by Addison Fox
Her smile had brightened—and became more determined—as his comments had grown more laconic throughout the meal. By the time they ordered dessert, he sensed Sarah had figured out where she’d overstepped.
The visit to see Jasmine, however, was perhaps overkill.
“Just catching up with an old friend.” Cade extended a hand to one of the empty seats at the four-top. “Sarah Albright, Jasmine Shane.”
Sarah had the decency to act polite, her smile growing wider when Cross rejoined the table.
“Rossi. Good to see you.”
Cade finished off the introductions, not surprised when Sarah’s wide smile grew decidedly more appreciative at the introduction to Jasmine’s date. It should have upset him—hell, at a bare minimum it should have set off the territorial male urge to piss on Cross—but nothing spiked.
In fact all he could really think of was how to pawn Sarah off on Cross or anyone else who might be handy. He’d nearly settled on a strategy, claiming an urgent call from work, when Cross beat him to the punch and made his apologies to leave.
“Gardner and I were just finishing up anyway.” Jasmine stood, her swift movements telegraphing more relief than sadness at their early departure.
What had begun as a half-cocked idea to rile up Jasmine by taking the seat opposite her now left Cade in the uncomfortable position of having two women not-so-subtly pissed at him.
Why not go for broke, Rossi?
“If Gardner’s headed back to work, we can give you a lift home.”
Her fake smile dimmed. “I’m good, thank you.”
“Your place isn’t that far. We’ll run you home.”
“I don’t—”
Gardner broke in, his hand on Jasmine’s lower back as he escorted her around the table. “It’s a great idea. Thanks, Cade.”
“I can take an Uber.”
Cross deposited a quick kiss on her cheek. “Why pay surge pricing when a friend’s offered a lift?”
“Yes, why?” Sarah offered brightly. “We’ll make sure you get home.”
Out of arguments and suddenly out of her date, Jasmine dropped back into her chair. “Sounds great.”
* * *
Jasmine settled into the back of Cade’s impractical sports car and fought the urge to pout. She’d save that for later, when she could add a pint of ice cream and assuage her irritation with fat and sugar.
How had her evening gone so far wrong?
She was trying, wasn’t she? This nearly lifelong crush on Cade Rossi wasn’t going to cure itself, and she’d been diligently working to make it go away. Or not hurt so badly. Or, maybe the most accurate description, to find a way past it.
He wasn’t interested in her, and pretending there was some fairy-tale ending for the two of them hadn’t gotten her anywhere.
Yet there he was, smack in the middle of her Friday night date, upending all her efforts to move past him.
Was it some sort of odd, karmic punishment for not making up her mind about Gardner? The universe’s consequence for her stay of execution—and really, she had to stop thinking of sex that way—with Brooklyn’s hottest attorney?
So here she was, stuffed into the back seat with her long legs shoved somewhere up around her ears, a doggie bag of her half-eaten steak wafting a heavy odor toward her, and the steady tinkling of Sarah Albright’s laughter assaulting her senses. Each melodic twinkle notched a sharp fingernail into her vertebrae.
Just like that, she was the awkward kid sitting by herself in the cafeteria at lunch, a book in hand and her half-eaten sandwich forgotten in her enthusiasm to sink into whatever story had her attention. Nancy Drew hunting her way through a haunted mansion, or Harriet spying her way through a new case, or the Kincaid kids taking up residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art while they sought the answers to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler’s angel.
She’d devoured them all, her imaginary friends who helped her battle the loneliness and awkwardness of being the smartest kid in the second grade. Until one day, Daphne Rossi had sat down next to her, a delicious smell emanating from her lunch box and a wild streak of mischief riding high in her deep-brown eyes.
They’d been friends ever since, and Daphne still usually had something tasty with her—especially if she’d just been to visit her mother—and mischief lurking behind her smile.
How far they’d come. Jasmine with the public defender’s office, and Daphne an NYPD detective, just recently appointed to a special task force on terrorism. Her friend’s selection was a big deal and, best of all, it would finally get her out of the shadow of her four older brothers, all of whom bled blue for the NYPD.
The biggest of those shadows currently sat in front of her, navigating the narrow streets of Park Heights.
Cade meant well, but he was too damn involved. Worse, he was always convinced he was right. His way or the highway, as it were. Although she’d spent most of her life observing the behavior directed at her friend, Jasmine had been the recipient herself this past December.
Sarah turned in her bucket seat, her smile surprisingly genuine. “I’m sorry your date had to end things early. Where did you meet him?”
“Gardner and I work together in the public defender’s office.”
“He’s yummy.”
Jasmine smiled at the description, unable to argue with the truth. “That he is.”
“I am here, you know.” Cade’s voice drifted back from the front seat.
“We weren’t talking about you.” The words were out, shooting back over his head before Jasmine could check the impulse.
“Aw, baby. You’re yummy, too.” Sarah reached out and patted Cade’s cheek. The move was sweet—and would have been funny—if it weren’t for the subtle flinch that flashed across Cade’s features.
Interesting. It looked like the flavor of the month was hitting her expiration date.
Which only added to the general discontent that had dogged Jasmine all evening. While she’d own her personal feelings, at least she hadn’t been led down a merry path like Sarah, thinking she and Cade were developing a relationship. Instead, here was yet another conquest, squired around town for a few special weeks before she’d be discarded like every other relationship Cade had ever had.
It was infuriating. And it made him seem far more of a dog than she knew him to be, underneath it all. This was the same man she’d seen lavish love and affection on his mother and sister, and provide that same love and support in the tight male bonds he shared with his father and brothers. The same man who’d embraced the role of uncle with unabashed passion. And the same man who stood proud in his dress blues in Park Heights’s annual Memorial Day parade.
Cade Rossi was a good man. Yet his track record with women—and his love-’em-and-leave-’em attitude—was far from flattering.
Cade made the turn for her block, and even with the muggy August night awaiting her, she couldn’t wait to get out of the car. He parked and hopped out, reaching back to pull his seat forward for her. She slid out of the back as best she could, her legs sticking out first like a baby colt seeking purchase next to its mother. The position was as awkward as the rest of her evening, and it was only when Cade got a firm grip on her hand that she was finally pulled from the depths of the car.
Jasmine diligently ignored Cade’s pointed stare where her skirt rode up high on her thighs, and she brushed her hem back into place. Painting on a bright smile, she leaned forward and wished Sarah a good night before muttering a quick good-bye and hightailing it to her door.
“Damn, but it’s still hot.”
That damnable voice hovered just above her ear, registering along with the heavy clip of his stride.
“You don’t need to walk me to my door.”
“This is a full-service delivery.”
She whirled on him, the sheer frustration of the evening, and the endless questions that raced through her mind, finally taking root. “I don’t need a delivery. In case you hadn’t realized it, I get around just fine by mys
elf. I’m not your fucking concern.”
His mouth dropped on her last salvo, and Jasmine saw the whisper of hurt in his gaze before he stepped back. “I’ll let you get back to it then.”
He turned on his heel, the same clipped walk that accompanied her up the sidewalk taking him farther away.
Relief and sadness settled around her shoulders in equal measure. Those twin feelings descended upon her every time she left his company. Only this time, there was one other sensation she hadn’t counted on.
There was something final in those footsteps as he walked away. As she watched him climb into his car, she felt a strange emptiness that suggested he wasn’t coming back.
* * *
Cade drove familiar streets as he navigated toward Sarah’s apartment. He’d run these streets as a kid, then patrolled them while he was on the beat, and now he made them his focus as he worked crimes in the borough. While things had changed considerably in Park Heights since he was young, the thriving neighborhood now a distinct part of Brooklyn’s renaissance, human nature was still as vague and illogical as it always was. Crime had reduced considerably over the past decade, but there was more than enough action to ensure job security.
“I had a nice evening.”
Sarah’s quiet voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned toward her as he stopped at a light about two blocks from her apartment. “Me too.”
“Jasmine’s a beautiful woman.”
Unlike their loaded discussion over dinner, Cade sensed nothing in Sarah’s comment other than a simple statement of fact. Jaz was beautiful. His sister’s best friend had always been elegant, even when she was all gangly legs and teeth. But Mother Nature had seen fit to take all that lanky length and those awkward limbs and craft something special.
He still remembered coming home from college his first summer to find Jaz and Daphne sunbathing in the backyard. The awkward teen he’d remembered was nowhere in sight. Instead, he’d had the uncomfortable feeling he was betraying his family and spying on a sister by even looking at the lush breasts, curvy hips, and endlessly long, slender legs.
The image had captivated him, then it threw him for the loop of his life.
Jasmine?
What the hell had happened while he was away?
How was it possible she’d gone from looking like a sweet kid to a runway model?
Jasmine had just always been around. Around the house. Around his sister. Around their family. He hadn’t given her much notice, in the same way he breathed or accepted his family or even put up with his sister and brothers. Jaz was one of them. He looked at her, but he never saw her.
Until the day arrived when he couldn’t look away.
“Yes, she is,” he agreed.
Cade briefly considered adding to his statement but figured the basic agreement of another woman’s beauty would land him in enough hot water. No need to toss additional fuel to amp up the heat.
“She and Gardner make an incredibly attractive pair.”
“They do.”
And they did. Which stuck in his craw like a bad batch of spaghetti sauce. Which, fortunately, his mother never made. He couldn’t say the same. He’d managed inedible bordering on seriously horrible the few times he’d tried his own hand at sauce.
He felt equally inept around Gardner Cross. He’d known the man by reputation, but as of Cade’s parents’ annual Fourth of July bash, they were now, uncomfortably, acquaintances.
The guy was going places. His star had been rising fast and furious since joining the public defender’s office straight out of an early graduation from Harvard nearly a decade before. And he had quite the following. The law enforcement brass loved him, and so did a community that was increasingly paying attention to its highly polished legal eagle.
“I did notice you haven’t responded to my questions about next weekend and your sister’s engagement party.” Sarah said.
Her voice was conspicuously absent of any whining or posturing. Instead, the question was simple and more than fair, considering the fact that they’d been seeing each other for the past month.
“I haven’t given it much thought.”
“You’re having a family event, and we’re seeing each other. Am I your date or not?”
The light turned green and Cade refocused on driving the last block to Sarah’s apartment. “Look. I—”
The light touch of her fingers on his forearm were warm through his sleeve. “It’s not a hard question, Cade.”
Cade slowed, pulling against the curb. He sensed what was coming—felt it way down deep inside—and knew he’d earned the censure fair and square. Shifting into park, he turned toward Sarah, the car still purring beneath them. A clear sign he wasn’t coming in, nor did he expect to receive an invitation.
Sarah’s smile was warm—far warmer than he expected—even as her expression was tinged with something he recognized easily. Resignation. “I’ll take a raincheck on the answer if you promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I deserve better than a brush off. If you don’t want to see me any longer, tell me to my face. I’m a big girl. I knew what I was getting into when I said yes to big, bad Cade Rossi.”
“I’m not—”
Sarah’s hand tightened on his forearm. “That’s all I ask.”
When he said nothing—neither agreement nor argument—she let out a small sigh that seemed to fill the car as fast as it filled his head.
“Don’t bother walking me to my door.”
Chapter Three
Since his date had ended far earlier than he’d planned, Cade found himself restless and more than a little irritated with his ham-fisted handling of the evening. He’d had big plans for his date with Sarah. Now he was out of sorts and left to his own devices, and it wasn’t even ten yet.
He hadn’t had a date end so early since . . . well, since ever.
He rubbed at his stomach as he walked the three blocks to the End Zone, the neighborhood watering hole owned by former NFL great, Nick Kelley. Cade had been a regular patron since the bar opened five years before, but he’d spent a fair amount of time there of late. Always a neighborhood favorite, the bar had become something of a family preoccupation now that his sister was engaged to Nick’s brother, Landon McGee.
And what a crazy thought that was. His little sister, engaged to be married.
The asshole inside he usually gave free rein kept insisting he needed to set McGee straight on how to treat his sister, but one look at the two of them and Cade actually felt embarrassed. He’d never seen anybody in love like that. They weren’t sappy, per se, but they loved each other in a way that showed.
They had each other’s backs. And there was no one he could imagine who would treat his baby sister any better than Landon McGee.
A wall of happy sound assaulted him as he walked through the door: the Friday night crowd was in high gear. An NFL preseason game blared from the various TVs while Brooklyn’s young and young-at-heart spilled over tables and spread out three deep at the bar.
“Yo, Cade!”
Cade turned at the deep voice and the big, scary face it boomed out of. “Hector. You keeping out of trouble?”
“Damn straight. Becky’s got me picking out shower curtains.”
Cade fist bumped the bar’s resident badass bouncer before slapping him on the arm. “It’s a small slide from shower curtains to doilies, my man.”
“Tell me about it.”
Cade might have, but Hector looked so damned merry about the mere idea of picking out doilies with his lady love that Cade had to admit he was at a loss for words. First his sister and McGee. McGee’s brother had also fallen hard this summer. And Hector, too. Was something in the water?
Or maybe Nick Kelley and his fiancée, Emma, were brewing it in the beer coming out of Emma’s family brewery, the Unity.
“No date for you tonight?” Hector’s question was casual, but the sharp eyes that missed nothing were behind the comment.
“You came to the right place.”
Cade slapped him on the arm again before turning for the bar. The guy might look like the neighborhood menace, but on Hector, that look was deceiving. Not only was the guy a decent sort, but he’d helped out on a vice op Cade had run earlier in the summer, his eyes and ears more on point than half the guys in the precinct. Cade had been after Hector ever since to join up with the blue, but hadn’t gotten very far. Mutters of “not for me, but thanks” always came winging right back, and after Daphne read Cade the riot act for shoving his nose in other people’s business, he’d finally let it go.
Was he really that big a bastard?
He’d managed well over three decades of life feeling like he had things figured out, and then the damn rug got ripped out from beneath him a few months ago. He had his life figured out, and he was rolling through it all with ease.
Until that night.
And the asshole who’d targeted Jasmine.
* * *
“Tell me why I’m here again?” Jasmine glanced around the End Zone, the happy Saturday night excitement doing little to improve her mood.
“Because it’s not healthy to sit home pining about the sex you weren’t going to have anyway.”
It was sheer dint of will that had Jasmine keeping her jaw hinged instead of hitting the scarred wooden high-top where she sat across from her best friend and soul sister, Daphne Rossi. Landon had already disappeared with his brother, Fender, before Jasmine had arrived. Daphne’s soon-to-be sister-in-law, Emma, was at the bar, picking up refills on their margaritas and giving herself time to flirt with Nick. They were a veritable circus of people, and it was fun to see how easily they’d all fallen in with each other—and she along with them—since Daphne hooked up with Landon.
The man was amazing, part of a trio of adopted brothers who’d been raised by local legend, Louisa Mills. Jasmine had listened, fascinated, when Daphne had recounted the story of her soon-to-be mother-in-law. A focused career woman, Louisa had lost her position in the city after an ill-considered affair and had ended up meeting the boys the week she came back to the neighborhood. After realizing the difficult situation each child lived in, she’d arranged to foster and then adopt them all.
