He was up before I could insist on getting the magazine for him. For some reason, I felt as though perhaps it was time someone did something for Jasper, like buy him a birthday present, take him to dinner, massage his back, and tell him he was loved every day of his life.
He opened the magazine to an article about the history of the Empire State Building and showed me all the words on the page. After what felt like ten seconds of looking at the page, he handed me the magazine, closed his eyes to think, then said, “Find paragraph thirteen, the seventh sentence.”
“Okay,” I said as I sat with crossed legs on the bed. “Found it.”
I listened to Jasper recite that sentence and the rest of the paragraph as if he were reading directly from the publication.
“What? Do you have a photographic memory?” I asked even though I was sure it had been proven that the phenomenon didn’t truly exist.
He smiled slightly. “No. You could do the same if you were forced to practice it, given no food or drink, starved of love and connection, until you were able to do just what I did.”
I had no idea what to say.
“My father was an egomaniac, a narcissistic loser. He wanted to prove that the Christmases were supreme by forcing me to be…” He pressed his lips together and shook his head as though he couldn’t find the right adjective for what he had become. “I’ve made some mistakes recently. Being right here, right now, is one.”
“Being with me is a mistake?” I sounded so sad.
“My presence here is putting us both in danger, but I’m tired of being away from you.”
Finally, I patted the mattress beside me, beckoning him to come back to bed. Jasper frowned as if it were difficult for him to take direction but then did as I was asking.
Once he sat, we kissed, and I took control, guiding him onto his back.
“I’m sorry you had those awful experiences with your father,” I whispered between kisses.
“Don’t be,” Jasper said and took over the process, flipping me onto my back. Suddenly, he stopped kissing me and stared into my eyes. “I am in love with you, Holly. I don’t know why or how it happened, but I’ll do anything for you.”
“Even buy BCN?” I asked before I realized it.
He grinned slightly. “I’ll admit that you working there helped make my decision easier. Your presence gave the company value that it didn’t have before.”
Even though we were in an intimate moment, he still sounded crazy. “That makes no sense. Plus, what if I leave? Then how valuable will the company be to you?”
He humped me with his blossoming erection. “After what you told me about Miss Roberson and Miss Given’s plans, the value of owning BCN just went through the roof, baby.”
I twisted my mouth anxiously. “So, what are you going to do?”
“First, I’m going to fuck you.” His knee nudged my thighs to open my legs wider. “Then I’m going to ponder whether or not I’ll let your friends have what they want.”
I widened my eyes. “What?”
Jasper laid his mouth on mine as he stuffed me with a brand-new erection. His strokes were slow and indulgent. Each one felt divine. We were making love without a condom. I wasn’t sure if we were playing with fire or secretly engaging in a self-fulfilling prophecy. I didn’t want to think about it as my pussy tightened around his increasingly hardening erection.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he kept repeating as he devoured the skin of my neck, my mouth, and my tits. With each passing second, he impaled me deeper, harder.
I opened my body to him. “Fuck me for your own pleasure, not mine,” I said breathlessly.
He looked confused, but he continued stroking my pussy.
“Your pleasure, baby,” I reiterated even though I realized he was having trouble processing my request.
Suddenly, Jasper stopped cold turkey and pulled out of me. I realized focusing on his own pleasure was something he couldn’t do.
He sat on the side of the bed, with his face buried in his hands. I rubbed his back, feeling as if he would shrug away from my touch at any moment. He didn’t, though, and I refused to stop touching him, massaging him until he told me to stop.
“Jasper?” I asked in a delicate voice.
“Yes,” he replied uneasily.
“How about I order us something to eat and we just lie here together and be each other’s company for the night?”
He turned and gazed at me with glossy eyes. I could tell he wanted to cry but couldn’t. I wondered how long his tear ducts had been blocked. Perhaps forever. Instead of asking him if he’d ever cried a day in his life, I smiled faintly.
“How does a BLT sound?” I asked.
He nodded softly.
I kissed the skin on his back then gently rested the side of my face over the spot my lips had just abandoned before calling room service to order two BLTs, french fries, sparkling water, and a bottle of red wine. I also ordered fried donuts with dipping sauce. We both needed comfort food.
After I placed the order, Jasper grabbed me and wrapped me in his arms. “Thank you, baby,” he whispered before kissing my ear.
I closed my eyes, allowing myself to absorb the most wonderful emotions that his soul emitted. “You’re welcome.” I kissed his mouth. “Will you let me do something for you while we wait?”
Something uncomfortable flashed in his eyes.
“Please?” I asked.
He half nodded.
Once again, I laid Jasper on the bed and crawled on top of him. So badly, I wanted his cock in my mouth, but I wanted to give him myself in a different way, one the hurt little boy inside him could appreciate.
I kissed Jasper on his forehead, and he closed his eyes and seized my waist with one hand as his fingers dug into my pussy with the other.
I took him by the wrist. “Not yet, baby.”
He reluctantly abandoned his quest to stimulate me.
I stood at the foot of the bed. His gaze devoured my tits, kissed my lips, then ate my pussy. But I refused to give into his lust. Instead, I massaged his foot, which was something I was actually good at. During grad school, I’d been desperate to make some extra money, so I’d taken a crash course in massage therapy and earned my license. I’d had some loyal clients who got me through some tough financial spots. My fingers were good at deep-tissue kneading, but I couldn’t say I even mildly liked touching other people’s bodies. I’d just done what I had to do. As my thumbs worked out the knots at the bottom of Jasper’s feet, I realized this was the first time I actually loved massaging another person.
“That feels amazing,” he said with a sigh.
“Have you ever had a massage before?” I guessed he hadn’t, which was quite surprising.
He moaned. “No, never.” He sounded completely relaxed.
Of course I was right. Jasper was the kind of man who saw relaxation as a state of weakness.
“You’re in luck. Let me work your whole body, then?”
His eyes widened in dismay.
“Come on. Let me make you feel good.”
Jasper never said yes. Instead, he closed his eyes and surrendered to my touch.
“Your feet are riddled with stress,” I said, massaging them. I had never encountered someone with so much tension in his feet.
Room service arrived just as I finished relieving one foot. By then, Jasper was all in. I was sure he felt the difference. I closed the door to the bedroom and went into the living room to let room service in. Once I was with my lover again, he let me do his other foot, then his legs. He flipped over onto his stomach, and it took me nearly an hour to relieve the tension in his back.
He’d been silent the whole time, and so had I. I knew he loved the way he was feeling. The relaxation in his body must’ve been something alien to him.
“There,” I said after I’d rubbed the last knot out of the back of his neck.
Jasper seized my wrist then rolled over. His dick stuck straight in the air. He was as hard as a
rock.
“Sit on it,” he said.
I was hungry to have him inside me, so I did as I was told.
Jasper grasped my hips and shifted me back and forth on his cock. “Shit, I’ve never felt this good,” he said with a sigh.
Before I knew it, he’d flipped me onto my back and was fucking me hard and fast. I threw my hands over my head and grabbed the backboard, realizing he was finally doing what I’d asked earlier. Jasper Christmas was fucking me for his own personal pleasure.
He didn’t worry about lasting. Shit, he came so fast, so hard that I was sure the entire hotel heard him roar. At least that was what I hoped. My body and pussy had brought him so much pleasure.
After he came, he swept me into his arms and held me close for a while. We didn’t move. He just embraced me. Jasper didn’t have to say thank you. I could feel his gratitude in the way his heart beat against my back.
Chapter Fifteen
The alarm on my phone buzzed, and I woke up instantly. Before I turned it off, I twisted to look behind me. My heart was filled with glee. Jasper was still there with me, curled up on his side, sleeping. I turned off my alarm, smiling at how different he was. Every time I slept with him, he either held me or lay beside me, straight on his back with his hands together, fingers enfolded above his groin as if he were a vampire sleeping in a casket.
Finally, he stirred and reached up to pull me to him.
“What time is it?” he whispered as he spooned me.
“It’s seven.”
“Shit, I have to get to the office,” he said. “But stay put.” Jasper tiredly rolled out of bed.
“Stay put?” I asked, feeling as if I had a million things to do before my meeting with Rachel and Kylie.
He pointed at me as he jogged in front of the bed. “Don’t get out of that bed.”
I didn’t want to stay where I was, but I did anyway. Jasper went into the bathroom, and I could hear his urine hit the water in the toilet. I had woken up a few hours ago to pee, so I didn’t have to go. Before we went to sleep, Jasper and I had eaten every morsel of food on the platter, drunk half the bottle of wine as we discussed religion and politics like the centrists we were, made love some more, and then fell asleep.
But I was already feeling the void that would occur once we parted ways to sojourn through our day. I had no idea where we would go from there. The problems we’d had before last night still existed. Not only that, but I still had to talk to the mystery woman who’d warned me to leave her alone.
Once Jasper appeared, his cock steadily ticking upward as it discovered its thickness, I was struck by illumination. My beautiful lover lay on top of me, guided his blossoming erection into my slippery wetness. Once again, we were making love, only this time Jasper insisted that I come before he did.
While Jasper and I showered together, I told him about Alexia, the strange phone calls I’d received from the mystery woman, and how I couldn’t reach Alexia anymore.
“Then heed her warning, and leave it alone. I don’t want you putting yourself in unnecessary danger. I’ll have my people look into it.”
I rolled my eyes, suddenly regretting telling him.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me, babe?”
I smirked. “Maybe. Yes.”
The water made our kiss slippery. Then something quite surprising happened. Jasper wrapped his arms around me and held me. The warm water spraying from above pelted us as we remained stuck together, falling deeper into the feelings of new love.
Finally, with one last kiss, we turned off the shower, dried, and dressed. While I was readying my face for the day, Jasper had his assistant bring us breakfast.
“I could’ve just called room service,” I said after hotel staff dropped off the order.
“Go take a look,” he said as he confidently stood straightening his cuff link.
I opened the fancy frosted-glass containers and saw succulent shrimp on grits with poached eggs on top. There were fluffy biscuits with an assortment of jellies and a handwritten note that read, Glad to serve you again, Bart.
I gasped as I pressed a hand over my lips. “You didn’t.”
He winked, wearing a cocky smile. “Of course I did. Bart will be making all your meals while you’re here.”
“But…” I frowned, terribly confused. Even though our feelings were strong for each other, we were still sneaking around.
“You don’t want Bart to serve you?” he asked with an expression that said he already knew my answer to that question.
“Are you worried about Arthur Valentine finding out that you and I are still involved?”
“Not as of this morning.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
Jasper collected me, wrapping his arms around me. “Let me worry about Valentine.”
“How about we worry about him together?”
His soft lips caressed mine, and our tongues lapped each other. “I don’t want you worrying about a thing,” he said breathlessly.
Shit, he had done it again, rendered me speechless and thought free. Instead, we stared into each other’s eyes, knowing exactly what we both wanted to do next. Only there was no time.
“Tell me something,” he finally said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Tell you what?”
“How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
His expression was open and vulnerable. “That I was averse to seeing to my own needs above others’?”
“Because, Jasper, I’ve been paying attention.”
His mouth collided with mine. Our teeth clashed, but our tongues whirled greedily around each other. My pulse throbbed in harmony with his cock. There was no way to stop it.
Jasper threw me on the sofa, pulled off my shoes, tugged off my pants, and snatched off my panties. I spread my legs, opening up for him. In a daze, I watched him unzip and free his ready cock. Lust filled his eyes. My eager thighs quivered as he opened them wider before sinking his erection into my depths.
The coast was clear when Jasper left my suite first. I bounced as I walked down the hallway, took the elevator to the lobby, bought a cup of coffee in the chic café on the first floor, and journeyed to the office on foot. With every step, I tried to find my way back to that long list of stuff I had to do for the day. I felt that I was more dedicated to my goals before my night with Jasper. It was as if I wanted to run away from my life and the world in general and get lost in being with him.
By the time I made it to the BCN building and to Rachel’s office, I was still confused about what to tell them in regard to Jasper. When I walked through the door, Rachel was sitting in the yellow armchair, and Kylie was on the matching sofa.
“Well, you look balmy,” Kylie said, her gaze hopping all over my face. “And you’re late.” She folded her arms. “How did you sleep? Or did you sleep?”
I cracked a tiny smirk. “I know what you’re insinuating.” I sat beside Kylie.
“Well?” Rachel asked. I could see the worry in her eyes.
I shrugged.
Kylie shook her head as if she were through with me. “So do we have to assign someone else to the story or what?”
At least I had good news on that front. “No,” I said.
“And why the hell not?” Kylie asked, her expression pinched.
“Because last night, Julia Valentine overheard our conversation.”
“You mean Jasper Christmas’s fiancée?” she asked as though she didn’t want me to forget it.
I nodded graciously.
“What the fuck, Holly?”
I grunted with a slight roll of my eyes. “Calm down, Kylie. I believe we can work the story. Jasper won’t interfere.”
Kylie sniffed bitterly. “And how do you know that?”
There was a gentle knock on the door, and before Rachel could say “Come in,” her assistant opened it, and there stood the man I’d made love to last night and this morning.
Chapter Sixteen
Even I w
as shocked to see him. He’d made no mention of crashing our meeting, and now I was thinking like Kylie, believing that perhaps he’d been screwing with my mind when he was so nonchalant about us chasing the sexual-misconduct story.
He pointed a hand to the armchair matching the one Rachel sat in. “May I?”
Goodness, he looked fucking gorgeous. And the scent of Jasper Christmas suddenly filling the office made my pulse race. I had to remind myself that I was upset because he’d shown up unannounced. I was also worried that he would say something contrary to what I’d revealed before his arrival, then Rachel and Kylie would know that he’d purposely played me.
Rachel swallowed nervously. “Yes, you may,” she barely said then cleared the frog out of her throat.
Our gazes remained stuck on each other as Jasper sat. Then he winked.
I watched him coldly, pursing my lips.
“I’m not sure how much Holly has told you about where I stand with your investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations of my company.”
“We’re going through with it no matter what you say,” Kylie hissed.
Rachel’s hand shot up. “Kylie,” she barked. “Give it a fucking break already. Let’s hear Mr. Christmas.”
He smiled at Rachel appreciatively then nodded. “Thank you, Miss Givens.”
She nodded back with respect. There was a reason Rachel had risen to the top of our field, and at the moment, she was demonstrating how that had happened. She was showing a lot of control. For her, the story was never personal but always principal.
“I’m fine with you pursuing your investigation,” he said. “I won’t bring it to a halt.”
“Why not?” Kylie snapped.
He looked at her, and I could see how nervous it made her. “Because I have noticed a problem with the Christmas bonuses.”
“How does this problem relate to sexual misconduct?” Rachel asked.
Jasper pressed his lips together as though he hated the thoughts that came to mind. Finally, he sighed. “I’m not going to do your work for you.” He pointed a hand at me. “Miss Henderson already knows this is my method. But if you can dig up the dirt, I won’t get in your way.”
Desire: The Dark Christmases Page 11