Page 4 of Claimed
“I thought you had a driver.” I climbed in.
“Buckle up.” He waited patientlyfor me to grab my seat belt. “I started the vehicle remotely,” he said once my seat belt latch clicked.
I smirked. “Nice new features for expensive cars, I guess.”
Before I knew it, Jasper’s lips were on mine so delicately—we were kissing. With precision, his fingers unbuttoned my coat and rewarded themselves by cupping my breast and pinching the tip as our kissing deepened. My bodyyearned for more of what was happening between us, but Jasper’s lips were forced to abandon mine. We had to get on the road. Time was of the essence.
I took my cell phone out of my purse and looked up Branson’s message. Jasper plugged the information into the car’s navigation application. The system accepted the address, and then we were en route to Eve’s house.
“By the way, howwere you able to find me?” I asked.
“Find you?” he asked.
“Yes, at the grocery store.”
I sat back and studied his flawless profile as he rubbed the other side of his face. Jasper kept his eyes on the road and his posture rigid.
I smiled to purposely lighten the mood. “Do you have my coordinates plugged into your spy satellite?” I asked, joking.
His jaw flexed,then he glanced at me with narrowed eyes. “Understand, Valentine is dangerous.”
I abruptly adjusted in my seat. “Understood.”
He sighed sharply as he rubbed his chin.
I ruffled and unruffled my eyebrows. “Don’t worry, Jasper. I wouldn’t be surprised if you stuck a tracking chip in my skin while I was sleeping. Anyone who has your control issues would do something like that.”
He glanced at me swiftly, and I could see the shock in his eyes.
My mouth fell open. “You put a tracking chip in my skin?”
I watched him in silence for several moments.
“Open your purse, unzip the part where you keep coins, and search through your loose change,” he said, keeping his scowl directed at the road.
I frowned curiously but did just as he instructed.I always kept loads of dimes, nickels, and pennies—plus a few quarters—on me, not by choice but because I usually made purchases with bills and would just drop the extra coins in the little pocket. When the pouch became noticeable, I would dump the change in a container I kept under my bed.
Finally, I found a small round device that resembled a coin cell battery but was about the size ofa nickel.
I held up the object, frowning at it. “Did you put this in my purse?”
“Yes.”
The navigator told him to take the next right. Snow flurries pelted the window as he explained how on the night before last, he’d dropped the tracking device into the pocket so that he could make sure I was safe. The moment Valentine had discovered I was in the city, he believed I’d comethere for Jasper and saw me only as a threat. Valentine wanted nothing—especially true love—to distract Jasper from marrying his daughter and making a clean run for the presidency.
As I pressed the tracker between two fingers, I didn’t know whether to be angry or relieved. I believed Jasper’s concern for my safety was legitimate. I also understood that Jasper had a hard time asking forpermission to keep tabs on me. I had demonstrated on a number of occasions that I found his incessant worrying about me a little unnecessary. But at the moment, I wasn’t angry, nor did I feel betrayed. Instead, a dose of reality had slapped me in the face. I had never taken Valentine as seriously as I’d taken Jackson and Leonard Howsley. Back when I was investigating the Howsleys, I had luckily receivedprotection from the FBI because my exploration into their criminality had triggered an investigation by the agency. I had uncovered loads of incriminating evidence that the Howsleys had purposely put lives in jeopardy, tried to cover up their actions, and continued with their harmful pursuits. Even after the Howsleys had been convicted and sentenced, the bureau guaranteed my safety and ensuredthat the Howsleys would never touch me.
“It’s okay, Jasper,” I finally said in a tone of one who had surrendered. “You were right. I thought I could handle Valentine until he…” I squeezed my eyes closed, thinking of his haunting face under the scant glare of light coming from the lamp as he sat in the chair by the window. I tried to forget the sound of Valentine’s voice warning me. “Hesaid he wouldn’t kill me—he’d kill you.” When I turned to look at Jasper, something became abundantly clear: I couldn’t lose him. I could never exist in a world that did not include Jasper Christmas.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, but he kept his eyes on the road. “He was lying to you, Holly,” he finally said.
I felt my eyebrows pull together. “What do you mean?”
“Arthur can’t hurtme. Showing up at your place and strong-arming you was his attempt to convince you otherwise.” Jasper set his jaw as his narrowed eyes peered ahead. “But you’d be dead now if he could get his hands on you.”
I took a moment to ponder that. “He could’ve killed me yesterday. What’s changed since then?”
Jasper glanced at me. I suspected he was impressed that I’d asked him that question,but I knew it for sure when he reached over and gently cupped my cheek. “I missed you last night.”
