He didn’t get it. “If I stay with you, I am dead. We both are. I’m a target, big and red, and Maxwell is coming for me fast and hard. Or did you miss that shoot out on the street? He wants me, and he’ll take out anyone who gets in his way.” Her gaze darted from Trace to Noah. Lingered on Noah. “I can’t have collateral damage. I won’t.” Just looking at Noah hurt.
He had no clue who she was to him. And, seeing as how Trace had no doubt given the guy an earful about her many sins, it was better that way.
“I’m leaving,” she said this flatly. “Even if I have to climb over a dozen balconies, I’ll do it.”
Noah stalked closer to her. “Balcony climbing isn’t necessary. You are leaving. With me. Our plane will take off within the hour.”
Jasmine shook her head and flinched away from him. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” No way could that be an option. Not ever. Noah had to be safe. He had a life. A wife. A family.
I wanted a family. For so long.
And she was staring right at the family that was hers.
Noah frowned at her. “Are you…okay?”
Dammit, she was almost crying in front of the guy! Jasmine blinked away the water that filled her eyes.
“Jasmine…” Now Drake was sounding all worried and his hand was slowly stroking her arm. “You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let Maxwell hurt you.”
Seriously? It wasn’t about her. It was about them! Him. Noah. Even asshole Trace. She straightened her spine. “Tell them,” she demanded with a fast glare at Trace. “Tell them that they’re wasting their time. That I’m not worth any help they want to give.”
Trace’s eyes narrowed to near slits as he studied her.
“Tell them!” Jasmine yelled. Her heart was breaking. She couldn’t be this close to Drake…and to Noah.
Noah doesn’t know me. I’m a stranger to him. A stranger who could rip his life apart.
She’d never wanted to rip apart Noah’s life. She’d wanted to meet him. Just see him.
When she’d been a kid, she used to dream about Noah…she’d known he existed, of course. Her mother had told her all about the baby boy she’d given up for adoption.
She gave him away…but she kept me.
Jasmine knew Noah was the lucky one.
Her brother. Standing right there. Staring at her.
“I’m not worth it,” Jasmine repeated again. “I’m a criminal, a thief.” Her lips twisted into a humorless smile. “A liar. If I had the chance, I’d betray every single one of you.” Her gaze came back to Drake. She made herself say, “Every. Single. One.”
A muscle flexed in Drake’s jaw.
Jasmine laughed, and the sound was bitter to her own ears. “Didn’t you learn anything from Anna Jean? You don’t want to trust me. You can’t. So get the hell out of my way before I destroy you all.” Such tough words. Such hard words to say.
Because she didn’t want to run from Drake and Noah.
Those two men—they were all she’d ever wanted.
A lover who made her forget the hell of her life.
And a brother…family. Real family. Not the kind that was always drunk or high or…willing to sell you.
Her lips clamped together and she stormed around Drake. He wasn’t stopping her. Good. He’d gotten the message. She was trouble. She was also going.
“You’ll be dead before the sun sets.” That was Trace making that grim prediction. “Do you want to die?”
She couldn’t have what she wanted. That was why Jasmine planned to leave Drake behind.
Her hand touched the doorknob.
“I don’t trust you.” Drake’s voice stopped her cold.
But that was what she wanted, right? No trust. No attachment.
“Maxwell wants you. He wants you very badly.”
She opened the door.
Saw the guards in the hallway. Four of them. Hell.
Drake’s hand closed over her shoulder. “And I’m not going to let that bastard have anything that he wants.” He turned her to face him. “I don’t trust you,” he said once more, like he was driving a nail into her coffin.
Her chin lifted.
“But I am going to use you, princess. You’re going to be the bait that brings down that bastard. Then we’ll both be free. You can vanish from my life, and I’ll stay the hell out of yours.”
***
He didn’t like the way Jasmine stared at Noah.
Drake frowned as he watched Jasmine send yet another furtive glance toward his friend. Why did she keep gazing at the guy with that lost expression in her eyes?
Yeah, okay, fine, Noah was a ladies’ man. Or he had been, until the guy had settled down with his Claire. Now Noah was full-on obsessed with his lovely new wife, and the guy wasn’t playing the field.
Jasmine needed to stop watching Noah.
Fucking now.
“That’s jealousy.”
He turned at Trace’s voice. They were in a small, private airport outside of the city. Noah’s plane was supposed to be taking off soon.
Taking off with Jasmine.
She’s bait, all right. But she doesn’t have to actually be here when the trap is sprung. He wanted her safely away because he…well, he just wanted her safe.
“The way you’re glaring at Noah, it’s a dead giveaway.” Trace sighed softly. “You really sure you want your woman flying off with him?”
“I trust Noah.” He did.
“Ah, right. But not her? What if she tries her hand at seducing him? I mean, the woman can’t seem to keep her eyes off the guy.”
He was growling. Drake tried to stop. He wasn’t an animal, no matter what he might be feeling at that moment. “Noah doesn’t see any woman but Claire.”
“Huh. Is that how it works?”
Drake shifted a bit because he’d just noticed that Noah was staring at Jasmine with a guarded, assessing gaze.
As soon as Jasmine caught the other man’s stare, she immediately stiffened and glanced away.
“Maybe he was another target for her,” Trace mused. “I mean, the way she’s acting, the woman knows him. Or she knows something about him.”
Fuck. “The photograph.”
“The what?”
He marched away from Trace and headed for Jasmine. Noah stood near her, and his friend nodded as he approached. “About fifteen minutes until take-off,” Noah said. “Once we’re safe in New York, I’ll call you.”
Drake didn’t glance his way. “You never told me why the photograph mattered.”
“What photograph?” She immediately asked as her chin notched up.
Back to that old game, were they?
He caught her sexy little chin between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s a dead giveaway,” he told her.
Her eyes widened. So dark and deep. A man could get lost in those eyes.
Noah would not get lost there.