn’t see his face, he knew the man.
“Maxwell.”
Laughter. “Thanks for arranging my getaway ride for me. After I kill you two, it will be nice to fly away. Anna Jean was the one to teach me to fly, you see. That woman loved the sky.”
“D-Drake…?” Jasmine’s voice broke on his name.
“It’s all right.” I promised to protect her. “It’s just a graze, princess. You’re okay.”
“No, you’re not, Jasmine,” Maxwell told her, his words gleeful. “You’re bleeding out. That’s a gut shot. One designed to give you maximum pain, because I felt that was what I owed you. If you don’t get medical attention immediately, you’ll die.” That laughter again. “And you won’t be rising from the dead this time.”
Carefully, so carefully, Drake lowered Jasmine to the ground. “I didn’t find you…just to lose you again.” He wouldn’t lose her. “Don’t be afraid…of what I
