Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (7 page)

***

Jasmine sat on the sofa breastfeeding and thinking
about the light kiss she shared with Shane in the kitchen. Was it wrong for her
want more? Shane was a single man now, but Jasmine couldn’t help but think it
was wrong, for the longest time she wanted him but she had to let that fantasy
go. Sighing, she tried to figure out how something so wrong feel so right?

The last time they kissed, it felt so good at that
moment that they’d got carried away and the worst thing about it she didn’t
regret finally getting what she always wanted. But she did feel guilty because
of that and if the opportunity presented itself, she would do it again without
a doubt.

Sometimes when Jasmine looked into those green
eyes, she saw his raw vulnerability. Shane had a weakness, he was afraid of
letting someone in who could potentially hurt him. He was a sweet, sensitive
man who deserved happiness even if he wasn’t with her.

Two years ago, Jasmine made a promise to herself
to stay the hell away from Shane McBride. Nine months ago, fate threw them
together and now they had a precious baby girl together.

“Jazz,” Shane called out softly.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up.
Jasmine had to remember to breathe, Shane stood in front of her. Damn he was sexy
in that tan cowboy hat, white button up shirt, where his Texas Ranger badge
pinned proudly over his heart. Jasmine didn’t realize she licked her lips when
her eyes roamed over his tight-fitted blue jeans.

 “Hey…I thought you were gone,” she
stammered. Jasmine tried to keep her eyes off his midsection but couldn’t.

“My face is up here,” Shane chuckled.

“I was looking to see if you had a stain in front
of your pants,” she blushed.

“There is no stain.” Shane walked over to her,
bent down on his knees and looked at Shay sucking from Jasmine’s breast.

“You’re not ready to leave her,” she said softly.

“Nope,” he said, clearing his throat.

“You do know she is going to look like this when
you get back home.” Jasmine lifted her hand to touch his face, but played it
off by brushing imaginary lint from his shirt. “Have a great day at work.”

“Not leaving yet, are you trying to push me out
the house?” He teased, standing up. “I left a printout of all the people to
invite to the party; it’s on the kitchen counter.”

“Do you want to burp her?” she asked.

“You don’t even have to ask.” Shane needed to get
a few more quality moments in with Shay before he left for the day. When he
took the baby from Jazz’s arms, his eyes traveled over her full breast, with
milk on the nipple. At that moment, he wondered what she tasted like.

“Shane…”

“Oh yeah.” He walked away from the sofa with Shay
and patted her back gently.

Getting up from the sofa Jasmine went to the
bathroom to freshen up, on her way back to the living room, she stopped in the
kitchen for the list. Her eyes became a huge when she saw a familiar name on
it.

“Shane, why are you inviting Sarah’s family?” she
demanded, as she held up the list in her hand.

“Oh,” he said, an expression of mild surprise
resting on his handsome face.

Oh
, Jasmine took a steady breath. “I don’t think
it’s appropriate for them to come here.”

“Because they’re still my family,” he said through
clenched teeth. “You know what don’t worry about sending out invitations, I’ll
do it myself.”

Jasmine mouth was half open. “Fine.” She shrugged
and went to get Shay from him. “Let’s let Mr. McBride get to work.”

Since Shay’d been born Jasmine would refer to him
as daddy, but now that she was pissed at him she was calling Mr. McBride. “Have
a great day.” He tilted his hat at her and left the house.

Going over to the bay window she pulled the sheer
curtain back and watched as Shane climbed into his truck. He wore scowl on his
face. Was she wrong for getting mad at him for inviting Sarah’s family? He
tossed his flashing lights at her, Jasmine waved good-bye to him and walked
away from the window. She would get Shay settled down for a nap and start
working on the party.

***

It felt great to be back at work with friends and
colleagues. He wasn’t prepared for the intensity of leaving his new baby. Shane
had two weeks with Shay and to bond with her. He loved caring for his baby,
waking up in the middle of the night, changing diapers; it didn’t bother him
that his day consisted of the same regime. His mind drifted to the disagreement
he had with Jasmine early this morning about inviting his former in-laws to the
celebration. He still viewed them as a second set of parents and they still saw
him as a son. What if they didn’t support him moving on so quickly? Sarah had
only been dead for a year before he slept with another woman. A woman his wife
despised.

He was starting to pick up the phone to text
Jasmine when someone slapped him on the shoulder.

“Damn man, it’s been almost a month since I’ve
seen your ass,” a deep voice said from behind.

Shane turned around and saw his best bud and
partner, Benjamin St. Clair. Unlike Jasmine’s creamy brown skin, Benjamin skin
was darker. It was obvious that Benjamin took more after his father African
American heritage where Jasmine appearance reflected her mother’s Native
American heritage. His friend reminded him of Idris Elba from the show “The
Wire.” Benjamin had a southern accent, that many of ladies found sexy, but they
also gravitated to him because they considered him to be fine, dark chocolate.

Shane put his phone down quickly. He didn’t want
his friend to see his screensaver which was Jasmine holding Shay.

“What’s been going on?” Shane said, clearing his
throat.

“Man, glad that you’re back at work, I need you out
there watching my ass,” Benjamin said as he sat down at his desk in front of
Shane. “How was vacation?”

Shane wanted to tell his partner and friend that
he welcomed a baby daughter three weeks ago. Instead of showing him pictures of
Shay, he whipped out his iPad and showed him pictures of his vacation in
paradise.

“Man it’s beautiful, I need to take Stacy there
for our anniversary.” Benjamin handed Shane back the iPad.

“Yeah, you should do that.”

“If only I can get Jasmine to babysit the twins.”

Just him mentioning Jasmine’s name made Shane
nervous. Damn did it get hot in here? “How is Jasmine? I haven’t seen here in
about a month,” he lied. Shane hated lying becausehe wasn’t a good liar. He
lived by a certain code of conduct and didn’t like beating about the bush.

“Jasmine been AWOL for the longest, my mom and dad
are worried about her. She calls every day and always says she’s too busy to
come home for a visit.”

“Well, she is trying to make a name for herself at
the new station in Denver.” Shane hoped that Benjamin bought what he was trying
to sell about Jasmine being absent from the family.

Benjamin leaned back in the chair and looked at
Shane with curiosity. “Well, Mom and Dad are going to Denver this weekend to
visit Jasmine.”

“Well…” Shane started to stay.

“McBride and St. Clair step into my office,”
Captain Joe Boggs said as he walked out the office. Joe Boggs was an older
gentleman that favored Harrison Ford, with his stature and greying hair.

They both stood and up and walked into their supervisor’s
office. Shane and Benjamin worked the drug division. Taking a seat in front of
Joe’s desk, he looked around the office that was decorated with awards and
achievements Boggs accomplished before he took a more administrative role.

“I don’t have time to beat around the bush. I was
informed that there was corruption coming from Clark County Sheriff Office.”

“What kind of corruption?” Shane asked. Clark
County Sheriff Office was in a small city of Hillsdale, Texas that was only
thirty minutes from Dallas.

“We’re told that officers are escorting Mexican
drug dealers. We all know that the war on drugs in Dallas is getting worst
every year. The city has become a major hub in the drug game and when we have
officers of the law helping these thugs, it’s only going to become
catastrophic.”

Since his days working on the narcotics unit in
Dallas, Shane had his share of drug arrests and busts. The importing of
cocaine, heroin and marijuana from Mexico and shipped through North Texas
happened all the time.

“I want to bring charges to those who are helping
traffic drugs and money from Mexico through the Dallas-Fort Worth Area and into
Atlanta, Baltimore and Nashville.” Col. Joe sat back in his chair with a scowl
on his face; he pushed two files to the front of the desk for Benjamin and
Shane.

“Do we have intel on the suspected cops?” Benjamin
asked as he scanned the files.

Shane read the files on the law enforcement
officials they would be investigating. Officer Ricardo Alverez was a ten-year
veteran on the force, Rick Summers was right behind with nine years. There was
also a rookie, Mitchell O’Neil, and even the Sheriff was being implicated in
the scandal.

“We’re dealing with corrupted cops who are playing
both sides of the law.” Shane shook his head. He had seen corruption over the
years and it made every police department look bad. Most citizens thought
Dallas was corrupted, which wasn’t true. When all this shit hit the fan, it was
going to give the agency a black eye.

“I want you guys to set up surveillance for now.
This conversation doesn’t leave this office. In a few weeks we’ll do a joint
operation with Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. In the report, you will find information regarding the informant
who sent the tip. I want you guys to question her.”

“Roger that, sir,” Benjamin said, standing up.

Shane nodded his head too and stood up. “We’ll get
started with the witness,” he said, exiting the room.

“It’s nice to see you back,” Captain Boggs said,
looking at Shane, grin on his face.

“Glad to be back.” He closed the door and went
back to his desk where he went over the file report. He made a memo to tell
Jasmine about her family going to Denver for a surprise visit.

***

All Jasmine wanted was for Shane to come home and
help her with Shay. She was pooped on once, peeded on twice. Not to mention she
had baby throw up on her. Damn she wanted a quick shower, but she was scared to
leave Shay asleep in her bassinet while she washed. Sitting on the sofa
Jasmine, watched her little princess sleep. Sometimes she felt that the day
went by too fast, and everyday Shay was growing.

For the past three weeks, Jasmine avoided any and
all phone calls from her parents like the plague. She couldn’t afford for them
to hear Shay’s cries in the background. Her fingers itched to pick up the phone
and call her mother, it was true what people say it takes a village to raise a
kid and dammit, she needed Shane’s family and hers.

Her ears perked up when she heard Shane’s truck coming
down the dirt road. Her heat skipped a beat when she hear the door closed, and
his boots against the gravel driveway. When he walked through the door Jasmine
smiled, she wanted to take off and run into his arms.

“Hey, how was your morning?” Shane asked with that
sweet and concerned voice.

Damn did he get more handsome since going to work
this morning? “It was fine,” Jasmine said when she founded her voice. “I see
you brought lunch.”

“Yeah,” he said, holding the bag up. “From your
favorite Mexican restaurant, I asked them to load you up with veggies.”

Her voice was struck in her throat, she couldn’t
form a coherent word with fear of saying something wrong or taking the meaning
of him remembering her favorite restaurant and the fact he asked for extra vegetables
because he knew that she was breastfeeding. “Thanks,” she said. Standing up she
went Shane and took the bag from him. “I’ll fix the plates and you sit down.
Shay is asleep, but you can watch her as she sleeps.”

“I plan on it.” He took his holster off and placed
it on the kitchen counter. He saw how uneasy Jasmine was when she looked at the
gun. She came from a law enforcement family; her father was a detective with
the Dallas Police Department for twenty-eight years not to mention her brothers
were officers of the law. “The safety is on,” he assured her.

“You have a gun safe for it right?” she asked as
she took plates from the cabinet.

“Yes.” He came up beside Jasmine; she smelled like
baby vomit and something sweet that he couldn’t put his finger on. “I know how
to use my gun,” he said against her ear.

“Of course,” she breathed, and tried to get her
mind off the closeness of his body against her.

Shane moved toward the sink and washed his hands
as his eyes were glued to woman standing inches away from him. “Jasmine have
you talked to your parents lately?” he asked.

“I texted them yesterday,” she replied, placing
the plates on the kitchen table. “Why?” She turned around looking at him.