She started to sob then as she held me and I just slid my arms around her without even thinking about it. It all felt like a dream. My throat felt so tight. Closing my eyes, I tightened my hold, breathing in her scent like I'd been starved for a long time.
A thought came into my mind, wild and insistent, something I vaguely remembered saying to my best friend once. I'd forgotten about it afterwards because the idea of it had been impossible at the time.
When we all came together, it felt like we belonged together. Like pieces of a puzzle that was now complete.
****
Bonus Scenes
Throwback to that Skye and Armaan convo that helped her see things differently. ��
....
Skye
He offered me some juice once we were inside his kitchen and settled down opposite me after pushing a box of tissues my way. I sniffed and wiped my nose, having cried a lot of my tears out in the field and while walking inside the house with Armaan.
"One-sided love?" he asked in a murmur. "I've been there. Kind of. Sucks, doesn't it?"
I bit my lip and looked outside at the fountain in front of his home.
"How did you know?" I asked him in a whisper.
Armaan shrugged. "I saw the signs. Been spending a lot of time at your place building Jasper's house." He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Skye."
I just clutched my head in my hands. "I can't believe this is happening," I said miserably. "I didn't think I'd ever catch feelings for him again but-"
There was a moment of silence.
"Jasper's a good guy," he told me kindly. "I know you were hurt by his cheating but-"
"I can't ever trust him again," I insisted before he could say anything else. "Even if he ends up falling for me too, there is no way him and I can get into a serious relationship and make it work a second time around. We're just...too different."
He nodded at me. "I get it," he replied thoughtfully. "But...does it have to be that complicated?"
I frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
Armaan pursed his lips, blinked his long lashes and shrugged. "I was deeply in love with Jasmine when she suggested a friends-with-benefits situation a year ago," he calmly informed me. "I didn't expect anything from her. In fact, a part of me kept thinking she would betray me again. Or grow tired of me. But it felt good to be with her and so I didn't really let myself worry about tomorrow."
I sat up straight, inhaling deeply and wondering about his words. He made it sound so easy but I'm sure it hadn't been.
"I don't know if I can do that," I mumbled. "Get involved without expectations. Live in the moment. That isn't me."
Armaan grabbed a bottle of water from the counter and sipped from it.
"I understand, Skye," he said after he finished drinking. "I only meant that if being away from him makes you so miserable, then maybe you can meet the guy halfway." He smiled and gave me a wink. "You don't have to decide now, of course. It's not like he's going anywhere."
Reaching out, he patted my shoulder gently. "Just think about it. If you believe it's worth a shot, then go for it. But also, keep your expectations low and just make the most out of those amazing moments. Only if you want him badly enough. Don't let yourself get hurt again, Skye."
He was insane. A no-strings-attached relationship with the man I loved? There was no way I could ever do that.
****
Skye
"Mmm, Jasper, I really don't think this is a good idea," I murmured as I felt his stubbly cheek grazing against my neck. "I'm going to be late for work."
His response was to pull me closer against him under the sheets and growl in that sexy way of his.
It was so, so hard to leave his bed whenever we did find the time to hook up. We were all so damn busy most of the time. The kids, our jobs, Jacob starting pre-school and the everyday running of our household.
Early this morning, I'd come to Jasper's place to ask him if he'd seen Jacob's new pair of sneakers and instead of helping me look for it, he'd just pulled me in bed with him. Okay maybe the sneakers had been an excuse to see him because I hadn't for almost a week since he had been away in Rome for one of his photo shoots.
I heard a noise and started to scramble out of bed, afraid that it was Jacob or maybe even Ben. This was still kind of new and uncertain for me, being intimately involved with Jasper without either of us actually committing to anything. I didn't want to involve the kids in it. How would I even be able to explain any of this to them when they didn't even understand normal adult relations yet?
It was Cole who showed up at the door to Jasper's bedroom and regarded us with an amused look.
"I wondered where my wife had disappeared off to when I woke up and found her side of the bed empty," he said in a cheerful tone and then strode over to the bed.
Okay now I really was going to be late. Cole slid between the sheets as though he did not have a care in the world and folded his arms behind his head.
"Aah. This is the life," he said with an expression of pure bliss.
I looked at them both and sighed.
"Look, neither of you have work today so this might all be a joke to you but I need to get dressed and leave, please."
Cole just raised one knee and effectively trapped me from the other side.
"Call in sick. Say something came up," he suggested. My workaholic husband suggested that and I couldn't believe it.
"Yeah. Good idea," Jasper murmured in agreement.
I rolled my eyes. These two men...
"Where are the kids?" I asked anxiously.
"I dropped Jacob off at pre-school and Adele just got here so she's with Izzy and Ben."
"Isabelle," Jasper corrected at once, making Cole and I exchange a long-suffering look.
Just because he had picked Isabelle's name, he felt it was an insult to shorten it to Izzy. As though we were making fun of his choice which was ridiculous because he himself had confessed that he hadn't actually cared all that much about the naming process in the first place.
I tried to sit up but Jasper threw one long leg over me whereas Cole gave me a cute, pleading look. Letting out another huge sigh, I fell back in bed causing Jasper to laugh in a low, sexy manner while my husband smiled affectionately and moved to cuddle with me.
"Ohhh, I fucking love this," he said, sounding so excited and boyish.
"I can't believe you guys are making me do this. I hate you both," I muttered.
Jasper gripped my chin suddenly and crushed my mouth with his in a fierce kiss.
"Stop complaining," he ordered me in a gruff voice. "Me and your husband are going to have a little fun with you now and you're going to let us. Okay?"
I swallowed a little and nodded as his eyes darkened. God, I loved him. And I think he loved me too. I didn't know where this was going. Or if I even wanted it to go somewhere. Last time we had given it a label, it had ended badly.
So this time, he made me no promises and I expected nothing from him. All I knew was that it felt good being with him like this. Being with both of them.
And this way, if things ever did go wrong between us again, which I secretly feared will happen at some point when our views clashed in the future, at least Jacob wouldn't be hurt.
I didn't want my son to grow up seeing his parents together, forming some false hope in his heart that we had an ideal relationship and then be shattered when things didn't work out between his father and I.
Jasper was already busy with his head between my legs and a few seconds later, Cole started to groan next to me as well. I realised with a jolt that I wasn't the only one Jasper Wells was servicing under the sheets.
Multi-tasking at its finest.
I bit back a grin and my husband leaned in to give me a passionate kiss as our desire heightened thanks to our mutual lover's skillful hands and mouth.
We were bad. So, so bad.
But when I stopped thinking about tomorrow and just lived in the moment, I had to admit, it felt really, re
ally good.
****
Cole
Jacob's eyes were wide open as he stared at the TV screen in Jasper's living room at ten p.m on a Saturday night. I walked in to see Jasper standing at the kitchen table, cleaning the lens of one of his cameras while my kid...his kid...okay, our kid kept his gaze glued to a gory, grisly and dark Batman movie.
Thank God Skye had gone to bed early after spending the entire day hosting an art exhibition at her gallery in the city. If she had come in here instead of me and seen this...
"Hey," I said, going up to my boyfriend and giving him a thump on the shoulder. "How's it going?"
He mumbled something which I couldn't hear above the sound of the movie and I winced a little before searching for the remote and lowering the volume. Jacob still didn't move or even blink.
"I'm starting to worry about him," I said slowly, casting a glance at Jasper. "I mean, these movies-"
I stopped when Jasper shot me a look. Never, ever say anything against his Batman movies or the Batman fandom. The guy would skin you alive. Except he wouldn't do that to me because he loved me.
"It's ten p.m, Jasper, come on," I tried again.
Finally, he sighed, put down his equipment, went over to his son and explained that the movie needed to stop. Jacob made a face but only for a few seconds before he got up to go to the bathroom.
I just blinked at Jasper, marvelling at how he managed to handle Jacob so smoothly. The kid would listen to anything he said.
I cleared my throat. "So maybe after you've tucked him in, you can do the same to me," I said cheekily, flicking my eyebrows at him.
His lips twitched in a smile as he came closer to me. "Oh you want to be tucked in now, is it?" he said in a low, sexy manner. We kissed then and my arms went around him while I leaned back against the table.
"Dad, I finished brushing my teeth," Jacob's voice came from behind him.
Pulling away from me, Jasper gave his son an affectionate smile and scooped him up in his arms.
"I'll be right back," he said to me before taking Jacob into the other room.
I made my way into Jasper's bedroom and toed off my shoes before getting in the huge bed that always looked so sensual and inviting with its black and grey silk sheets and fluffy pillows. Five minutes later, he joined me and we lay there in the dark not speaking for a long while.
"He's a tough kid, you know," Jasper said quietly. "He doesn't get scared easily and if he does, I'm always here."
"Hmm." I smiled a little because I knew Jasper wanted to be the boss of Jacob most of the time but he also understood that I would always worry about the little guy.
"Skye?"
I shifted to face him, the sound of crickets outside his bedroom penetrating the silence.
"She wants to sleep alone tonight. It was an exhausting day," I explained. "You wouldn't have let her rest if I'd asked you to come over."
He chuckled softly at my words and brought out a hand to rub my chest.
"I'm actually tired as well," he murmured. "I did a lot of work today editing and stuff for my latest shoot."
My response was to yawn. I guess we all were tired tonight.
"Good night, baby," I whispered, pressing myself against his warm body.
He put his arm around me just as I closed my eyes.
So many years, twelve, in fact...and yet, I was still so deeply in love with this guy. Every night felt like the first night we had spent together.
It didn't take long for his breathing to even out and I smiled to myself.
Three beautiful kids and two incredible lovers. A family that had survived so much and was still so full of hope and happiness. For a boy who had grown up feeling alone and unloved most of the time with no place he could ever call his own, this was the most beautiful gift life could ever give him.
~~~~
‘Shameless’
(Book 4 of the FORBIDDEN series Official Teaser)
I was staring at him. I didn't think I had ever stood this close to him before. Especially not since he had grown up into a teenager. He had only just celebrated his eighteenth birthday a few months back and I hadn't even given him a hug. Just a smile and a present that Cole and I had picked for him.
Zi was frowning at me as though he was trying to figure something out. "Mrs. Sawyer," he whispered, his lips curving slightly. "Is everything all right?"
His words made me inhale sharply and step away from him in horror. What was I doing, standing there staring at a teenage boy like that? And so close, I'd felt his breath on my cheek.
"Yes. I'm sorry. I was just...lost in thought," I explained with a nervous laugh.
He nodded again, in his usual polite manner, and turned to walk out of the kitchen. I watched him leave with a hand over my heart, feeling a little uneasy but before he disappeared from my line of sight, he glanced over his shoulder and smiled at me.
It was an innocent smile. Just a friendly one like you would give to your friend's mom or dad when you ran into them.
So why did it feel like he kind of knew the thoughts that had been running through my head in that moment?
****
Other Books by Zee Shine Storm
FORBIDDEN series
'Forbidden' (Book 0.5 - prequel. Jasmine's story.)
'Three's A Crowd' (Book 1)
'Once A Cheater' (Book 2)
'Twice Inflamed' (Book 3)
'Taming Wells' (Book 3.5 - A Jasper Wells novella)
'Shameless' (Book 4)
'Wicked' (Book 5)
Stand-alones
Dirty Secrets (Chick-lit, contemporary, NA, sister’s fiancé)
Girl Obsessed - A Dark Romance
Acknowledgments
Thanks for reading ‘Taming Wells’. I wrote it especially for those readers who can never get enough of Jasper.
Shout out to all my loyal and supportive ZeeStormers. Thanks for your passion for my stories. I'm so glad I started this journey with you all.
I'm so grateful to have a chance to put my books out there. Hope they make a difference in someone's life.
Lots of laughter,
Zee.
About the Author
Lover of Batman and forbidden romances.
***
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