She crossed her arms and jerked her chin at the door.
He gave her a long, considering look. “You won’t be able to avoid me.”
“Please leave,” she said.
She didn’t think he was going to, but he finally did. When the door closed behind him, she leaped forward to slide the deadbolt. She looked through the peephole to make sure he really was gone before she rested her face against the door and screamed.
Chapter 7
The cavalry had arrived by the time she stepped out of the shower. She put on a robe and looked through the peephole before she let in four guards and Sunny. When the guards caught sight of her, they immediately averted their eyes while Sunny shook her head and pointed her back into the bedroom.
“Your father would have a heart attack if he could see you right now,” Sunny said.
Jasmine grunted as she snagged a Yoo-hoo from the fridge and went into her bedroom. She wasn’t entirely surprised when Sunny followed. She dried and styled her hair, then perched on a stool in front of the vanity.
Sunny lounged in the open doorway. She was a black woman in her late sixties, a former Marine who had created her own security firm before she sold it. She spent a year on a cruise before she came out of retirement and became her father’s security coordinator. Dressed like a butler in a black pantsuit, she wore braids swirled into a fancy bun on her head over six inches high.
“You can’t stay here. It isn’t safe,” Sunny said.
“I know.”
“What’s that on your neck?”
She yanked up the collar of her robe. “Nothing.” When Sunny started toward her, she held up both hands. “It’s nothing, I swear.”
“Someone put their hands on you.”
“Not without my permission.”
Sunny cocked her head to the side. “You went to some BDSM resort or something?”
She shrugged and tried to look casual. “Something like that.”
Nearly freezing to death in the mountains was far from a resort, but the BDSM story was better than admitting she’d hooked up with her ex multiple times. Fuck. She glared at herself in the mirror as she began to apply her makeup. Her ego was bruised. The fact she had given in to him so easily sickened her. Had the past five years taught her nothing? She was a successful businesswoman in her own right, so why had she allowed him to—
“Next time you want privacy to get your kink out, maybe I can hire some female guards so you won’t feel as self-conscious,” Sunny said.
“No need.”
“Why?”
“I’m done.”
Sunny snorted. “Sure. I know what you write.”
Sunny was privy to her Thalia secret even though she had never read any of the books. Sunny got the gist, though, and kept her opinions about it to herself. Sunny was locked up so tight Jasmine couldn’t determine if she was gay, straight, or asexual. The woman never talked about partners or expressed any interest in either sex.
“I mean, I won’t be taking off. I learned my lesson,” she amended.
Sunny’s brows rose. “Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right,” she said as she finished applying her foundation. “After this, I’m going back to Tuxedo Park, so you don’t need to worry.”
“It’ll be months before interest in you dies down,” Sunny said and then shrugged. “And maybe not even then.”
Her rigid hand motions made her bronze eyeshadow a little heavier than she wanted, but she was going to go with it.
“Who was the man who answered your phone?” Sunny asked.