County Sheriffs 3: Conquering Evil (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Read online

  He heard light footsteps coming toward him and Coop, and just as he opened his eyes again, Jasmine shoved her way between them but didn’t stop until she was standing in front of them, facing them. Tanner held his breath as he waited for a tongue-lashing. She stood there dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a nice shirt with her hands on her hips as she scowled at them. He did a double take when he saw that all the glorious dark red hair was no more. The length of her tresses hadn’t changed, but her hair was now a shiny black. If he hadn’t seen her beforehand or known Misha, he would have mistaken her for his boss’s woman.

  “What the hell did you do to your hair?” Coop asked.

  “What do you care?” Jasmine spat out before turning her back on him and Tanner.

  Tanner felt guilty for not wanting Jasmine to put herself in danger, but he felt guiltier over her having heard what he and Cooper had been saying about her. There had been anger in her eyes, which was to be expected, but he’d also seen the underlying hurt in those gorgeous blue orbs. Tanner had never felt as low as he did now. He wanted to apologize for questioning Jasmine’s abilities, but he knew she would probably just shun him and Cooper even more. He knew she was a highly trained FBI agent, but she was a profiler and didn’t work in the field of chasing criminals like the other agents did. He also knew she would be able to handle the gun holstered under her arm, but she was so fucking small. Tanner wasn’t sure she’d be able to take down a man a head taller than her, let alone one that was at least a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier.

  “I’m ready when you are,” Jasmine said.

  Clay nodded at her. “We need half an hour before we’ve finished.”

  Jasmine sighed but then nodded as she patted her laptop bag. “I have a few things I can work on while I wait.”

  Tanner swallowed when she turned and hoped that she met his gaze so he could tell her how sorry he was that she’d heard what he and Coop had said, but he was even sorrier for doubting her. If they were going to catch this sick bastard, he and the others needed to have faith in the team, even if one of their team members was new and a diminutive woman.

  She skirted around him and Coop, keeping her head lowered as she walked over to the desk she’d been using to work. She sat down, removed her laptop from the bag, and opened it up. Her tense shoulders told Tanner she was aware of his scrutiny, but she was determined to ignore him. He glanced over to find Coop watching her with a guilty expression on his face and his jaw clenched tight and knew his friend felt just as bad as he did.

  “Coop, Tanner, I need a word in my office,” Clay ordered before turning on his heel and stalking toward his office.

  Spence swept his hand out for him and Coop to go first. Tanner tried to calm his emotions because he didn’t want to end up yelling at his friends and bosses, because he knew they were about to be given hell.

  Spence closed the door as Coop and Tanner sat in the chairs in between and in front of Clay’s and Spence’s desks.

  “What the hell was that?” Clay asked angrily. “Out of all the profilers on file with the FBI, Jasmine Urban is the only one to volunteer to come to our little backwater town to help us catch this bastard. If she hadn’t volunteered, I would have asked for her anyway. She is the best profiler in the States. Do you have a problem working with a woman? Are you prejudiced because she doesn’t have a dick?”

  “Fuck off!” Coop growled.

  Tanner gripped Coop’s shoulder, hoping to calm his friend down some. “You know we don’t think like that, Clay.”

  Clay sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I know. You two have been circling around Jasmine ever since she got here. I understand how you feel about letting a woman you care for place herself in danger. Just thinking of what Misha went through…but she’s not a trained agent. Jasmine is. She told Spence and me earlier that she had a black belt in karate. She’s not some green cadet. She worked in the field taking down the bad guys for a couple of years before she became a profiler. You need to have a little faith in her, but you also need to apologize to her.”

  “We know it.” Cooper sighed before threading his fingers through his hair. “I think it would be in our best interests to wait a few hours before we approach her in regards to our fuckup.”

  “That might be wise.” Spence grinned.

  “So, are you going to fill us in?” Tanner asked.

  “We are going to smuggle Jasmine into our house, just in case the sick fuck is watching,” Clay began to explain.

  “We’ll get Misha out with Dawson and Kent. She’ll be wearing some of Jasmine’s clothes and a red wig. Our woman’s going to drive around town in Jasmine’s rental, and then we’re hoping to get her out of the county. Dawson and Kent are trying to talk Bella into leaving, too.”

  “Where are we going to be?” Coop asked.

  “You’ll finish your shift as normal and then head home. I don’t want you to change your routines too much. That goes for all of us. We need to look as if we’re living life as normal,” Clay said.

  “We want to spend as much time as we can with Jasmine,” Tanner said.

  “You know you’re welcome at our place anytime. You’ve never asked before, and I don’t expect you to now,” Spence stated. “However, you’re still going to have to spend time at your own place. I don’t want the serial killer getting suspicious.”

  “Understood,” Tanner and Coop said simultaneously.

  Tanner headed toward the door but paused and looked back over his shoulder. “We want to be her main backup.”

  “We’ll all be her backups, Tanner. There’s no way in hell we’re letting this fucker take her without us being aware of it,” Spence said emphatically.

  Tanner sucked in a deep breath and headed out. He and Cooper had done a grave injustice to Jasmine. He just hoped like hell that she would accept their apology.

  Chapter Three

  Jasmine couldn’t believe how much Cooper’s and Tanner’s words had hurt her. She’d been so damn furious when she heard them talking like that about her, but the pain in her chest had been far worse than the anger.

  She’d suffered excruciating physical agony and PTSD, but hearing Cooper and Tanner talking about her like that had felt as if they’d cut her heart out, and she had no idea why. Normally she was immune to words, had learned to be working with some of the arrogant pricks in the FBI, but this…she had no idea what the hell this was.

  Her first instinct had been to rail at them, but she’d never let her anger control her before, and she wasn’t about to start now. She was so locked up inside she didn’t know how to show her feelings. No wonder she’d earned the nickname of the “ice bitch.” Most of her colleagues probably thought she was as bad as the criminals she profiled, and she began to think that maybe they were right. Was she so good at her job because, deep down, inside she was a sociopath or psychopath herself?

  She mentally shook her head. She’d done all the psychology classes. Sure, she had problems just like any other person did, but she didn’t go around hurting people or being mean to them just to make herself feel good. The absolute opposite was true.

  Jasmine was scared that if she ever let her emotions free rein that she would never be able to do her job again. She needed to be calm and logical when profiling criminals. If she let her feelings rise to the surface, she was scared that she’d never be able to think rationally again.

  There was years and years’ worth of pain and horror festering inside of her. If she let it out, she was terrified she wouldn’t be able to contain it ever again. The steel vault she’d put all those emotions in sometimes felt as if it was bulging at the seams. If she unlocked the door, she would never get it closed again.

  She heard their footsteps coming toward her and, after taking a deep breath, pushed her introspection aside and concentrated on work. She was running a check on Anthony Wood’s alleged wife, Lucy. So far she hadn’t found anything, and she was beginning to wonder if Lucy had even grown up in the area. Deciding to track her
another way, she searched the local churches, hoping to get a hit, but when her computer finished the scan, she had nothing. That had her brain whirling as she tried to work out why she couldn’t find anything on the deceased woman.

  Jasmine decided to work backward and start with her death certificate. If she didn’t get anything from that avenue, she would have to get a copy of her fingerprints from the coroner. She was more than a little pissed with the local coroner. The man was lazy or just plain incompetent. She should have had the coroner’s report before Lucy Wood had been buried, but Jasmine also should have realized earlier that she didn’t have it.

  She’d been so busy going over file after file sometimes she swore her head was spinning. She’d fucked up again.

  Jasmine sighed and pressed the tips of her fingers into her eyes, trying to relieve the throbbing ache behind them. She was so damned tired her work was slipping, and that was unacceptable. Just because she was used to getting little to no sleep didn’t mean the lack didn’t affect her. As soon as she’d wrapped this case up, she was going to ask for time off. While she tried to catch up on the sleep she’d lost—she mentally snorted, because no one was ever able to catch up on lost sleep and because she hadn’t slept more than a few hours a night in years—she’d rethink her whole career. She wasn’t sure she could face another psychopath or sociopath without going insane herself.

  “Are you okay, Jasmine?”

  Jasmine lowered her hands and blinked to clear her hazy vision. Tanner and Cooper were standing in front of her desk, looking worried. “I’m fine.”

  Tanner shifted on his feet, drawing her attention to his legs, but because she was sitting and he was standing, her gaze actually locked onto his groin. She quickly lowered her gaze and hoped the heat in her cheeks wasn’t a sign that she was blushing. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been embarrassed or blushed.

  “I want to apologize for what Coop and I said earlier. We didn’t mean to sound as if we didn’t trust you or your abilities as an agent.”

  Jasmine shrugged hoping he’d think what they said hadn’t bothered her in the least and leave it at that, as water under the bridge.

  “Look at me, Jasmine,” Cooper demanded in his gruff voice.

  Jasmine slowly lifted her gaze to his. The moment their eyes locked she felt as if she was falling into him, under his gray-eyed spell. This was one of the reasons she tried not to meet his and Tanner’s gazes. They were ruggedly handsome men and got her blood pumping, as well as other parts of her body standing up to take notice.

  She pushed the desire coursing through her body down deep, hoping she could ignore the way her breasts were aching, her nipples throbbing, and her clit pulsing. Now wasn’t the time or place to even acknowledge the way her body responded to the men. In fact, she was hoping to discount it altogether. If she didn’t allow recognition of what her body wanted, then neither of the men standing in front of her would either. At least she hoped that was the case.

  “I’m sorry for what I said. I have every faith in your skills as an FBI agent.” Coop paused to clear his throat and glanced away from her. It took her a couple of seconds to realize he was uncomfortable showing her a side of him she’d never expected to see. Usually, he didn’t have much to say, but whenever he did speak, it was worthy of hearing. He was smart, even if he didn’t talk overly much. Somehow she found his discomfort endearing, and her heart fluttered in her chest. “We’re retired Rangers and are used to looking out for others smaller and weaker than we are.”

  “Are you calling me weak?” Jasmine snapped and then immediately wished she could retract that question, but she was so used to dealing with misogynistic men, her riposting had become a habit.

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all. Yes, you’re a lot smaller than we are, and while you might not be as strong as Spence and me, I know that if worse came to the worst that you could hold your own in a fight. So again, I’m sorry.”

  “What he said.” Tanner thumbed at Cooper.

  “Okay, thank you. I accept your apology. However, don’t let it happen again.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Coop and Tanner replied at the same time.

  “Do. Not. Ever. Call. Me. Ma’am.” Jasmine glared at both of them.

  “Whatever you say, Jasmine,” Tanner said before he winked and turned away. Cooper nodded, the corner of his lips twitching as if he was trying not to smile before he sauntered over to his desk.

  Jasmine couldn’t help but watch his tight butt cheeks flex as he moved. He and Tanner were sin on legs. Even a nun wouldn’t have been able to not stop and ogle them as they walked on by. She glanced up. The skin on her arms prickled, and she cursed under her breath when she found Cooper watching her from over his shoulder. The hot gleam in his gray eyes had heat returning to her cheeks. She drew in a long, quiet breath as she ducked her head and hoped like hell her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

  “You ready to make your escape?”

  Jasmine startled so much when Clay spoke she nearly fell off her chair. She wasn’t used to how quiet he and the other men were. The agents she worked with moved as quietly as possible, especially when they were on a stakeout or following a perp, but she’d always managed to hear them coming. These men were something else since they were elite trained Rangers.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Clay smiled.

  “No problem,” Jasmine replied as she saved what she’d been working on before shutting her computer down and putting it into her laptop bag. She stood and waited for Clay to take the lead.

  “Spence parked the SUV out back so you won’t be seen getting in. You’re going to have to lie across the seat or sit on the floor.”

  “Okay.” She followed Clay toward the hall with her head down but wished she’d been watching where she was going when she bumped into him. He’d stopped dead right in front of her. He gripped her upper arms to steady her but looked over her head toward Tanner and Cooper.

  “Dinner’s at our house tonight. Misha’s already prepared food for a barbecue. We’ll start cooking as soon as she, Dawson, and Kent get back from town.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Tanner replied.

  Jasmine could just imagine Cooper nodding his acceptance without saying a word. She shivered when a fission of heat raced up her spine starting from the top of her ass and knew that one or both of the men were checking her out. Jasmine was slim because of all the running and weights she lifted to stay fit and strong, though as far as she was concerned, her ass was too big. But nothing she seemed to do made a difference. She’d learned to accept herself for who and what she was, including her body, but just knowing they were looking at that particular part of her attributes made her feel uncertain, and that just pissed her off.

  She followed Clay out the back door and got into the rear of the SUV. After placing her laptop and purse on the floor, she then shifted until she was lying on her back looking at the roof.

  “You all set?” Clay asked, holding the rear door handle.

  “Yes.”

  Clay shut the door and got into the front passenger seat.

  Spence winked at her before looking out the rear window as he backed the SUV up and turned it around before driving out onto the road. “I wonder what food Misha’s prepared.”

  “You’re always thinking of your stomach.” Clay chuckled.

  “So are you.” Spence glanced at Clay. “Misha’s one hell of a cook.”

  “Do you cook, Jasmine?”

  “I’ve been known to stand at a stove a time or two.” She wasn’t about to tell them that she was lucky enough to be one of those people who just threw ingredients together and ended up making something a restaurant would want the recipe for. Jasmine used to cook with her mother often before she’d passed away from a brain embolism. Her father had never been on the scene, and while she knew his name and that he was still alive, she had no interest in meeting the man. He’d left her mother high and dry when she’d told him she was pregnant.
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br />   “You do realize that I’m going to have to give Misha my FBI credit card and pin number so she can pay for my motel bill, don’t you?”

  “Shit!” Clay went to turn to glance at her but stopped himself.

  Jasmine sighed with relief that he had remembered in time that she wasn’t supposed to be in the car.

  “I hadn’t even thought of that. You could just call up and pay over the phone,” Clay suggested.

  “No. That would bring suspicion down on me and Misha. She’s also going to have to learn to forge my signature.”

  “Damn it! Why can’t things be simple for once?” Spence took another corner before pressing down on the gas pedal again.

  “It’d be nice, wouldn’t it? To have no assholes out on the street to take down because everyone lived in peace and harmony.”

  “We’d be out of a job if that happened,” Spence said.

  “That we would,” Clay agreed. “We’d also all be bored out of our minds.”

  Jasmine smiled, even though neither man could see her. Even when she responded, “That we would,” she wasn’t quite sure she believed it.

  “How long have you been with the feds?” Spence asked.

  “Eight years.”

  “That’s quite a while. Do you think you’ll ever do anything else?” Clay asked.

  “If you’d have asked me that question two to three months ago, I would have said no. Now, I’m not sure.”

  “We’re here,” Spence said as he slowed the car. “I’m going to drive into the garage and close the door again. You can get out as soon as it’s shut.”

  Jasmine nodded, not caring that they couldn’t see her or hear her head rattle as her mother used to say. Thinking about her mom always brought tears to her eyes and a smile to her lips. She’d been only ten when her mother died. From that moment on, her life had been a living hell.

  The steel vault in her brain bulged as if trying to burst open. Jasmine took a slow, steady, deep breath and pushed the thoughts back. She sighed with relief when the walls to her vault were once more still.