Chapter 11
“Where did Jazz go?” Russo asked, finishing up the last sip of milk he had poured to go with the cookies he had devoured.
“She had a phone call and stepped out to take it. I think it was her mom,” Leo answered, his gaze focused on the preliminary reports that the captain was working on. “So, the investigators think it was lightning that started it?”
Russo nodded, wiping crumbs off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yeah, man. With the building being so old and all that crap inside piled like tinder it just went up like crazy.”
“Interesting,” Leo said offhandedly still going through the paperwork.
“So, you and Jazz?” Russo probed.
“Yep,” Leo chirped. Looking up he noticed a couple of the guys staring at him. “What?”
“Nothing, man. Just that it’s interesting that you’re back for a couple weeks and then suddenly Jazz is with you. Didn’t you two just meet the other day at the party?”
“You guys are like a bunch of old ladies wanting to gossip.” Leo looked at everyone waiting for him to spill the beans. “Okay, you guys want to really know what’s going on?”
He barely waited for the chorus of yeahs and hell yeses to stop before he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. “Listen up because I’m only going to say this once. I’ve known Jasmine since we were little. In fact, we were pretty much raised together. I hadn’t seen her in years but when I spotted her last night it all just clicked into place.”
A couple of the guys nodded while some of them still seemed confused.
“The only thing you guys need to know is that she’s mine and that’s that,” Leo added, waiting for someone to contradict him.
Timbo walked into the rec room, one of the newer recruits at the station. The man had obviously gotten done with a workout because he was dripping sweat and gripping a water bottle like his life depended on it.
“Hey man, looks like Nix is finally making his move,” Timbo remarked, slinging a small towel over his neck to catch some of the moisture dripping from his hair.
“What does that mean?” The words came out sounding angrier than Leo intended, but Timbo hadn’t been clued in on Jazz’s dating status yet so he tried to keep calm.
“Just saw Nix getting cozy with Jazz when I was finishing up my miles, man,” Timbo said wiping his face. “What? What did I say?”
The words coming from the newbie were ignored as Leo stomped to the door, looking out the small window to see Nix brush a piece of hair back from his woman’s face.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Leo whispered, the sight of Nix so close to Jazz making his stomach clench in anger.
Before anyone could stop him or tell him to calm down, Leo was moving out the door and into the front of the station. Jasmine was unaware of his approach since she was facing away, but Nix could see him coming the minute he stepped outside.
Leo kept his gaze locked firmly on the man making moves on Jasmine, and narrowed his eyes when he finally caught his gaze. Leo could tell when Nix understood his intention…especially when the fucker reached forward to push back her hair again just to taunt him. Nix loved to fuck with people, and Leo hoped that was all he was doing with the obvious jab at Leo as he got closer.
It was at that moment that Leo figured the odds for what the outcome would be if Nix decided to start something. Nix was definitely a bigger guy with more muscle, but Leo was sure, if Nix started something then Leo was sure as hell going to finish it.
Everything in his gut told him that Jasmine Jane Kingsford was worth fighting for, even if he still had to convince her of that.
Without batting an eye, Leo walked up behind Jasmine and pulled her back and into his chest with one possessive arm around her stomach to hold her. Hearing the adorable squeak of surprise made him smile, knowing that he had caught her off guard.
“Hey, sugar. Are you ready to head to my place yet?” The question was aimed at Jasmine, but Leo kept his gaze locked on Nix as he spoke.
“Dear lord.” Jasmine dropped her head into her hands and whispered a plea to the heavens.
Leo smiled knowing that he was trying her patience but unable to help himself. For some reason, whenever she was flustered it made her even more appealing. Leo was amused as he watched Jasmine try to figure out what she was going to say. It was almost as if he could see her working different scenarios out in her head, and honestly, it was something he wasn’t used to. Normal pole bunnies had their pick-up routines down to a science. Lines were delivered with practiced looks in hopes of achieving their goals, and he had to admit that in the past those performances had worked.
Then there was Jasmine.
She was the exact opposite of everything he had dealt with in the past and he knew now just how precious that was. Which brought him back to Nix, the other man who had noticed how genuine and sweet Jazz was.
“Leo.” The gruff greeting was short but Leo could tell that Nix had gotten the message by the look in the other man’s eyes. “Too late?”
“Yep, I would say I’m sorry but I’m not,” Leo answered the question honestly, keeping a firm grip on the feminine bundle in his arms that was wiggling to be let loose.
“I don’t blame you.” Nix nodded, looking at Jasmine with a heat in his eyes that made Leo want to snarl. “I don’t blame you one bit.”
“If you guys are done, I would really like to go home now,” Jazz snapped, looking over her shoulder to shoot him a glare.
“We have plans at my place, sugar. And seeing as how those plans will run through the night and into tomorrow, the only thing we are going to be going to your place for would be if you wanted to pack a bag.” Leo kept a firm grip on her hand as he tugged her away from Nix without so much as a word goodbye. “I would say that we can skip the bag though. You’re not going to need any clothes and I have a washer and dryer at my place if you want to wash what you’re wearing.”
Leo wanted to laugh at the look on Jazz’s face, but knew that if he did she would most likely take a swing at him. That idea made him want to laugh even harder the more he thought about it.
Without waiting for her to say anything, Leo tucked her up and into his big blue truck. Walking around to climb into the seat, he tossed up a thanks to whatever higher power that had managed to put them into each other’s paths after all these years. There was no way that this shit wasn’t destiny playing out no matter how much you looked at it.
Jasmine had always been on his radar, even when he was just a snot-nosed little punk at eight years old. Back then he had not liked the prissy girl who was always wearing pastel dresses and had matching ribbons in her braids. It wasn’t until his mom had sat him down and explained that Jazz’s parents didn’t have time to pay attention to their little girl like his mom did for him.
A couple of years had gone by with him still being bitter about sharing his mom, but eventually he was able to see the truth beyond his own childish mind. Her older brother had been MIA and Jasmine’s parents had made sure she had anything and everything money could buy…but the tradeoff was that she didn’t have them present for the majority of her childhood. He had trouble understanding how the girl who lived in the big house and never had to clean her room could be sad but that’s exactly what she was.
Jasmine had been sad.
Not only had she been sad, but it was something that made his stomach hurt every time he had thought about it. By the time he was thirteen, Leo had made sure to be nice to her whenever his mom happened to bring them together. Usually, it was at school functions where his mom would take pictures for the Kingsfords so they could see her performing or accepting awards.
Leo had been telling the truth earlier when he said that she could have turned out differently. There had been a couple of their classmates that rebelled to get the attention of their absentee parents. Some even managing to get pregnant or arrested before they garnered the guidance that they desperately needed.
Jazz had been different. Even when she had been younger, she never showed anger at being ignored by Reginald or Victoria. No, it was almost as if she had expected it and didn’t let it bother her. He could tell that she was upset though. She never lashed out at either himself or his mother, but Leo could see the anger and utter disappointment in her eyes when they didn’t show up. Instead, she would hug and thank his mother and then quickly change the subject to something neutral to avoid talking about the elephant in the room.
His mom had caught on pretty quickly to the fact that Leo was enamored with Jazz and didn’t discourage his interest. She had, however, given him a very strict warning. It was as if he could hear her voice right in front of him when he recalled the words she had said when he turned fifteen.
“You are a good boy, Leo, and you’re going to be a fine man. Don’t mess around with that girl until you know for sure that you can handle being her everything.”
Leo had puzzled over her words for quite a while and the truth of them hadn’t hit him until her graduation party when they danced together. Holding her close to him, he could smell the perfume she always wore that was a blend of coconut and something fruity. Seeing all of her friends bail on her party early had made him angry, especially when they had basically just shown up to eat food and steal some of the champagne bottles that were sitting out.
Jazz was alone in the world. She had parents who provided for her basic needs but other than his mom she had nobody looking out for her. It was then that he knew if he started something with her just for fun he would be just as heartless as her friends. Jasmine needed someone who was going to put her first. Eighteen-year-old Leo had enough sense to know that he wasn’t in any place to do that, and honestly, he hadn’t been sure he wanted to. There had been a whole world out there waiting for him to explore and plenty of females in it that wanted his attention as well.
He was glad that he had walked away after that party. It had been easy to do and that was the first indication that he wasn’t what she needed. Even at eighteen, Jazz had been a keeper. Seeing her at the party yesterday had to boil down to divine intervention.
It had been a couple weeks of his buddy saying how he needed to meet his fiancé’s best friend. It had been the same amount of time that Leo had declined while he got his shit in order settling into a new town and new job. Being back in Kansas had also given him an opportunity to think about looking up the girl he had grown up with in KCK. Fate must have been laughing her ass off when Leo figured out they were the same lady.
From the moment he spied her hustling into the ballroom he had been hooked. Or should he say, hooked again?
Leo held her hand in his own as he drove to his house, laying her hand palm down when he needed both to maneuver his truck. It amused him whenever her face turned pink at some of the things he did and he couldn’t help but chuckle remembering how red her face had been last night in his bedroom.
“What are you laughing about over there?” Jazz’s voice sounded a little miffed which made his smile get bigger. He loved getting under her skin.
“I was just remembering how much I love pink flamingos.” At his words, her cheeks got even brighter and she huffed, folding her arms across her stomach.
“Very. Funny.”
Taking her hand, Leo raised it to his mouth and kissed the back of it, marveling at how soft her skin was. “C’mon, you have to admit it was a little funny.” When she stayed silent and refused to look over at him, he said something that he was sure would get a reaction out of her. “Think of it this way. It will be a great story to tell the grandkids in forty years.”
Leo’s words had the desired effect as he watched her sputter and flap her hands. “First off, wow. And second, when would you ever want to tell your grandkids about seeing their grandma in bikini bottoms instead of panties?! That doesn’t even make any sense.”
Leo chuckled, mostly to himself considering how wound up he had gotten Jazz. She was still mumbling under her breath when he reached out and took hold of her hand once again. After last night, Leo had quickly figured out that he needed to be physically connected to her as much as possible.
Not want.
Need.
There was just something inside him that calmed when their bodies made contact, whether it be having his leg next to hers while they were sitting or simply holding hands. Funny enough, it was the exact opposite of all his previous experience. Don’t get him wrong, he loved touching women. Women were amazing creatures that he knew just how and when to touch. With Jazz though…it was as if all the chaos inside of him quieted down to a manageable white noise when they were together. She grounded him in a way that he hadn’t ever felt before. Normally, when he touched a woman, there was an end game, usually his bed, and everything up to that point was almost a race to get to the finish line. With Jazz it was as if the end game was simply their future…and there was no time limit when it came to the future.
Call him crazy, but Leo was fairly certain that this was going to be the woman he was going to marry.
And he had been called crazy. Repeatedly and very recently. By none other than his best friend when he told him that he was serious about Jazz mere hours after seeing her again.
Will had laughed until he realized that Leo wasn’t laughing with him. Then Leo had gotten the ‘talk’.
The talk had consisted of a couple major talking points that began with “Don’t fuck with my girl’s best friend,” and concluded with, “Don’t fuck with my girl’s best friend.”
Will had only come around once Leo explained their past and the fact that there was something within him that simply knew Jazz was it for him. Will had simply nodded his head, patted him on the back and wished him luck, ending with, “When you know, you know.”
Now he had to convince her of that.