Chapter Fifteen
Dylan
I saw her smile as she entered the elevator and pushed the lobby button. I held that image in my head long after the doors had closed and Bethany had disappeared. It took all the strength I had to go back into my apartment and not rush downstairs.
Had there been something strange about the way we left things?
I wandered back into my loft and closed the door. There in the doorway, I caught a scent of Bethany's hair and it tied me up in knots. She had exited so suddenly, so casually, that she had left my head spinning.
What was the first thing she had said to me that morning? Where are my brown heels?
I scrubbed my chin and fought the urge to run out the front door again.
What did she mean, she 'really hoped' we could do it all again soon? I had laughed when she said it because it was one of the canned lines I used to give women. It was the most noncommittal yet considerate thing to say.
My chest burned.
Had Bethany just used me and walked out the front door to go to work?
I was on the verge of laughing over that irony when I smelled the pancake pan charring. Reality came rushing back at me like a freight train.
I smacked myself hard in the forehead and then burned my thumb getting the blackened pan off the stovetop.
Of course, Bethany had run out of my loft as fast as she could!
She must have overheard me talking with Jasmine. Anything she might have gleaned would have looked like I had a sordid tie to the diminutive blonde. Which was true, in a way. Bethany would have caught a whiff of something off and, naturally, run for the front door.
I fumed as I filled the sink with soapy water and put the cooling pan in it to soak. It was the most unfortunate end to the best weekend of my life. I soaked my burned thumb, too, and started to think about how I could patch things up with Bethany.
How would I explain Jasmine?
Jasmine. She was still in the pantry finishing off a bag of potato chips by the time I got to her.
"So? Your fancy little friend get on her way?" Jasmine asked.
I gritted my teeth. Bethany was the last thing I wanted brought up in our conversation. It felt like one step too close to tarnishing everything we had.
"Leave her out of this. What are you doing here, Jasmine?" I ripped the empty bag of chips out of her hands and hauled her out of the pantry.
She caught a champagne flute on her way to the other side of the kitchen island and slugged back the mimosa. "Well, you certainly know how to make a lady breakfast," she joked.
I stopped her small hand before she could catch up and swallow my drink, too. "Remember when you were near tears in the hallway? You might want to go back to that part of the script because I'm about to kick you out," I said.
Jasmine's mouth drooped at the corners, a quickly covered-up frown. "You're not in a hurry now, are you? Your lady-friend just left, and you have this big mess to clean up. What do you care if I sit down for just a moment?"
I swallowed a groan. She was right, sort of. If Jasmine really had come to me for help, then I was doing a truly shitty job of it. I relented and gave her a tight nod.
Jasmine slipped off the kitchen island stool and headed to the far corner of my loft. She curled up there in my overstuffed reading chair. I'd have to pry her out and carry her hundreds of feet if I wanted her out. I balled my hands into fists of frustration and joined her there.
"Is everything all right?" I ground out.
"Well, I could use another drink." Jasmine smiled prettily up at me.
The only consolation was that Jasmine had chosen to sit in an obscured portion of my loft, away from the big arched windows. Even if Bethany had looked up, she wouldn't have seen the little vixen.
I poured Jasmine another mimosa and brought it over with clenched fingers. "Here. Now get your story out or get out."
Jasmine nodded and sipped her drink. Then she gave me her big sad eyes and took another drink. "Any chance of one more?" she asked.
I growled. "Yeah. After you've said your piece and we agree that we will never see each other again."
Jasmine stood up and her slinky dress slipped down just in time. She saw my unintentional glance and gave her shoulder a sexy little twitch. The shoulder strap of her dress slipped free and let the neckline drop dangerously low.
"Sure, but what do you want to do first?" she asked.
I stepped back but Jasmine was fast. Her arms slipped around my waist and suddenly her soft breasts almost spilled over the top of her push-up bra as she pressed against my lower chest. With a subtle shimmy, Jasmine slunk up my body and almost caught me in an electric pink kiss.
I leaned back and stiffened my muscles. Jasmine was attractive, but she was everything I didn't want: manipulatively flirty, overtly sexual, and after something.
She tried again but her short stature meant she couldn't scale my chest and force a kiss. Finally, she slumped down again and pouted.
"So, that's it? I thought we might have had something," Jasmine said.
"Was that before or after you sic'd your brute of a boyfriend on me?" I asked.
Jasmine flounced over to the sofa, sat down, and patted the open place next to her. "Fine. All you want to do is talk. Where should we start?"
I moved to stand next to her. "How about we start with what the hell happened outside the nightclub that night?"
Jasmine leaned back and stroked her barely-concealed body. "What happened is you couldn't keep your eyes off me. Like right now."
That was it. I couldn't handle any more.
It's true, somewhere in my past I might have been able to take advantage of what Jasmine was so blatantly offering. I wasn't proud of it, but those actions belonged to a thoughtless time of my life.
Now, even as Jasmine parted her legs suggestively, all I could think about was Bethany.
Bethany's flirtations were shy and so sweetly genuine. Her red-hot sexiness was concealed under her professional attire, and I savored the idea that she kept it just for me. And, in all the time we had just spent together, Bethany had not asked me for a single thing.
That last example stung a little. Was that why it was so easy for Bethany to leave that morning? Had she gotten everything she wanted from me?
I wanted more.
And, with that thought in mind, I caught Jasmine's hands and dragged her up to standing. It only took a light shove to send her teetering toward the door.
"Get out, Jasmine, before I have to help you find the door." I held out my hands and herded her gently toward the door.
"No," she pleaded. "You don't understand. Just let me sit down and we'll talk. Nothing but talk, I swear."
"I have nothing to say to you, and you have thirty seconds to tell me what you came here to do." I opened the door and blocked her retreat with my fists on my hips.
"I came for breakfast," Jasmine joked. "I can make really good pancakes and clean up that mess you've got."
She tried to slide around me, but I stopped her with an arm around her waist. Gently but firmly, I scooted her back out into the hallway and swung the door to close it.
"I'll make a scene," she cried before I got the door shut.
"Go ahead," I said. "Everyone will believe you got the wrong door and the doorman will be up to clear you out."
I shut the door and held my breath. Jasmine stomped her platform heels and then stalked off down the hallway. I gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the front door.
It had been one hell of a morning.
Now I was convinced what I had overheard from the police was right: Jasmine could have been part of a set-up and I was just the dumb chump who had fallen for it. I felt a shudder of unease go down my back. Had I avoided her plan? What did she want from me?
I turned the possibilities over and over in my head as I cleaned up the ill-fated pancake breakfast. It was a good thing my life didn't depend on figuring out Jasmine's motive because my mind just wouldn't stay on her.
Bethany was my dominant thought.
I didn't waste another moment thinking about Jasmine. I jumped in the shower and there in the steam and heat it was easy to think of Bethany again. The way her skin had warmed to my touch like silk. The way her breath fanned the hair at my neck as she panted and cooed and drew me closer.
I turned the water to cold and woke myself up again. I had to get down to the shop and get my head on straight. I'd never be able to think of my next move until I had occupied my mind with work. It was the only thing that would quiet the confusion I felt.
The truth was, I couldn't wait to get out my door and figure out a way to see Bethany again. I dressed just in case that happened in a clean, pressed shirt and made sure to tame back my hair. So what if the guys noticed? I wanted to see Bethany as soon as I could.
If she hadn't seen or heard Jasmine, then I needed to know what had hustled her out the door this morning. Had I said something wrong over the course of our weekend? Had I somehow implied that I didn't want anything more than a casual time?
I fumbled with my car keys on the way to the elevator.
I wanted more than a casual time with Bethany. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted a future. I wanted a real relationship.
"What's your hurry, honey?"
The silky purr drew my attention as soon as I was in the garage. "What are you doing on my car?" I yelped.
Jasmine swung over the hood of the silver Mercedes and, thankfully, was careful her platform heels didn't scratch the paint job.
"I just can't help but feel like we have unfinished business," she said. Then she blew me a kiss. "Or maybe I'm hoping for some monkey business."
I swatted away her sexual advances and caught her wrist. "Get off the car and tell me exactly why you're haunting me."
Every hanging suspicion came bobbing back up to the surface. The diminutive blonde was definitely up to something. She had plans to detain me from leaving my place as long as possible. What good would that do her or her thug boyfriend?
"You got me on your mind, baby?" Jasmine slipped off the car as her dress strap slipped down again.
"I think maybe we should take all of this to the police, don't you?" I gestured up to the cameras and waved at the building security guards. "Bet those officers would want to know why you're here baiting me again."
Jasmine glanced up and smirked. "Let 'em watch. I bet they like it."
I pulled her off the car and felt her phone buzz against my hip. Jasmine must have felt it to because like magic, her demeanor changed.
"Sorry to bother you again, Mr. Wylde. Can't blame a girl for trying. Thanks for being so nice." She blew me a kiss and disappeared into the stairwell.
I didn't have time to chase her; I jumped in my fastest car and headed to the shop. Time to clear my head.