“Good morning, Mayor Jenkins,” Luke said. “I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. You’ve run a great campaign, and I want you to know whatever happens in the next coming weeks, I’m in favor of it one hundred percent.”
“Even if that means you lose this race?” Mayor Jenkins said. The fifty-nine-year-old man stood three inches shorter than Luke, with a medium-sized build and gray, greasy hair slicked back on his head as if he’d stepped out of a 1960s movie. Worn, wrinkled eyes indicated the mayor had a few sleepless nights during his term in office, but he held as much spunk as any young person.
“Because you will lose,” Mayor Jenkins went on.
Luke’s gregarious smile lifted his gorgeous brown iris.
“Even IF that happens,” Luke said, his demeanor commanding attention, “I will get behind you.”
“What about Bruce McCarthy, Milton Brunner, and Jefferson White? They are still in this race, too,” one reporter asked.
Both Luke and Samuel knew Bruce, Milton, and Jefferson were so far behind in the race, they didn’t have a chance, but they were both too polite to point that out.
“Whichever way this race ends, I’m behind it,” Luke stated again.
Jasmine smiled at him from the side while Luke said a few more words to the current mayor and waved for the cameras.
As Luke and Jasmine strolled down the block, Luke leaned toward Jasmine.
“I’m taking you out again tonight.”
Jasmine smirked. “Have I ever told you how demanding you are?”
Luke pretended to be appalled. “Me? No,” his thick voice grumbled.
Jasmine laughed, mouth opened wide. “Yes, you! You don’t even ask a girl out, just tell her it will be so.”
Luke’s grin spread. “Yeah, that is kind of rude, isn’t it?”
Jasmine shrugged. “Kind of.”
“This is the part where I’m supposed to apologize.”
Jasmine stopped walking. “So, are you?”
“Going to apologize?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Jasmine’s mouth fell wide as she laughed again with an unbelievable shake of her head. Luke chuckled.
“I’d be lying if I apologized.” He stepped closer to her, getting right in her grill. “Because if I give you an option, you might back out on me, and I’m not letting you go again.”
Jasmine’s heart fluttered, and a warmth coursed through her blood. She glanced to find a cameraman in the distance still filming.
“We’re going to be on TV,” she said.
Luke shrugged. “Is that a problem for you?”
Jasmine licked her lips. “My father,” she paused. “My brothers will think,” she stuttered and reiterated, “they’ll know we um like each other.”
Luke straightened his posture but kept his gaze long and simmering on Jasmine.
“What?” she said, needing him to say something.
“Is that a problem for you?” he repeated, noticing she had avoided the question before.
Tight-lipped, Jasmine stared right back into the depths of his eyes. Luke’s brow rose.
“No,” she said finally. “I just thought we would discuss when we would tell everyone we’re …” she motioned with her hand in an attempt to explain what it was they were doing.
Luke let her fumble before grinning and rescuing her again.
“Will you be my girlfriend, Jasmine?”
Her smile was shy but unwavering as her heart beat recklessly in her chest.
“Yes,” she said.
Luke’s grin morphed into a mischievous smile. He leaned forward and put a hand up to his ear.
“What was that? I didn’t hear you.”
Jasmine giggled then half-rolled her eyes.
“I said YE—” Halfway through her declaration, Luke slipped his arms around Jasmine, bringing his mouth to hers in a titanic kiss that rocked her boat and melted every atom that made her human. She moaned into his mouth, and her body’s arousal shot forward, bending her back and weakening her knees as she fell into his iron-clad chest. One hand slipped up his rock-like barrier, and a swirl of tingles wrapped around her flesh as her pussy showered between her thighs. Without command, her other arm coiled around the stronghold of his neck, and Jasmine could literally not breathe without the oxygen his mouth released.
When Luke pulled away suddenly, it was on Jasmine’s massive intake of breath. With his mouth seconds from her lips, his deep voice spoke, “They know now, Princess.”
With a whistle on his tongue, Luke stepped back from Jasmine, winked, and glanced at the camera crew who had gotten closer. He waved, tossed his hands inside his pocket, then smirked over at Jasmine as he proceeded his stroll down the street. Still dazed, Jasmine touched her lips meagerly then also glanced at the rolling cameras. She smiled softly then rushed to catch up with Luke. When she made it to him, all Jasmine could do was blush. There wasn’t anything at that moment she considered worthy of her attention except for the nest of butterflies in her belly and the drowsy way she felt inebriated whenever Luke touched her.
Chapter Eight
For the remainder of that evening, Jasmine was quiet as a mouse watching Luke in action as he shook hands, took pictures, and had well-meaning conversations about appointing the superintendent officer and the implicit bias training the state’s police force would have to pass to continue serving the city of Chicago. She was proud, and the honor she felt being his woman officially gripped her heart like nothing she’d ever felt before. How she could’ve thought for a second that Luke would have the heart to hurt her was so foolish that Jasmine could smack her own self on the forehead. He was flawed in his own ways but perfect for her. The longer she was at his side, the more she believed it.
They’d gotten lunch with Jasmine’s team and a group of Luke’s volunteers, including Sarah Middleton who didn’t seem so thrilled about Jasmine and Luke’s little public display of affection. Luke didn’t seem to notice since whenever he wasn’t speaking politically, he was busy drinking up Jasmine’s gaze with a potent, vigorous stare of his own. He hadn’t kissed her since his undertaking back on the street earlier, but that didn’t stop Luke from reaching to grab her fingers or sweeping his hand down her back whenever they were close. He would touch her here and there, and that was enough to make Jasmine’s body react with abundant nervous energy. When it was time to head to Luke’s office, the ride over was interestingly silent. The noticeable space between them made Luke reach for her. When his brawny hand gripped hers, Jasmine jumped and blinked out of whatever reverie she was entertaining.
“What’s on your mind, Princess?” he asked.
“You,” she paused, “us,” she exhaled.
“What about us?”
Jasmine shrugged. “I just can’t believe this is happening.”
“Why?”
Jasmine quieted, and Luke found her coyness cute. Jasmine was every bit of the bold, extrovert type of woman. So, to see her bite her bottom lip like she was doing now, and blush with a bat of her eyes was thoroughly joyful to Luke. He’d always seen it but not at the level it was now. When Jasmine was younger, she was still vehement, using her voice to speak about the rights and wrongs of society or building a case for why something was unethical. If Luke hadn’t known any better, he would’ve thought Jasmine would be the attorney and not Phoebe. But Luke did know better. Jasmine wanted instant gratification for issues, and she would take her fight right to the door of the offender whether it was personal or the government.
It was the one thing that separated her from a career in litigation where one would have to wait months, maybe years to resolve an issue. Instead, the firecracker in her was built to be an activist, political or otherwise. Jasmine knew there was strength in numbers, and sometimes the right call to action could resolve an issue overnight regardless of how rare those instances were. He loved her strength, and it revived his will to take action alongside her often. However, during those years, Luke would also
catch moments when Jasmine’s less edgy side revealed itself.
Particularly in the garden where he’d stumbled upon her a time or two having a conversation with her mother, Janet. Jasmine would be sitting in the orchard on a bench that was housed next to the maple oak tree of her father’s home. With her face toward the wind, currents sailed through her hair, and Jasmine’s eyes would be closed, leaving her vulnerability on complete display. Another time he saw her, she was knee deep in the ground’s earth with no mittens on as she helped their housekeeper and now stepmother Norma tend the soil. Where Norma would have gloves covering her hands, Jasmine wanted more than anything to connect with her mother, so she kept her hands bare and her thoughts focused on the task.
Each time after that, Luke made himself believe that it was a coincidence that he continued to come across Jasmine when she was in the orchard. But that was a cover. He’d secretly come to love seeing her so translucent, with no weight on her shoulders, no battle to fight, no outcry pouring from her. She was just a girl, innocent, justifiable, strong, ambitious, brave, independent even at a young age but also relaxed, feminine, affectionate, balanced, compassionate, idealistic, and most of all nurturing. It hadn’t taken much for Luke to fall in love with her, and the more he came to visit, the more he told himself watching her was an invasion of her privacy. He should leave and never return to interrupt the time she spent with her mother, and even though it pained him to do so, on what he’d talked himself into believing would be his last visit to spy on her had turned into something else altogether.
“I know you’re there,” Jasmine had said.
The fine hairs on Luke’s neck and arms rose, but he didn’t respond in case she wasn’t talking to him at all.
“I know you’ve been there all along,” she said again.
This time Luke was certain she spoke to him. Jasmine lifted her eyes from the soil and glanced toward the door.
“Luke, you can come out now.”
Luke’s ears tingled, and he smiled then quietly removed himself from the tall column by the door.
“How long have you known?” his deep voice thundered.
The softness in her face remained. “Depends, how long have you been coming by?”
Luke grinned and didn’t know if he should be ashamed to admit his next words. “For a while.”
Jasmine offered a soft smile. “That’s how long I’ve known,” she said.
Luke chuckled. “I apologize. I guess I’m not as good of a spy as I thought.”
Jasmine glanced back at the soil then rose to her feet, turning back to look at him. “No, you’re not, and I would never use you to infiltrate the bad guys and see what they’re up to.”
Luke’s chuckle turned into a rumbling laugh, and Jasmine giggled with him.
“If it makes you feel any better, this was the last time I was coming.”
Surprise registered across her face. “Oh, so you had no intentions of ever saying anything?”
Luke thought it over but was already privy to the answer.
“No. This is your time with your mother.”
The revelation hushed them both, and they stared at each other, Luke seeing the conflicting emotions now fluttering across Jasmine’s face and Jasmine trying to find a reason to be offended that Luke knew this but still sought to watch her. However, she didn’t feel offended, but she was interestedly piqued.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
Luke let out a breath that turned into a whistle and slipped his fingers into the pockets of his denim washed jeans.
“At first it was a mistake,” he said.
“And now?”
The truth was on his tongue but how would she take it? He strolled closer to her, coming just a hair from her mounting frame. Golden brown eyes bore into Jasmine, and with their breathing even, their attention remained with one another.
“Now, it’s an addiction that I can’t seem to shake.”
Jasmine’s heart thumped, and her pulse hastened.
“However,” he went on, “I know it’s wrong, and it won’t happen again.”
Jasmine exhaled. “Then that would be a shame,” she said.
Luke’s brow rose as he took in the meaning of her words. Before he could respond, Jasmine’s footing moved as she stepped toward him, slipping her hand up the blockade that protected his heart behind the solidly built muscle. She lifted to her toes, placing a small gesturing kiss on his warm lips. Luke stared down at her without returning the kiss. He was frozen, unwilling to believe it had just happened.
He’d imagined it. This, he was sure of, or maybe he’d mistakenly done it himself. “Forgive me,” he said feeling delusional.
Jasmine smiled. “Why do you need forgiveness when I’m the one who kissed you?” Something intense burned through his entrancement. Jasmine tilted again, and this time when her lips met his, so did Luke’s hand ride around her neck to grip the back of her head with snatching authority. The quick move made Jasmine yelp into a moan as his tongue trailed her lips in a scorching travel around her pouty mouth. She tasted of sweet raspberries, and Luke was sure her fruit must have been soaked in ethanol the way he fell into a drunken stupor from a mere partake of her mouth. He was powerless to resist her, and such an attraction would be perilous if discovered, but at the moment, Luke couldn’t care one iota. Their shared joining went on for a long minute before Luke snapped his head back with wide eyes and labored breaths. He held on to her but forced himself to let her go as he took a step back and removed his hands from her neck.
“Jesus,” he said. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Don’t.”
“Jas—”
“You haven’t been watching me this entire time because you wanted to run, and that’s not the man you are.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I think I do.”
Luke’s gut gnawed at him. “It’s not the right time.”
“When is?”
“If you still feel this way in a few years, then maybe—”
“A few years?” she said exasperated. Jasmine was only eighteen at the time. Matter of fact, she’d just had a birthday.
“It’s the only way,” he said. She watched him retreat as if she were running behind him with a pitchfork. Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked at Luke’s response as a rejection. But Luke was in utter turmoil. He tried to erase Jasmine from his heart by being with other women, trying to find the mental fulfillment that he found with her. He needed to love someone else, it was imperative.
Jasmine was his friend but also his best friend’s sister. Besides that, she was too young and off limits. He had to erase her. It was a must however impossible that it seemed. It was as if Luke scoured the earth, looking for the one that would break the chain-linked bond between them. Years passed, and no one fit the bill. When the truth hit him hard, he ended up in limbo, knowing he would never find someone who could fill her shoes. He became disgusted with himself for trying to assign the place in his heart that could only be occupied by her. Luke went through it all: anger for loving someone he may never be able to have, fear of the unknown when it came to their future and the possibility that he’d ruined any way of them being together. Doubt crept into his soul. Was he even worthy of her affection? He was a man insane and sentenced to possible exile because of his own imprudent actions.
It had gone on and on until Luke decided to make up his mind that this would not be his life. That they deserved to love one another. He’d let her know she was what he needed to survive the time he was allowed on this earth no matter what it took.
He had spelled it out for her: “I consider myself a patient man. I’ll wait for you, and when the time comes, you’re mine.”
Ironically, the tables had turned. It would be Jasmine that ultimately halted the forward progress of their relationship, but Luke knew it was his fault. He’d allowed her to witness his numerous dates and spontaneous relationships throughout the years, and now he was deter
mined to prove to Jasmine that she was the only person he had ever truly desired. If Luke were honest with himself, part of his reason to run for mayor was empowered by Jasmine, and it was the most beautiful thing to have found someone who could speak inadvertently to every part of your soul.
“I guess I’ve dreamed of this for so long that to be here in the moment is almost unbelievable,” Jasmine said, bringing Luke back as they continued their ride to his campaign office.
Luke understood her more than she knew.
“You don’t regret it already, do you?” he asked.
Jasmine laughed. “No, silly.”
“Well then why are you over there and not over here?”
Jasmine slipped across the seat with a blush covering her cheeks.
“It’s something I’ll have to get used to, so bear with me.”
“As long as you do the same when I reach out and grab you. Next time I might not ask.”
Jasmine’s blush deepened. “Consider it a deal.”
Luke tossed his arm around her shoulder, and Jasmine cuddled closer, laying her head against the bone of his arm and chest.
“We’re back,” she sang as the car pulled into the front of his office.
“So, we are.”
They left the vehicle and strolled inside past the multiple desks arranged with an assortment of papers and billboards that outlined their path to the finish line. As they came closer to his office, Luke and Jasmine paused instantaneously. The blinds inside his office were open, and five men could be seen lounging around the corners of the room. One, in particular, was sitting in Luke’s chair, but Luke wasn’t surprised to see that they had an audience.
“Oh look,” he said, “and intervention.” He smirked.
The blood in Jasmine’s face drained. This was not the time to be making jokes. This meeting of men felt like déjà vu as her mind took her back to the bar when Quentin had confessed his love for Phoebe. Jasmine’s brothers had gone full-on attack. Jonathon specifically. Her gut churned, and she instinctively reached out and grabbed Luke’s wrist, stopping his advance. Luke cocked his head in her direction and saw the paleness in her brown face. Concern washed over him as he turned full circle to address Jasmine.
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