Brazen - Brazen #1 - Maya Banks Page 0,2

elbowed him in the side.

“You’ve sure grown up, little girl,” he continued. His eyes raked up and down her body.

She suppressed a smug grin. Yeah, he’d noticed. She’d bet anything he was still reeling from the kiss she’d given him.

“Well, I can’t stay a little kid forever,” she said lightly.

Beside her, Seth frowned. She shot him a questioning stare, but he looked away.

They approached the carousel where her luggage was going to be. A large crowd of people lined the conveyor belt as the bags started to spill out the end. Seth laid his fingers on her arm.

“Wait here. Zane and I will get your stuff.”

She watched as the two men pushed through the crowd until they came to a stop beside the carousel. Women and men alike stared at them. They were arresting characters, wild and formidable looking. In the beginning, she’d spent a lot of time staring at them too, never sure whether they were the good guys or the bad.

They had a confident, self-assured look that they wore like a second skin. It bordered on arrogance, but Seth wasn’t so much arrogant as he was convinced.

Her stomach tightened in appreciation when Zane bent over to read the luggage tag on one of her suitcases. His jeans pulled across his ass, molding to every contour. The denim encased thick, muscular thighs. When he stood up again and lifted her suitcase over the side, the muscles in his arms bulged and rippled the thin T-shirt he wore.

Ten minutes and several suitcases later, both men returned to where she was standing.

“Damn, Jaz, I don’t remember you bringing this much shit with you to Paris,” Zane complained.

She laughed. “That’s because I bought most of it while I was there. Here, I’ll take some of them.”

“We’ll get them,” Seth said.

She looked up at him, and for a moment, their gazes locked. She didn’t try to hide the hunger she knew must be reflected in her stare. Fire briefly flamed in Seth’s eyes before he turned away.

“Let’s go,” he muttered.

After piling all her luggage into Seth’s extra cab truck, they got in and navigated to I-10 West. Thirty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of a hotel, and Seth hopped out to check them in.

Zane and Jasmine got out and Zane piled as much of her luggage as he could fit into the cab of the truck. She snagged an overnight case with the things she’d need for their hotel stay then walked into the hotel behind Zane.

As they approached the desk, Seth turned around, holding two envelopes containing keys.

“I booked two rooms. They’re adjoining.”

He handed Jasmine her key.

Jasmine followed the two men to the elevator, still staring at the card in her hand. Separate rooms, huh. When they’d seen her off to Paris a year before, he hadn’t concerned himself with getting her a separate room. He’d booked a suite.

They got off the elevator and walked several feet down the hallway before Seth stopped and dug for his key. She looked at her own envelope for her room number and moved a few steps past them to the next door.

“See you in the morning,” Seth said as his gaze followed her.

She smiled and gave a small wave before entering her room. She shut the door behind her and tossed her bag aside. Dismissed and not even home for an hour yet. On one hand, she supposed it was better that he hadn’t booked one room. He obviously saw her as a threat to the way things had always been between them. Which meant he recognized her as a desirable woman and not a child.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t want to see you make a fool of yourself,” she muttered as she flopped down on the bed.

She’d give them fifteen minutes, and then she was going in. She changed into one of Seth’s old football shirts she’d taken with her to Paris. It was modest enough, hanging to her knees. She didn’t want to be blatant. Subtlety would get her a lot further. If the imprint of her nipples could be seen through the shirt, oh well. She wasn’t going to sleep in a bra.

Checking her watch, she walked over to the adjoining door and knocked softly. When Zane opened it, standing there in just his jeans, she nearly swallowed her tongue. Lordy but the man had a chest that made her want to slobber.

She breezed past him, not giving him a chance to object to her being there. She sat