Take Me if You Dare (Entangled Brazen) Read online

  More memories about what happened six months ago started to fill up his headspace, but he shut them down.

  Whatever shit happens on the mission, ends with the mission.

  Mitch lifted his shoulders in a loose shrug and continued with his point. “The blonde and brunette love the mystery, but women like the one you almost hooked up with last night want promises. Trust me, if you would have slept with her, she would still be hanging around here waiting for you to offer her a cup of coffee, or worse, trying to cook you breakfast. Next thing you know, you feel obligated to exchange phone numbers, and then you end up feeling like a dick for the next few weeks when you don’t follow through on your promise to call.”

  Ethan huffed out a short laugh. “And you’re completely sure about that?” Mitch wouldn’t know how to handle it if he found out Jasmine went against type.

  “Absolutely, so congratulations, you’re lucky.” Mitch toasted him with the can. “You dodged another bullet by keeping your distance from that one. Speaking of distance, what time are we rolling out of here?”

  “I want to be on the road by fourteen hundred.”

  Mitch glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave. “In five hours, huh? Wake me up at noon.” Yawning, he headed for the stairs, carrying the drink and the pie.

  Lucky?

  Ethan mulled over the word. Mitch was right. He had to keep things in perspective. His encounter with Jasmine last night easily fit into the life he’d chosen, and no matter how good it was, dragging things out with her would have been a huge mistake. He downed the rest of his protein shake in one long swallow. But if he had dodged the proverbial bullet, why did he feel like he’d taken one instead?

  Chapter Six

  “So—who is he?” Tab asked over the phone.

  “Who is who?”

  “Stop stalling and spill the details. Who did you meet last night?”

  Slightly perplexed, Jasmine juggled her cell phone and fought with her wobbly suitcase as she rolled it through the airport terminal. “His name is Ethan. I met him at the hotel lounge. Oh—and thank you for setting me up like a chew toy for a bunch of horny guys.”

  “Considering how it turned out, it must have paid off. What were you wearing?”

  It was too easy to imagine Tab grinning with two dainty dimples sunk into her cheeks. Her friend’s Texas charm fooled most people, but she was really a green-eyed con artist in disguise.

  Jasmine checked the electronic display for the gate of her two o’clock flight. “If you start talking dirty to me, I’m hanging up.”

  “Dirty is the only way to go, and I have a right to ask. I give you my stylist services for free.”

  “Using the key I gave you for emergencies to go through my closet doesn’t qualify as a service.”

  Tab snorted a laugh. “Half the time your closet is an emergency. Now did you wear the sheath dress or not?”

  “If you’re talking about the one you included with the boatload of condoms you sent me for my birthday, yes.”

  “Learn to count, missy. I sent you twenty-seven. Now quit complaining and tell me more about Ethan.”

  “Well…” While Jasmine weaved through the crowd, she took a moment to think. “He saved me from some jerk at the hotel bar. We danced, and then after that, he wanted to make me dinner. I said, yes, and then—” A vision of Ethan’s naked torso rising above her flashed into her mind. Suddenly, the sweatshirt she’d worn to ward off the chill of the plane felt overly warm.

  “Oh, you can’t stop there. How was he?”

  “He was charming, intelligent…handsome.” She reached her gate and double-checked that she had at least fifteen more minutes before having to board the plane.

  “And…?” Tab prompted. “Come on, get to the good stuff. How was he in bed?”

  Jasmine sighed. “You’re so nosy. I had a good time, and he was a dream in the sack. Is that what you want me to tell you?”

  “Only if it’s true.” Tab, undoubtedly, had a gloating smile on her face.

  Jasmine hurried over to an empty seat next to the window facing the runway. She sat down and rolled her bags near her feet. “Yeah, Tab. That’s the truth.” A small smile nudged up the corners of her mouth. “He knew when to let me have my way and when to take control. I don’t know. I felt taken care of. Worshipped. He even brought me coffee in bed this morning and offered to make me breakfast.”

  She caught the glance from the woman sitting next to her. Crossing her legs, Jasmine angled her body more toward the window.

  “You lucky bitch,” Tab said. “Now I’m jealous. When are you going to see him again?”

  “I’m not.”

  “What? I know the way you met him isn’t your usual thing, but it sounds like the two of you had chemistry. What did he say when you were having breakfast?”

  Jasmine focused her eyes on the plane pulling up to the gate. “I didn’t talk to him this morning.”

  “But you said he brought you coffee and made you breakfast.”

  “No.” A twinge of remorse made her breastbone tingle. “I said he brought me coffee, and he offered to make me breakfast. He went out for a run before I got up.”

  “And when he got back what happened?” Tab asked. “Or did he not come back?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” Tab was silent, and then she gasped. “You didn’t.”

  “Just let it go. It’s not what you think.”

  “Think?” Tab’s tone rose in irritation. “What is there to think about? He brought you coffee. He told you he was coming back to make you breakfast. You don’t need Einstein to figure it out. Did you at least leave him your phone number?”

  Jasmine looked down, feeling just as squeezed as the wad of gum stuck between her chair and the wall. “No, but I did leave him a note.”

  “Without your phone number—well, what the hell did it say? ‘Thanks for a fantastic time and the great f—’?”

  “Don’t you dare say it, and lower your voice. I don’t even have you on speakerphone and half the airport can hear you. You don’t have to be so crude.”

  “I’m crude?” Tab’s voice grew louder. “Well, I’m not the one who ran out after a night of mind-blowing —”

  “I never said it was mind-blowing.”

  “Well, it must have been, because you have completely lost your good-man instincts. He fed you dinner. He delivered great sex. He made you coffee. He even planned on serving you breakfast.”

  “But I —”

  Tab ignored her and kept right on going without taking a breath. “He’s gorgeous and probably has a body to die for. Not to mention he saved you from some desperate pervert in a bar, but what do you do?” Her soft lilt changed into a full Texas twang. “You hike up your skirt and run like a hooker from a priest.”

  Jasmine opened her mouth but held back her first snappy comeback. “You know what, Tab? I wasn’t going to stick around and embarrass myself over your birthday dare booty call. That’s what made it awkward in the first place.”

  “Oh, now you want to blame me? I don’t think so, sister. This isn’t about Ethan or the dare. It’s about Greg leaving you for some woman he knocked up, and you not giving any other guy a chance because of it. There. Glare at me all you want. Yes, I said it.”

  Jasmine stared at her own reflection in the window. She was actually glaring.

  “Just because I learned from my past mistakes and refuse to be some silly woman who won’t face facts doesn’t make me wrong. I accept that what happened last night meant nothing to him, just like the engagement meant nothing to Greg.”

  “Oh—it was just a fling to him? I didn’t know you had a crystal ball rolling around in your suitcase,” Tab fumed, “but let’s not forget who left whom the kiss-off note this morning, and for the record, I didn’t go there. You did, when you slunk out the window instead of having a face-to-face conversation with the man who probably gave you the best night of sex since before your engagement to asshat
Greg. Face it, sweetie, you’re a coward.”

  “I’m not a coward.” Frustration kicked Jasmine’s voice up an octave. “I’m a realist, and if you’re going to accuse me of something, get your facts straight. I didn’t slink out a window. I snuck out the front door!”

  Shit.

  Had she really just said that?

  She could feel people looking at her and heat smoldered in her cheeks. Jasmine closed her eyes and rubbed the middle of her forehead. “I hate you so much right now.”

  “Hate me all you want, but I’m not the one who screwed up eight ways to Sunday.”

  “Tab, give me a break. The only thing I hate more than you right now is your silly colloquialisms. Why hold back? Just say what you really mean.”

  “All right, fine, well let’s see if you can parlez-vous this one,” Tab said tartly. “Karma is a bitch.”

  …

  Five minutes later, the gate attendant called for her flight. Jasmine stood and avoided the curious glances of the people who “parlez-voused” most of her conversation, including the part where she’d hung up on Tab in the midst of another rant.

  Honestly, she was tired of running things she couldn’t change through her mind. She’d completed the stupid dare. She was never going to see Ethan again. Why couldn’t Tab just leave it alone?

  Rolling her suitcase toward the gate, she joined the line of passengers boarding the flight. As she glanced around, her gaze halted on a guy standing at the other gate near the waiting area.

  Same dark hair, same broad shoulders…

  Her gaze dropped to his butt, and she gulped. He’d said he was leaving today.

  No…not possible.

  The man turned around and relief drained through her so fast it almost made her light-headed. Her eyes flitted over the Ethan look-alike. If it had been him, would she have wanted to apologize or make up some excuse to explain?

  Jasmine sighed in frustration and faced the other direction.

  She couldn’t get caught up in what happened last night. It was done. At another time or maybe on a different planet, where there had been no Greg in her life, she might have taken a chance on trying to see Ethan again, but now she was a whole lot smarter about relationships. She loved her best friend, but Tab was just going to have to get over her birthday dare not being the magic happy pill for her love life.

  Her cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her bag to answer it.

  “Jasmine, it’s Ted. We need you to stay in Florida for an extra day.”

  “Stay?” The line started moving toward the gate. “Why?”

  “We’ve got a problem with a potential client near Cape Canaveral, and I need you to make a presentation.”

  “What?” She mouthed “excuse me’s” to the people waiting behind her as she fought with her suitcase to get back out of line. “I’m a member representative now. I don’t deliver contract proposals or make presentations to clients.”

  The director of Sales and Relations released a long breath. “Myra messed up the proposal, but I talked the head of the company into giving us another shot at the contract. This is a disaster that can’t happen. Bode-Wynn International is a major government contractor with a lot of influence.”

  She read between the lines. Money wasn’t the only issue. Reputation was important, and Bode-Wynn’s recommendation, or lack of one, could affect future business.

  “Why doesn’t she just get help from one of the other coordinators?”

  “That’s where we have a problem,” Ted said. “Hold on a sec.”

  She heard a door shut in the background, but before he came back to the phone, she’d already figured it out.

  “You see, Jasmine—”

  “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. None of the other coordinators want to help her out because she’s been doing her usual magic trick of stealing other people’s ideas and sticking her name on them?” She looked up to the ceiling and sighed. “Whose project did she steal from this time?”

  “Yours…the one for the hospital in Chicago.”

  “What?” That program was some of her best work. It had even received industry recognition. As much as she wanted the best for her former boss, Myra finally falling flat on her face gave her a perverse thrill.

  “Myra has stepped on a lot of toes,” Ted said, “but you know she’s the niece of the chairman of the board. Look at the bigger picture. If you nail this contract, it could get you out of the bullpen. When the next coordinator position opens up, you’ll be in a prime position to slide right into it.”

  She snorted. “And if it doesn’t go well, this could get me benched permanently.”

  “I’ve already talked to the higher-ups. They won’t hold it against you if Bode-Wynn still turns us down.”

  “But it’s the principle of it, Ted. Myra got herself into this mess, and she should reap the consequences, the same as any other program coordinator.”

  “It’s not just a matter of her facing the consequences. Bode-Wynn wants the presentation in person by close of business today, and you’re already there.” A moment of silence followed. She could easily imagine Ted raking his fingers through his blond hair and loosening his tie.

  “Jasmine, if you’re refusing to do this, I understand. Myra did her best to undermine you when you were in client relations, and then she gloated about it when she was promoted into your spot. If someone asked me to clean up her mess, under those circumstances, I’d be pissed, too, but I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor to me.”

  She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes for a moment. Great—he was resorting to the one thing she had to consider. When her engagement had fallen through, Ted was there for her. She wouldn’t have her present job without him. He’d even found a way to reinstate her benefits, and he’d talked her new manager into giving her time off to look for another apartment.

  She started walking from the gate and swerved around a girls’ softball team mobbing the walkway. Her suitcase toppled over near a large sign touting the glories of sunny Miami. She looked up and stared at the picture of a couple enjoying an intimate dinner near the beach.

  Karma…

  “Jasmine, are you still there?” Ted asked.

  “Yes.” She turned her back to the sign. “Just email me whatever you have.”

  “Thanks, Jasmine.” He breathed in relief. “I’ll have my assistant book you a seat on the next available flight to Orlando, and then you’ll drive the rest of the way.”

  She righted her suitcase and continued down the hall, half listening to Ted.

  Tab and her big mouth.

  Because of her wish, bad luck was probably headed in her direction, but at least she wasn’t staying in Miami.

  …

  Jasmine turned off the laser pointer and tucked it into the pocket of her blazer. During her hour-long presentation, the body language of most executives in the conference room had changed from resistant to more favorable except for one—the dark-haired man sitting at the head of the table.

  Andrew Bode, impeccably dressed in a dark blue business suit and red power tie, leaned back in his chair with a speculative expression. Questions came from everyone in the conference room except for him. She chose her words carefully and made notes on the questions she would let Ted answer directly while reassuring them about Regency Health’s commitment to Bode-Wynn International.

  “That was a great presentation, Ms. Stewart, but then I expected nothing less from a company trying to convince me to hire them.” Andrew Bode leaned his elbows on the table and formed his fingers into a steeple. “I would guess from your presentation that, unlike your predecessor, you’ve actually read over my bio?”

  “Yes, I have,” she said.

  Andrew Bode had gained recognition in his late twenties by building a successful weapons technology and security firm with his partner, Devin Wynn. He was at the top of his game when, four years ago, he’d almost died in a car accident. Since then, health and fitness had become another one of
his passions. After months of physical therapy, he’d honed his body back into shape with a no-nonsense diet plan and trained intensely to compete in triathlons. In the last three he’d completed, he’d finished no less than third.

  “Then you know I don’t consider this wellness program just a perk for my employees. I also don’t have to be convinced on how it will benefit my company’s bottom line, but what I do have to be convinced about is Regency Health’s ability to handle the job. I never doubted it until I got that first shoddy proposal. Whoever wrote it clearly hadn’t done their research on my company.”

  At the mention of her stolen proposal, Jasmine’s teeth clamped together with a polite smile. The proposal she’d written for Chicago was sound. It just wasn’t appropriate for Bode-Wynn.

  “Your first impressions are understandable,” she said.

  “If I decide to give Regency Health a second chance to submit their proposal, there will be no more delays. I want someone who knows what they’re talking about, knows what they’re doing, and someone one who will give me a proposal that works.” He leaned back in his chair. “I also want someone to talk directly to my employees to find out what they want. I’m not interested in some cookie-cutter program that looks good on paper. I want something customized to their needs.”

  She nodded. “I’ll make sure to alert Ted about your concerns. I’m sure he’ll send the right person to get it done.” She picked up her pen and added to her notes. “Is there anything else?”

  “You bet there is. As far as I’m concerned, I know who I want to deal with from now on. The right person is already here.” He pointed across the table. “Tell Ted I want you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Refusing to make two trips from her rental car, Jasmine juggled her suitcase, her carry-on, and a bag of Thai fusion takeout as she walked up to the entrance of Bode-Wynn’s corporate guest apartment.