Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (10 page)

“I’m good,” Shane said, blinking back unshed
tears.

“Are you?” she asked. “One thing I know about you
is that sometimes you lack emotions and act like everything is honky dory when
it’s not.”

“I’m fine,” Shane replied as he kissed Shay’s
hand. How could he possibly tell family and friends that he was lonely in his
marriage way before Sarah died? Shane felt like if he started dating again it
would signal that he was moving on. A part of him was stuck in the past because
of the guilt he carried every day.

“Okay…” She patted his leg. “What is this? What is
going on between you and that young woman?”

Taking the bottle from Shay’s mouth, he proceeded
to burp her. “I have these feelings for this woman that I shouldn’t have. Her
bother is Benjamin St. Clair.”

“Your partner’s sister?” Margie said shockingly.
“Nephew, you are playing with fire. I don’t understand anything about this
younger generation. Isn’t there some type of guy’s codes you supposed to obey?”

“Aunt Margie, only dogs obey.” Shane handed the
baby over to his aunt. Bracing his arms against his knees he looked at his aunt
who been his confidant for years. “After witnessing the miracle of childbirth,
it made me appreciate Jasmine.”

“You’re falling in love with her. Don’t try to
deny it Shane McBride. I noticed how you and she gazed at each other adoringly;
the love between you guys radiated from every pore in ya’ll’s bodies.”

Shane shook his head, he didn’t want to hear about
love emitting from the both of them. “I’m going to go check on Jazz, are you
okay with Shay?”

“That’s a crazy question, I reared four kids plus
you on the weekends,” Margie said as she gently rocked Shay back and forth.
“Shane?”

“Yes,” he said, turning back around before making
his way into the hallway.

“Are you guys having sex?”

Margie wasn’t the type of woman to hold back on
her words. “Aunt Margie that is none of your business.” Shane blushed.

“Well son, unless you want this little princess to
have a brother or sister in nine months, I suggest you stop having sex unless
you want Irish Twins.”

Shane stood there for a moment to soak in the aunt
comment regarding Irish Twins. He was thirty-three years old. Most of his
friends and old classmates already had houses full of kids running around not
to mention his sister Liz had one child and already working on her second. When
he got married to Sarah, they were supposed to have children running around the
house barefooted and screaming at top of their lungs.

Like any normal couple they pushed it back,
because at the time Shane’s military career came first, then when he got out
and joined the police force, that’s when their marriage started to experience
the seven year itch. Not because they lacked communication problems or
infidelity it was because his wife was bipolar. There were days where Sarah
didn’t take her medication. He would have to come to constant fighting, she was
this ticking time bomb and anything was liable to set her off. It was like
going home to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was so tired of his lifestyle at home
with Sarah, the day he asked for a divorce was the hardest decision he had to
make. Shane could no longer help Sarah, who believed there was nothing wrong
with her.

“I’ll be back,” Shane said. Walking down the
hallway he knocked on Jasmine’s door. Opening it slightly, he could smell white
calla blossom body wash emitting from the bathroom. Going further into the room
his eyes traveled to the crumple with sheets on the bed that was evidence of
their afternoon lovemaking. His cock hardened just thinking about Jazz being
beneath him and how her body responded to him. Stepping into the hot bathroom,
Shane saw her in the white claw bath tub with her eyes closed and head leaned
back against the pillow.

“Is this your habit McBride?” she asked.

The bubbles covered her delectable, brown figure.
Licking his lips he tried to focus on why he came into the bathroom. “I
didn’t…come in here to re-enact events from earlier.”

“Really,” she laughed. Opening her eyes, Jasmine
looked down at his pants. “You have a woody…yep it looks like it growing by the
second.”

Shane couldn’t help but laugh with Jasmine, her
laughter and smile was infectious. “I wanted to talk, that’s it.”

“Last time we talked,” she waved her hands to
emphasize her point, “ended up in bed.”

“Do you regret that?”

“No…I’m afraid I don’t…Do you?”

Kneeling down, he dipped his fingers into the warm
water. “No, I don’t.” He stared into the dark brown eyes. “What do you want?
It’s not all about sex. We’re parents raising a baby, but at the same time we
can’t deny the attraction and chemistry between us.”

Jasmine started to twist a tendril of her black
hair. “I’m looking for more than just a roll in the hay as you would say. I had
stability before you begged me to come back to Texas.”

“I don’t want just a roll in the hay,” he drawled,
as he touched the side of her face. “I want us to think about the future
together.”

Jasmine moved her face away from his touch. “I’m
not interested in getting hurt by you, Shane. We bother know that you can’t
offer me what I need besides a nice romp in the sheets.”

“You make me happy.”

Jasmine thought about those words. You make happy.
She didn’t only want happiness, Jasmine wanted more. There was this list she
made her senior year in college that she remembered verbatim, but Jasmine knew
Shane couldn’t fulfill her requirements.

“It would be wrong if I said you didn’t make me
happy...I would be settling…and I refused to do that.” Jasmine stood up and
grabbed the plush white robe and wrapped it around her body.

“What?” Shane said looking dumbfounded. “You’ll be
settling?”

“Yep and so would you.” She walked into her room
and took out black and white shorts and placed them on the bed along with a
tank top.

“How would you be settling?” he asked.

“Because you're only looking for a companion,
there is no love. We’re only civilized with one another.” Jasmine paused and
looked up at him. “There is a fire between us but at the end of the day…I need
more.”

“Does Max give you that?”

“Max is not up for discussion.” She rolled her
eyes. There was no way Jasmine was going to talk about that relationship with
Shane because it was none of his business.

“Why not? I should know who the mother of my child
is socializing with.” Shane knew he sounded like a jealous boyfriend, but he
didn’t want another man around Jasmine or their daughter.

Jasmine rolled her eyes again. She couldn’t
believe Shane was all up in her business. “I don’t owe you an explanation,
unless it’s pertaining to our daughter.”

“What’s his last name?” Shane didn’t agree with
Jasmine and he wasn’t going to back down until he got the information he
wanted.

“N-O-N-E-O-F-Y-O-U-R-D-A-M-N-B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S!” she
spelled out. Jasmine laughed when Shane’s face turn
ed
beet red.

“You know I have a way of finding things out,”
Shane said with an amuse
d
look on his face.

Jasmine arched her eyebrow at him, realizing why
Shane was talking like this. “Wait a minute, are you jealous?” she asked,
smiling big. A small part of her was happy to see Shane jealous, all those
years she was envious of his marriage. Shane wasn’t an insecure man so him
becoming territorial it must have meant something, but Jasmine wasn’t going to
put too much thought into the green-eyed monster in front of her. In some way
s
,
she was going to relish in his disliking of Max and her dating life.

“What? Me? Jealous? Of course not. I’m never jealous,
not once have I been bitten by the jealousy bug,” Shane said as he tried not to
appear flustered.

Jasmine chuckled and smiled to herself. She went
over to him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “Whatever helps you sleep at
night,” she whispered in his ear.

“I’ll have you know that I sleep very good,” he
replied, looking into those soft brown eyes.

Taking a step back, she kept her eyes glued to
his. “I’m about to lotion my body, you can leave,” she said.

Shane knew exactly what Jasmine was trying to do
and he had to applaud her. She had him exactly where she wanted him. It’s like
he was eating out of her hands.

Jasmine shrugged her shoulders and allowed the
bathrobe to fall to the floor. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to Margie and
Shay?”

He nodded his head but couldn’t move from his
spot. Shane was aroused by just looking at the sultry woman standing in front
of him. Jasmine’s body was breathtaking and he dared himself not to step any
closer to her in fear of losing the last bit of restraint he ha
d
. “I’m
going to…check on Shay.” He turned around quickly and was almost out the door
before Jasmine said something that made his blood boil.

“I do hope you sleep well,” she laughed as he
exited the bedroom and closed the door.

Chapter
Five

Jasmine held Shay as she walked around the living
room trying to do a million things at once. They only had three days before the
party to celebrate Shay’s birth and they weren’t totally prepared. She arranged
for a photographer to come take pictures of Shay, so she could give them to
family and friends at the party. Running on low fuel, Jasmine tried to mentally
think of all the things she needed to accomplish, Farrah, the chef that Shane
bragged so much about was due on the ranch any minute. There were still flowers
and arrangements that she had to pick out. She’d told Shane that she didn’t
need or want a party planner, but it seemed like she needed help.

Her ringing cell phone took her mind and attention
off party planning.

“Hello?” she answered,

“Hi MILF,” a deep baritone voice said with
amusement.

“Max.”

“How is my number one girlfriend?”

“I should be your only girlfriend,” Jasmine
laughed. One thing she loved about Max was his upbeat personality. “Overall I’m
okay, just chilling with my baby.”

“How is that?”

Jasmine was a little taken back, how Max could
refer Shay as “that” like her daughter was some type of project. “Shay is
wonderful! Shane was saying how every day it seemed like she getting bigger.”

Silence.

“Yeah…about that living arrangement. It seems
strange how you left Denver to stay with a one night stand,” he said bitterly.

“We talked about that a few days ago, and you were
okay with it,” Jasmine said. She had to put Shay down in her baby swing and sit
down on the sofa. This conversation was headed in a direction that she didn’t
want it to go.

“No!” he snapped. “We didn’t talk about anything;
you told me what you were going to do. It was like you didn’t ask me for my
opinion.”

“I made the decision based upon Shane and Shay’s
needs, nothing more.” Her voice became high-pitched as she tried to defend her
reason for going back to Texas with Shane.

“Jasmine, do you think I want to hear all the
excuses you can come up with regarding why you decided to go back with
him
?
Normal co-parenting doesn’t mean you co-habit together in the same household.”

Yesterday afternoon’s lovemaking clouded her mind.
Damn how could she be talking to Max and thinking about Shane. Max was supposed
to the man that she wanted to build a relationship with, maybe her mind was
telling her that she needed to deal with the feelings she had for Shane.

“Do you hear me?” Max shouted into the phone,
causing her to pull the phone from her ear.

“I’m sorry. What were you trying to say?”

“What’s going on down there?”

“I slept with Shane,” Jasmine blurted.

Silence.

Saying sorry wasn’t even on the tip of Jasmine's
tongue. How could she apologize for something that was so sensational? “I…think
we need to just be friend
s
because…I’m not sure which direction I’m
headed in.”

“Slut!” he shouted.

Jasmine looked at the phone and saw that he’d hung
up. Sitting on the sofa, she wallowed in her thoughts while looking at window.
Rain fell from the sky in sheets, as she listened to the water pounding on the
roof. This day only reminded her that there was another storm approaching, but
it was in the form of the St. Clair family.

So engrossed with her thoughts, she didn’t hear
Shane walking through the front door followed by two other people. Jasmine knew
Austin McBride, he was still handsome with his dirty blond hair and lean built
body. Her eyes traveled to the pretty black lady with curly kinky hair holding
Austin’s hand, she presumed the woman to be Farrah Rue, Jazz had to admit
Austin did well for himself.