An Arrangement of Love (18 page)

“Benny?” I said.

He turned to me.

“Chase’s lawyers are getting Vivian and Troy released,” I said.

“So you can call off your goons,” Chase muttered.

“How much is that going to cost Jasmine?” Benny scowled back at Chase.

This has to end.

“It won’t cost me anything,” I said. “Now let’s just wait for Vivian to get released.”

I signaled to the counter where Chase’s lawyer now stood, laughing with the cop who yelled at me earlier. Benny returned to glaring at Chase.

“At the Garden Party, I asked you to stay away from Jasmine.” Benny moved around me so quickly I couldn’t get back between them. “How did you get to her?”

Chase gestured to his two bodyguards. “Let’s not make a scene.”

I patted Benny’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m working as his assistant.”

“The hell you are!” Benny’s voice rose and caught the attention of others in the lobby. People near us turned our way.

“But you recommended me for the job.” I held my hands out.

“Says who?” Benny asked.

Damn it
.

“Lucy,” I mumbled and then rolled my eyes at Chase. “She lied for you?”

“I couldn’t think of any other way for you to start the job process. Benny was overseas for a few months working on the Anderson deal. It seemed like a good opportunity.”

“Are you listening to this, Jasmine? Is this the kind of guy you want to be around?” Benny asked.

I combed my fingers through my hair.

“I expect this from Vivian, but not you.” Benny tapped a finger against his head. “You think things through. You’re careful who you date and spend time with a man first before giving him your heart. Right now I’m disappointed in you, Jasmine.”

I flinched like he’d slapped me and averted my gaze to hide the shame that had spread across my face. “We’re not really dating. It’s complicated.”

Benny grabbed my chin and guided my view back to him. “I was the one who researched the legality of this a
ssistant job
, and I was the one who dealt with the other girls’ death certificates and funeral arrangements.”

“That’s enough.” Chase’s voice resembled a lion’s roar. A shiver of fear crept up my spine. I shuddered and hugged myself.

“Are you sure we want to start the accusation and blame game right now?” Chase stomped around me. “I know about other certificates you’ve dealt with.”

Benny grinned.
Not a good sign.
I knew that expression well from living with Vivian and him during my high school years. It was the get-the-hell-out-of-my-way grin. The one he displayed when he broke Vivian’s high school boyfriend’s legs with a bat after he discovered the boy in her bedroom.

“Okay, please, both of you stop.” I waved my hands from side to side. Chase’s guards positioned themselves in a way that forced Benny and his companions to step back. Both of Chase’s lawyers arrived.

“Bail has been posted,” one of the lawyers said. “They’ll be out in less than twenty minutes. Out processing has already begun.”

“And her brother’s probation?” Chase asked. I held my breath.

“Charges against him are dropped and the cops won’t pursue it.”

“Thank you so much.” I blew out a relieved breath. “And thanks, Chase, for everything.”

Benny continued to grin at Chase. “Stay away from her.”

“Benny, please stop,” I whispered and walked closer to him. “I can take care of myself.”

“You’re too good for him,” Benny said. “This guy will eat you up and spit you out without losing any sleep at night.”

“I’m a big girl. I’ll be okay.” I hugged him. Benny embraced me as I balanced on my tippy toes.

“Do you understand what he expects from you?” Benny replied.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. I decided not to do that. We’re just friends.” I cringed, not wanting to discuss the arrangement with Benny, a man I considered my father.

“If something happens, you call me,” Benny said through clenched teeth. “I don’t care where you are, I’ll come.”

“I know.” I gave him a weak smile. “I’m okay. It’s going to be all right, but right now Vivian needs you, so stop worrying about me.”

Chase touched the center of my back with his hand. “Let’s go, Jasmine.”

“Go?” Benny glanced at me.

“We’re just going to talk.” I released Benny from my hug. “I’ll be right back.”

I headed to the front door.

Benny yanked Chase’s arm. Chase’s guards charged for Benny. Chase held up his hand to stop them.

“Jasmine is not like the others,” Benny growled.

“No, she’s not,” Chase agreed.

“You do anything to break her heart or hurt her in any way, and I’ll gut you myself.” Benny leaned in. “And no one will find your body.”

“Don’t worry,” Chase said. “I’m well aware of how good you are at hiding bodies.”

My mouth dropped open.

“Good. Then make sure you don’t forget.” Benny shoved Chase’s arm.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, as long as you don’t forget about the other things I know,” Chase said.

“Well, we both have our secrets, don’t we, boy.” Benny stomped away.

I shivered at their words as I headed out the door.

Chapter 18

S
o much rage
boiled inside me I almost kneed Chase in the crotch.
Breathe, Jasmine. I don’t need to go to jail too.
Before we arrived at the limo, I turned around and jabbed Chase’s chest with my finger. “That’s the last time you threaten Benny.”

“Is it?” Chase stared down at my finger.

“Stop using that night against him.” I jabbed him again.

He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. “What night?”

“Damn you.” I paced in front of him. “The night he helped Troy and me with my mother’s boyfriend.”

The night Troy killed him.

“Benny did that to protect us,” I said.

“I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Chase ended my pacing by placing his arm in front of me. “Benny and I have a serious history that goes back to when I was a kid. He’s known my dad since they were in high school.”

“So then what secrets are you talking about?” I crossed my arms around my chest.

“They’re our secrets.”

“They don’t deal with Troy or me?”

“You should ask him that question.” Chase rubbed his eyes again. In that moment, I realized bags rested under his eyelids. His usual air of confidence didn’t radiate from him. He seemed weary and exhausted.

“What’s happened? You look stressed out.” I asked.

“I am stressed. My girlfriend fled from a foreign country and only left an email, which is the last thing I would check when I’m frantically screaming her name and racing around a hotel hung over and half naked.” He targeted me with angry green eyes. “And although there was a smiley face on this email, I did not appreciate its message, or the fact that when I returned to the States, my girlfriend was sitting in a police station, crying.”

I clutched the end of my shirt and twisted it. “So did you eventually find your girlfriend?”

“Not funny.”

“You read the email.” I shrugged. “I’m not your girlfriend anymore.”

“You promised we would discuss the problems.”

“Yes, but—”

He closed the distance between us. “What made you run from me?”

“I didn’t like the Lucy watching part.”

“It won’t happen again and she’ll never accompany us on our dates. The India trip was a special one.”

I backed up. “You tried to push me into letting her watch us.”

“For one stupid second that I now regret. And let’s not forget I was drunk, too.” He glared at me and pulled me to him.

“You were angry. You jumped off the bed and turned on the TV like a spoiled brat,” I said as his arms wrapped around my waist.

“I was frustrated I couldn’t put my cock inside of you,” he whispered in my ear. “Especially when I’d just had your nipples in my mouth. I’ve been wanting to be inside you since the first time I saw you. Give me a tiny break.”

I blushed and looked away. “I’m not made for this situation.”

“Some can argue no one is, but I’ll do anything to make this work.” He guided my face to him. “I’m so sorry, Jasmine. Please believe me. I’ll do whatever you need and only treat you with the utmost respect.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Please.” He closed his eyes. His voice sounded lower than a whisper. “I don’t run after women or beg them to be with me. Yet here I am pleading with you.”

“What about the other three girls? You didn’t have to beg them?”

He opened his eyes. “They joined willingly. They saw the money, trips, and all the other things I could provide and joined the arrangement. What do you see?”

“The possibility of getting my heart broken,” I muttered. “Losing myself in your desires and forgetting my own needs and wants.”

“I won’t let any of those things happen.”

A sad laughed escaped my lips. “You can’t control everything.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Chase, you can’t.”

“Give me one month with all your rules.” He squeezed my waist with his hands. “If at the end of the month you still say no, then I’ll leave you alone. You can transfer to any of my other companies or leave with severance pay.”

I sighed.

“Please.” He lowered himself down to his knees and put his hands together like he was praying. “Please.”

A woman running with her dog ogled the scene. Another group of people leaving their cars pointed and mumbled to each other. Chase’s guards approached us and stirred behind him, probably unsure of what to do next. He remained kneeling on the ground. Wind rushed through his hair, leaving his usually perfect midnight waves in disarray. His cologne floated my way and against all rationality I breathed him in and reveled in his smell.

“Get up, Chase.”

“Give me one month?”

I thought about how horrible I’d been feeling before Chase arrived at the police station and how he simply swooped in and saved the day.
He said he was drunk that night, but should I excuse him?
I twisted my lucky copper ring. Benny had bought it for me the day he picked me up from my house and decided I would move in with him and Vivian. I remember that moment like it had just happened. I was so nervous that living with Vivian and Benny would be a bad decision and a tiny bit suspicious of why Benny would want to take care of me in the first place.

But it all worked out in the end.
All of my nervousness was for nothing. Could loving Chase have the same outcome? Will I laugh at myself a year later in his arrangement, thinking it was dumb to hesitate? Maybe.

“Okay,” I said. “One month.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.” I sighed.

“And you’ll let me fix any problem?”

“Yes. Now get up.”

Chase jumped back to his feet. “We have to celebrate. Too much has happened. Let’s go off somewhere and just spend some time getting to know each other.”

I gazed at the police station. “What do you mean?”

“I have a great idea for a trip.” He moved toward the limo door and opened it for me. “When I learned your name three months ago I searched you on the Internet.”

I reluctantly climbed into the limo. Benny expected my return, but I couldn’t go back in the police station as Chase’s girlfriend when I’d already claimed we weren’t going to be together.

“I found your Twitter name and started following you.”

“Oh god.” I hid my face with my hands. “Have you been following me the whole time?”

“Yes. And you’re hilarious. I loved the tweet about my fingers.” He shut the door behind him. “But last month you tweeted your bucket list.”

“Okay?”
Where is this going?

“I wrote them down, but my favorite one besides ‘hump Tom Cruise’s leg’ was when you said you wanted to bike around Paris, sampling food in gourmet specialty shops.”

“So?” Anticipation fluttered in my stomach.

“Let’s go to Paris, baby.”

I screamed.

Chapter 19

F
or the fiftieth
time, Chase replayed the last ten seconds of the Beatles’
Strawberry Fields Forever
. I laughed and wrapped myself in a huge red cashmere blanket. The soft fabric caressed my skin like a devoted lover. I’d refused to unfold my body from the blanket since I first discovered it.

“Did you catch that?” Chase asked.

“No.” Grinning, I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Play the song just one more time.”

“Pay attention.” He pouted and replayed the last vocals again.

The bed vibrated from the plane’s engine, which Chase claimed was under his small bedroom. After two bottles of wine, we’d debated the impossibility of the engine’s location for an hour. Unfortunately, the pilot confirmed Chase’s claims, but I bet the poor guy was too scared to go against him.

“Can you hear it?” Chase paused the song.

I shrugged. “I can barely make it out and only because you told me John Lennon is saying ‘Cranberry sauce.’ However, I can see why people thought it was ‘I buried Paul.’”

“Well, when people heard it, there were all these rumors that Paul McCartney was dead.”

“You act like you were alive then.” I stretched my legs and bent my toes as I made myself more comfortable on his bed.

“I wish.” He set the stereo’s remote down on the tiny nightstand next to us. “The music from the ’60s and ’70s beats anything that’s been released nowadays.”

“Oh God.” I hid under the blanket. “You’re one of those clowns who think old music is better than new.”

“It is. Name something that’s better than what I’ve played for you tonight.”

“Lady GaGa.” I giggled.

“This is your second warning. No more disrespecting my music.” He snatched the blanket away and attacked me with kisses on my lips, face, and neck. His hands gripped my hips, but didn’t stray to other places. When he ended the delicious torture, my panties were wet, nipples hard, and lust curled in places, hoping he would kiss them there, too. The blanket fell away from my body and landed behind me. I stared back at him with hooded eyes and hunger swirling through my chest.

“Hmmm. Don’t look at me like that.” He climbed off me, wearing no shirt. His arm muscles bulged with the movement. A nice-sized erection pressed outward against his black jogging pants.