Jasmine (Kings of Guardian Book 6) Read online

  Muscle filled out Jared’s six-foot-five-inch frame, and his black hair blew in the night wind. He’d grown it out recently. He looked more relaxed and happier than she’d ever seen him. “Hey, little girl, heard you took out a pretty big dude tonight. I see you didn’t come away unscathed.”

  Jasmine looked at her brother and held up her hand. “Why are you down here, J? This isn’t just a random BS security job, is it? If it were, there wouldn’t be a need for the head of domestic security to grace my obviously lowly presence.”

  “Pouting, Jazzy?”

  Jazz walked to the Suburban and opened the front passenger door. “Yeah, I’m pissed. Why the hell did you send me down here? Any newbie personal security officer could’ve done this job.”

  She slammed the door and waited for Jared and his team to get back in the vehicle. One of Jared’s security detail walked past him and whispered, “Never piss off a King.”

  Jared snorted. “Better advice is never to piss off a King woman.”

  “My window is down. I can hear both of you.” Jasmine wasn’t going to let them get away with anything.

  Jared got behind the wheel and started the vehicle towards where Jasmine assumed Guardian’s temporary field offices were located.

  “I think I need stitches. Swing by the hospital, would you?” Jazz’s arm was throbbing.

  “Got a doctor with us, and we need to read you in on the events surrounding tonight.”

  “I was there, remember?”

  “Yeah, the dude you took out tonight was hopped up on something, but we have a real problem, and the raging bull isn’t involved. Whoever is after Nelson is still out there.”

  Jasmine closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the headrest. “You didn’t divert me here for a security detail. I am going to be his babysitter, aren’t I?”

  Jared smirked. “Did you get to meet him tonight?”

  At her low groan, he turned and looked at her. “Jazz, if you don’t want the assignment, I could give it to Jade. I’m sure she could handle it.”

  Her head snapped towards him at the taunt. Jared’s laughter shook his shoulders. The jerk was baiting her as usual. “You can kiss my ass, Jared. She’s on loan to the DEA, so stop picking on me.”

  He looked at her and deadpanned, “Jazz, honey, I’ve been kissing your ass since the day I was born.”

  The rumble of laughter from the rest of Jared’s team brought a small, unwanted lift of her lips. She slapped his arm and snarked, “Let me know next time? I’ll pretend to enjoy it.” That small upturn of her lips remained despite the pain that radiated from the cut on her arm. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the leather seat until Jared turned into the field office’s parking lot.

  Jasmine walked into Jared’s temporary offices and was once again amazed at the technology that traveled with her brothers. Four brothers and two sisters worked in various capacities for Guardian. Jared ran the domestic branch of Guardian Security, in charge of all domestic security issues, including Jasmine’s specialty, personnel protection.

  Jared waved her toward the back room. A man in blue scrubs greeted her, unwrapped her arm and cleaned the wound. His obvious Scandinavian accent intrigued her. “Not from around here?”

  The medic shrugged his shoulders. A southern accent replaced the Swedish lilt. “Well, ma’am, I guess that depends on where you think I am from.”

  Jasmine laughed. “Alright, I get it, don’t ask.”

  The doctor’s light blue eyes locked on his hands as he fixed a syringe. “This is going to hurt.”

  Jazz shrugged. “Yeah, life hurts. You learn to deal with it.”

  The doctor chuckled. “Pretty jaded view of life for one so young and so pretty.”

  She clenched her fist as he injected a numbing compound around the cut. He disposed of the syringe in the sharps container, draped the exposed skin around her wound with a sterile dressing and prepared his needle and suture for use. Turning, he tapped her arm near the wound. “Can you feel me touch you?”

  “No, you I cannot feel.” Jazz laughed, probably harder than she should have. But hell, it was funny.

  The Swede chuckled. “That statement would predispose me to believe you could feel someone else.”

  He peered up at her for a brief moment. His eyes were lighter than the singers, almost a soft baby blue. Jasmine felt the warmth from his gaze and smiled at the man’s calm demeanor and tender treatment. He was probably a couple of inches taller than her. He was fit and strong without being massive. His white hair was cut short on the sides and left longer on top. When he bent over her, his scent was clean, nothing distracting or heavy, but comforting nonetheless.

  He drew the first tiny stitch through the muscle under her skin. “It’s a shame you can’t feel me. I’ve been told a person might enjoy my touch.”

  Jasmine studied him like a scientist would a sample under a microscope. “Hmm, is that an offer or observation, doctor?”

  The Swede’s eyes traveled to the hallway where Jared was talking with several people. “I believe… an observation with the hope of an offer, yes?”

  She followed his eyes and shook her head. “Afraid of my brother?”

  The Swede cut the suture and shook his head. “Afraid of him? No.” He looked directly at her and continued, “Of you? Maybe.”

  She smiled at that. The man’s calm, authoritative presence made the statement ridiculous. This man wasn’t someone she’d ever classify as weak. His broad shoulders and back rippled as he worked on her arm. Afraid of her. Right. His sense of humor earned him an introduction. “I’m Jasmine.”

  “Oh, believe me, I know.” The doctor smiled at her and winked. “Malaki Blue.”

  “Nice to meet you, Malaki.”

  The man smiled and returned to the task at hand. Jasmine watched him in silence as he finished the sutures and bandaged her arm. He handed her a small pill vial. “Take one every six hours for swelling and pain.”

  She shook her head and put the vial on the counter. “No way. One of my brothers got hooked on that stuff. I’ll be fine.”

  The doctor shook his head and sighed. “If I had a dollar for every time a King had told me the same thing, I’d be rich. It isn’t a narcotic. It isn’t habit forming, and it’s definitely within the King guidelines of ‘I’d like to suffer rather than help my body heal itself.’”

  A snort of unladylike laughter punched out before she could stop it. “You seem to know my family well. How is it I haven’t met you before?”

  The man shrugged and washed his hands. “I’ve been… around.”

  “Ahh… got it. Well, thanks for the patch job, Malaki.” She peeked at him from under her lashes. “You should call me. My brothers aren’t always around.” Jasmine winked and slid off the table. The doctor’s face flushed a wicked shade of red. Too sweet, a man who blushed.

  “To do that, I’d need your number.”

  Jazz grabbed a pen and looked for a piece of paper without success. She grabbed Malaki’s newly washed hand and wrote her digits on the pad of his thumb. “Don’t wash that hand again before you put it in your phone. I’d hate to assume you weren’t interested.”

  “I’d never let you assume that.” Malaki smiled and winked again.

  “Jazz, you done in there?” Jared called down the hallway.

  Dang it, with her brothers keeping gorgeous men like Malaki away she might die an old maid. Jazz gave the doctor one backward glance and held her thumb and pinkie in a phone shape. “Call me,” she mouthed and headed down the hallway.

  “All better?”

  Jared’s teasing irritated her. She hauled herself down the short hallway and flopped into a chair in the conference room where his team had gathered. Damn it. She was seriously jet lagged. That feeling of being tired and having the eerie sensation that she stood three inches from falling off a ledge sucked. It was an itchy nervousness coupled with the utter exhaustion she always got when traveling home from overseas. Jazz realized her brother was looking
at her. What did he ask? Oh… “I’m peachy, thanks.”

  One of Jared’s team approached him and pulled him to the side. He glanced up at the rest of the people in the room. “Give me two minutes. This can’t wait.” Jared turned back to the person he was working with and continued his conversation.

  Jasmine reached up and pulled a handful of hairpins from her hair, allowing her mass of thick, wavy, black hair to fall to her waist. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, listening to the conversation around her. Jared turned back to the people in the room. In his usual clipped, professional manner, he ran through the information they currently had on Nelson.

  “If you have finished your nap, Jazz, we can get this briefing over with.”

  Jasmine didn’t open her eyes but fired back, “I’ve heard every word y’all said. Your team is doing forensics on a note scrawled on the photo found on Chad’s motor coach. The road manager found it and was the only one to touch it. The door lock was manipulated, but there is no surveillance that showed anything. The time frame for the plant of the photo is extensive. Nelson, the band and a few roadies plus his normal security team left the coach at two in the afternoon, worked out at the local CrossFit gym. The facility was one that the musician’s handlers rented out, so there was no way for anyone to steal or duplicate security badges. After the workout they went straight to the arena to practice. The band and Nelson stayed backstage and did interviews and fan meetings. The mad bull that charged the stage tonight was after a local hire electrician who was handling the power cables, not Nelson. The two have a previous history and the story jives. He’s not our guy.”

  She opened her eyes and found her brother. “Did I miss anything?”

  Jared leaned back in his chair. “Yes, a couple of things. We had our profiler do a workup on a potential subject based on the threat and handwriting. Male, thirty to forty years old. The person is high functioning, and intelligent. The pattern of language, sentence formation, and block writing depict a disciplined author. Based on the content of the note, our profiler believes the subject feels threatened by Nelson.”

  “Okay, whack job… got it.”

  “It may be more than that, Jazz. We have received word from the FBI that Nelson has been tied to two ongoing murder investigations. They’re getting twitchy because of Nelson’s direct connection to the cases. We’ve been retained to protect him by his people, and the FBI is eyeing him as a suspect in a potential investigation.”

  “Wait, Nelson’s a suspect in two murder cases? And what? You think he put that photo in his own motor coach?”

  “Can’t rule it out. The handwriting wasn’t his. We’ve had our specialists make a comparison, but that doesn’t make him innocent. Needless to say, we have a shitload of work to do, and while that’s happening, it will be your job to keep him close in case he’s guilty, and protect his ass in case we do have a whack job.”

  “So you want me to keep this guy under surveillance in case he’s a murderer, and if he’s not, protect him from someone who is?” Jasmine held her brother’s gaze.

  “Pretty much. Cole Davis, the agent in charge of the investigation, has worked with us in the past, and he is reading us in on the information tomorrow morning before we meet with Nelson’s people. We brought in a small team who are working with his original security team and holding down the hotel where Nelson and the band are staying tonight.”

  Jazz dropped her head to her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Yep, today sucked. No two ways about it. The superstar was going to be a handful. A snuffled huff turned into a tired, maniacal laugh. Oh hell, he was probably more than a handful, based on her up close and personal observation tonight.

  “You good to go or do you need to sit this one out?” Jared looked more than a little concerned and motioned toward her arm.

  “I’m good. When and where do we start?”

  “0900 hours. Come on. I’ll take you to the hotel. You look like crap. And what is up with the Orphan Annie clothes?” Jared lifted from his chair, walked to the door and held it open for her.

  “You redirected me practically in midair. I only had a couple of minutes to dash into the one and only Walmart I saw on the way from the airport and buy clothes. It was either this or the white pencil skirt and the pink silk shirt I had on. Then on the way out of the store, I got caught in a downpour. Thanks to Georgia’s glorious weather, my Prada skirt, shirt and favorite Jimmy Choo shoes are ruined. By the time I made it to the Georgia Dome, I looked like a drenched raccoon. I changed in the bathroom. My makeup had melted off my face. Thanks to the humidity and rain, my hair took on a life of its own, so I pulled it all back and pinned it up. Believe me. Today sucked on too many levels.”

  “Huh. That would explain the au naturel look.”

  “Yeah, definitely not my best day. My bags should be on their way here from D.C. by now. I hope.”

  “I’m sure. Hey, I still think you’re cute.” Jared pushed open the outside door and walked with her to the Suburban.

  “Yeah? You’re prejudiced.”

  “True.” He opened the vehicle door and waited for her to get in.

  Jazz leaned back in the seat as he shut the door. “Thank you. I think.”

  Jared started the vehicle and pulled onto the nearly deserted roadway.

  “Why are you here? I mean, I get that Nelson is a high-visibility client, but we have field operation managers for a reason.” Jasmine rolled her head on the Suburban’s leather headrest and took in her brother’s profile. The subtle strobe illumination of the streetlights that lined the wide avenue sent flashes of brilliance that were quickly muted.

  “There were other reasons to be in the area. I’m doing some legwork for the Arch Angels.” Jared gave her a sideways look.

  “Care to share?”

  “Can’t.” He put on his blinker and merged onto the interstate.

  Jasmine let the subject drop. The Arch Angels were Gabriel and now, her brother Jason. She had a damn good idea of what work Jared was doing for them. No doubt it involved the looming Russian threat. She hadn’t had a full briefing, but since she was part of the King family, she needed to make sure her situational awareness was ramped up. Too much had happened for anyone not to take the situation seriously. After the attempt on Jared and his husband, Christian, and the Russian tie-in to the child abduction ring Christian had uncovered, the Russians were a threat everyone took seriously.

  She picked at the blood-soaked shirt she was wearing and sighed. This had been a day from hell. Her arm hurt and her ears were ringing from the volume of the music at the concert. She yawned and tried to pop her ears. Yep, she’d probably suffered significant hearing loss standing that close to the massive, throbbing amplifiers and speakers.

  Throbbing. The vivid memory of Chad Nelson’s chest, shoulders, and well-fitting jeans snapped front and center into her mind’s eye. She looked out the window. A warm sensation washed over her. Lord, that man was something. Totally not her type, but he had charisma, and if you liked country music, he obviously had talent. Enough. You don’t like country music. The entertainer had all the female adoration he needed. Maybe a bit too much adoration.

  A glimpse of Malaki’s smile came to mind. The doctor worked at Guardian. He knew her life and her brothers and still wanted her number. His warm smile and emotion-filled light blue eyes were exactly what she liked in a man. Lord above. Two men who flipped her switches in one night. Well, one man and one client. The thought made her smile. She wondered when Malaki would call or text and how long would the case with Nelson take? Hopefully not long.

  Clearing her throat, Jazz turned her attention back to Jared. “Do you think one of your minions would be able to check and see if my bags made it to Georgia yet?”

  “I’m sure that was handled, but if not we’ll make sure it happens. We’ll get you into your room, let you wash off the day. If the luggage isn’t in, we’ll have a boutique deliver something appropriate. We’ve got a meeting with the FBI at nine. If you
’re still waiting for clothes, I’ll take the meeting by myself.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it. After that, we are meeting with Nelson and his entourage. Regardless of the baggage situation, we both need to meet with them. I’ll get you up to speed and then I’m turning it over to you. I’m not running it through the field manager. Nelson is too high profile. You’ll report directly to me on this one.”

  “Going to suck for your personal life if I have to call you in the middle of the night.” She laughed at the thought of interrupting her brother’s slumber.

  “I’m used to it. Our ADD sister in charge of IT doesn’t sleep and calls at the weirdest times. If you need anything, I’ll be available.” Jared signaled as he took the off ramp.

  “The girl never really sleeps. I don’t know how she does it. She’s wired on Red Bull, coffee and sugar 24/7. But dealing with late night notifications is a part of your job I don’t envy. Always on call? No thanks.”

  Jared shrugged. “Occupational hazard. I made sure Christian knew what he was getting involved in.” The streetlight illuminated his wide wedding band. Jared’s satisfied smile filled her heart. It had been so long since he’d been this at peace with himself. Seeing him happy settled a piece of her soul and meant the world to her.

  Jared pulled into the parking garage and escorted her to the lobby of the hotel. He handled getting her key card from the hotel clerk, a good thing seeing how she was blood-drenched from head to foot. She wore Jared’s jacket, and it hid the majority of the mess, but she stayed away from the few people talking in the lobby. Lord above, she was done for the day. Wiped the heck out. Jared strode toward the elevator, and she followed him like a puppy. He took her to her room and opened the door. Her bags sat inside, and she sighed in relief. At least she could get out of the blood-soaked bargain store clothes and turn back into herself.