High Risk Love (16 page)

We talked in hushed whispers as we held each other on that board, talking about everything and nothing. She spoke of Ryan, all the stories she hadn’t spoken of since his death, of her friend Lily and how close they were. She told me about how, as much as she loved photography, it was the piano that had always been her dream, her singing.

“You play?”

She nodded, the angle of her face showing me just the curve of her smile. “Yes, it feels like I fit when I play. I don’t know if that makes sense.” She laughed softly.

“It does. When I’m working a stunt, the world narrows down to just me and the steps. Like a dance.” I snapped my teeth shut, feeling stupid. Those words had slipped out of me and I hadn’t caught them in time.

“Yes, that’s it exactly. Like a dance. The music, when I played, wove around me and everything seemed good.”

“You say that like you don’t play anymore,” I said, turning her face to mine, so I could see her eyes.

“I don’t.” She whispered her secret to me. “I hear my family beside me, singing, playing. It’s too much. It hurts too much.”

Her lips trembled and I kissed her lightly, not demanding, not taking; but giving her everything I had. She lifted a hand, touched my face softly.

“Thank you.”

We went silent for a while after that, then out of the blue I told her about my mother, how Jasmin reminded me of her, the quiet strength, the softness with a core of steel. Once I started, I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to share everything with her, and pray it was enough. I spoke about Jasper, avoiding the past, telling her about the stunts we’d pulled, the pranks on Hugh. Our laughter echoed out across the water, the lights from the city behind us left me feeling like we were in our own world.

The moon rose high, and we paddled back to shore. We hadn’t been drinking, but we both wobbled as we walked toward her hotel, arms slung around each other. Every moment with her counted, and the more time we spent together, the more I knew I couldn’t lose her.

Which scared the shit out of me.

Fear Nothing. Yeah, not so much now.

I couldn’t go back to pretending I was happy, pretending that the way my life was before Jasmin had been good.

But I couldn’t do this either. I was a screw up, always had been; that wouldn’t change because of her. Maybe for a day or two, a week at best. Ultimately, I wouldn’t be enough for her and then whatever good we had together would be gone.

We walked up the stairs to her room, but she stopped us on one of the lower landings. “You know, when I first met you, on the stairs . . . .”

“I’ll never forget it. You stunned me.”

She laughed and slid her arms around my waist, tugging me close. “That’s only because I twisted your ear.”

“No, it’s because I knew even then that you were special. You were . . . .” I struggled to find the words, but she knew them.

“The light in the darkness.” She whispered it and the air between us disappeared, her lips finding mine with an urgency she’d only hinted at before. I took her mouth, took what she so freely offered, the promise forgotten in the warmth of her skin. My fear was forgotten in the taste of her mouth. I delved her lips, tasted her sweet, soft moans as they curled up her throat and vibrated against my tongue. A growl escaped me and her eyes popped open, wide, dilated with desire.

I let her see that same desire reflected in my eyes, see the hunger there for more than just her body. For her, for everything she was willing to give me, as long as she would have me.

I was hers, burned by green fire, marked as clearly as if she’d branded me.

“I’m yours.” The words spoken against her lips, I hadn’t meant to say them out loud and I froze, afraid of what she would say. That it was just a joke, a tease? God, let her not have heard me, let her mind and ears be fuzzy with lust and . . . .

Her fingers cupped my face, and her eyes shone with moisture and a trace of fear. “I’m still afraid, but . . . I don’t want to walk away, not now.”

“Your job . . . ?”

I saw the struggle in her, the need to do the right thing, not the thing that felt right. And oh, god, this felt so damn right.

I stepped back, untangled my arms and body from hers. “It’s okay. I don’t want you to regret anything.”

She frowned, eyes darkening. “Neither do I.”

There was no way I could walk away if this went any further, so I turned to go. But her voice called me back.

“Jet, don’t leave. Please stay with me. Tonight. Even if it’s just for tonight.”

My feet stopped moving, her words warping, not really making sense to my stunned ears. I had my back to her, didn’t turn around. “Are you sure?”

Her breathing quickened; there was the sound of her stepping down the stairs, closing the distance between us, the feel of her hair as she leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

“Yes, Jet. I’m sure.”

I spun and grabbed her by the ass, scooping her up into my arms. Laughing, she wrapped her legs around my waist and squeezed me tight as I bolted up the last of the stairs.

“Hey, you’re going to tire yourself out before the main attraction,” she said and I burst out laughing as we all but fell through the final door onto the seventh floor.

“God, Spitfire, you have no idea. Not even if I were half dead could you pull me away from you now.” Still holding her, feeling her warmth surround me, I slid my hands down her ass, over her thighs to her knees and then back again. I kissed the hollow of her throat, and then pushed my way down to the tops of her breasts, biting at the bikini. “This has really got to come off,” I murmured.

“The room, Jet, get to the room first and you can do what you want,” she said.

I couldn’t help staring up at her, thinking about her words. “Anything I want?” I slid a hand between us, cupped her breast, kneading it, needing her. One night, it would be only one night and I would make the best of it. Make sure that no matter what man came after me, she would never forget this night.

She licked her lips and though her face was bright red, she gave me a sultry smile. “Anything at all.”

That was it. I lifted her into the air and threw her over my shoulder. With long strides I turned the corner and headed to her room, not seeing the person waiting there for us until we were on top of him.

“Hugh?” I said, putting Jasmin down. Her hair was wild, and her color high and so damn beautiful it made me ache all the way to my bones to think she was mine. Even if just for a night.

Hugh’s face though was grim. “Rodney replaced you already.”

I shrugged, irritated he’d come here to interrupt us for something that would be obvious. “ Yeah, so? To be expected.”

I should have known by the way he was acting, should have known it was more than just a replacement.

My friend blew out a sharp breath, his eyes worried. “Jasper will be here in two hours. You’ve got to go pick him up from the airport because I’m flying out right after he gets in.”

The life was sucked right out of me; I felt the guilt come crashing around my heart, burying its way in as if it had never left. Shit, why now, why did this have to happen now? Just when I thought maybe I could start to put some of this garbage behind me.

I looked to Jasmin, expecting pity or disgust, or something, anything but what I saw. She gave me a smile, her eyes soft with understanding I didn’t deserve.

“You want me to come with you?” She reached over and took my hand. “If not, I get it. But I can come with you. If you want.”

Hugh handed me a set of keys. “Let’s go. It’ll take us almost an hour to get there and I have to get through security for my flight.”

The keys were warm and I palmed them, tucked them into my front pocket. “Yeah, let’s go.” I didn’t let go of Jasmin; I couldn’t ask her to come, but I couldn’t leave her behind either.

Driving to the airport, Hugh kept up a running commentary, entertaining Jasmin. Jokes and stories for the most part. She laughed, but I heard the nervousness there. She tried to ask Hugh about his past, his personal stories, the things that had brought him to be a stuntman, but he dodged every question with some raunchy limerick or story about an actor he’d worked with. Hugh was as bad as me in some ways, unable to let anyone in. I knew some of it, some of the reasons, but they weren’t mine to share. His demons were his own, and either he hid them better, or maybe I just didn’t want to see them. Likely, it was the latter. Bad enough dealing with my shit and Jasper’s; I didn’t need to add Hugh’s to the pile as well.

The airport buzzed with activity, the flights in and out of Mexico never really slowing down. A thought struck me as I pulled the rental car into a parking space.

“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 grit 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 on in?” 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 up, 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 there with Jasper, both of us staring after her.

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