by J. H. Croix
“Just some water. I’m not supposed to have alcohol with my pain medication,” she offered with a roll of her eyes.
“Water it is.” A moment later, I set a glass of water on the coffee table.
I felt more unsettled than I’d ever felt in my life. And that was saying something after my not particularly warm and fuzzy childhood with my parents.
Anna took a sip of the water as I stood there beside the couch. After she set the glass down, she cast a considering look in my direction. “How did you know I got hurt?”
“Chance called me. Of all people,” I said with a wondering laugh.
“Oh. I guess Aubrey told him. I’m just a little surprised he called you.”
I shrugged. I had a hunch as to why Chance had called me, and not because he chose to enlighten me. As much as he gave off a cavalier attitude about life, it was obvious he was deeply in love with Aubrey. He wasn’t the kind of guy to chat or lecture, not like my cousin Simon, but I sensed he was more perceptive than I was about my feelings for Anna.
“You should ask him,” I offered. “For now, I’m going to take care of the goats and chickens.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Anna
One week later
“Of course, I told Chance,” Aubrey replied. She said that as if it were a matter of choice . Which I supposed it was.
“I’m honestly curious,” I began, “Do you tell Chance everything?”
Mango was napping on the couch beside me. I idly stroked her through her soft fur. Her presence was a comfort, and she amused me when I was resting, which was just about all I did these days.
“Pretty much,” she said, her steady gaze holding mine. “Let’s be clear, though, this wasn’t like a deep secret. You got hurt. Eloise called me because she was at the hospital with you. It was late, and she needed someone to go check on the goats and the chickens in the morning. She knew you hadn’t had a chance to line anyone up. When you ask if I tell Chance everything, if you told me something in confidence like, I don’t know, something super personal, I wouldn’t tell him. But you broke your ankle. Not top-secret, and I was worried about you. Plus, I left our house at six thirty in the morning. I brought Pixy with me so he could have a little fun while I was feeding the goats. Chance would’ve wondered what I was doing if I didn’t explain.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to keep it a secret. I was just curious. I’ve never really had a serious relationship, so…” My words trailed off, and I shrugged.
Aubrey eyed me from where she sat at an angle across from me on the sectional. “I think you’re curious why Chance called Jasper.”
I so totally was. For just a second, I contemplated feigning nonchalant. But my cheeks got hot, so I knew my blush was giving away my discomfort. I finally let out a laugh. “Fine. You might be right.”
Aubrey giggled. “I knew I was right. You like him. Chance called him because he’s got it in his head that Jasper’s in love with you. He told me he’d be devastated if he’d found out I was hurt when we weren’t together, and he hadn’t been able to be there for me.”
“What?” I asked, agog at the idea Jasper was in love with me.
Aubrey’s eyes twinkled as she smiled over at me. “Is that so crazy?”
“Aside from you, I just didn’t know Chance thought that deeply about things. He’s a totally nice guy but he’s pretty laid-back. Plus, yes, I think it’s totally crazy Jasper could be in love with me.”
She simply stared back at me, and I felt my cheeks getting hotter and hotter. I started to move my legs restlessly before catching myself. I looked down at my bulky foam boot and cast it a glare.
“What happened with you two?” she asked softly.
I slid my fingers over the silver bracelet on my wrist. “I guess we had a fling,” I finally said.
“You guess you had a fling?” she pressed.
“Hot sex with no expectations,” I finally replied pointedly.
Aubrey threw her head back with a laugh. “Well, I’m glad it was hot,” she said as she finished laughing.
“Well, it was,” I muttered. “I thought he was going to stay in London.”
“Does it bother you that he cares enough to come back when you get hurt?” she asked.
When she said it like that, it all seemed so silly. It’s just, his return had me feeling thrown off balance again. In the weeks he’d been gone, I’d finally started to get my footing back again. Now, he was here, and I just didn’t know what to do with my stupid feelings.
I looked over and shrugged. It felt like shrugging was becoming an emotion for me with Jasper. “I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me. I guess what bothers me is I started to actually like him. But we don’t fit, not at all.”
Aubrey straightened, looking suddenly serious. “Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Why don’t you fit? I can’t say I know Jasper well, but he seems like a nice guy. You already told me he agreed to stay on as co-owner, which makes a huge difference for the business and you. I know you haven’t talked about it much, but I know how stressed out you’ve been. Eloise told me you were worried about having to sell. But that isn’t about this, is it?”
I leaned my head against the couch cushions, looking up at the ceiling as though its blank white surface would tell me something.
“No,” I replied glumly. “Jasper is a nice guy, but I’m pretty sure he’s out of my league.”
“Stop it,” she ordered, her tone firm and kind of bossy.
Breaking my gaze away from the compelling ceiling, I looked at her. “Stop what?”
“Being so hard on yourself. I didn’t think Chance and I would ever have a shot. My God, have you seen him?” She let out a surprised laugh, as if startled at herself.
I smiled in return. “He’s not my type, but yeah, he’s handsome, but you’re totally gorgeous. I’m not talking about looks. Jasper’s a rich British big shot. I’m just a girl who’s barely scraping by. I feel like a country bumpkin around him.”
“When you get out of your own way, is that how you feel when you’re with him? I’m not asking for details, but I’m talking about when you’re naked,” she said bluntly.
I could hear the steady thump of my heartbeat as I recalled how it felt to be held in Jasper’s arms. When we were tangled up together, I didn’t feel like a country bumpkin. Only when I was thinking. When I was with him, I forgot everything but how absolutely right it felt.
“I don’t know what to think about him coming back,” I finally said, knowing it was a sidestep to her question.
“Well, instead of making things up in your mind, why don’t you ask him?”
After Aubrey left, my ankle was feeling achy, but I resisted taking any of my prescription painkillers because they made me feel too loopy. I took a few ibuprofen instead and contemplated getting up to do something, anything.
Since Jasper had been here, he’d refused to let me do a thing. Much as I wanted to argue the point, I actually didn’t want to spend too much time on my feet. Whenever I did get up and move about, the swelling increased with pain to follow.
That said, I was starting to feel much better, and I hoped I was healing quickly. That evening when Jasper returned after the wine tasting, which I had listened to from a comfortable spot on the couch, I asked, “Why are you here?”
Jasper looked over at me from where he stood just inside the doorway. He closed it, and the sound of the latch clicking echoed in the space. As he crossed the room toward me, his eyes never left mine. It felt as if we were connected by an invisible shimmer of electricity.
He stopped right beside the couch, leaning over to greet Mango when she circled Jasper’s ankles. Mango meandered off to look out the windows.
Jasper looked back at me, finally answering my question. “I missed you, and I was worried about you.”
I could hear the reverberating thump of my heart as my pulse started to race. I stared at Jasper, almost expecting him to correct himself.
He didn’t. He held my eyes, his gaze steady and direct. Heat bloomed through my body. I opened my mouth and then closed it because my brain felt filled with static.
He finally moved, taking several steps and easing his hips down on the couch beside mine. “Here, let me repeat that. I missed you, and I was worried about you,” he said in a slow, measured tone, each word ringing like a bell in my heart.
Emotion rushed through me like a gust of wind out of nowhere, sending leaves scattering.
I managed a breath. “I missed you too,” I finally said. I might’ve been terrified by my feelings, but I wasn’t going to lie.
One of his hands came to rest on my hip. The feel of his touch was warm, an anchor in the maelstrom of emotion storming through me.
I felt the need to clarify. “I’m okay, though. You didn’t need to worry.”
Jasper’s lips twitched, the smile in his eyes evident. “Maybe not, but I suspect if I weren’t here to help, you’d be running around doing too much. The doctor was pretty clear about how you needed to stay off your feet for now.”
I wrinkled my nose and sighed. “I know. I am. In fact, I hope you’ve noticed I’ve hardly gone downstairs. Thank goodness there’s a view up here.”
His answering chuckle sent a rush of heat through me. This was inconvenient. I felt anything but sexy right now, but he was sexy no matter what. My body’s pull to him was a magnetic force that just wouldn’t quit.
“Thank goodness,” he said dryly. “I’ll help you downstairs whenever you’d like. You know that, right?”
“I know.” I twisted my lips.
His smile unfurled slowly. “You don’t want to ask for help. You’re a stubborn girl. You know that?”
“I’m just used to taking care of myself,” I protested.
“I know you can take care of yourself, Anna.”
Jasper’s hand was still warm on my hip, and his touch moved up the curve of my waist as he lifted his other hand and brushed a loose lock of hair off my forehead. Just that subtle touch demolished my ability to think. Rational thought and reason were replaced with a rush of desire.
His hand slid up over my T-shirt to cup a breast, causing my nipples to pebble instantly. I scrambled, trying to find a sensible thought. “Jasper?” I whispered.
“Hmm?” he murmured right before he leaned over and dropped a hot kiss on the side of my neck.
Because I was shameless and easy when it came to Jasper, and I’d missed him like crazy, I let out a little whimper, arching toward him as he dusted kisses over my skin, scattering sparks in the wake of his touch. “What are you doing?” I finally managed to gasp.
“Kissing you,” he said simply.
He nibbled lightly on the sensitive skin behind my ear, and my mind blanked out for a moment. When he lifted his head, I opened my eyes. “You’re making me crazy. Is this stupid?” I muttered.
“I promise I won’t kiss your ankle,” he said with a smile hot enough to melt me.
“I didn’t mean that. I meant…” I lifted a hand, waving it vaguely in the air.
“I missed you,” he said bluntly. “And you missed me. I see no reason we shouldn’t do something about that.”
Gah! How was I supposed to use any brain cells when he looked at me like that? I felt like goo inside.
Before my brain could start functioning again… Hell, who was I kidding? My brain didn’t function when Jasper was being hot.
He dipped his head, this time trailing a string of kisses along my collarbone. With him, I was frequently discovering new erogenous zones on my body. For example, my collarbone. It felt as if flames were licking across my skin everywhere his lips landed. The heat radiated from my collarbone, sliding through me and turning into liquid need.
Jasper straightened, and I almost whimpered in protest. He lifted my hand where it lay on my belly and dropped a searing kiss in the center of my palm. I was already gone. I’d thrown any pretense about thinking this was a bad idea out the window.
As he looked at me, the air gathered a charge. My heart kept on beating in a wild, unsteady rhythm, and my belly spun in flips. He dropped my hand, lifting his to trace the top of my tank top. Every breath was an effort, and I felt made of fire. And all we were doing was sitting here. I was propped up on the pillows with my bad ankle resting over another pillow on the couch.
Jasper sat beside me, fully clothed, yet the logistics of the moment had nothing to do with how intimate it felt. I knew we had a shared passion, and I knew there were feelings, but we’d never spoken those feelings aloud. For him to say he missed me and for me to admit it in return was momentous.
It made everything feel deeper, adding a layer to the intensity of my physical response to him. It wasn’t as if the feelings hadn’t existed before. Yet we had shied away from them as though a wild horse had cantered off to ignore them.
This might not’ve been a smart decision, but I wanted him too much not to dive into this with him.
“Tell me what you want,” Jasper said, his voice deliciously thick.
“You.” That single word came out in a breathy whisper.
His eyes darkened as he replied, “Let me do all the work.”
How could I say no? Jasper doing all the work meant nothing but incredible things for me. After all, he was the man of magic orgasms.
Chapter Forty
Jasper
You.
That single word in Anna’s husky voice sent a surge of lust through me. I’d been keeping myself in check for a full week now—telling myself Anna needed to rest, telling myself not to make this about sex, telling myself I was here to help and make sure everything was okay.
After all, I did own half of this business. I wouldn’t want anything to happen because she’d been injured. I called bullshit on myself. I could give Anna my half of this business, and it would barely even touch my bottom line.
I was living in delusion because I was terrified of what Anna had done to me. Or rather, what I had allowed myself to feel for her. My God. Without even considering any other complications or ramifications, I’d hopped on a plane and flown here to see her. Over a broken ankle. You’d have thought she’d been about to die based on the level of concern rampaging through me during the entire flight.
Blessedly, there was more than enough to do when I got here. That was about the only thing that kept me sane. Meanwhile, Anna was camped out here on the couch every day, looking cute and sexy as hell in her tank tops and soft, gauzy cotton skirts.
Everything felt electrified. My fingertips rested on her skin just above her tank top, and I was acutely aware of the silky soft feel of her skin under my touch. Her cheeks were pink, and I could feel the rapid, shallow rhythm of her heartbeat under my palm.
I tried to take a breath, but my chest felt tight. Because the only time I felt halfway sane—which was crazy, really—was when I was close to Anna. I dipped my head and kissed her.
Her mouth opened under mine, hot and sweet. God, I fucking loved kissing my girl. Her tongue glided against mine, and she made a soft sound at the back of her throat.
I let my hands slide down over the curve of her breast, teasing my thumb over her pebbled nipple. Anna shifted restlessly under my touch, her hips bucking slightly, beckoning me. I told myself this was all about her, yet she made me feel greedy. Or rather, my senses were greedy. I wanted all of her now.
I needed to be as careful as possible about her ankle. I told myself I wouldn’t be burying myself inside her, not tonight.
I pushed her shirt up, my palm coasting up to cup her breast through her bra. I finally broke free from her mouth. Everything with her was an impossible choice. I never wanted to stop kissing her because she tasted sweet, and I could lose myself in her mouth. But then, I craved the sweet tang of her skin.
I pressed a kiss on the side of her neck, satisfaction washing through me when she arched into my touch and let out a soft, breathy whimper. Lifting my head, I let my eyes trail over her breasts, hidden behind a cre
amy lace bra with her pink nipples playing peekaboo.
Dipping my head, I sucked a nipple into my mouth through the lace. Her fingers speared my hair. Impatient, I flicked the clasp on her bra undone, immediately turning my attention to her other nipple and teasing until it was a hard peak and she was murmuring my name.
I slid a palm down her good leg. The moment I encountered her skin, I reversed direction, pushing her cotton skirt up. Anna, ever helpful, shifted slightly, her knee falling out to the side.
Lifting my head, my heart seized for a moment when I saw her. Her lips were pink and swollen, her eyes dark with desire, and her skin flushed all over. Her breath was coming in short pants, and she looked downright decadent with her nipples damp from my attention. Her breasts rose and fell with every single breath she took.
I wanted to believe this was about pure need. But lust wasn’t what drove me to fly here in the middle of the night. It certainly wasn’t what had me feeding goats and chickens and selling wine and flowers. These weren’t things I did. Except they were when it came to Anna. Because I would do anything to make her life a little easier.
Her tongue darted out to slide across her bottom lip, bringing me back to what I was doing. She reached her hand over, boldly stroking over my swollen, aching cock.
“I suppose I have to take matters into my own hands,” she murmured with a sly smile.
This was for her. Well, selfishly, it was for me too. With Anna, there was a funny quirk to sex. Sex was usually a goal-oriented matter for me. Pleasure being the goal. With Anna, it didn’t really matter. Her pleasure was mine.
I caught a nipple with my lips again, releasing it with a wet pop as my hand slid over the curve of her belly. Her skirt was bunched around her hips now. I couldn’t resist kissing some of the freckles scattered randomly over her belly.
My hand slipped down over her cotton panties—a quick glance showed me they were pink—and I smiled against her skin as I dropped kisses on the insides of her thighs. She started to move, and I lifted my head, whispering, “Stay still. I don’t want you to hurt your ankle.”