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 f**king 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—