Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(46)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“What is he to you?”

She didn’t want to answer him.

“Jasmine…”

“Promise not to tell.” Her whisper. Like a child’s voice.

Surprise rippled across his face.

“He doesn’t need to know, so promise me. Promise that you won’t tell. When all of this is over…” And it would be, one day. One day soon. “Don’t tell him.”

He gave a curt nod.

“I think he’s my brother.” Such a quiet confession. One that made Drake’s muscles tense beneath her. “I know he is.”

“What?”

“My mother…she had a little boy before me. She gave him up at birth. She was just sixteen then.” The words tumbled out in a rush now. “She gave him up, gave him to a family who couldn’t have kids of their own.”

“You don’t—”

“She regretted giving him away. She told me that, she’d scream that at me when she drank. So when she got pregnant again, she…she kept me.” And I’d wished, so many times, that she hadn’t.

Just as Jasmine had wished, so many times, that her brother would come back for her.

A girl, dreaming of a rescue that never came.

“Why do you think Noah is your brother?” No emotion was in his voice.

“Because she had one photo of the family who took him. I found it when I was six and…when I was fifteen, it was the only thing I took with me when I left her.” Because she’d thought—stupidly then—that she’d find her brother. That he’d take her in.

And she had found him. But Noah York had been fighting in battles overseas then, and she…she’d found her own wars.

“You’re certain?”

She stared into the warmth of his eyes. “Tracking him wasn’t hard. I had a photograph of his parents. Of him. And when I got access to the right computer equipment…photo imaging software, hospital databases…it all fell into place for me.” Her lips tightened. “He even has her eyes.”

“Shit.”

Just like that, Jasmine found herself off his lap and back on her feet. And Drake had paced across the room, putting a good ten feet between them.

“Drake?”

He glanced at her. Jasmine’s hands were curled around her stomach and his—his were fisted at his sides. “His sister?”

She nodded.

“Noah’s f**king sister?” Then he squeezed his eyes shut. “What have I done?” Then softer, “Again.”

“You haven’t done anything.” Nervously, she edged toward him. The floor creaked beneath her feet.

He threw up a hand, halting her. “Do not touch me right now.”

She was so lost.

“When you touch me, I want to strip you. I want to take you. I want to make you scream my name.”

Oh, well, in that case…Jasmine took another step.

“You’re his sister!” He backed away from her. “All Noah has ever wanted was to find out about his real family. He used to talk about them for hours out in the field…”

“He was better off not knowing.” No… “He is better off not knowing.” Noah had a wife, a home. He didn’t need the mess of the past.

He stared at her with both rage and pain in his eyes. “You’re what he’s wanted. You were right in front of him, and he didn’t even know it.”

This wasn’t good. “You can’t tell him.”

“Bullshit. I have to tell him.”

“No!” Then she leapt across the room and grabbed tightly to his arms. “You really want to tell him that his mom was a drugged out prostitute? That she couldn’t remember his father’s name? That his sister…” The breath she expelled burned her lungs. “Trace will tell you that I have a criminal history. I’ve been hacking for years. I’ve got enemies…so many. You don’t want to put this at his doorstep. You don’t want to put me there.”

“Noah can handle enemies.”

“I don’t want him to know. Please, Drake. There’s no point in it.”

“He’ll want you in his life.”

“But I can’t be a part of his life.” That ripped her up. She’d realize that truth, though, long ago. “So let it go.” Her hands slid up his chest. Curled around his shoulders.

He was so stiff in her embrace. “I f**ked you.”

Did the man have some moral opposition to “making love”? Because she didn’t.

“Noah’s sister.” His eyes closed. “Knew you were trouble. From the first glance.”

“I knew you were, too.” And she hadn’t cared. She rose onto her toes. Pressed her lips to his.

He immediately jerked away.

“Drake?”

His eyes were open. Blazing. “I won’t betray a friend again.”

“You aren’t betraying anyone.” But he was hurting her when he pulled away.

He yanked out his phone. Turned his back on her.

“Drake?”

He took a few more steps away. That phone was to his ear and he said, “Trace, what’s the status? Do you have things contained?”

A faint growling sound reached Jasmine’s ears. She crept toward the window on the right.

Still talking into his phone, Drake said, “Yeah, well, we have another problem.”

Her shoulders tightened as she peered out the window. She couldn’t see anyone outside, and that growling had stopped.

“How fast do you think we could get a DNA test?”

No. Jasmine whirled around.

“Right. A DNA test. Comparing Jasmine and—”

She flew across the room and yanked that phone out of his hand. She hung up on Trace. “What are you doing? You can’t tell them!”

“If you’re really his sister, then Noah deserves to know.”

He couldn’t do this. “No, Drake. No.”

His phone was ringing again. He tried to reach for it. She put it behind her back.

One blond brow rose. “Seriously, Jasmine?”

“Yeah, seriously, Drake.” She hurried away from him. “This is my life we’re talking about.”

“Noah is filthy rich.” Drake said those words bluntly. “If you’re his sister, he’s going to want to take care of you.”

“And when I was fifteen and stealing food to survive—”

He flinched.

She didn’t. “I would have appreciated his money. I don’t now. I don’t want him knowing.” Jasmine wanted to toss that phone. To shatter it. “Trace isn’t going to forget this.” Now he’d start probing. “Dammit, why did you have to say anything? Why—”