Red Hot Lovers: 18 Contemporary Romance Books of Love, Passion, and Sexy Heroes by Your Favorite Top-Selling Authors

by Milly Taiden

  “How did Jasper get here so fast?” Europe was an easy fifteen hour flight, depending on which airport he was leaving from. It had only barely been fifteen hours since we’d quit. There was no way he could have been contacted and gotten on a flight here.

  “Apparently, he’d flown back to the east coast for something. I didn’t get any more than that, he just asked for a ride,” Hugh said, lugging his duffle bag out of the trunk. Jasmin came around the side of the car and slipped her arm around my waist, but said nothing. I kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” She tipped her head up, a smile just teasing at her lips.

  I couldn’t say what I wanted to. To thank her for caring, for being here, for helping me face the darkness. “For everything.”

  Her face lit up. “I could say the same.”

  Then we were headed into the airport. Hugh hugged us both, though Jasmin got another swat on the ass. “You remember, if he doesn’t treat you right, I’ll send a limo ‘round; I’m here for you, baby,” he said, mimicking Rodney’s voice.

  She laughed, but I couldn’t, my heart pounding, expecting the worst of what was to come. Jasper and I had fought, fought bad, the last time we’d been together. When he’d told me about what had happened to him . . . the verbal fight had quickly escalated into the physical, which for me was not how I handled things. Ever. But I’d completely lost it, my anger and his shame turning into a fight that left us bruised and battered in more ways than one.

  Jasmin took my hand and we wove our way through the people hurrying to and from their destinations to wait for Jasper near the baggage claim. The flight was on time, and was just starting to disembark. My skin went clammy, sweat beaded on the back of my neck. Fuck, nothing had ever scared me as badly as this, not even when my dad had held the knife over me and threatened my life.

  The steady bob of a blond head, inches above the rest coming up the gang plank got my attention.

  “Is that him?” Jasmin asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’ll be okay, Jet. He’s your brother. Just breathe.” Her hand squeezed mine and all I could think about was the sight of Sharon’s hand on Jasper’s arm, telling me I couldn’t take him, that she loved him. Fuck, I couldn’t do this. Yet when I tried to pull away, tried to run, Jasmin held me still, grounded me.

  “Come on. If I can go zeeplining and surf at night with sharks, you can do this.”

  “Not the same. I’d rather do a thousand stunts, run across fire, free fall off a building, anything but this,” I said through gritted teeth, seeing Jasper closer now, his light green eyes searching for his ride. I lifted my hand.

  His gaze narrowed, anger crossing his features until he caught sight of Jasmin pressed against my side. He shook his head and made his way to us. He might have been my little brother, but he was taller than me, bigger across the shoulders. He was built like our father, and all the training he did to keep up with the stunts showed in the flex and pull of clothes that just couldn’t contain him. Still, he looked enough like me that I understood why Rodney had hired him. Easier when your stuntmen are interchangeable.

  “Jasper, meet Jasmin. Jasmin meet my little brother, Jasper. Or you can call him PITA if you want,” I said, my voice sounding normal, as if everything was good. I could pretend everything was fine; I’d been doing it all my life, why stop now?

  “PITA?”

  We spoke together, like only brothers could. “Pain in the ass.”

  She covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes sparkling. “You two could be twins.”

  Jasper grunted. “I’d say it was nice to meet you, but I likely will never see you again. You do realize he’s going to toss you out in the morning, don’t you, like the whore that you are?”

  The air in my throat squeezed and rage like I’d only ever felt when it came to Jasmin’s safety and reputation ripped through me. I snapped an arm back, fist curling tight. I would bash his fat mouth in for that. But Jasmin stepped between us, stopping me from throwing the punch.

  “No fighting. Not for one damn second.”

  I let the air go, a sharp snort that did little to ease the desire to smash in his stupid face. What the hell did he think he was doing, insulting her within seconds of meeting her? Just to piss me off?

  He watched Jasmin with renewed interest, but before he could say anything, she lifted her hand and grabbed his ear, cranking it hard until he went down on one knee, the look on his face beyond priceless.

  Oh, I was going to enjoy this.

  “Jasper, I don’t know you, other than the fact that you are Jet’s little brother and for that I’m going to cut you some slack.” She twisted his ear harder and he growled, glaring up at her.

  “You can apologize, and I’ll let go of your ear, or you can not apologize and we’ll leave you to find your own way to the set which you are supposed to be at…” She lifted her eyes to me.

  “Less than an hour,” I supplied, feeling my lips twitch.

  She nodded. “Which will it be?”

  “Fuck, I’m sorry I called you a whore,” he grumbled and she let go. Jasper stood, rubbing his ear, eyeing her sideways as if . . . as if he was seeing her for the first time.

  “I’m going to the car,” she said.

  I could see what she was doing, giving us a few minutes by ourselves. Moments I didn’t want. Not really.

  Striding ahead of us, Jasmin left me standing with Jasper, both of us staring after her.

  “What the hell was that?” He bent to pick up his bag.

  “Take it as a compliment, she did the same thing to me when I first met her,” I said.

  We walked in silence for a few minutes before Jasper broke it and spoke.

  “You like her? More than say your usual conquests?” He was poking at me, baiting me, and I fought the urge to slug him.

  I nodded. “But it’ll end up the same; just like any other girl I’ve met. Leave it at that.”

  A flash of teeth and he gave a bitter laugh. “Sure, whatever. They’re all the same.”

  Broken, he was so broken, worse even than me. After that, there was nothing between us, nothing said, we didn’t even look at each other. Nothing. Empty darkness in the past, but nothing now.

  Jasmin waited by the car, her eyes never leaving us as we got close.

  I opened the door for her, she slid in and I went to the driver’s side. Jasper threw his bag in the back and followed suit.

  “You got a mean ear twist,” he said, surprising me by willingly engaging with her; I’d figured his pride would get the better of him.

  “You should see the Charlie horse I can hand out,” she answered. “You don’t want to see that one. I crippled my brother with it once.”

  He grunted, but didn’t actually answer her. The air in the car was full of tension, awkward and uncomfortable, to the point where it was all I could do not to crank the music and ignore the fact he was in the back seat at all.

  But he saved me from that, slumping down and closing his eyes. “Wake me when we get there.”

  Knuckles white on the steering wheel, I stared out at the road. Jasmin slid across the bench seat, her hand coming to rest on my thigh.

  Just her presence helped, and I let go of some of the tension. But that irritated me too. How could a single woman be such an influence on me, how could I not deal with this by myself?

  By the time we got back to the hotel where Hugh and I had been staying, Jasmin was asleep, her head pillowed on my shoulder. I turned the car off and sat in the dark, listening to them both breathe softly in and out. Two people; I couldn’t have one, and I didn’t know how to help the other. What a fucking mess.

  “I heard Rodney’s a bit of dick,” Jasper said, his voice pitched low.

  “Can be. You two should get along fine.”

  “You saying I like dicks?”

  Oh, fuck; here we go. “No. But you sure act like one. How the fuck do you get off calling a woman you just met a whore?”

 
“That’s your type. Whores dressed up like actresses. They use you, you let them. If she isn’t like that, if she’s better than that, then she’s too good for you. By a long shot.” He paused. “No offense, Jet, I just call it like I see it.”

  I stared at him in the rear view mirror. “And should I do the same? Call it like I see it?”

  “Since when haven’t you?” he growled. We kept our voices low enough that Jasmin hadn’t stirred.

  “Since you told me.”

  A bomb going off couldn’t have caused more damage inside the car, couldn’t have stolen the air more effectively.

  “I should never have told you. I was drunk.”

  I thought about Jasmin, about her brother, Ryan, and the loss and anguish I saw in her eyes when she spoke about him. What would I do if I lost Jasper? My pride tried to tell me not to do it, but I needed this said, this darkness dispelled. I could at least try.

  “I’m sorry, Jasper. I’m sorry I didn’t know. I would have killed her if I’d known.”

  My fingers curled into Jasmin’s hair, and I breathed in her smell, let her calm me without her even knowing it. “I don’t want this between us. You’re my brother and I failed you, but I don’t know how to make this right. I don’t know how to fix this.”

  I lifted my eyes once more to look in the mirror. Jasper was staring back at me, confusion filtering through the anger, mingling with fear. He jerked his head to one side, didn’t lift his eyes again.

  “You can’t fix it. No one can. Just fucking forget it.”

  He lurched to one side, fingers scrambling at the door, finally getting it open with a not so muffled, “Fuck!”

  Jasmin jerked awake, her eyes fuzzy from sleep. Jasper walked up the sidewalk away from the car and I finally let out a breath.

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  I took her back to her hotel and carried her up the stairs despite her protests. Hell, I even helped her into bed, but when she reached for me, I pulled away. Jasper’s words struck a chord so deep and true I couldn’t deny it: I didn’t deserve her.

  “Jet, stay with me. Please,” she whispered, her lips parted for a kiss.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I leaned forward and kissed her softly, just a bare brushing of lips against lips. The last time. I wouldn’t do this to her, wouldn’t hurt her for the world. Jasper was right.

  I was a bastard for even considering it. She was out of my league, too good for me by far. I had to find a way to put her from my mind, to stop this obsession with her. Neither of us needed this. I sure as fuck didn’t need to need someone like her; that was the last thing on my list.

  “Jet?” Soft, hesitant, she called to me and the sudden fear that if I gave in now, I’d never be free of whatever this tie was she had on me, only grew.

  I closed the door behind me, leaning my head against it. “Goodbye, Spitfire.”

  There was a bar not too far from her hotel and the music and laughter rocked out of it, beckoning me in. Calling to me to forget her, to pick someone else. A red headed woman strode down the sidewalk, pushing her way past the drunken hangers on, and then pushed her way into the bar.

  Mind made up, I followed Tina and her fake breasts. One way or another I’d put Jasmin behind me.

  11

  Jasmin

  Sleep came in fits and starts. Just on the edge of me catching it, a thought would steal into my mind and I’d lay there wide awake. Mostly thoughts of Jet. No, all of Jet. Something had changed when we picked up Jasper from the airport, and now I didn’t know what to do. Was he pushing me away? What had Jasper said to him while I’d slept in the car?

  The next morning came and I rolled from the tangled sheets, sat on the edge of the bed, considering what I could do. I had two days; that was it. Two days to either lay my heart on the line or walk away.

  I scrubbed my face. A low rumbling vibration told me I had a message and I turned toward my phone. Picking it up, I dialed Lily. Maybe she wanted to apologize. More like she wanted to point out that I was wrong. Again. She picked up right away.

  “What is it?” She asked before I could even say hello.

  “How do you know anything is even wrong? Besides, you called me, remember?”

  “Because I know you, something always goes wrong. And we’ll get to why I called you in a minute, missy.”

  I almost hung up, my finger on the end button. “You know what, forget it.”

  “No, wait,” she said. “I’m sorry, it’s just, it’s just been a bad night and . . .”

  Think like Jet, just spill it all at once.

  “I think I’m in love with him.”

  Lily was so quiet I thought maybe she’d hung up on me.

  “Lily?”

  “Holy mother of God, are you kidding me? You’ve barely known him for like four days or something stupid like that. Are you out of your ever-loving mind? Do I have to come down there and shake you until your teeth rattle? I thought you knew better than this and now it looks like Kevin is going to fire your ass . . .”

  I let her rant, let her get it all out. When she took a breath to go on I interrupted her.

  “Are you done? And what do you mean Kevin is going to fire me? I haven’t done anything wrong, I haven’t slept with Jet.”

  She snorted. “No, I’m not done, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve slept with him, he’s got some sort of evidence coming in that makes it look like you have. You need to get your butt home and you need to deal with this or you’re going to lose your job.”

  I stood and started to pack, then remembered the broken zipper. Crap, I’d have to leave everything except the essentials. “Lily, I’m going to the airport, right now. I’ll call you when I get there and I know when my flight is coming in.”

  “Good. You need to get away from him. He isn’t good for you.”

  I closed my eyes against the tears and hung up on her, my best friend. “You don’t know that, Lily. He’s the best thing that’s happened to me in years.”

  * * * * *

  I’d gone to Jet’s hotel to say goodbye, but he hadn’t been in the room the concierge had directed me to. I’d tried calling his phone, had even tried going onto the set to see if he was around. But it was only Jasper I’d found.

  Jet’s brother didn’t look like he’d slept much either, and I wondered again what they’d talked about, but didn’t ask. That was none of my business. He shook his head when I asked him where Jet was.

  “Don’t know. He took you home, then didn’t come back. I assumed he’d stayed with you.”

  “No, he didn’t. Do you think he’s all right?”

  Jasper’s eyebrows shot into his hairline, his top lip curling up. “Are you worried about him?”

  “Yes, I have to go home, there’s been a problem with my job and I have to go, but I don’t want him to think I’m running away.” God, my face was heating again; I could feel it.

  Jasper sucked at one of his teeth, the same way Jet did, before answering. “I can give him a message if you want. I guess. But you’re too good for him. You know that, don’t you?”

  I scribbled a note on the back of a napkin stuck in my camera bag. “Here, give this to him, please. And don’t say that, it isn’t true.”

  Jasper took the napkin, folded it and tucked it into his back pocket. “Hey, wait. I might know someone who can find him.” He turned and called over his shoulder. “Reggie, you seen Jet?”

  Reggie’s eyes slid over me, and then he grimaced. “Yeah. Just a second—Jasper, come here.”

  The two men stepped a few feet away from me, heads close as they spoke in muted tones. What was going on? Jasper’s shoulders stiffened, he glanced at me and a look that resembled pity crossed through his green eyes. What the hell was that about?

  Reggie walked away from Jasper, shaking his head as he went. Jasper seemed to gather himself, then walked slowly back to me.

  “I can give you the address. But I don’t think it’s a good idea; he was at th
e bar last night. . . .”

  I gave him a smile. So what if Jet was a bit hung over? There were worse things. “It’s okay, I can deal with him.”

  Jasper let out a heavy sigh, as if he really didn’t want to tell me. “Room 145. First floor.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that. I’d better go, I don’t have long before my flight leaves,” I said, and then put my hand on his forearm. “Jasper, give your brother a chance. He loves you, he does. I don’t know what you’re fighting about, but he wants to make it right.”

  Pale green eyes glared into mine in anger, flaring, making them darken for a moment, but then he looked away, his jaw tight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I backed away, knowing I’d made a mistake. “I’m sorry. Just forget it.”

  I stumbled backward, and ran down the street toward Jet’s hotel. Maybe the brothers had a fight last night? If that was the case, I could see Jet going back to blaming himself for what had happened to Jasper. Which would explain the visit to the bar.

  The hotel was air conditioned, at least that was a perk; sweat dripped down the sides of my neck, cooling considerably as I stepped into the hotel for the second time that day.

  I was exhausted from my sleepless night, freaking out about the impending meeting with Kevin, and terrified that this would be the last time I’d see Jet; the combination of emotions didn’t leave me at my best. So when I knocked on the door Jasper had told me Jet was staying in and a half naked Tina opened it, I didn’t put it together. Her hair was tousled, lips swollen and her breath reeked of tequila even from five feet away. One nipple peeked out at me from her silk baby doll top.

  “Oh, Tina. I’m sorry, I must have the wrong room,” I said, stepping back and looking down the hallway. I was sure Jasper had said 145.

  She smirked at me, her eyes red from a night of drinking and—there was a very male groan from inside the room—other things.

  With a widening smile on her face she opened the door wide, giving me a full view of her ample chest barely contained inside the plum-colored bra that really clashed with her vibrant red hair.