Take Me if You Dare (Entangled Brazen) (11 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Jasmine stirred a third packet of sugar into her iced tea and watched the tiny white granules turn her glass into the equivalent of a snow globe featuring ice and lemon peels. What she would give right now for a straight-up glass of Southern-style sweet tea. It was almost as much as she would give to be on a plane flying out of the airport in San Diego instead of cooling her heels at a nearby restaurant due to another canceled flight.

Her whirlwind tour of Bode-Wynn’s facilities had left her exhausted. When the opportunity had presented itself to leave a day early, she’d jumped at it, but a freak thunderstorm was conspiring against the plan.

“And then, this big ol’ hunk of a green Martian said he’d spare my life if I slept with him.”

She shot a look across the table at Tab, her only saving grace from boredom during the past three hours.

“And of course you agreed.” She took a sip of tea and grimaced. Glancing down at the sugar caddy in the middle of the small table, she debated between more sugar or adding in artificial sweetener. She decided against both.

“Very funny, but don’t even try it,” Tab said. “You’ve been distracted ever since I picked you up curbside thirty minutes ago at the airport.”

“I’m just tired. It’s been a long three weeks and I just want to go home.”

“I have to agree you do look like hell on heels.” Tab’s gaze dropped from her face to the wrinkled white button-down shirt she’d paired with her skinny jeans. “Your hair needs a good conditioning treatment, and out of all the cute shirts I personally stocked in your closet, that’s the one you chose to put on?” She shook her head. “Well, at least you got the shoes right. You can’t be my best friend and run around looking like that. You’ll hurt my reputation as a stylist.”

A fact Tab never let her forget.

It was hard to believe the energetic redhead dressed in a fashionable blue pantsuit was once a sickly pale, awkwardly skinny kid with wild hair and braces. One thing hadn’t changed, though; she was still a mouthy, opinionated pain in the butt.

Jasmine took a long sip of iced tea and set her glass back on the table. “You know as well as I do my hair frizzes up in the rain, and this is my last clean outfit so give me a break.”

“So this is how you pay me back for taking a day away from one of my top clients to drive all the way from San Clemente to see you off?” Tab released a long sigh and sampled a few grapes from the fruit plate sitting in the middle of the table. “Not to mention I’m buying you that turkey sandwich you just turned into bird food.”

Jasmine glanced down at the picked-apart sandwich sitting in front of her on the plate. Just like with her tea, she’d debated whether to eat both slices of bread or just one, to use mayo or spicy Dijon, or adding on lettuce and tomato. In the end, she’d just lost her appetite altogether. What was wrong with her? Ever since she’d left Florida, she couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around the simplest decisions.

“Come on, you can’t fool me any more than I can fool you.” Tab plucked another grape from the cluster, but before bringing it to her mouth, she pointed at her. “You have the look of a woman suffering from man troubles. What happened?”

Jasmine opened her mouth but balked at saying the words. When she was in Montana, she’d run into Jax and when he’d asked her about Ethan, it had opened up an awkward conversation she’d barely managed to limp through. Then, when Devin had taken her around the new facility in California, she’d brought out her phone to take pictures and saw the one of her and Ethan at the track in the saved file. She’d almost fallen apart. While she loved Tab, she wasn’t going to risk turning into a bawling mess in public.

“I landed the contract and had to leave, that’s what happened.”

“So?” Tab shrugged. “No big deal. Just call Ethan and invite him to Dallas.” Her face lit up with an idea and a smile. “The two of you should plan a rendezvous in Miami. One of my clients has a vacation home that’s right on the water.” She reached for her purse. “I’ll call him right now, and we can set something up for a weekend. What about two weeks from now?”

“No, that won’t work.” Jasmine looked down and started tearing one of the small hunks of whole-grain bread into even tinier pieces.

“Okay, what about next month?”

“No.”

“Well, when?” Tab insisted. “Why don’t you send Ethan a text or better yet call him and find out when he can meet you?”

“He won’t.”

“Sure he can.”

Shit…not this again.

Jasmine closed her eyes for a moment and fortified herself with a deep breath. She looked across the table at Tab. “I didn’t say he
can’t
. I said he
won’t
.”

She held Tab’s gaze and willed her to understand. She didn’t want to think about him, didn’t want see his face in her mind or deal with the questions that kept her awake at night since she’d left him. When she saw him again, which according to Bode-Wynn’s training schedules was more than a strong possibility, what would happen? Did he hate her? Did he miss her? Would he ever forgive her? How could she see him again and not want another night, another week…
another chance
?

Tab reached across the table and laid her hand on Jasmine’s. “Relax and stop being all paranoid about it. It’s just a weekend. I’m sure you can convince him to squeeze one in someplace.”

When she didn’t respond, Tab’s expression grew quizzical; then her laughter died away as her perfectly shaped brows arched in surprise, and her green eyes went wide with shock. She snatched her hand back and her mouth fell open. After an uncharacteristic silence, she finally spoke. “Tell me you didn’t…not again.”

Jasmine raised her chin. “I just got promoted. I have a career to think about. It was the right thing to do.”

“What could possibly be right about you walking away from Ethan for the second time?”

Jasmine opened her mouth to speak, but she stumbled over the words. That small hesitation left room for something she’d run away from for days…doubt. She pushed it aside. What was the point? She had her old job back. She didn’t want or need anything else. She’d done what was right, smart…
safe
.

She met Tab’s accusatory stare and big emotion pushed out angry words. “I know what I’m doing, so butt the hell out.”

Conversations lulled around them and silence spread beyond the private bubble of their table.

Tab’s eyes grew bright, and two red spots bloomed in her cheeks. “Fine.” She grabbed her purse from the back of her chair and pulled out her wallet. “Let’s go. You don’t want to miss your flight.”

Regret washed over Jasmine in icy tingles. “Wait, I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”

“Forget it.” Tab shook her head jerkily. Fishing out money to cover the bill plus tip, she tossed it next to the sugar caddy and got up from the table without a backward glance.

Tension lay in the space between them during the short, rainy ride back to the airport. Jasmine started to protest when Tab eased the four-door rental sedan in the lane for short-term parking but changed her mind. Disagreements weren’t new to their relationship, but her snapping like that, and Tab’s silence, wasn’t the norm. They’d been friends too long to let what happened ride and not talk it out.

Tab didn’t give her a chance. She parked the car, abruptly got out, and shut the door. Jasmine followed and joined her at the back of the car where she was taking her bags out of the trunk.

“I’m sorry.” She tried to catch Tab’s eye but her friend avoided her gaze. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, but I made the right decision about Ethan. Long-distance relationships aren’t for me.”

“Okay, I get it.” Tab shrugged and handed her the carry-on bag. “You have to do what’s best for you.” Suddenly, she slammed down the door to the trunk and water on the surface of the car spattered against Jasmine’s shirt. “Damn it, I can’t do it! I can’t stand here and pretend I’m okay with you lying to yourself!”

Tab whirled to face her, and Jasmine rocked back on her high heels. “I’m not lying about anything. I’m being practical.”

“Practical?” Tab’s voice rose to a higher pitch and cracked. “No, you’re not.” The movements of her hands punctuated her words. “It’s okay to be cautious after what Greg did to you. It’s even okay to scream and cry about it, and it’s definitely okay to call him and his sister every shitty name in the book, but it’s not okay for you to let what happened a year ago stop you from getting all giddy and girlie about Ethan. It’s not okay that you won’t think about the possibility of a week from now or six months from now with him.” Tears welled up in Tab’s eyes as she pointed at Jasmine. “And it’s not okay for you to keep running away from the good things you deserve because you’re too scared to take a risk.”

“No, you’re wrong.” Jasmine slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “I’m not scared to be with…” She tried to bring in more air but there wasn’t room inside her chest.

Ethan.

Something twisted inside her almost to the point of pain, and her bottom lip trembled. Being with him was the best she’d felt in a long time.

“Oh, sweetie.” Tab pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s okay.”

That’s all it took for the tears to fall in earnest for both of them. Cars weaved through the curves of the parking garage, rain drummed down on the pavement outside, footsteps hurried past them while they gripped each other in a sisterly hug. It was the type of uncontrollable ugly-cry they both hated. It guaranteed swollen red eyes, snotty noses, and flushes of heat that melted off every scrap of makeup faster than a blowtorch.

They stepped apart, and Tab carefully swiped her fingers underneath her eyes. She looked at Jasmine and laughed. “Oh man, we have got to get back in the car and fix your face. If you go inside looking like that, you’re practically screaming for airport security to pat you down.”

“Thanks a lot.” Jasmine sniffed and searched through the side pocket of her bag for tissues. “That’s why I don’t like it when you make me cry. It’s always the most dramatic experience on earth.” She found the tissues and handed several of them to Tab before using one to blow her nose.

“Are you going to be okay?” Tab asked.

Jasmine nodded. More tears threatened and she looked away. “I really messed up this time. I left him a note before I left and said things to push him away.” She sighed ruefully. “I guess it worked. He hasn’t tried to call me.”

“Of course not.” Tab snorted. “If the tables were turned we would have deleted his information and any associated photos within the first five minutes. Hell, I might have even changed my phone number.”

“Ouch, thanks a lot.”

Tab gave her a sympathetic smile and dabbed Jasmine’s cheeks with a clean tissue. “Do you really care about this guy?”

“What do you think?”

“Then I have the perfect solution.”

“What?”

Tab’s dimples sank into her cheeks with an impish grin. “I double-dog-dare you to get him back.”

…

“I’m sorry.” The blond ticket agent shook her head. “All flights to anywhere in the Southwest are grounded tonight because of severe thunderstorms.”

Jasmine dropped her head in defeat. Another flight canceled. The agent efficiently typed information into the computer, and her brows closed together with a small frown. “Let’s see, I can put you on standby for our morning flight, or I have an opening on our four o’clock flight tomorrow afternoon.”

Inwardly, Jasmine groaned. “Is that the best you can do?” The sooner she got back to Dallas, the sooner she could arrange for a few days off to visit Ethan. She still hadn’t figured out the tricky part—how to convince him to listen to what she had to say.

“The only flight open is going to Minneapolis, and then I’d have to route you through Orlando with a really long layover before we could get you to Dallas.” The ticket agent chuckled. “Well, I guess you could take an unexpected side trip to Disney World. The way the weather is looking, a vacation in a sunny place doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

Startled out of her thoughts, Jasmine looked at the woman. “Orlando?”

The agent smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, bad joke. I know that’s not what you want to hear right now. Let me keep looking.”

Orlando…
Only an hour away from Ethan.

Karma, fate, she’d never put much stock in Tab’s claims about some cosmic balance sheet in the universe, but could she ignore the signs?

As she thought of Tab’s last dare, a tremulous smile tugged at her lips with a collage of memories. The way Ethan had waded right in to save her at the club, their one night together, their week living together at the apartment, the way he knew how she liked her coffee.

Two sugars with a hint of cream.

From day one, somehow, he’d just known.

She swallowed. The double-dog dare was officially on. “No, hold that seat. I want to go to Orlando.”

“Are you sure?” the woman asked. “It’s leaving in less than thirty minutes, and it’s going to take you more than seven hours to get there, and then you’ve got an extended layover until your flight leaves for Dallas.”

A laugh bubbled past her lips, and the agent looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

Jasmine nodded her head. “Yes—absolutely.”

…

Twelve hours later, she drove into the apartment complex and parked next to Ethan’s truck. Letting out a relieved breath, she got out of her rental car and looked up at a gray afternoon sky spitting down intermittent rain.

Not exactly a hopeful sign.

Flipping up the collar of her raincoat, she jumped over the larger puddles, and her raincoat swirled around her legs. Water splashed up and trickled down her ankles, but she was more than willing to ruin her blue designer pumps for the cause. When she reached the sidewalk, she tightened the belt around her waist, ducked her head against a rush of wind, and hurried toward the stairs.