Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(62)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He spun her around. “You thought wrong, princess.” He jerked open his jeans. His c**k sprang out. Before she could suck in a deep breath, he’d lifted her up—she loved that man’s strength—and he was inside of her. Surging deep and hard, filling her so much that she ached, and the ache felt good. “You.” Thrust. “Were.” Hard thrust. “Wrong.”

His hands were steel bands around her waist as he lifted her into each thrust. Strong and hard and wild. She couldn’t slow down his rhythm. She didn’t want to. Jasmine just held onto him, squeezing him with her sex, and when the pleasure burst through her, she kissed him as she tried to give him back some of that blazing euphoria.

The pleasure lashed her whole body. Inside. Out. Pulsed through her with a sensual energy that ignited her.

Her hands sank into his hair. She kept kissing him, deep, sensually, and with all the passion that she had.

She felt him come inside of her. Long, hot jets that just made her tremble all the more.

He didn’t ease his hold on her. She didn’t let him go. They were still in the night. She wished that they could just stay there, alone, and forget the rest of the world. Forget the danger and the fear.

But his hands were slowly sliding down her body. He eased her back to her feet. Her knees shook and he held her when she trembled.

He pressed a faint kiss to her forehead. It was…tender. Jasmine had to swallow the lump in her throat. “Where is that helicopter going to take us?” Jasmine whispered.

“Any place you want to go.”

She just wanted to be with him.

He straightened her clothes, again with movements that were strangely tender. She’d thought he was furious with her, but he didn’t act like a man enraged as he settled her back on the motorcycle. He handed her the helmet. Hesitated. “Go back to red.”

She blinked at him and tried to catch her breath.

“I miss the red hair.”

Her lips curled. “And here I thought blondes had more fun.”

“You’re beautiful any way, and I’ll take you…” His voice roughened. “Any way I can get you.”

That was how she’d take him, too. Did that make her desperate? Lost? Jasmine didn’t really care.

His hand curled around her thigh and seemed to scorch her right through that fabric. “You matter to me.” The words were growled, heavy with arousal. “I would have walked through that fire for you. You matter.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “You matter to me, too,” she said softly. But those weren’t the words she wanted to say. Fear held them back.

“I don’t even know when it happened, but I do know this…when that warehouse caught on fire, I knew my life was over, if you weren’t in it.”

She didn’t want to cry. Not again. She’d done plenty of that in the last week so she quickly blinked away the water that wanted to fill her eyes.

“Stay with me. Now…and for the days that are coming. See what we can be for each other.”

Didn’t he realize what she’d done? She’d already made that choice. When she’d left Victor and the safety of the FBI, she’d been choosing the life she might have with him. The life she wanted. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” Because she’d finally found the home that she’d sought for so long.

And that home—it was wherever Drake was.

He gave a grim nod, then climbed onto the bike. The motorcycle’s engine snarled to life once more, and soon they were whipping through the night. Her arms curled around him as the darkness passed in a blur, and she held him so tightly.

I love you. Those were the words she’d wanted to give him. Too fast. Too soon. That didn’t matter to her. Drake was in her heart, and when the moment was right, she would tell him.

Fear wouldn’t hold her back forever.

***

Drake didn’t stop again, not until they reached a small strip of pavement in the darkness. A landing pad. The lights on the helicopter were shining and the blades were already whirling. Drake had told the pilot to start up as soon as he saw them coming.

He tossed aside his helmet and reached for Jasmine’s hand. “Come on!” The wind from the helicopter blew against him. The sooner they got on that bird, the better.

“Wait, my bag!” Jasmine bent to retrieve the small bag that he’d stuffed into the motorcycle’s saddlebag.

The pilot was inside the chopper. The helicopter’s lights were blazing, so Drake couldn’t see inside to the guy, but he knew Quincy Cole would follow orders. He’d made special arrangements to have Quincy come with him to the mountains because the fellow was one of the few Drake trusted completely. The guy was good in a—

Gunfire rang out. The blast hit Drake in the shoulder and he stumbled back.

“Drake!” Jasmine grabbed for him.

Another shot rang out. Only this time, that shot hit her. It slammed into Jasmine even as Drake tried to twist his body and protect her.

But he wasn’t fast enough.

“No!” Drake roared as he pulled her tightly against him. He could feel her blood, pulsing from a wound on her stomach. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t.

“Did you really think you’d be a step ahead of me? There was no way I’d let you beat me to Jasmine,” a familiar voice called out. Not Quincy. Not Quincy… “I was just waiting until I could get you both together. It’s fitting for you to go out this way!”

Drake turned his head. The pilot had come out of the chopper, only it definitely wasn’t Quincy. This man was taller, bigger, and even though the light was behind him and Drake couldn’t see his face, he knew the man.

“Maxwell.”

Laughter. “Thanks for arranging my getaway ride for me. After I kill you two, it will be nice to fly away. Anna Jean was the one to teach me to fly, you see. That woman loved the sky.”

“D-Drake…?” Jasmine’s voice broke on his name.

“It’s all right.” I promised to protect her. “It’s just a graze, princess. You’re okay.”

“No, you’re not, Jasmine,” Maxwell told her, his words gleeful. “You’re bleeding out. That’s a gut shot. One designed to give you maximum pain, because I felt that was what I owed you. If you don’t get medical attention immediately, you’ll die.” That laughter again. “And you won’t be rising from the dead this time.”

Carefully, so carefully, Drake lowered Jasmine to the ground. “I didn’t find you…just to lose you again.” He wouldn’t lose her. “Don’t be afraid…of what I do.” Because he was going to do exactly what had to be done.