Simmering Heat

by Leora Gonzales

  Turning her head slowly to the doors at the front of the café, Jasmine locked eyes with the man that she had spent the last twenty-four hours thinking about. By the look on his face, he wasn’t very happy with her right now.

  Well…shit.

  Chapter 18

  Great. The last thing that Leo wanted to see after yesterday was his girl cozied up to a guy eating breakfast. It didn’t matter that Winter was sitting right next to her as if appointed as a chaperone over their meal. She had apparently been neglecting her duties if Butler was able to touch Jasmine, even if it was just her hand.

  “There’s your girl,” Will said softly, all the while eyeing the bakery case.

  “Seems like I need to remind a certain someone that she’s still mine,” Leo muttered, nodding to where Butler was still holding her hand.

  “Don’t go overboard, man. Butler’s just her friend.”

  “Right now, I’m not really caring that he’s just a friend. If he doesn’t move his hand soon, I’m gonna rip it from his body and beat him with it.” Leo looked up to place his order, speaking quickly so as not to waste time when a man was getting too close to his woman.

  His woman? The label made Leo stop in his steps as it echoed in his head. Jasmine could do something that no other female had ever done: make him possessive. No matter how backwards it sounded, Jasmine was his woman. His and his alone.

  Now he just had to deal with Butler. From his short time getting to know him at the station, Leo thought he had seemed like a good guy, but now that he was holding Jazz’s hand, Leo’s initial impression was changing. The man was hovering like Jasmine’s own personal guard dog. Apparently, Butler needed to learn that Jasmine would be protected by him.

  Leo wondered about the backstory. If Jasmine were anyone else, Leo would have assumed that she and Butler had dated before. Jasmine was hot and even though Leo was completely heterosexual he could admit that Butler was considered a catch by women’s standards. After last night’s beers with the guys, Leo had learned that despite Jasmine being around the station over the last year that she hadn’t dated anyone that the guys knew of. In fact, most the guys looked at her as if she were their little sister instead of a flesh and blood woman. Except Nix…and possibly the man glaring at him from across the room.

  Right now, he didn’t care if Butler gave him the stink eye. Not at all. The only thing that Leo cared about was getting Butler’s hands off Jasmine, by force if necessary.

  Leo walked away from Will leaving him at the counter to cover the cost of their food on his own. He would pay him back later. First things first.

  The closer he got to the table the more he noticed how ragged the women looked. Winter was holding a cup of coffee as if it were going to save her life and Jasmine looked extremely pale where she sat with a plate of uneaten food in front of her.

  “Hey,” Leo rumbled stepping up to the end of the table. “Winter, do you mind if I sit next to my girl?”

  His question broke whatever spell had been cast over the table, and if by magic everyone started moving at once. Leo let out a deep breath when Butler removed his hand from Jasmine, and Winter started pushing her plate across the table so she could move across the bench.

  “Am I?”

  The question came out so softly that Leo could barely hear who spoke them, much less what Jasmine asked.

  “What, sugar?” Leo asked as he scooted into the booth next to Jasmine and laid his arm across the back of the seat.

  “Am I?” Jazz repeated, louder this time after clearing her throat, as if she were just waking up.

  “Are you, what?” Leo shook his head in confusion, not sure what she meant.

  “Am I your girl? Still?” Jazz kept her gaze on the table in front of her watching her food cool. Even though she wouldn’t meet his gaze, he couldn’t say the same for her friends. Both Winter and Butler were staring at him as if to silently say, “Do something!”

  At that moment, Leo felt his heart break a little.

  Moving his arm from the back of the bench to Jazz’s shoulders, Leo squeezed her close. Lowering his face to her cheek, he kissed the skin softly before he whispered into her ear. The words for her and her alone. “Jazz, I can’t imagine anything standing in our way…even your parents. You’re mine unless you yourself don’t want to be. That sound good to you?”

  When she let out a little hiccup sob at his words, Leo looked up at the pair of gawkers staring at him from across the table. “We’ll be right back.” Nodding at the table, he motioned to Jasmine’s plate. “Can you get her another order, it looks like that’s gone cold.”

  Winter just nodded at him while Butler smiled and answered, “Sure, man.”

  Scooting out of the booth, Leo tugged her up behind him. “We need to talk and I don’t want to do it while those two are staring at us.”

  Jazz nodded, her eyes looking wet, but she gave him a small smile. “Okay.”

  As they walked out the front door, Leo ignored everyone except for the woman holding his hand tightly. Walking to a small grassy area in front of the restaurant, he kept a hold of her and pulled her into a hug. At the contact, Leo heard Jazz catch her breath.

  “Shhh…it’s okay, sugar,” Leo whispered against the top of her head which tucked perfectly under his chin.

  Jazz clutched the back of his T-shirt as if he were going to wiggle away at any second.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered into the skin bared at the neck of his shirt.

  Feeling the telltale wetness of tears, Leo leaned back and tipped her face up so he could see her better.

  “Don’t cry, sugar. You’re gonna break my heart.” Using his thumbs to wipe away the tears dripping down her cheeks, Leo took a deep breath. “I’m sorry too.”

  When her breath caught at his words, Leo gave her a small smile. “I acted like a dick,” he continued.

  Jazz shook her head ready to argue with him when he leaned down and kissed her quickly. Just a little peck to keep her quiet and his desire to kiss the lips that he had dreamed of all night after he passed out at Will’s from one too many beers.

  “No, I really did. I know how your parents are. I knew what they were like years ago, and I guess part of me had hope that they had changed at least for your benefit.” Leo kept her in his arms while he spoke. The feel of her body reminded him of how perfect she felt cuddled into him.

  “I’m an adult, and I know I should have stood up to them years ago,” Jazz whispered, the words sounding raw as if it pained her. “I guess I never wanted to disappoint them so I just fell in line with what they wanted for so long that it became habit. Before you, I didn’t have anything that I really ever needed or wanted worth standing my ground for. Well, except for nursing school, but I think they still hope that I will go back and apply to med school. I’m sorry about everything. I really am. I told my mom yesterday about us, and she didn’t take it too well. But, I could care less. I’m going to start living for me and me alone.”

  Leo rubbed his hands up and down her back as she spoke, the contact making him feel better. “So, we’re okay. Right?”

  “Yes.” Jazz nodded, looking at him with eyes that melted his heart. Leaning down to take her lips once again, he tasted the faint traces of coffee and creamer.

  “Now, want to tell my why Butler was touching you?” Leo asked once he pulled back, partly teasing and partly serious.

  “He’s my buddy,” Jazz answered as if that were all that needed to be said.

  Leo studied her for a moment before realizing that Jazz was completely oblivious as to how tempting she was to the entire male population. He was sure that Butler was just a friend to Jazz, but he was still going to drive home the fact that Jazz was his when he managed to get her buddy alone in the near future.

  “Sugar, I don’t want to be mean, but you don’t look too good this morning. Rough night?” Leo chan
ged the subject to something he hoped was less likely to cause another spat between them.

  “Are you saying I look like shit?” Jazz asked, her face completely devoid of emotion.

  Leo panicked for a few moments realizing that what he said came out completely wrong. He was running through how to respond when he saw a familiar twinkle in her eyes.

  Jazz was fucking with him.

  Chuckling he pulled her close again, burying his nose in her sweet-smelling hair. “I missed you.”

  The confession came out before he could stop it, but if he was being honest, it was a down play of what he had actually felt. He had not only missed her, but he felt as if the time that they had been apart had been stolen from them due to a misunderstanding and her asshole parents.

  Groaning and holding him closer to her, Jazz nodded against his chest. “Me too.”

  “So, what did you do last night that called for biscuits and gravy this morning?” Leo questioned as he led her back into the café. Seeing that her fresh breakfast had just been delivered to the table, Leo tossed a grateful nod toward Butler and Winter.

  The pair edged around the chair that Will had pulled up to the end of the booth and took their places back on the empty bench.

  “Winter, want to give the guys a rundown of what happened last night?” Jazz suggested before digging into her plate as if she hadn’t eaten in the last few days.

  “Which part? The part where we ate our weight in utter crap, or the part where your mom went super crazy on you?” Winter asked as she sipped her coffee. She’d finished her breakfast while they had been occupied.

  “Ugh, let’s skip talking about Victoria, please,” Jazz muttered, her mouth full of food.

  “We had a girl’s night,” Winter quipped to the table as if that in and of itself was a valid explanation of the events from the night before.

  When Will simply chuckled and shook his head, Leo looked at Butler in confusion.

  “Don’t look at me. I only get invited to the cleanup, not the actual girl’s night.” Butler let out a sigh as if he were supremely disappointed by that fact. “They could have naked pillow fights, and I wouldn’t know—wait, do you guys have naked pillow fights?”

  Will tossed his balled-up napkin at Butler while Leo simply glared. “Stop thinking about our women naked.”

  “You guys are ridiculous,” Winter pointed out as she reached over to grab Will’s hand in hers. “Sorry, I didn’t make it home last night, but my girl needed me.”

  “Next time, make sure you text me more than…” Will made a show of taking out his phone to read the exact words that Winter had texted him at two in the morning. “We ran out of foodz, gonna sleep here and snuggle with my frosting. XOXOXO followed by a kissy face.”

  When Will was done reading from his phone, he turned it so the table could see that he had been telling the truth. When the group started laughing, Winter’s face turned bright red and she pinched the skin on Will’s arm. “Owww. Don’t abuse me woman!”

  “Don’t make fun of me and I won’t pinch you,” Winter argued before leaning forward to bestow a kiss on her smiling fiancé.

  Butler just shuddered from his seat. “You guys are going to give me cavities with all the sweetness.”

  “You’re just jealous,” Jazz teased. “When are you going to get serious about someone?”

  “Yeah, Butler. When are you going to get your own girl?” Leo repeated with an extra emphasis on the word own.

  “Relationships are overrated.” Butler shrugged. “I’m too young to be tied down right now anyway. Marriage and babies and all the shit that comes with it is way off in the distant future.”

  “You’re the same age I am,” Jazz answered before her face turned red. “Not that I’m thinking of marriage and babies, but still.”

  Normally, when either the M-word or the mention of babies came into play, Leo found a way to quickly excuse himself. For some reason, when Jasmine said them it didn’t cause the immediate panic that he normally felt. Granted, he wasn’t saying that they were going to play fast and loose with birth control, but Leo had to admit that he didn’t break out in hives at the thought.

  Jazz shot a glance at him from the corner of her eye. Leo winked back to put her at ease a bit, understanding her embarrassment.

  “Speaking of marriage,” Butler said filling the silence that had come over the table. “How is the wedding planning going?”

  Both Will and Winter sighed in unison. “Well,” Will started before he stopped and looked at Winter for direction.

  “It’s going,” Winter tossed out. “Honestly, if we had to do this again we would probably just elope.”

  Jasmine gasped. “Don’t say that! It’s going to be perfect.”

  Winter scrubbed her hands over her face. “There are so many things that could go wrong.”

  “And everyone has to put in their two cents even though they aren’t paying a dime of the costs,” Will added, the stress coming out in his voice.

  “So, tell them to fuck off,” Butler suggested, obviously having never dealt with family and weddings before.

  “If you want to tell my Aunt Gertrude to fuck off, then, by all means, go ahead. You know CPR so it should be fairly easy for you to revive her when she has a stroke on the spot,” Will said sarcastically.

  “C’mon, it can’t be that bad,” Leo offered, hoping there was a silver lining somewhere to be found.

  “No, it really is. Everyone is fighting over what flowers we should have. My mother thinks it should be white roses, which of course are one of the most expensive flowers in existence, and my aunts are insisting that lilies are a better option…. It’s just a little overwhelming.” Winter frowned, her face the picture of disappointment.

  “Don’t forget my Aunt Sue wants to make the wedding cake, but is insisting that she should be paid more than it would actually cost for us to get a cake done professionally. Oh, and we can’t forget the fact that all twelve of your cousins want to be bridesmaids and your mom said yes,” Will pointed out, which was followed by the entire table groaning.

  “No way, twelve bridesmaids? Tell me you said no,” Jazz pleaded, her gaze focused on her best friend. “That’s it. I quit!”

  “Oh, don’t worry. When I explained that they would all have to buy their own dresses and it was going to be around three hundred a piece, they backed out pretty quickly.”

  “I’m sure they did.” Butler smirked. “Wasn’t your cousin Thea pretty cool though?”

  “When the hell did you meet Thea?” Winter asked her face showing her puzzlement. At her question, all eyes turned to Butler.

  “Remember when she stayed with you and Will a month ago while she was job hunting?”

  “Yeah, but she was only here for two days. I didn’t realize you guys met,” Will added, his eyes assessing Butler as if he were hiding something.

  “You guys had a barbeque and she needed a ride to go get ice.” Holding his hands out in innocence. “She’s nice. That’s all.”

  “She is nice,” Winter echoed. Her eyes focused on Butler as if he were a new species to be studied. “She’s actually the only cousin that I like.”

  “Is she going to be in the wedding?” Jazz asked, trying to take the heat off her friend.

  “Yeah, I asked her to be a bridesmaid.” Not ready to let him off the hook, Winter looked back to Butler. “Now that Jazz is out as your plus one, do you want Thea’s number?”

  Leo froze, his bite of carrot cake stopping in mid-air on its way to his mouth. “Wait, you were going with Butler as his date?”

  “Were. ‘Were’ being the most important part of what you just said,” Jazz pointed out. “Plus, need I remind you that he’s my buddy?”

  Leo held out his hands in a sign of surrender. “It’s just going to take a little getting used to, that’s all.”

 
“Man, now I need to find another date?” Butler whined. “Shit.”

  “Don’t push it, buddy,” Leo joked as he pushed the carrot cake away and moved closer to Jazz.

  Chapter 19

  It had been almost two months.

  Two months of ignoring the demands of her mother and father to ‘open her eyes’ and ‘stop acting so childish’ when Jasmine stood her ground on not only skipping the date they had set up but also solidifying her relationship with Leo.

  It had taken that long before her parents had somewhat relented and requested that she bring ‘that boy’ to dinner at the house.

  Jasmine straightened her skirt over her lap as she smiled at the fact that she didn’t even bother to wear pantyhose. A detail that would no doubt drive her mother crazy when they arrived for dinner. She had done quite a bit to prepare for tonight’s dinner. Janet, Leo’s mom, had been beyond supportive in their relationship. She was not only happy that Jasmine and Leo were together but also ecstatic to be connected again to Jasmine. Instead of simply talking to Leo weekly, she also called and spoke to Jazz frequently. Chatting about daily things as well as giving advice when asked for it, and the advice she gave was more than welcome.

  Looking over at the man in question, Jasmine let out a sigh at the sight of the muscles in his arms moving as he steered his big truck into the driveway of her parents’ home. Those damn arms got her tingling every single time. Arm porn, that’s what it was plain and simple.

  Arm porn.

  “Are you ready for this shit show? That’s most likely what this will be.” Leo’s voice snapped Jasmine out of the familiar place her mind tended to wander when she sat and stared at Leo.

  Whom was she kidding? She knew exactly where her mind had gone and it had been filled with all sorts of X-rated shenanigans. It was something that she seriously couldn’t help whenever she gazed at the gorgeousness that was Leo.