Top Shelf (Five for Fighting #4)

by Amber Lynn

  “Don’t mind them, they’re probably just off to make sure the guys have all the sparkling water and candy they ask for after a game.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Casey’s voice, but Jasmine had no reference to know what was going on. “Anyway, let’s duck in here real quick and finish our conversation before I take you to Klinger.”

  Jasmine was again pulled along as Casey opened a door and dragged her inside, shutting the door behind them. Lights automatically came on as they entered what seemed to be a conference room of some sort. There was only a long table in it with a bunch of chairs, so Jasmine wasn’t sure what to call it.

  “She finally told you, right? I thought maybe she already had when you bought Klinger for her, but there’s been a hint of sadness in you that wasn’t there last night. I really shouldn’t be saying anything, in case I’m reading things wrong, but you’ve brought one of my friends into the situation, so I have to look out for his interests.”

  As cryptically as the words sounded, Jasmine understood exactly what Casey was getting at. She just didn’t have a clue how she knew.

  “How do you know my grandma?” It seemed like the simplest question to get on the right track to figure out the other questions bubbling in her head. As it was, she fought not to break down in tears again as she thought about how her life had changed in one night.

  “Good, it’s about time she told someone.” Jasmine felt a tear slip down her cheek, and knew that was the reason behind Casey’s statement. “I tried to tell her that keeping the diagnosis to herself would only hurt the people left behind in the end, but Iris is almost as stubborn as I am.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.” Jasmine thought it necessary to point that out as Casey lifted a finger up to her chin and started tapping.

  “We have the same doctor, who thought it’d be a good idea for us to get together since Iris made it perfectly clear to her that she didn’t want anyone else to know about the cancer.” Casey hesitated a little before saying the last word. Even though she’d determined Jasmine had been clued in, she still seemed to gauge her reaction.

  “You have the same doctor?” There was still some confusion on Jasmine’s part, and Casey didn’t appear to be the most forth-giving person.

  “Yeah, obviously you don’t know, but these are fake,” Casey said as she pointed to her chest. “Breast cancer runs in my family, and it was a matter of time before I got it. I actually met Dylan live and in person the day I found out the girls had to go. We’re not talking about me, though. Look, I respect your and Iris’ privacy and am here for you with any support you need, but as the self-proclaimed mom of this hockey team, I’d really like to know what your intentions for John are. I thought the messages were because you wanted to move up the date with Iris, but you being here makes me think you’re using John for something else.”

  “How would your reaction to me and John differ if you didn’t think I knew about the cancer?”

  The conversation overwhelmed Jasmine a little. It was hard to understand how someone could know so much about something that was going on in her life, when Jasmine was still coming to grips with the cancer being a reality.

  “Knowing what I read about the two of you in the tabloids, I probably wouldn’t have given you much more thought than putting my pick in for how long you’d last. There’s been times we’ve run six or seven pools a month to pick how long the current girlfriend would last.”

  Jasmine shrugged. She wasn’t sure if that was meant to scare her away or not, but Casey didn’t know as much as she thought she did.

  “I’m not using John any more than he’s using me.” At the confused look on Casey’s face, Jasmine pushed on with her explanation. “He knows why I want to at least appear to be settled down for a while, and he agreed to play his part.”

  “And he’s using you for what? A play toy?” Casey interrupted before Jasmine could finish what would’ve answered the question.

  She could understand why the woman bristled up when she realized the odd instant relationship wasn’t necessarily real, but Casey didn’t understand she was facing off with a woman who already felt protective of John in her own way. And when Jasmine wanted to protect something, she didn’t back down.

  “He’s using me to try to get you and your friends off his back as far as settling down. Do you know how much pressure it is for a person who hasn’t found a spark with someone to have to deal with all the perfect couples around them? And from what I understand, both from you and him, it’s not like you guys are letting him live his life. You want him to fall into the mold everyone else has, and dating me for a while will hopefully make you guys think he’s at least trying.”

  Part of that was based off feelings of pressure from others to settle down, but she’d seen the tiredness in John’s eyes when he’d confronted Casey the night before. It wasn’t like he was the joke amongst his friends, but they seemed to find amusement at his expense.

  Casey’s eyes narrowed as she studied Jasmine. There was a strong chance the conference room was going to turn into a cat fight arena, but Jasmine hoped she wasn’t forced to maim one of John’s friends. That would make their relationship a little rocky.

  After a second, Casey’s eyes wandered behind Jasmine and a pair of hands drifting to her waist told her they weren’t alone. When moist lips touched her temple, Jasmine didn’t question who’d joined them. She did wonder exactly what John had heard.

  “I tried to warn you Casey was trouble. Can I ask why she knows about our situation?” John’s arms wrapped around Jasmine’s waist and pulled her into his firm body. Just feeling his warmth made her cheeks heat up.

  “How’d you find us?” Jasmine wasn’t sure how far away the locker room was, but she hadn’t thought it was right next door.

  “Casey’s got a big mouth and when I heard her talking about the pools they run, I thought I should probably jump in to make sure she wasn’t scaring you away.”

  “I think I’ll leave you two to the rest of your night. If what she said about your feelings towards the rest of us are true, we should probably have a little talk about that sometime, but not tonight.” Casey didn’t give John a chance to answer as she skated out of the room.

  Doug didn’t speak up until the door clicked shut behind them. The room apparently wasn’t as private as they thought, so there didn’t seem to be a reason to stop the conversation. Doug used the few moments to spin Jasmine around and kiss her lightly on the lips. Okay, so maybe there was a reason for a slight delay.

  He kept things chaste and quick, but Jasmine licking her lips to try to get any sense of his flavor from them caused a quiet groan to echo from his chest. The peppermint taste that lingered made her wonder if he’d been chewing gum.

  “You okay? I hate being alone with that woman, so I can only imagine how it is for someone who’s just met her.” There was a hint of amusement in John’s eyes that made Jasmine smile.

  “I think I’ll survive the encounter. It wasn’t until the end that things got a little hostile. She’s just looking out for you.” Something Jasmine had to respect.

  “It sounded like you were doing the same. I have to say, I enjoyed your version better. It was almost like you’d been inside my head the last few months.”

  “I guess that means we’re peas in a pod, because I was going largely off personal feelings. So, do we have to stick around here, or can we head back to your place? Watching you out on the ice may have made me a little frisky. I was so busy being enamored by the things you did to my body earlier today, that I hadn’t realized just how flexible you can be. It made my mind think of all sorts of fun things to try.”

  The amusement she’d noticed turned a little darker as his eyes told a quick story of a few ideas he had of his own. It was funny what a little movement of eyebrows and generally opening and closing of eyes could tell you about what a person thought.

  “Is there a reason you don’t want to tell me how Casey knows about us?” John’s mind didn’t remain in t
he bedroom long enough to get them on their way.

  “Hmm. You mean other than the fact I’m trying to decide whether that table over there could take our weight? No, there isn’t a reason. I’m just still trying to figure out how much more she knows about my grandma than I do. The little bit I heard made it sound like Casey was her confidante or something.”

  “That would be an unexpected twist. I guess that makes me asking whether we let some of my friends in on what’s going on a little more complicated. I was going to ask if I could share some details with Doug, since it’d be helpful to have his support when the locker room starts questioning whether I’ve taken one too many pucks to the head.”

  Jasmine hadn’t really considered letting other people know. She didn’t have anyone close enough to her that she thought she needed to tell, but John was another story. He had a rather large extended family.

  “I guess that can be a subject to debate after you feed me and see to all the desires you’ve got rolling through me.”

  “Now I’ve got to feed you? Didn’t you have something to eat from the restaurant? I told them all your expenses were covered.”

  Unexpectedly, Jasmine found herself lifted up, causing her legs to instinctively wrap around his hips. The ease in the movement made her feel like she didn’t weigh more than a flower. John opened the door out into the hallway and apparently was ready to leave.

  “I was told you’d be hungry after the game, and I wasn’t about to eat twice.” Jasmine had most of the clothes personally tailored to her body for the movie she was working on, so gaining even a pound could be problematic. At least that’s what she liked to think.

  “Oh I’m hungry. But it’s going to be a long time before either of us eat anything more than strawberries, because that’s all I’ve got at home, and right now, I think I have something a little tastier on my mind.” John nipped at her cheek and food was definitely the last thing on Jasmine’s mind.

  Chapter Nine

  “You know, I can’t say for sure when the last time I woke up with someone else in my bed was. This probably won’t reflect well on me, but I usually kick them out before they have a chance to get too comfortable.” John had played with Jasmine’s hair for at least ten minutes, with no words exchanged between the two of them. He knew she was awake, but after the night they’d had, he wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it out of bed. He wasn’t sure he would either.

  “That’s probably a good idea, because I seriously love your bed and am trying to figure out how I could get it moved to my place.”

  They were spooning, but Jasmine broke their full-body connection as she rolled over onto her back. John had done a pretty good job of calming her case of bedhead, but there was still some work that needed to be done. The fresh-from-bed look was just as appealing as her all dolled up. John started to realize there wasn’t a thing she could do to make her less attractive.

  An image of Jasmine trying to carry the bed out of his room on her back flashed in his head, causing him to chuckle. “Would you mind trying to take off with the bed so I can see if it matches what just envisioned?”

  An elbow to his side was the immediate response. “I’d make you carry it out for me, so maybe you should think about whether your back can take it.”

  “I kind of like it where it is, so I guess you’re going to have to settle for visiting it. Do we have any plans of getting out of it, because I’m not adverse to just laying here.”

  They’d gone through all the strawberries and sugar in the house, which was literally all he had to eat, but somehow they’d kept up enough energy to rival their fun earlier in the day. With both of them exhausted from their long days, things didn’t last quite as long. That didn’t mean they fell asleep unsatisfied.

  “You already told me you don’t have a game, but don’t you have hockey things to go do?” Jasmine lifted her head up slightly to get a look at the alarm clock across the room. Klinger knew it was just after nine, so he didn’t bother checking.

  “It’s an optional skate today, and it’s kind of my thing to miss them. What about you, don’t you have some acting thing you need to do?”

  Jasmine sighed as she settled her head back on the pillow. “I was supposed to be going over lines and hopefully getting scenes shot, but I got a text at the game last night that my costar’s wife went into labor a month early, so things are on hold for a day or two while he deals with that.”

  A hand reached over and lifted John’s hand that had settled across her hips, so Jasmine could roll over to face him, throwing her leg over his to bring their bodies snug. Since he hadn’t made it to the bathroom yet, there wasn’t a question about whether her skin made a new friend.

  “As much time as we’ve spent in this bed, we probably should’ve had our own little discussion about kids. We haven’t exactly been proactive as far as I know, but the way you ended that sentence gave me a little hope that nine months from now we won’t be spending some time in a hospital.”

  The look of fake surprise that light up Jasmine’s face was enough to make John laugh. She was supposed to be an actress, but ever since she’d broken into his place, John had only felt sincerity behind her words and actions.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask exactly how many kids you have. Because I know you get around, and I’m pretty sure not all the women who’ve made it to this bed were as devoted as I am about keeping my stomach from looking like a watermelon was stuffed in my shirt.”

  John leaned down and initiated a slow, sensual kiss before responding. He didn’t want to take things too far, but when their tongues entangled, all bets were off. They needed to finish their conversation to pin down whether they were getting up for more than answering the door for delivery, so John leaned his head back as soon as Jasmine started rubbing her groin against his. It wasn’t easy to separate, but it was the smart move.

  “I’m sure we’ll get to that eventually, Princess, but I wasn’t trying to distract you from my response. More than anything I wanted to prove that the second our lips connect, the voice in my head telling me to lean over and pull out a condom from table beside the bed shuts up quick. That hasn’t been an issue before, so they aren’t any kiddos running around.”

  “There’s no way you can know that for sure, and if you’ve always wrapped yourself, I’m a bloody queen, not a princess.”

  “I guess you have me there, as far as the knowing for sure. But I can’t think of a single woman I’ve been with that would keep a kid a secret. They’d be knocking on my door looking for a wedding ring.”

  There’d been women who blatantly tried to keep him from getting a condom, but those were usually the times he grabbed two, just to be safe. After how he’d acted, he doubted anything he’d say could convince her that he was strict when it came to protection, so he let his claim slide without trying to offer proof.

  “I suppose that’s probably true. Meemaw suggested I get bit by a snake in hopes of counteracting my shot. Evidently we’d make beautiful babies.”

  “Well, obviously, but I don’t think you need to run out and find a snake to prove that.” John had to pause for a second because Jasmine’s hip movements managed to connect the two of them together. She was definitely a multi-talented woman. “Have you gone through some kind of drought lately that you’re trying to make up for?”

  “Not specifically. I just really like the way you feel in there.” Jasmine leaned in and started sucking on his neck. It’d been a long time since John had any hickeys, but if the woman in his arms kept it up, he was likely going to be covered in them.

  “Just so you know, you’re only about fifty percent of the reason it’s hard enough to feel good.” Jasmine leaned back, raising her brow to look at him skeptically. “Okay, maybe you’re closer to eighty or ninety, but I would really like to escape into the bathroom for a second.”

  Jasmine’s bottom lip jutted out as she thought about her answer. Not leaning down and sucking the lip into his mouth was difficult, but John knew he�
�d never get to the bathroom if he went down that road.

  “Fine, I suppose I have to go too, but I wasn’t going to complain.” She shifted to undo their connection, causing John to groan at the lost.

  It was illogical how addicting Jasmine’s touch was, but John was slowly coming to the realization that he had a problem. It wasn’t just her touch, really. Or the fact that she was gorgeous. There was something on the cellular level that he felt connecting the two of them together. It was the most confusing feeling he’d ever experienced, and a part of him wished it would go away.

  A bigger part begged him not to screw things up. The weirdest part of it all was the niggling whisper in the back of his head that was sad when she’d admitted there wasn’t a chance their DNA was combining inside her to create a child. Their child. John actually felt a bit melancholy over that realization.

  Jasmine Truedel was dangerous, and instead of trying to distance himself from her, John leaned down and kissed her forehead before he hopped out of bed.

  “I really don’t have any objections about staying in bed all day, but we should probably pick up some food before we commit ourselves to that path.” John glanced over his shoulder as he walked across the room.

  Jasmine had only moved to settle back on her back, letting the sheets drape around her as they wanted. She looked like a goddess, with her messy black hair drifting off in every direction. At least momentarily she was his goddess, and John had to figure out if that undetermined amount of time was going to be enough.

  As he took care of his morning business, he thought about the little hope he felt because she wasn’t running off to her normal life. Other than talking about the situation with Meemaw, Jasmine hadn’t given him a real look in what that normal life looked like. Trying to figure out more about her was a priority for the day. He could spend all day looking her up on the internet, but he wanted to get the truth straight from her.