SCANDAL BETWEEN THE SHEETS

by Brenda Jackson

  "I'll bring her around soon. Right now she's rather shy." He ignored the sound of Jake nearly choking on his wine. "But, her shyness is something that I'm working on."

  Miranda smiled. "Good, and we look forward to meeting her."

  Wesley returned her smile. He looked forward to introducing Jasmine to the people that he cared about. Then she would see that the Danforths were warm, caring people who had nothing to hide.

  * * *

  Wesley stood under Jasmine's porch light as she opened the door. Usually he would follow her home from her last interview then go to his own place. He had wanted to give her time to adjust to how things were between them. In addition, she had been a virgin and he had wanted to be considerate and give her body time to recover from last Friday night. So he had waited out a week, but now he wanted her again.

  He met her gaze, staring into the darkness of her brown eyes.

  Wesley watched her swallow. He noticed her breathing had quickened and the way she nibbled on her bottom lip. She had gotten his message loud and clear. She stepped back and without hesitating, he walked into the house and quickly closed the door behind him.

  Driven by a need to show her how much he wanted her, he lowered his head and captured her mouth in his.

  With a surrendering sigh, Jasmine opened her mouth to his. When he took her tongue and ensnared it with his, pleasure points went off all through her body. She forgot everything, except for how he was making her feel.

  He had never kissed her like this before, with such intensity and fervor—absolute wildness. But tonight it seemed that something was driving him, and whatever it was, she was too powerless to deny him whatever he wanted.

  Although she didn't understand what was spurring him on, she wanted it. She needed to be enveloped in him; wrapped tight in his strength, encased in his love…

  The thought burst her sensual bubble.

  Get real, Jasmine. A few weeks ago the man caught you going through his garbage. Do you really think he's fallen for you just because you slept together? Face it. This is lust and not love. This is a matter of being hot and not a matter of the heart.

  But, as Wesley lowered her to the carpeted floor and she felt his impatient fingers lifting her skirt, she didn't care what it was. At the moment all she desired the most was a chance to lose herself in him and to be a part of him. She released a hungry sigh from deep within her throat as he eased her panties off, closed her eyes and took pleasure in what he was doing to her.

  Wesley heard the sensual sound emitting from Jasmine's throat and felt the quick pounding of his heart. He pulled his mouth from hers and leaned back and looked down at her. She was gorgeous, laying on the carpet with her skirt to her waist and naked below.

  A lump formed in his throat. He became mesmerized as he gazed upon her. She reopened her eyes and saw her confusion as he continued to stare at her. Nervously, she made a move to cover herself with her hands.

  He reached out and stopped her. "No, I love looking at you," he said huskily, while slowly unzipping his pants.

  "You make me crazy, Jasmine," he said, giving her a half smile and thinking he'd never been this aroused before, to the point that the only thing that mattered was getting inside of a woman. There was no logic to what he was thinking or to what he was doing.

  "And that," he said, indicating the part of her she had tried shielding from his view, "makes me delirious with need."

  Pulling out his wallet, he removed a foil-wrapped condom and proceeded to protect them both, knowing that she was watching his every move.

  He went to her and began stroking her, glorying in her dampness, in her scent and the sounds she began making.

  A low growl escaped his throat when he eased his body over hers and slowly entered her. When he felt her body pulse around him, her feminine muscles tightening, he completely lost it and thrust within her hard and deep. He leaned down and kissed her with an intensity that made her body shiver. He released her lips and she moaned out his name.

  Whatever control he had suddenly broke and he made love with her like a madman enjoying what would be his last sexual encounter with the woman who meant everything to him.

  That thought had him scared straight but it was too late. The dye had been cast and he couldn't fight what he was feeling any longer. When he felt her body explode around him and heard her cry out, he pushed into her one last time glorying in the explosion that rocked his body, as well as hers.

  And at that moment, Wesley knew what it felt to be out of control but totally in sync with a woman. He knew the difference between having sex and making love. He was drowning in ecstasy of the richest and most profound kind, and he knew from this night forward his life would never be the same.

  * * *

  A short while later, Wesley was still stretched out on the carpet with Jasmine in his arms. He looked down at her and saw her lashes flutter open slowly, trying to catch her breath the same way he was trying to catch his. He suddenly found the strength to whisper. "I wanted you so much."

  He waited for her to speak, but when she did, her words took him by surprise. "I thought just the opposite. After following me home, I thought you would leave without coming in like you did all week," she said in a quiet tone of voice.

  He reached out and caressed her cheek. "Only because I wanted to give you a chance to get used to the idea of us, as well as to give your body time to adjust," he said softly.

  She nodded knowing what he'd said was true and appreciated his thoughtfulness.

  "Give me a second and I'll be back," he said.

  Jasmine watched as he stood and walked off in the direction of her bathroom. She sat up, put her panties back on and pulled down her skirt, not believing they had actually made love on the floor, just a few feet from her front door.

  Wesley returned to see Jasmine sitting in the same spot where he'd left her. The first thing he noticed was that she had her clothes back on straight and a part of him regretted that since he so much enjoyed seeing them in disarray or completely off.

  Walking over to her, he crouched down in front of her and took her hand in his. Lifting her hand to his lips he kissed her fingers gently. "Are you ready to talk?"

  She frowned, deepening the lines between her brows. "About what?"

  "About us and dating," he told her, deciding to sit beside her on the carpeted floor. He kept her hand in his. "I want you to consider it. In fact I want you to be my date at the benefit dinner the hospital is giving next week."

  She shook her head and nervously bit her bottom lip. "Wesley, I don't think that's a good idea."

  "Why, because your ex-fiancé will be there?"

  Jasmine lifted a brow, wondering how he knew then remembered Alyssa's phone call last Saturday morning. Evidently he had heard her stepsister's message.

  "That's not it at all. Paul means nothing to me."

  "Then why are you letting your stepmother and stepsisters dictate your social life?"

  "I'm not. I just don't want to cause problems. If Dad knew what was going on, he would give Evelyn and her daughters their walking papers so fast it would make their heads spin."

  "Then let him," Wesley said roughly.

  She shook her head. "I can't do that, Wesley. Evelyn and my father have been married for almost ten years. She depends on his money, so do Alyssa and Mallory. They wouldn't know what to do if they had to fend for themselves."

  "Then maybe it's time they found out," he said, his tone lacking sympathy of any kind. "How can your father not know what's going on when you eat dinner with them every Sunday?"

  "Yes, but with everything that he's involved with at the hospital, he's a very busy man and doesn't know how bad my relationship with Evelyn, Mallory and Alyssa really is. Whenever he's around they're on their best behavior."

  Wesley shook his head as he pulled himself to his feet and brought Jasmine up with him. "I know for a fact that you aren't someone who doesn't fight back when boxed in a corner," he said remembering that night
they had squared off at the coffeehouse. "Don't let their actions control you."

  "I won't."

  He lifted her chin up with his finger to meet his gaze. "Good. That means I will be your date that night, all right?"

  Jasmine knew to argue about it would be useless. He was proving to be as stubborn as she was about certain things. "All right."

  He gently pulled her into his arms, drawing her close. Jasmine felt the tension seep out of her and she drew comfort from the strong arms around her.

  * * *

  Wesley took a quick glance at the clock on Jasmine's nightstand the moment he heard his cell phone go off. Pushing himself up in bed he reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand where he had placed it earlier. "Hello," he said in a deep, sleepy voice. He felt Jasmine stirring beside him.

  "Wes, this is Jake. I'm glad you had your cell phone on at this hour. I just got a call from Ian. There's been an explosion at the Danforth and Danforth waterfront office. Luckily no one was hurt. I'm contacting the family to let them know so they can get here immediately. In a few minutes the place will be swarming with police and reporters."

  Wesley's brain was filled with urgent questions. But he knew that now was not the time to ask. He'd get the answers to all his questions once he got to the waterfront. "I'm on my way," he said before ending the call and hanging up the phone.

  "Something wrong, Wes?"

  He turned to Jasmine. Tonight he had kissed her until she'd consented to call him Wes instead of Wesley. "Yes, that was Jake. There's been an explosion at the Danforth and Danforth waterfront office."

  "An explosion?" she asked anxiously as her heart skipped a beat. "Was anyone hurt?"

  He stood and quickly began putting on his clothes. "No, no one was hurt and I didn't get the chance to ask how bad things were. Jake was too busy trying to reach other family members. I told him I was on my way."

  Jasmine slipped out of the bed. "I'm going with you," she said and met his gaze when he stopped stuffing his shirt into his pants. Her heart missed another beat and she said softly, "I'm a reporter, Wes, but I'm sure the newspaper will have someone there covering the story. Tonight I'll be there as your friend. You're going to have to trust me."

  For a long moment he gazed into her eyes, not wanting to remember how trusting Caroline had gotten him burned. But something deep within him wanted to trust Jasmine. "All right, I trust you, Jasmine."

  An hour later Jasmine pinched her nose against the sting of the smoke still in the air. When they arrived at the waterfront they'd found the place in chaos, swarming with firemen, policemen, reporters and members of the Danforth family. Ian had been busy giving the investigating detective what information he had and several police officers and firemen were doing a thorough job of searching through the debris in an attempt to discover the cause of the explosion. Luckily the damage had not been extensive.

  Jasmine glanced around. It seemed that the entire second generation of Danforths had crowded into the main office where the detective was asking questions. No one in the family had questioned her right to be there as she stood next to Wes. They had seen them arrive together and had probably drawn their own conclusions about their connection—especially since it was so early in the morning.

  "You're sure you don't have any enemies, business or otherwise, that you can think of Mr. Danforth?" the detective asked, giving Ian a level stare.

  Ian returned the man's scrutiny with a stare of his own. "That's right. As far as I know I don't have any enemies, Detective. None of the Danforths do."

  After a long moment, the detective nodded. "If you happen to think of anything else that can help us, here's my card," he said. "Give me a call. In the meantime, I plan to hang around and talk to the officers and firemen to see what other information they may have." Everyone watched as the detective walked out.

  Hours later almost everyone had left except for Ian, Reid, Wes, Jake and Marcus. Adam Danforth was out of town. So were Kim and her husband Zack.

  "I'm glad no one was hurt," Marcus Danforth said to the occupants left in the room. He was Abraham's youngest son. Harvard educated, he was an attorney for Danforth and Danforth.

  Jasmine sat in Ian's office while the five men stood around Ian's desk and talked openly in front of her. They knew her profession and they also knew about her past efforts in trying to dig information up on their family, yet they trusted Wes. If he felt she was not a threat then so would they.

  "Why didn't you tell that detective about Sonny Hernandez and your suspicions, Ian?" Jake asked looking over at his cousin.

  Wes raised a brow. "Who's Sonny Hernandez?"

  Ian raked a hand down his tired face before he answered. "The guy's real name is Jamie Hernandez, but he goes by Sonny. He's a coffee supplier who came to me months ago with a deal that I turned down."

  Marcus Danforth crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the desk. "What sort of deal?"

  "I don't think I want to know," Reid said, chiming in before Ian had a chance to answer Marcus's question.

  "The man wanted me to consider doing business with certain coffee suppliers and I turned him down. I didn't feel good about what he proposed because I know that a few of the suppliers he named are disreputable," Ian said.

  "And you think this Sonny person may have something to do with tonight's explosion?" Wes asked in an angry voice.

  "Hell, I don't know," Ian said. "The entire proposal that Hernandez offered sounded rather shady and he got rather pissed that I didn't see things his way."

  "Pissed enough to do something like this?" Jake asked angrily.

  "Yes, especially if he's a front for some bigger operation," Ian replied. "I didn't want to mention him to the police until I can get more information about him."

  For the longest moment the room got quiet, and then Ian met Wesley's gaze in silent acknowledgement. Ian then shifted his gaze to glance to Jasmine. "Is there any way you can help us in finding out whether he's part of a bigger operation?"

  Jasmine swallowed. She had been tempted to offer her services but wasn't sure of her place. But in asking for her help, Ian was letting her know that he trusted her, too.

  "Yes, that's something I can find out," she said softly. "If Sonny Hernandez is using his business as a front for some organized crime cartel, then I'll be able to find that out. I have some contacts at the police station and I can discreetly find out what you want to know."

  Ian nodded. "All right and thanks."

  Instead of taking her back home, Wesley took Jasmine to his place since he lived closer. It was nearly daybreak and both were too tense and wired to sleep. They sat at the kitchen table drinking cups of coffee.

  "What do you think it will mean if Hernandez is involved in some kind of money-laundering scheme for organized crime?"

  "I just hope he isn't," Jasmine said after taking a sip of coffee. "Men like that are ruthless and will do just about anything to get what they want."

  Wesley nodded. "How soon do you think you can find out anything?"

  "If I can touch base with my contact tomorrow, then I'll have the information in a few days," she replied.

  Wesley sighed deeply. "I wonder if any of this has to do with those threatening e-mails Abraham received."

  Jasmine lifted a brow. "What threatening e-mails?"

  Wesley met her gaze and didn't say anything for a while. She knew he was trying to make a decision about something—how much he felt he could tell her. Earlier that night he had said he trusted her and now he was faced with proving just how much.

  She released the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding when he began talking, telling her about the three e-mails Abraham had received and the virus one of them had carried. "Is he still getting them?" she asked. She couldn't help but admire the Danforths' ability to keep the threats from leaking to the media.

  "As far as I know he's not."

  Jasmine nodded. "What is Abraham doing about it if he hasn't gone to the police? I hope he took thos
e threats seriously."

  Wesley took another sip of his coffee. "He did and has hired a security specialist by the name of Michael Whittaker to work on the case. It's my understanding that Whittaker is good at what he does."

  Jasmine nodded again and like Wesley, began wondering if the incidents were related. "I'll find out as much as I can, Wesley."

  "Thanks, and we appreciate it."

  It didn't take Jasmine long to ask the right questions of the right person to get the information she needed. Two days later she met with Wes, Ian, Reid, Marcus and Jake again.

  She placed a sealed report in Ian's hand. "It's all there, viable information that Hernandez's company is really a front for a cartel money-laundering operation."

  Ignoring Reid's long whistle she continued. "You did the right thing by turning down his deal, Ian. The man is connected to a drug cartel and wants to use certain coffee bean suppliers as part of their smuggling operations."

  "Yes, but if he's responsible for the explosion, look how he retaliated," Jake said angrily. "Can't we take that report to the police and demand that they do something?"

  Jasmine shook her head. "No, especially since we can't prove Hernandez is responsible for the explosion. It would be sheer speculation on our part."

  "So what am I supposed to do? Sit around for them to make their next move?" Ian asked angrily.

  "No," Jasmine said, touching Ian's arm to calm his anger. "Don't let them get to you. The explosion is their way of letting you know they mean business and want you to begin seeing things their way. It's my guess that they'll sit still for a while and give you time to absorb what they've done so the next time they approach you, you'll agree to do business with them."

  "When hell freezes over," Ian snarled.

  Jasmine smiled. Ian's anger reminded her so much of Wesley's. It was uncanny how the five men in the room had varied similarities. "Well, at least with that report you know what you're up against."