Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) by Ava Thorn Read Free Book Online Page A

on someone from a distance, right? He never signaled to her that
he was interested in her but then again she never gave him any signals herself.
“Sarah, I never told him nor have I acted upon any crush that I have for
Shane.”
    “So, you’re admitting that you have something for
him?” Savannah snapped.
    “It was a teenage crush, I haven’t seen Shane in a
few years,” Jasmine said truthfully. When she was home, she kept her distance
from him.
    “You’re a grown ass woman now, Jasmine St. Clair,
and we both know that you’re harboring feelings for Shane still. Is that why
you buy him gifts for holidays and birthdays?” Sarah said, looking Jasmine
squarely in the eyes.
    “What!” Jasmine began to pace the small office
space; her palms were becoming sweaty. “We’ve been exchanging gifts since I was
sixteen years old.”
    “My husband wears these shirts you buy him and
drinks faithfully from the mugs you send him,” Sarah snapped. “Every night I
have to hear about what Jasmine’s doing in college.”
    “I don’t talk to him,” she said through clenched
teeth. “I buy him gifts that I don’t spend more than twenty dollars on.”
    “What does he buy you?” Savannah asked.
    “A leather planner for my birthday,” Jasmine
replied quickly. She cherished the gift that he gave her. Jazz knew it was a
friendly gesture, but she couldn’t help but fall in love with the planner that
had her name inscribed on it with silver letters or the card that accompanied
the planner.
    “The relationship that you have with Shane is
inappropriate,” Sarah said in a shaky breath.
    “Sarah, I can assure you that nothing is going on
between Shane and me. I would never cross those lines with him. I respect your
marriage.”
    “Do you?” Savannah said, stepping toward Jasmine.
“Tell me you don’t want don’t want to be with him.”
    “Every woman fantasizes about having this
wonderful, handsome man who she can’t get off her mind. If this was a different
time and place, I would want to be with him,” she confessed.
    “I told you,” Savannah said sucking her teeth.
“Where do you women come off wanting someone who is already taken?”
    “I don’t want Shane,” Jasmine said for the final
time, she wasn’t going to keep rehashing the same story over and over again.
“Do ya’ll have the slightest idea what a crush is? Eventually, the way I feel
will fade away.”
    “Yeah, but you want him,” Savannah said. “He’s not
going to leave Sarah for you.”
    Jasmine had enough of this woman’s mouth. It was
time for her to shut them up. “You came all the way here to talk about a
childish crush, are you insecure or something?” The quiet coming from Sarah was
all that she needed to know. “You don’t have to worry about little old me
snatching away your husband.” She rolled her eyes and opened the door for them
to leave.
    “Stay away from Shane,” Sarah said, walking out
the door and stopping dead in her tracks. “Don’t accept any more gifts from
him, please send them to me if he sends you gifts for birthdays and your
college graduation that’s coming up.”
    “Yeah,” Savannah chimed in.
    Sarah’s behavior was new to Jasmine; she used to
tease her mercifully a few years ago about the crush on Shane and now here she
was reprimanding her for something that was so silly. “Okay,” Jasmine replied.
There must have been an underlying issue in Sarah and Shane’s relationship for
her to be coming here.
    The rumble in the distance caused Jasmine to snap
out of her daydreaming, she remembered the day Sarah and Savannah visited Texas
Southern like it was yesterday. She never told anyone about the conversation.
Jasmine always wondered if Sarah told Shane about the day she confronted her
about the crush. She turned around at the sound of Shane’s voice and Shay
crying.
    “I’m coming,” Jasmine said looking at her watch,
it was almost past the time Shay received her feeding. She hoped that