by Romi Hart
“How kind of you,” I chuckled, settling on the barstool at the island where she’d placed everything. I hadn’t been in the kitchen before. In fact, I hadn’t been through most of the house, and I marveled at the size and modern design. All clean lines with bright whites and stainless steel. A double fridge and double oven, which seemed like overkill even for two people but especially just for Mina.
“I try,” she smirked. “How was work?” She frowned, tilting her head as she studied my face. “What happened to you?”
I realized it was the first time she’d looked at me fully since we’d gotten into bright enough light to notice any damage to my face. “Yeah, I broke up a fight. Is it bruised yet?” I asked, touching my nose and not wincing at the discomfort because I didn’t want to worry her.
She walked over and touched her index fingers to either side of the bridge of my nose. I held still, and her frown deepened, but she shook her head. “No, it’s swollen, but there’s no bruising. Tell me the other guys look worse.”
She was teasing me, and I had to laugh. “Well, they were bloody. And I think anyone looks worse in handcuffs, so sure.” Her eyebrows met her hairline, and I laughed harder. “They both got arrested. It was a pretty bad fight, so I think I got off pretty easy this time.”
“I don’t like it,” she said as she sat next to me. She pursed her lips and rested her chin on her hand. “I don’t like you getting hurt. There’s got to be something else you can do. Something that doesn’t involve your nose getting used as a punching bag. I happen to like your face the way it is.”
“Yeah?” I asked, liking the compliment. Unfortunately, as a felon – and recently released on parole, no less – I didn’t have that many options if I wanted an honest income. Sure, I could live on my investments, but I didn’t want to turn into a lazy slob, either.
“Yes, I do.” She sighed. “Couldn’t you start a business or something? Anything that would keep you out of the way of misplaced fists?”
I brushed my knuckles over her cheek, appreciating the concern. “I’ll think about it.”
Mina
I’d wondered what it would feel like to share a meal with Jasper in my kitchen. Now, I knew it was a priceless experience. I loved chatting and teasing with him while we nibbled on all the nice little breakfast treats with the sun rising outside the window and casting beams on his face. I didn’t much care for his injuries. They worried me. But he was still absolutely gorgeous. And at least for now, he was mine.
I knew he had something to tell me. I could see the apprehension in his eyes. But I also knew it had nothing to do with what we shared between us, so I knew it could wait. I had other things in mind.
So, when we’d sipped through a third cup of coffee and Jasper’s eyes were still heavy with the need to sleep, I stood and took his hand, pulling him to his feet. I left the mess on the counter for later and leaned into him, tilting my head back for a kiss. When our lips met, I prodded at his with my tongue, letting the passion in my chest pour out. I ran my hands up his arms and around the back of his neck, and I was rewarded with a groan and the first twitches of his cock as it came to life.
“Damn, Mina, I’m so tired, but you’re irresistible,” he mumbled against the corner of my mouth.
I gave a sultry laugh. “That’s the idea,” I rasped. I pulled back out of his grasp, and he grunted, but I didn’t want him collapsing in my kitchen floor. I tugged on his hand, pulling him along with me through the living room and to my bedroom suite upstairs. Jasper eyed the house with wonder, and I didn’t even consider the possibility that he was casing the joint. That wasn’t who he was anymore. He didn’t have a reason for it. He wasn’t desperate, and he wasn’t going to be pressured into anything.
I pushed him back on the bed, straddling him as I reached for the fly of his jeans. He was rock hard, and his shaft thrust out at me as I released it from the denim prison. I curled my fist around his base and stroked upward, running my thumb over his head, and then back down. Jasper shivered, his eyes closing. I wasn’t about to let him fall asleep yet, so I bent and took his head in my mouth. He tasted like salt and musk and soap, clean and hungry for me. I licked a circle around his head and drew my tongue over his length, up and down, before I took him back into me, swallowing him deeper.
He thrust his hips up in response, shoving his cock into my throat, and I opened wider, breathing through my nose so I wouldn’t gag on his size. I moved up and down on him, letting him push deeper when he wanted, enveloping his length in the warm wetness of my mouth. I could taste the first drop of precum just before he grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me away. I glanced at his face, finding it red with his teeth clenched. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to fuck your mouth till I come down your throat.”
It was the rawest, dirtiest thing he’d ever said to me, and it made me pour. I was suddenly glad I hadn’t bothered to put on nice clothes, since the yoga pants I wore were drenched now. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Yes,” he groused, shoving my sweater over my head and toying with my nipples. I hissed as he pinched and twisted, my insides molten and wanting to leak out. “The problem is, I’m exhausted, and I want to bury my cock in your tight, wet pussy. I don’t have enough energy for two rounds without getting some sleep.”
I moaned at his words and didn’t protest as he smacked my ass and yanked my pants down to my ankles with one tug. His fingers were immediately buried inside me, exploring the wetness of my swollen folds, running along my slit from back to front before circling my clit. I could barely breathe, the sensation was so incredible. I gasped for air, panted, and could hardly hold myself up as the building wave of passion nearly consumed me. “Slow down,” I groaned, but I wasn’t even sure I meant it. Two fingers snaked inside and curled against that spot that drove me wild, and I found myself riding his hand shamelessly. We hadn’t even undressed fully. My pants were still around my ankles, and his were up around his thighs. I didn’t care; it would take too long to get everything off. I needed him right here, right now.
“You’re so wet,” he breathed, sitting up and closing his lips around one nipple. He drew it in deeply, nibbling and flicking his tongue against it until I couldn’t take anymore. I came with the force of a hurricane, and flooded him like the shoreline. I was still in the middle of the orgasm when he pulled his fingers away and drew me down hard onto his cock, filling me completely.
I screamed, the impact bringing a second wave of ecstasy crashing into the first in an explosive crash. I shivered and shook, but still, I rode him with a vengeance, his shaft pulsating inside me as he leveraged his hands on my hips, slamming me against him over and over again, his cock seeming to swell larger with each thrust. My head fell back, and I felt his kisses on my throat, the valley between my breasts. And I knew as his stubble pressed against my ribs that he was close, couldn’t focus on anything but the growing urge to spill into me.
His release was a monumental event, and I came with him, our bodies melding together into one, sweaty, writhing mass, our screams echoing around us and the scent of mutual bliss surrounding us. He fell back, and I fell on top of him, my bones and muscles having turned to jelly. I lay there with his cock buried inside me until I could find enough strength to roll over onto my side next to him.
Through hooded eyes, I watched him, his chest heaving under his shirt and his eyes almost closed. I marveled at the fact that I had Jasper Cunningham, the man who had broken into this house once before, in my bed. That he’d been in my body after sharing a meal in my kitchen. For a moment, I turned to stare at the ceiling, wondering if the universe would strike me down for this. But then again, maybe it was fate that brought him here the first time. Maybe it had all been part of some larger plan from the beginning, and we were always meant to be here, in my house, in my bed, tangled together with the musk of our release filling the room.
“I love you.” The words were a groan on his lips, which barely moved, but they were crystal clear t
o me. I wanted to cry with joy, but I held back. I was overwhelmed with happiness. I had never realized what three little words could do, how easily and immediately they could fill your heart to bursting.
I rested my hand on his chest, palm splayed over his heart, and as it steadied, mine found the same rhythm so they beat in time together. It was like magic, and it lulled me back toward that dark place full of dreams and fantasies. “I love you, too,” I whispered while I still have a shred of consciousness. I didn’t know if he heard me, but then, his arm curled around me and pulled me into him. I’d never been more at home in my entire life.
Chapter 12
Jasper
Cloud Nine was too close to the ground to describe where I floated.
It didn’t matter that I’d forgotten the very serious discussion I was supposed to have with Mina. We’d get around to that soon enough. For now, I had found a source of contentment and joy I would never have imagined for myself.
Waking up with Mina in my arms, in her bed inside her house, was the epitome of heaven. It represented her complete trust in me. She’d fallen asleep in my arms, in a place I’d violated in the past. The fact that she could sleep so easily with me back here meant she didn’t wonder if I’d try to steal something again. She didn’t worry I’d hurt her in any way. She trusted me implicitly, and that was something I wasn’t even sure I’d had with Cindy.
I’d slept soundly, too, and even though it was only for about four hours, I felt like I’d gotten a good eight or nine. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so rested. I couldn’t decide if it came from the comfort of her trust, her arms, or her admission of loving me. I hadn’t meant for her to hear me say it. I thought she’d fallen asleep. But I didn’t regret it, since she’d said it, too. I was high on life and love, and I was determined that nothing was going to bring me down.
So when I found Sam perched on his Harley outside my building, I didn’t bother getting angry. I just didn’t care anymore. I walked past him with a wave. “Hey, bud, if you want to talk, that’s fine. But I’m not coming to the clubhouse.”
I slowed just enough that Sam could climb his hefty gut off the thing and catch up to me without running by the time I went to unlock the front door to the building. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
I had no idea what he was talking about. There were a lot of things about me Sam would think were crazy right now, and he could be referring to any one of them. “Maybe. I can’t answer that definitively without more information.”
I let him follow me in, but I didn’t hold the door. He could do the work himself or get the hell out of my building. “Would you stop walking and look at me?”
I shook my head as the elevator door opened. I had considered walking up the stairs in hopes of losing him at the bottom, but I had a feeling that whatever Sam wanted to say to me would drive him to follow. I didn’t feel like calling an ambulance today if he had a heart attack. “I’m going to my apartment. If you want to talk, you can say your piece there, and then if I don’t like it, I’ll kick your ass out and slam the door in your face.”
“You’re a rude son of a bitch,” he grumbled, and I just grinned. “Jesus, you are insane.”
“When did you become a clinical psychologist?” I challenged. “Because I could have used that opinion before they locked me up. Might have gotten off easier.”
He muttered under his breath, but I didn’t strain to hear. I didn’t really care what he had to say at the moment. We got to my door, and I unlocked it, striding inside without caring if he followed or not. But when the door slammed shut, I could hear him breathing as I reached into the fridge for a soda. “You are a stupid son of a bitch, Jasper Cunningham.”
I scoffed. “I am sometimes, I guess. But so are you and every other man on the face of the earth.”
“Did you really think no one would find out?”
I went stiff. So, he’d been the one following me last night. Somehow, he’d sniffed out where I was headed, even without following me the whole way. That was fine; unless he’d put a GPS tracker on my bike, he couldn’t verify it. He hadn’t seen me pull up to the house, and you couldn’t see through the damn gate to find my bike in the driveway. Plausible deniability worked just fine for me. “Find out what, Sam?” I asked with as much arrogance as I could muster.
“About the list.”
I still didn’t give anything away. My heart hammered in my chest. At least he wasn’t talking about Mina, but I didn’t want to give anything away here, either. “List?”
“Don’t play innocent with me, Jasper. I know about the list. I know what’s on it, and I know that list would be all we needed to hit our mark.” His eyes blazed, and I wondered just who Sam had become over the years. Sure, he’d done everything for me while I was inside, but now, it was like he expected recompense for his favors. As if I hadn’t done him a solid by assuring he could keep his freedom and become a fat slob. “Where’s the list?”
“You’re going to have to tell me what you’re looking for. Because the only lists I have are the hours I’m working, the groceries I need to get, and the errands I need to run,” I stated flatly.
He took a menacing step toward me, and I braced myself. I didn’t need a weapon to take Sam. I could do it with my bare hands. And since he was an intruder in my apartment, I didn’t have to justify bashing his head in with my knuckles. “Stephen Cohen had a completely separate collection, and you have a list of every piece of art in that gallery. Those are the most expensive pieces on earth, and two or three of them would set all of us for life. Now, you know what’s in there, and you know where ‘there’ is. You give me that list, and you’re off the hook. Forever.”
I couldn’t give him that list. First of all, I didn’t trust any of them anywhere near Mina. They would kill her to keep themselves from going to prison, and that was too big a risk. Secondly, who else would have a list of all of those things, other than me? I was the only one who had access to Mina’s house that wasn’t trustworthy. I had a history, a criminal record, and it was directly related to her and her property. I wouldn’t get framed or implicated again.
“I don’t have that list, Sam.” The truth was, I didn’t. I wasn’t stupid enough to keep something like that here.
“You’re a liar, Jasper.” The venom was heavy in his voice, and I suddenly didn’t even recognize my old friend. Greed had become a monkey on his back, just like the rest of them, and it made me sad. “Where is it?”
I shook my head. “You can’t have it, Sam. Stephen Cohen is dead, and you won’t go threatening his family. And you sure as hell won’t put me in danger of a life in an eight by eight box.” Fear made me angry, and I was terrified right now. I hadn’t considered that anyone would ever figure out I had that master list, so I hadn’t thought about that sort of threat to Mina’s safety before. The oversight didn’t make me happy, and I wasn’t sure how to fix this.
I searched for an idea, a way to diffuse the situation, and I said the first thing that came to mind. “It’s in a safe deposit box. I have to get it.” My mind was working too fast, and I felt like steam might start pouring out of my ears as fast as the gears were grinding against each other. I could fake the list. I could give a partial list, with a few of the pieces, and I could write fake directions. I was creative, and since I had most of it committed to memory, I could totally create something similar enough to feel real.
Sam narrowed his eyes at me. “You better not be fucking around, Jasper, or I’ll find out. You have a week. Got it?”
I nodded. In the meantime, I’d find a place out of town, pull some of my savings, and send Mina on vacation, just in case. With Sam having turned on me – and I still didn’t know how he found out about the list – I couldn’t trust anyone, and I couldn’t take any risks. “If you’ll leave me out of it, I’ll get you the list, Sam. All I want is freedom. From all of it.”
He gave a short nod. “Fair enough. One week.” He turned and slammed out of the apartment, and I
hastily locked the door behind him, not wanting any possibility of him coming back in. Then, I reached for my phone, tugging it out of my pocket. I had to warn Mina, somehow, and get her to agree to leave town for a while. I would do whatever was needed to protect her.
I texted her, my fingers not cooperating so I had to keep backing up and trying again. Call me. Now. It’s urgent.
Mina
I frowned at my phone, a little insecurity creeping up my spine. We’d parted ways about an hour ago, and now, Jasper was texting me, asking me to call him because it was urgent. If it was so urgent, why didn’t he just call me? What if he’d gotten into an accident on the way home?
That was one of several horrific scenarios playing through my head as I dialled, walking away from the grilled cheese sandwich I’d just made myself. Horribly unhealthy, and I didn’t care. Sex was an extra workout these days, so I didn’t have to worry about my figure. He answered halfway through the second ring. “Mina, we have to talk.”
The desperation in his tone threw me off balance, and I was nervous now. “What’s wrong, Jasper?”
“Do you trust me?” he asked, just as hastily.
“Of course.” But I didn’t like the sound of this.
“Then I need you to pack a bag and call an Uber or something. Don’t take your car. I want you to find a place out of town where you can stay for a few days.”
“What? Jasper, what’s going on?” I was confused and just a little frightened. Why would he send me out of town?
“Please, Mina, don’t ask questions now. Just find a place, not something connected to you like another property. And text me the address. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can and explain everything. Will you do that for me?”