A few minutes later, they reached Jackson Hole and the twenty-four-hour diner where she always met Steven. The guard parked down the street. Sadie got out with him and he walked her to the door, keeping a lookout for any threats.
Through the window, Sadie spotted Steven already sitting at a table and went inside.
He stood when he saw her. “Sadie.” He hugged her. “I’ve been out of my mind with worry ever since Dwight called.”
She sat and so did he. She ordered a coffee, seeing he already had one.
“I’m fine. You shouldn’t have insisted on meeting.”
“You were attacked.”
“Not me. Your team and Jasper fought them off. They kept me safe. Jasper saved Dwight’s life.”
“Jasper did?”
“Yes. Dwight said one of the attackers would have shot him if Jasper hadn’t seen him and shot the man instead.”
“Quick on his feet.”
He was more than that. Sadie wished he wasn’t, but to her, he was so much more. “He’s a former Detroit cop. SWAT, Dwight said. He’s a capable cop and detective. Dwight has a new respect for him, I think.” And so did she. Despite her resistance to the contrary, he had a knight in shining armor halo over him.
“He always did need to be shown a man is trustworthy.”
Jasper was trustworthy? Sadie didn’t think of him that way, maybe because she didn’t feel like trusting him with her heart. She probably wouldn’t trust any man after all she’d been through with Darien Jafari, the man she’d lived with and almost married, a dangerous man she’d spent the last five years trying to purge from her life and bring him the justice he so richly deserved. But she was tempted to believe Jasper was trustworthy. What if she did? What if she allowed her desires to take her where they led?
Her coffee arrived and she took a sip, wishing she could get rid of the foolish fantasies that plagued her.
After a long silence, Steven said, “You know what this means, Sadie.” He fingered his coffee cup but didn’t lift it for a drink.
“Yes. Darien has found me,” she said.
“I’m afraid he did so because of me.” He looked down at his cup with regret.
“What? How? Do you think he followed you last time?”
“I can’t be sure. I’ve been careful spying on him, waiting for him to make a mistake, looking for any connection to what he’s done. Now I wonder if he’s been on to me. I was always careful when I planned my trips to see you, but if he became suspicious, he could have found out.”
Why would Darien become suspicious? Steven was his closest bodyguard. “But you were careful.” Despair sank through her heart. If Darien had discovered Steven’s allegiance to her, she’d never be free of him. Steve was her best and only hope of sending her evil and violent ex to jail where he belonged.
“Yes. But he’s been acting strange lately. Asking me questions about you, like where you may have fled to. He said he intended to keep looking for you and asked that I help him.”
“Did you agree?”
“Of course. I lied and said I would, but he must not have believed me. Now I’m afraid our association has been discovered. I’m sorry, Sadie.”
She glanced around and looked through the window, not seeing the guard near the doorway anymore. Had he gone for a walk to secure the area?
“I probably shouldn’t have come here,” Steven said. “But I had to warn you and I couldn’t do that with Darien near.”
She was glad he had but he’d taken a risk. “You could be in danger, Steven. Where are you staying?”
“I’m not staying. I will fly home tonight.”
Sadie reached across the table and put her hand over his. “Maybe you should come stay with me. We could tell Jasper everything. He might be able to help us.”
“You want to take that chance? Are you sure he can stand up to a criminal like Darien?”
Sadie thought awhile. Jasper was good but he was only one man. His agency might have the resources but she couldn’t be sure and the last thing she wanted was to put anyone else in danger. That, and the thought of trusting another man made her nervous.
“Darien would have killed me by now if he knew I’ve kept in touch with you. He must have found out another way.”
“How?” That instilled a frigid wave of fear inside her. Darien had seemed like a gentleman when she’d first met him, but he was anything but.
“He’s been searching for you ever since you got away. He’s a mad dog.”
Steven would have left his employ long ago were it not for all the trouble Darien caused them both. She would die if anything happened to him. And now he had a girlfriend he seemed to truly love.
“No more people can die because of me, Steven.” Her eyes stung with moisture. That scared her more than all else. “Maybe you should get out now while you still can.”
“I’m in until I stop him. There’s nowhere I can go to hide anyway. He found you. He’d find me, too.”
“But if you led him here...”
“Don’t worry about me. Right now we have to decide what to do with you.” He took out an envelope from his inner jacket pocket. “This is quick and dirty but it will get you somewhere safe until I can set up a new identity.” He handed her the envelope.
She reluctantly took it, her heart sinking. “I can’t go through that again, Steven. I can’t.” Uproot her entire life and go on the run? She looked up from the envelope, wiping a tear. “I can’t do it.”
His face sagged with answering sorrow. “I know what you had to sacrifice, Sadie. But your life depends on your actions now.”
“Your life depends on it, too.”
“I have a contingency plan. If Darien is on to me, I’ll know and I’ll get out in time.”
“What about your girlfriend? Does Darien know about her?”
“No.”
“Good.” He kept her a secret.
“What are you going to do, Sadie? Take the passport and get on a flight tonight. Disappear. I’ll wrap things up at your house.”
“But... Revive... Bernie. I can’t walk away from that.”
“If you stay, you’ll be killed. All Darien has talked about is how much he wants to make you suffer before he kills you.”
“He tells you that?”
“No. He doesn’t talk to me like that. I hear him.”
Steven listened to his conversations. He took risks. And he didn’t take them only for her. Darien had taken something valuable from him, too. His brother had been a security guard for him until he’d been killed during one of Darien’s illicit business deals. He had a motive to see Darien taken down. For that, Sadie would always be grateful. But after so many years, would they ever find justice?
* * *
After Jasper didn’t hear any voices, he pulled the trunk release and climbed out of the trunk of Sadie’s car. At least she’d had the wisdom to take a guard with her. Closing the trunk, he searched for her and the driver. He saw the driver standing outside of a diner, smoking a cigarette. Jasper turned his back as the man’s head began to turn in his direction. When he looked again, the man had started walking the other direction.
Jasper went to the diner window and looked inside. Sadie sat with Steven Truscott. She had her hand on his and seemed upset.
Why had she met Steven in secret?
Glancing up the street, he noticed the guard stop and begin to turn back. Jasper headed toward the sedan. Reaching the trunk, he checked the guard. The man had reached a bench outside the door of the diner and sat, looking the other way as he blew smoke.
Checking the street first, Jasper waited for a car to pass and then climbed back into the trunk.
Moments later, he heard Sadie get back into the sedan.
“Do you need me to take you anywhere e
lse?” the driver asked after closing his door.
“Just get me home.”
“What did Steven say?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Please. I just want to go home.”
“Sure thing.”
* * *
Jasper waited until the car engine shut off and the sound of the driver and Sadie exiting the vehicle and garage faded before opening the trunk again. After getting out, he searched the darkened garage. Light filtered in from outside the glass-topped door beside the windowless overhead doors. All was quiet. It was late enough that most of Sadie’s staff had gone home.
He peered through the glass to ensure he wouldn’t encounter anyone and then left the garage. The cameras would capture him but he didn’t think anyone would question why he’d gone in and later had come out of the garage, at least not until morning.
At the back door to the house, he used his key to enter and avoid setting off the security alarm. Like the garage, the house was dark and quiet. He walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Hearing thudding upstairs, he climbed to the second level and saw a light on in the library. In the doorway, he stopped, seeing Sadie at a bookshelf, books scattered on the floor.
She held something in her hand, a photo, and he noticed her sad profile. Had her meeting with Steven prompted such reminiscence?
She must have sensed him standing there, her head jerking up and to her left. With a startled gasp, she knelt to pick up the fallen books. Putting the photo inside one, she stood and slipped the books on the shelf.
Jasper walked into the library. “Can’t sleep?”
She shook her head, still with her back to him.
“Who is in the photo?”
“My mother.” She sounded crestfallen, and even embarrassed at being caught looking.
Why keep it hidden? Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen any photographs in the house.
Slowly she turned, wiping under her eye. “I can’t bear to look at it all the time so I keep it in a book.”
She’d never known her mother. Why was she so sentimental about it? He supposed a person might lapse into melancholy over never knowing their mother. But why could she not bear to look at a photograph?
“What are you still doing up?” she asked.
Riding around with you in the trunk. What are you still doing up?
“I did another patrol,” he said.
Sadie rubbed her arms and looked across the library. Jasper could see her unease. The attack and whatever she and Steven had discussed definitely upset her. He’d picked up on that on the ride back here. He almost forgave her for her deception. He’d already decided not to press her on why she’d sneaked out. She wouldn’t tell him anyway. While that frustrated him, her mood switched on a protective reaction. He could not hold her secret against her when whatever she hid affected her this way.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“It’s just been a long day. I have a lot on my mind.” She averted her gaze and gave her arms another rub, as though thoughts of a haunting piece of her past made her chilled.
He curbed his urge to go to her, hold her and tell her he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. But he had to have answers, and if she wouldn’t give them to him, his next move had to be his own secret.
Still, he couldn’t stop his natural response to her. His softening regard led to an unintentional sweep down her body. First her small, sloping nose above those full lips, then the hang of her wavy dark hair. Even filled with sadness or dread, her brown eyes flashed seductively. Her breasts pushed out the flannel shirt that hung over a pair of jeans, and her long legs made him want to see them bare. How he could find her so attractive when she lied bewildered him.
Her head turned and he watched her realize he’d been observing her. A deep, intimate awareness of his desire for her but so far had managed to prevent any interference with his job began to get the upper hand.
As he began to try to control the feeling, his gut talked to him again. Whatever trouble she was in—and he was starting to think she was in some big trouble—he didn’t get any bad vibes from her as a woman. Right now, the vibes went along the lines of her needing help—serious help—escaping whatever danger had led her to this remote Wyoming hideaway and had finally caught up to her.
That mystery intrigued him. Made him want to protect her. To be her hero.
Her eyes locked with his all the while his thoughts roamed into this new territory, opening to the possibility of them together. Her. Him. Naked and then seeing where it went from there.
What if he sampled some of this excitement? What harm would it do? None if both of them had no expectations afterward. He was too curious not to at least try out a kiss. How would she react?
The heat building in him intensified when he saw her notice what his thoughts were doing. Her lips parted ever so slightly with the need for more air and her cheeks took on a faintly rosy color.
Slowly, reluctantly averting her gaze, she moved to the window, lowering her arms.
Jasper didn’t think she went there for the view.
He followed, stopping behind and to the side of her.
He brushed a few soft tendrils of hair off her neck. “I hate to see you so down.”
She turned with his touch and he fell into another enchanting spell.
He moved his hand to her cheek, wanting to feel the soft, alabaster skin. “I wish you would tell me everything.”
Closing her eyes, she rubbed her cheek against his palm, as though being able to tell him would be a dream.
“I can protect you,” he said.
She opened her eyes for another deep, intimate look.
“I want to protect you.” He felt the truth of that all the way through him. He wanted to protect her as a man, as her man.
He slid his other hand to her lower back without thinking. When she raised her hands up to his shoulders, he pulled her against him. Lowering his head, he kissed her. The instant his mouth caressed hers, he knew they both would be lost to the night if one of them didn’t stop.
Chapter 5
Sadie awoke to bright sunlight streaming in through her bedroom window. The angle and brightness told her it was well into the morning. She stretched her arms above her head and legs straight, arching her back. Blinking awake, she caught sight of bedcovers in disarray beside her.
Going up onto her elbows, she stared at the spot where someone had slept. A man.
Jasper.
“Oh, my stars!” Sadie threw the covers off her and sprang up off the mattress. Standing beside the rumpled blanket and sheets as though they’d come alive with all the images that replayed in vivid color and had enchanted her dreams.
Jasper and that first kiss. He’d swept her away into a sensual state of being. She hadn’t thought to stop. No, stopping hadn’t entered her mind. She’d fallen right into bed with him, and he was a good lover. The way he kissed mesmerized her, moving over her mouth and making hers join him for a slow dance. The way he took her hand and asked with his eyes if he could take her to the bedroom.
Sadie showered and dressed, remembering that first contact of skin, naked torsos and legs, Jasper’s caressing kisses and hands and his slow buildup to entry. And even then, he’d taken her slowly. It had all been a dream. No other way described it better. A dream.
No wonder she hadn’t once thought to stop him.
Going downstairs, she didn’t find him in the kitchen. She was almost glad, not wanting to face him just yet. Best if that stays a fantasy for as long as possible.
“Good morning, miss.”
Finley approached from the kitchen. “Good morning.”
“Will it be breakfast or lunch at this hour of morning?”
Gracious, it was almost eleven. “Where’s Jasper?”
“Packing?”
Just then, Jasper appeared in the kitchen. “Good. You’re ready. We’re leaving in one hour.” He went to the counter where Finley always had some kind of sweet cake cut up in bite-size pieces on a pretty plate. Popping one and then a second piece of scone into his mouth, he looked at her as though nothing had happened between them last night. He was in detective mode, driven and determined to get going.
“Wh-where are we going?”
“To San Francisco. I can’t solve anything from here.”
Now that she was healed enough he felt safe in traveling with her. Had he delayed his investigation for her? Maybe not delayed, he’d worked as much as he could from here, but of course he had to be more hands-on.
She glanced at Finley, who immediately recognized her ire and gave a nod.
“I’ll leave you to it.” He left the kitchen.
Sadie folded her arms and faced Jasper, who’d now poured himself a cup of coffee and returned to the plate of scones.
As he chewed and sipped from the steaming cup, his eyes found her and stayed, his keen insight registering her mood.
“What?” he said after a swallow.
Was this how a typical man behaved after earth-shattering sex? Her ire flared even more when she felt a tickle of affection. He was happy, she’d give him that.
“I woke up alone.” She instantly regretted saying that. Dropping one arm and waving her other hand, she left the kitchen.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t far.” He stepped toward her and pecked her mouth with his. She smelled and tasted apple scone.
She couldn’t help smiling softly.
“Go pack,” he said above her mouth.
* * *
The last time Jasper lost control with a woman, he’d gotten himself into big trouble. The whole experience had taught him he had enough going on in his life without adding complications women gave him. While Sadie’s trouble might be a lot different than his last brush with love, trouble was trouble. Protecting her might be a necessity, but that didn’t include having sex with her.
The day was bright and birds chirped with the onset of spring, happy and cheery and in stark contrast to the turmoil going on inside him. He walked along a quaint San Francisco residential street in a fog—he’d left Sadie at the hotel with a DAI guard he’d arranged for this very purpose.
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