So many men throughout her life had tried to start relationships with her. Horrible men like Troy and very good men like some of the ex-Navy SEALs who worked for Sutton. Why was her mind constantly spinning over a few silly interactions with a famous country singer and the brief but amazing experience of being held tenderly in his arms?
She called herself a lot of names when she broke down and bought a ticket for an early May concert in San Diego. Kaleb’s tour had several stops throughout California and this one was the closest to her home. It was nothing personal. She didn’t care about the man. Who could blame her for liking his music? He was a talented artist. That was all. End of story. She hoped.
She made sure she had a seat far enough away from the stage that she wouldn’t be able to feel too close or connected to him, or risk rushing the stage and begging him to hold her again. Two songs into the concert, and it was already … disappointing. All of the special effects and loud background noise, from not only the crowd but the band behind Kaleb, distracted from his deep, throaty voice that she knew so well. She simply wanted to hear him sing in person. Jasmine was also mad at herself for getting a seat so far back. If she would’ve been down close she could’ve stared into his beautiful blue eyes without him even knowing she was staring at him. The lights were so bright, pointing at the stage, she wondered if he had migraines after the concerts.
Finally after one song the crowd quieted and he talked to them. When he said he wrote the song for Tate, Jasmine felt her throat get tight.
“Hey, beautiful, you here all alone?” the guy in the seat next to her asked.
“Leave me alone,” she muttered.
“I’ve been working up the nerve to talk to you all night and you act like that?”
Jasmine tore her eyes from Kaleb long enough to give the dark-haired man a glare that would’ve frozen purgatory. “Leave me alone or I’ll punch you in the throat.”
His eyes widened and he leaned away from her.
Jasmine focused back on the stage as Kaleb started singing. Finally, she could hear his voice like she’d longed to throughout the concert. The melody was soft and beautiful, and like all his songs, he gave her a glimpse into his heart. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the words, a love song about family, little Tate, Ryder, and Bree. Oh, how Jasmine loved Bree. Her sister had watched out for her and fought her battles until they were torn apart by the monsters who made Jasmine into something worse than a monster.
“You okay?” the guy next to her was leaning into her space again.
“No.” She shook her head and muttered, “I’m sorry I was rude.” The apology surprised her as much as it did him. She wasn’t one to apologize and she hated men hitting on her after she’d already made her feelings clear. She wouldn’t have punched him in the throat; but she’d broken more than one nose, or occasionally a finger or hand, when they didn’t back off.
“It’s okay. You probably get hit on a lot.”
“Comes with the territory.” She gestured to her face. Men couldn’t resist her stupid, beautiful face.
He nodded. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Jasmine couldn’t continue this. The guy actually seemed like a nice person and she was the farthest thing from nice. “Thanks.” She stood and slid through a few people until she reached the stairs, anxious to get away from the man next to her and out of this concert. Had she really just cried like a woman over Kaleb’s touching lyrics and irresistible voice? So not cool.
She heard the women chanting for Kaleb to marry them and rolled her eyes, thrust back to the reality of the only man she was interested in being a famous dude who had women crawling all over him.
“Sorry ladies …” Kaleb’s deep voice reverberated through the speakers. “I’m already engaged.”
Jasmine froze in the aisle. What had he just said?
She spun around to look at the stage, hating how far away she was. Her heart beat painfully. Kaleb was engaged. To who? Why wouldn’t Bree have told her? Then she remembered that she’d stayed far away from Bree the past month, while she and Griff made sure, with Sutton’s men’s help, that Ryder and Bree’s security was amped up. Thankfully Griff hadn’t made a fuss about Troy showing up at the wedding, but it had terrified and sickened Jasmine. She couldn’t allow her past to hurt her sister.
Kaleb had the most charming grin on his handsome face. She could easily see that he was in love, even from this far away. It hurt far more than it should have.
“Y’all don’t know her,” he was saying, talking about his fiancée obviously. The thought shot a pang through Jasmine that she never thought she’d feel. She wanted Kaleb Quinn. She was an idiot. “But she’s feisty, funny, tough, wouldn’t give her heart away easily … Her name is Jasmine.”
Jasmine’s heartrate doubled and she leaned against the railing going up the aisle. The crowd was shouting around her and eventually Kaleb started into another song and she heard some people behind her grumbling, asking her to move out of the way. She turned and strode up the steps and out of the stadium.
“Her name is Jasmine, her name is Jasmine,” played on repeat through her head. She’d always known that the good Lord above hated her. The only positive thing that had ever happened in her life was Griff knocking her out as he rescued her from a bomb, then Sutton Smith apprehending her and giving her a chance to work for the good guys for a change. Sutton and his wife Liz were amazing people and she loved them almost as much as she loved Bree. Bree was a light and a delight but Jasmine didn’t even dare be around her sister for fear of people like Troy coming around and hurting Bree and her new, little family.
Now Kaleb Quinn was engaged to someone named Jasmine. The jerk had hugged her less than a month ago. And now he was engaged to someone with her same name. She rushed through the parking lot to her car, ignoring some catcalls. She’d assumed for years that her heart was made of stone, but if that was true, why did this hurt so much?
Chapter Four
Kaleb had never been so relieved to be home after a stressful concert as he was that night. He had houses in Newport Beach, Park City, and Kauai, but the past few years he’d been on tour at least three months out of the year and was almost always sleeping in a different hotel room every night during those months. Being so close to his Newport Beach house with his California stops had been bliss. He stretched out in his king-size bed and listened to the ocean crash on the beach below his bluff.
He’d need to calm his mind down and fall asleep soon, so he could have the energy for a decent workout tomorrow. He had a few days break, and then they’d be flying to Vegas for his next concert. All he’d been able to think about since he got home tonight was Jasmine. Why had he claimed to be engaged to her and how was he going to fix the mess now? He’d have to call his agent in the morning and run through some scenarios with him. Maybe they could hire some woman from Kauai. He could fly there after his tour ended in July, get some pictures with a beautiful local, leak them to the paparazzi, and then a few weeks later claim they broke it off.
His cell phone rang and he plucked it off the side table. Unknown caller. He wouldn’t usually answer, but right now he’d take any distraction to get his mind off of Jasmine’s beautiful face and the mess he’d made.
“Hello.”
“You know the only thing I hate worse than your rejection is you lying to me.” It was a woman’s voice and he didn’t recognize it.
“Excuse me? Who is this?” How had this person gotten his cell number and what in the world was she saying about him rejecting and lying to her?
“I’m gonna call your bluff. I say there is no Jasmine, you’re not engaged to anyone, and you only lied to make me more miserable. If you don’t produce a Jasmine, marry her by tomorrow night at nine, and leave fifty-thousand dollars in an unmarked case at the location that I text you, I’m going to kill a member of either the Titans or the Patriots football teams, maybe both. Don’t worry. It might not be one of your brothers.” Sh
e gave an ugly laugh. “I really like how Ryder’s backyard and living room are easily visible with a sniper’s rifle, and you know how trusting Mack is, he doesn’t even have a security system.” The phone went dead.
Kaleb pulled his phone back and stared at the unknown number. What kind of threat was that? His heart was racing and any hope for relaxing disappeared until this person was found and caught.
He dialed 911 and raced through an explanation of what had happened. They promised to send a team of detectives over quickly to his house and notify the Titans and Patriots about the threat. He hung up and dialed the number of the toughest man he knew.
“Hello?” His brother’s voice was as gruff and low as ever.
“Griff? I need you.”
“I’m on my way.” The line went dead.
Kaleb clung to the phone. No explanations were needed. He and Griff weren’t close, but that’s what brothers were for. They didn’t ask questions, they just came. Kaleb needed that right now, as much as he needed Griff’s serious demeanor and security experience. The threat could be a prank but he didn’t think so. I’m going to kill a member of either the Titans or the Patriots football teams. Ryder. Mack. Terror raced through him as he dialed Mack’s number first. If Griff wasn’t on his way, he would completely fall apart.
Jasmine’s mind was still stuck in that concert with Kaleb when she returned to Sutton Smith’s mansion after midnight. She’d gone for a long walk along Coronado Beach, mulling over Kaleb being engaged and the loss of those insane dreams of someday being a part of his life. She came to the conclusion she should be praising whoever this other Jasmine was. Jasmine could never be with someone, especially someone good and honorable like Kaleb. Him being engaged was for the best. No matter how she hated it. It was crazy that she loathed some faceless woman with her same name, the woman who had taken the dream of Kaleb from her. So pathetic. She was like any other star-crazed woman. She had no claim on, or relationship with, Kaleb.
Security cleared her through Sutton’s front gate and she drove along the tree-lined road and up the hill. The monstrous home came into view on the bluff overlooking the ocean. She’d never felt a sense of home, being abandoned at birth, shuffled through foster care until age eight, then being adopted by the worst people imaginable, until Sutton and Griff found her. The fact that Sutton’s assistant Agatha had a room ready for Jasmine whenever she wasn’t on a job warmed a part of her soul she didn’t know existed before these people had taken her in and made her one of them.
She parked near the garage, placed her thumb on a scanner, and then walked through a side door. If Agatha saw her right now, she’d insist on a “spot of tea” but Jasmine wanted to be alone. Kaleb Quinn was engaged. No matter her pep talks to herself about this being a good thing, she’d think she had a broken heart if she had a heart in the emotional sense.
Her phone rang. “Jaz?”
“Hey, Griff.”
Just another evidence heaven hated her. Kaleb’s brother, who looked a lot like him except for a little lighter hair and thicker through the chest, was the person who called her at this moment.
“We need you in Sutton’s office.”
Jasmine hung up, not responding. Had they been waiting for her? Sutton and his team of elite former Navy SEALs knew where she was at all times. She thought they tracked her through her phone but wouldn’t put it past them to have drugged her and implanted something into her body at some point. She smiled. Crazy that she didn’t even care that they tracked her. Insane that she trusted these people when she’d never trusted anyone before, except Bree.
She strode through the quiet house. Only quiet because of the late hour. Most of the action happened below ground in the command center, but Agatha was always feeding one of the former SEALs or security guys and Sutton’s wife, Liz, was constantly bringing in lost souls or working with some charity. Good people. Great people. It still boggled Jasmine’s mind that they wanted her in their midst, would stand up for her if she needed.
She entered the office. It was just Griff and Sutton. She hated that her eyes were magnetized to Griff. He reminded her so much of Kaleb with his too-blue eyes and sculpted face and body. She liked Kaleb’s darker and a little bit longer hair. Griff’s was dark blond and military short.
This was ridiculous. Argh! She didn’t even know Kaleb Quinn. It was simply a case of fan-adoration. Even if she did know him and could be in his life, she wasn’t in the market to date, ever. So why did it hurt so much that he was engaged?
She focused on Sutton, who reminded her of James Bond, the dapper Englishman right down to the accent. Sutton pulled out a chair for her, always the gentleman. She sat but they both remained standing. Griff was actually pacing the large office and Sutton’s gaze was slowly swiveling between the two of them.
“What’s going on?” she asked, uneasy and not sure why.
Griff pressed his lips so tight she could see a muscle working in his jaw. “Kaleb was threatened tonight.”
Jasmine jumped up. “What? How? Where is he?”
From the surprised looks on the men’s faces, she’d definitely reacted too intensely. She circled around behind the chair she’d been sitting in and grabbed the back of it, bracing herself before meeting their eyes again. Griff had stopped his pacing.
“Kaleb wasn’t actually threatened,” Sutton said calmly. The man was always calm. He’d be calm in the middle of a terrorist attack. “We’ve been there and assessed the situation, and we have eight of our security personnel at his house right now.”
Jasmine relaxed, a little bit.
“The woman threatened to kill one of the Patriots or Titans if Kaleb wasn’t married by tomorrow night,” Griff growled. “She knew that Ryder’s back windows could be seen with a sniper’s scope and that Mack didn’t have security in place. That’s threatening enough for me.”
Jasmine held on to the chair, feeling faint. The threat was strange and it made her stomach sick. So whoever this Jasmine girl was, Kaleb would have to marry her to protect his brothers and their teammates. Bree! If someone was threatening Ryder, it could hurt Bree.
Griff stared pointedly at her. “Married to Jasmine by tomorrow night.”
She blinked at him. “It is an odd threat, but didn’t Kaleb announce he was engaged to someone named Jasmine at his concert tonight?”
Again she’d played her hand too quickly, revealing she knew what had happened at Kaleb’s concert. But of course they knew she’d been there by her tracking device. The men exchanged another of those secretive looks. She hated when they did that.
“So he marries her by tomorrow night.” She jutted out her chin. “That’s not the worst thing in the world.” Except for how it would hurt her. The other Jasmine was the luckiest woman in the world. Goodness, stop the drama. Kaleb Quinn was just a man. He probably left the toilet seat up or worse—left it down and peed on it. Pee splashing the walls; the bathroom always reeking of urine. Focus on those disgusting thoughts, girl. He’s nothing special.
“Jasmine,” Sutton’s voice was low and soothing. “Kaleb isn’t engaged.”
She studied his serious blue gaze then swung around to meet Griff’s even more serious blue gaze. Relief rushed through her. “He’s not?” her voice squeaked and they could probably read how happy she was at this news. Then what they were telling her hit her in the gut. “So he needs to marry someone by tomorrow night to appease this threat until we can find the person who issued it?”
Sutton nodded slowly. “Someone named Jasmine.”
Her eyes widened. She released the chair and backed up. “No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no. No way!”
Griff strode up to her. He towered over her five-four frame. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, wishing she had heels on. “Please, Jaz, you’d be perfect.”
She’d never heard Griff say please like that before. He had impeccable manners so she’d heard him say, please pass the butter or similar please situations but not beseeching someone for help. As
king for help from another wasn’t in Griff’s makeup.
“Why would I be perfect?”
“The story is very plausible. We claim you two met through Ryder and Bree, but even more important, with your security background you can keep my brother safe.”
“He’s willing to pay top dollar,” Sutton said from behind Griff.
Jasmine liked money, especially since she’d never had any of her own until she escaped from her disturbed adoptive family at eighteen and started her own life of crime. But marrying Kaleb Quinn for a paid security job? That was a whole truckload of no.
Griff was still right in her space. “Please, Jaz … it’s my brother.”
Jasmine closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the desperation in his. She didn’t like Griff being desperate. He was always strong, solid, and unemotional. She finally blinked up at him and said weakly, “There has to be another solution.”
“Such as?” Sutton asked.
Jasmine walked around Griff and started pacing like he’d been doing earlier. It was disturbing to know that someone was issuing these weird threats to Kaleb, targeting the football teams his brothers played on, Bree’s husband played on, but the thought of marrying him? She put a hand to her throat, suddenly unable to clear a full breath, as the thought of being close to Kaleb Quinn shot good chills through her body. She’d been in those arms before, and it had given her good nightmares for a month.
“How was the threat issued?” she asked, giving herself time to think.
“Phone call.”
“Any other demands, besides him marrying someone named Jasmine?”
“Fifty-thousand left at a location that will be texted to him.”
“So that’s how we catch them?”
Sutton nodded. “You’d be married tomorrow evening and by the next day, if all goes well, it could be annulled.”
Her stomach pitched. Married. And to Kaleb Quinn. If Bree’s wedding was any indicator, the two of them were like dynamite and a match. She was far too attracted and impressed by him. Some sappy person might call it love at first sight but she didn’t believe in craziness like that. She’d been feistier than normal around him to somehow keep her distance and protect herself and him. Nobody should be in a relationship with the likes of her. Oh, snap. That was it!
Quinn Family Romance Collection Page 15