No One Lives Forever Read Online Free PDF Page A

the all too familiar sensation of dread and nervous energy gnawed deep in his gut. This couldn't be a good sign.
    Something was terribly wrong in Jasmine's world— something frightening and out of control. Whatever it was, he had a feeling it would turn his world upside down.

CHAPTER 3
    Although the woman kept her distance, the room could never be large enough for Raven's preference. While Christian's shower rumbled in the background, Jasmine Lee wandered through his home, leafing through books and handling his personal photos like she belonged. Nothing could be further from the truth. Underneath vivid red silk, the woman's body moved with sensuality, displaying an enviable feminine confidence.
    Jealousy reared its ugly head. Raven conjured up a million ways to undermine that confidence with a liberal dosage of Fear Factor reality TV. Slithering worms and roaches, steep cliffs, and meaty bull testicles came to mind. She smiled. Ob, yeah. Now you're talkin'.
    As the coffee maker gurgled fresh aroma in the air, Raven sat at the breakfast bar with an elbow on the armrest of a bar stool, observing Jasmine's every move. The woman would be trouble. Of this she was certain. And the cop in her would not stay silent any longer.
    "So how do you know Christian?" Raven asked, raising her voice to make sure the woman heard her across the room.
    With her back to the kitchen, Jasmine stopped her pacing, standing near Christian's bed when she turned around. With a deliberate motion she ran her fingers along his bedspread, inch by inch from the pillow to the foot. Red glistening nails set against pale skin tortured Raven. The strange woman's eyes never wavered in their insolence.
    "Just lucky, I guess. Lucky for Christian, that is." Defiantly, she sat on the corner of his mattress, crossing her shapely legs with a flaunting smile on her face. "I would have expected you to be more . . . grateful. Christian certainly is. Have you not heard of looking a gift horse in the mouth?"
    About the same time, the coffee stopped brewing and the shower ended, leaving Jasmine's not so subtle message hanging in the air. Raven knew she'd been asked to mind her own business. And that had to be the equivalent of waving a red flag in the face of a cranky bull. She hated this woman shared a past with Christian ... a secret.
    "Oh, I've heard of it. I'm just afraid I'm staring at the other end of the horse. The part that produces all the fertilizer."
    "You sound like an expert."
    The gloves were off, on both sides. Raven preferred it that way. Subtlety took way too much energy. And besides, a full frontal attack felt more honest. Yet Jasmine was anything but honest. Raven suspected the woman would avoid answering any question she had.
    Raven trusted Christian with her heart—and her life. And she knew he loved her, enough to risk his life to save her. That kind of love . . . that kind of man, she should have been grateful to have him in her life. But what Christian hadn't shared with her weighed heavy between them, like an impenetrable wall.
    And Jasmine only rubbed salt in the wound. Her cop instincts tingled with ferocity as she stared at the unwanted intruder sitting on Christian's bed. She'd have to grease the skids with motor oil to let this one slide.
    "It appears we both possess the ability to recognize a heaping pile of horse hockey when we hear it." Raven stepped down from the stool and meandered closer to Jasmine, sitting on the leather sofa in the center of the room. "My horseshit detector is firing on all cylinders."
    "The feeling is mutual. And I have no fondness for police."
    "I'm a homicide detective with the Chicago PD."
    "Yes, I know." Jasmine raised an eyebrow and crooked a wily smile. "My statement stands."
    Taking a page from Raven's book, Jasmine rose from the bed and walked toward the living area. Under the guise of complete boredom, she plopped down on the other end of the sofa, across from Raven. Yet her focus told a very different story.