"I won't."
He lifted her chin up with his finger to meet his gaze. "Good. That means I will be your date that night, all right?"
Jasmine knew to argue about it would be useless. He was proving to be as stubborn as she was about certain things. "All right."
He gently pulled her into his arms, drawing her close. Jasmine felt the tension seep out of her and she drew comfort from the strong arms around her.
* * *
Wesley took a quick glance at the clock on Jasmine's nightstand the moment he heard his cell phone go off. Pushing himself up in bed he reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand where he had placed it earlier. "Hello," he said in a deep, sleepy voice. He felt Jasmine stirring beside him.
"Wes, this is Jake. I'm glad you had your cell phone on at this hour. I just got a call from Ian. There's been an explosion at the Danforth and Danforth waterfront office. Luckily no one was hurt. I'm contacting the family to let them know so they can get here immediately. In a few minutes the place will be swarming with police and reporters."
Wesley's brain was filled with urgent questions. But he knew that now was not the time to ask. He'd get the answers to all his questions once he got to the waterfront. "I'm on my way," he said before ending the call and hanging up the phone.
"Something wrong, Wes?"
He turned to Jasmine. Tonight he had kissed her until she'd consented to call him Wes instead of Wesley. "Yes, that was Jake. There's been an explosion at the Danforth and Danforth waterfront office."
"An explosion?" she asked anxiously as her heart skipped a beat. "Was anyone hurt?"
He stood and quickly began putting on his clothes. "No, no one was hurt and I didn't get the chance to ask how bad things were. Jake was too busy trying to reach other family members. I told him I was on my way."
Jasmine slipped out of the bed. "I'm going with you," she said and met his gaze when he stopped stuffing his shirt into his pants. Her heart missed another beat and she said softly, "I'm a reporter, Wes, but I'm sure the newspaper will have someone there covering the story. Tonight I'll be there as your friend. You're going to have to trust me."
For a long moment he gazed into her eyes, not wanting to remember how trusting Caroline had gotten him burned. But something deep within him wanted to trust Jasmine. "All right, I trust you, Jasmine."
An hour later Jasmine pinched her nose against the sting of the smoke still in the air. When they arrived at the waterfront they'd found the place in chaos, swarming with firemen, policemen, reporters and members of the Danforth family. Ian had been busy giving the investigating detective what information he had and several police officers and firemen were doing a thorough job of searching through the debris in an attempt to discover the cause of the explosion. Luckily the damage had not been extensive.
Jasmine glanced around. It seemed that the entire second generation of Danforths had crowded into the main office where the detective was asking questions. No one in the family had questioned her right to be there as she stood next to Wes. They had seen them arrive together and had probably drawn their own conclusions about their connection—especially since it was so early in the morning.
"You're sure you don't have any enemies, business or otherwise, that you can think of Mr. Danforth?" the detective asked, giving Ian a level stare.
Ian returned the man's scrutiny with a stare of his own. "That's right. As far as I know I don't have any enemies, Detective. None of the Danforths do."
After a long moment, the detective nodded. "If you happen to think of anything else that can help us, here's my card," he said. "Give me a call. In the meantime, I plan to hang around and talk to the officers and firemen to see what other information they may have." Everyone watched as the detective walked out.
Hours later almost everyone had left except for Ian, Reid, Wes, Jake and Marcus. Adam Danforth was out of town. So were Kim and her husband Zack.
"I'm glad no one was hurt," Marcus Danforth said to the occupants left in the room. He was Abraham's youngest son. Harvard educated, he was an attorney for Danforth and Danforth.
Jasmine sat in Ian's office while the five men stood around Ian's desk and talked openly in front of her. They knew her profession and they also knew about her past efforts in trying to dig information up on their family, yet they trusted Wes. If he felt she was not a threat then so would they.
"Why didn't you tell that detective about Sonny Hernandez and your suspicions, Ian?" Jake asked looking over at his cousin.
Wes raised a brow. "Who's Sonny Hernandez?"
Ian raked a hand down his tired face before he answered. "The guy's real name is Jamie Hernandez, but he goes by Sonny. He's a coffee supplier who came to me months ago with a deal that I turned down."
Marcus Danforth crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the desk. "What sort of deal?"
"I don't think I want to know," Reid said, chiming in before Ian had a chance to answer Marcus's question.
"The man wanted me to consider doing business with certain coffee suppliers and I turned him down. I didn't feel good about what he proposed because I know that a few of the suppliers he named are disreputable," Ian said.
"And you think this Sonny person may have something to do with tonight's explosion?" Wes asked in an angry voice.
"Hell, I don't know," Ian said. "The entire proposal that Hernandez offered sounded rather shady and he got rather pissed that I didn't see things his way."
"Pissed enough to do something like this?" Jake asked angrily.
"Yes, especially if he's a front for some bigger operation," Ian replied. "I didn't want to mention him to the police until I can get more information about him."
For the longest moment the room got quiet, and then Ian met Wesley's gaze in silent acknowledgement. Ian then shifted his gaze to glance to Jasmine. "Is there any way you can help us in finding out whether he's part of a bigger operation?"
Jasmine swallowed. She had been tempted to offer her services but wasn't sure of her place. But in asking for her help, Ian was letting her know that he trusted her, too.
"Yes, that's something I can find out," she said softly. "If Sonny Hernandez is using his business as a front for some organized crime cartel, then I'll be able to find that out. I have some contacts at the police station and I can discreetly find out what you want to know."
Ian nodded. "All right and thanks."
Instead of taking her back home, Wesley took Jasmine to his place since he lived closer. It was nearly daybreak and both were too tense and wired to sleep. They sat at the kitchen table drinking cups of coffee.
"What do you think it will mean if Hernandez is involved in some kind of money-laundering scheme for organized crime?"
"I just hope he isn't," Jasmine said after taking a sip of coffee. "Men like that are ruthless and will do just about anything to get what they want."
Wesley nodded. "How soon do you think you can find out anything?"
"If I can touch base with my contact tomorrow, then I'll have the information in a few days," she replied.
Wesley sighed deeply. "I wonder if any of this has to do with those threatening e-mails Abraham received."
Jasmine lifted a brow. "What threatening e-mails?"
Wesley met her gaze and didn't say anything for a while. She knew he was trying to make a decision about something—how much he felt he could tell her. Earlier that night he had said he trusted her and now he was faced with proving just how much.
She released the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding when he began talking, telling her about the three e-mails Abraham had received and the virus one of them had carried. "Is he still getting them?" she asked. She couldn't help but admire the Danforths' ability to keep the threats from leaking to the media.
"As far as I know he's not."
Jasmine nodded. "What is Abraham doing about it if he hasn't gone to the police? I hope he took those threats seriously."
Wesley took another sip of his coffee. "He did and has hired a security specialist by the name of Michael Whittaker to work on the case. It's my understanding that Whittaker is good at what he does."
Jasmine nodded again and like Wesley, began wondering if the incidents were related. "I'll find out as much as I can, Wesley."
"Thanks, and we appreciate it."
It didn't take Jasmine long to ask the right questions of the right person to get the information she needed. Two days later she met with Wes, Ian, Reid, Marcus and Jake again.
She placed a sealed report in Ian's hand. "It's all there, viable information that Hernandez's company is really a front for a cartel money-laundering operation."
Ignoring Reid's long whistle she continued. "You did the right thing by turning down his deal, Ian. The man is connected to a drug cartel and wants to use certain coffee bean suppliers as part of their smuggling operations."
"Yes, but if he's responsible for the explosion, look how he retaliated," Jake said angrily. "Can't we take that report to the police and demand that they do something?"
Jasmine shook her head. "No, especially since we can't prove Hernandez is responsible for the explosion. It would be sheer speculation on our part."
"So what am I supposed to do? Sit around for them to make their next move?" Ian asked angrily.