LITMIR.BIZ

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      He needed to get a hold on that...later.

      “Is this Rosie’s mom?” he asked without thinking.

      Dominic paused again, then shrugged. “Yeah. Jasmine met her at City Sanctuary mission. I’m not sure about the details, but I know Jasmine’s family took her in early in her pregnancy. Something went wrong and she asked Jasmine to take Rosie if anything happened.” He looked down at the smiling women in the picture. “She never even hesitated.”

      Royce wasn’t surprised. Jasmine was strong. She ran a successful business and had a great reputation. He imagined she’d tackled motherhood with the same determination and grace.

      He should be ashamed of thinking any differently. Except now he wanted the whole story.

      “Dominic, will you call me a cab, please?” Jasmine’s voice quavered as she asked the question.

      Royce hadn’t even realized Jasmine had reentered the office. He glanced up. Her expression was calm, but Royce could see the strain around her delicate mouth and eyes.

      Dominic stood. “Sugar, what’s wrong?”

      Jasmine visibly pulled herself together. “I’m so sorry to cut this short, but Auntie is at the hospital. She fell.”

      As Dominic made the appropriate remarks, Royce stood. This type of thing was totally out of his realm of expertise.

      He watched as Dominic slid an arm around Jasmine’s shoulders, feeling completely lost in this situation. That’s when he realized he didn’t need to do that part. Dominic had taken care of the comfort side of things. Royce could go straight to the logistics of the situation—which was his area of expertise.

      “Where’s your car?” he asked, his tone now brooking no arguments.

      She wouldn’t look him straight in the eye, but mumbled, “It wouldn’t start this morning. My sister Willow brought me.”

      No wonder she’d looked frazzled when she arrived.

      “Let me cancel my next few appointments and we’ll head over,” Dominic said.

      “Absolutely not,” she countered, although her eyes were starting to look suspiciously glassy. “Just call me a cab.”

      As they argued with each other, Royce argued with himself. So she had no car. She needed to go to the hospital. A cab would take forever.

      He didn’t want to get involved in her personal life.

      But she didn’t have a car.

      And he was an ass for even debating this with himself. Finally, he cut them both off with, “It looks like I’m your ride.”

      * * *

      For the second time that day, Jasmine found herself riding in Royce’s car. Sitting next to him reminded her of all the reasons she shouldn’t be here.

      The subtly spicy smell of him. The sight of his sure hands on the wheel. The overt luxury of the vehicle.

      It was too intimate. Too much. There were too many reasons she should stay far away from personal situations with Mr. Business.

      But what choice did she have?

      Taking Dominic away from his other clients didn’t seem fair, though he’d been more than willing to help her out as a friend. A cab would have taken a while. She needed to get to Auntie and Rosie as soon as possible. It was her job to take care of her fam—

      “Who is Auntie?”

      It took Jasmine a moment to register Royce’s words because she’d completely blocked out any chance of his asking her a question about herself. Their few personal interactions so far had seemed as awkward for him as they had been for her. Maybe she’d been wrong.

      “She’s not really my aunt,” Jasmine clarified. “She was my mother’s nanny when she was little and my grandmother’s best friend. We moved in with her after...anyway, all of us girls still live together now.”

      Royce nodded. She could see the movement out of the corner of her eye, even though she refused to look directly at him. His presence was overpowering in the small space, especially in her vulnerable state. It was simply too close for comfort.

      “She must be older,” Royce surmised. “A fall can be pretty serious in those circumstances.”

      Which was a fact Jasmine wasn’t ready to confront. They’d be at the hospital soon enough, and she’d deal with it then. “She helps with Rosie when none of us girls are able to be home.”

      “I know one of your sisters is a college professor. What does the other one do?”

      “She’s an executive assistant at the McLemore firm.”

      “That’s good. I’m glad you all are close and you have that kind of support. Rosie won’t be alone when her mom’s working.”

      Jasmine felt her body stiffen in defense, but something about the sad tone of his voice had her reconsidering. Before she could question it, he went on.

      “Why didn’t you tell me Rosie was adopted?”

      The world swirled around Jasmine for a moment, disorienting her. This whole line of questioning was completely out of character for Royce. “I didn’t realize you would care.”

      Why would he? Every encounter with her daughter, or even talking about her, seemed to bring a negative reaction from him.

      As if he didn’t realize the intent behind her answer, he mused, “You look so much alike. It never occurred to me.”

      Jasmine was getting more confused by the minute, but at least it kept her worry about Auntie at bay. It also loosened the hold she normally kept on her tongue in front of her clients. “I truly don’t understand, Royce. What difference does it make? I’m her mother. I’m a damn good one. I would never deny her a home or neglect her to go out to earn a living.”

      “Why wouldn’t you?”

      The car came to an abrupt halt. At first, Jasmine thought she’d pushed too far. Then she realized he’d actually parked in a parking space. They’d arrived at the hospital more quickly than she’d expected.

      Only as he was climbing out of the door did he answer. “My mom did.”

      As he softly shut the door, then walked around the car, Jasmine sat in stunned silence. Not only because Royce had admitted something so personal, but because it contradicted everything he’d told her about his mother at Keller House. He opened the door and helped her out as if he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell of magnificent proportions on her. They walked into the hospital in silence.

      What should she say?

      He’d taken care of his mother before she died. She’d lived in the carriage house for years. Her son was Savannah’s youngest, and most mysterious, billionaire. Had whatever happened to his mother colored how he saw women, how he saw Jasmine?

      His earlier comment made the answer obvious.

      Before she could get a handle on her reaction, they reached the waiting area where Ivy was sitting with Rosie. Thankfully, the baby was sleeping, though her pudgy cheeks were flushed with the slight fever Jasmine was learning to associate with her teething spells.

      Jasmine leaned over to carefully hug her sister around the sleeping child. “What did the doctors say?” she asked as she crouched in front of the pair.

      “We’re still waiting on the X-rays to find out.” Ivy worried her lower lip, making her look a lot older than her twenty-three years. “I’m sorry you had to come here. I just didn’t know what to do.”

      “No. It’s fine,” Jasmine said. Though asking Ivy not to feel bad was like asking Jasmine not to worry. “The last thing I would have wanted was for you to be sitting here by yourself dealing with all of this. It’s no problem at all.”

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