Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND)

by McDonald, Donna

  “If I ask you not to date them, then I’m being a jealous ass. Since I’ve never been one, I don’t know what the next thing to say is. Should I apologize again?” he asked.

  Chloe snorted at Jasper’s irritation, trying hard to not be thrilled. It wasn’t working. She pulled her tongue loose from the roof of her mouth so she wouldn’t be tempted to make sympathetic teasing noises with her tongue just to see how mad Jasper would get.

  The man brought out the wicked side of her.

  “You are so very proper in your irritation, Jasper. Are you really done with your ex-wife? Because if you’re not, please just stop laying it on so thick. I just came off a cheating spouse. I don’t think I could handle a cheating boyfriend without trying to kill the people involved. I’m really not very nice without alcohol.”

  Jasper met her laughing gaze and snorted himself, finally grinning and rubbing his jaw. “Yes. I’m completely done with her. I was done when she took a lover two years ago while we were still married. You and I have that much in common in our previous relationship.”

  “Okay then,” Chloe said firmly, “I’m going to believe you because you know how to make my nipples hard. I like that talent in men.”

  Jasper’s hot gaze burned hers. Chloe decided she liked it.

  “I’m kidding,” she said, laughing. “I have a twisted sense of humor when I’m nervous. I like you. I do. The nipple arousing thing is just a perk.”

  “Leave the comedy to the professionals, Chloe,” Jasper said hoarsely, leaning forward on his knees, struggling to get his own reaction to her words under control. “I don’t think your aroused nipples are funny at all.”

  “It’s too late to be serious now. I saw you smiling,” Chloe teased.

  “You have no idea how badly I want to drag you off and do things to make you blush again,” Jasper told her. “I’m at that point of considering all manner of unscrupulous behavior to have my way with you. How soon are you going to ready for us, Chloe?”

  “I’m not sure. Tell me again where you’re sleeping tonight. Make me believe it,” Chloe demanded, crossing her arms over her breasts to hide her hard nipples from his gaze.

  “Max’s room,” Jasper said firmly, whipping a key from his pocket and brandishing it. “You can ask him. If you don’t trust me or Max, check with the front desk clerk. Ask for Lily. She’s extremely honest and wouldn’t think twice about telling you if I was lying.”

  “Multiple witnesses. I like that. Okay then, we’ll see how it goes,” she told him.

  “Will you have dinner with me and sing again tonight?” Jasper asked, not minding that he was practically begging. He intended to reduce the woman next to him to a similar state at the first opportunity she allowed.

  Chloe leaned over, put a hand on his arm. “Yes to both questions.”

  “Good. Can I kiss you now?” Jasper asked. “Just to seal the deal.”

  And to stake a claim, he thought, wishing Max could see. More, Jasper hoped every guy who had thought about coming on to her now had a clear view of them together.

  To his surprise, Chloe leaned into him first, seeking his mouth eagerly and with more boldness than he’d been expecting from a woman who swore she was shy. His hand came up and went behind her head, holding her lips in place over his. The contact was solid, incredibly hot, and everything he’d ever wanted from a woman.

  Jasper discreetly licked the mai tai from the seam of her lips, but didn’t delve further because he had just found the limit to his sense of decorum. He went quietly insane when Chloe pulled away and moaned.

  “It’s not true what they say about older men not being able to change. I’ve never liked fruity rum drinks until I tasted them on you,” he grumbled. “See you at dinner, Chloe.”

  ***

  Over by the pool, Max lifted his head from the lounge chair and watched his brother kissing Chloe like no one was watching. In fact, Jasper and Chloe were both kind of lost to the fact that pretty much everyone in and around the hotel pool was taking in the show.

  And damn—it was quite a show.

  Even from where he sat, Max could tell the look on Jasper’s face was deadly earnest.

  “Damn right, bro. Kiss the woman like you mean it,” Max said fiercely. “I knew it was that cold-hearted bitch’s fault.”

  “What did you say?” Taylor exclaimed, whipping off her glasses and glaring at Max for his harsh words and his language.

  “Oh—sorry. Shit. Oh. Sorry again.” Max had the grace to flush at his language, the color of his face contrasting with his blue shirt as Taylor looked hard at him. “It was just a reaction to something my snarky former sister-in-law said about my brother not being—good at certain things.”

  He made a face when he heard himself.

  “Lame excuse for bad behavior—I know. I just got excited when I saw Jasper kissing Chloe,” Max said, finally deciding that shutting up was the right thing to do.

  “Jasper’s kissing Chloe? Where?” Taylor demanded, whipping her head back in Chloe’s direction just in time to see the finish, including Jasper tucking Chloe’s wet hair behind her ear. “Well, that’s moving fast.”

  “Not really,” Max said, carefully keeping his voice very reasonable even when he wanted to swear again. “Jasper has been gone on your friend since he saw her yesterday at lunch through the window. Then when she sang to him last night, well that was it. He’s now officially crazy about her. At his age, a man can’t afford to take too much time deciding what he wants.”

  Taylor looked back at Max, smirking. “His age? Yeah, sonny. Your brother is certainly old at forty-five. He better make his move before you put him in a nursing home or something.”

  Max flushed harder when he realized Taylor was closer to Jasper’s age than his. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Taylor laughed. “Sure you didn’t.”

  Emma grinned behind her magazine. “I think Jasper and Chloe are just living in the now. That seems like good advice,” she said coyly. “Don’t you agree, Taylor?”

  Taylor rolled her eyes at Emma’s not-so-subtle hint.

  “Oh probably for people their age,” she said, snapping out of her mood when she heard Emma giggle. Max was still a kid in many ways, she supposed. There was no need to over-react to his anxiousness to defend his brother.

  Sighing, she turned to Max and opted to be magnanimous. “Want to join us for another round of piano playing tonight, or are you bored entertaining us older gals?”

  “Sure, I’d love to join you. Tonight’s entertainment is on the house and extortion free. I made three hundred dollars in tips last night for only a couple hours of playing. Can I join you for dinner too?” Max asked, grinning at Taylor’s obvious reluctance and her struggle to do the polite thing.

  Taylor nodded as Max slid out of the seat and stood. She was less sure of sitting next to the man at dinner, but she thought it would be too unfriendly to rule out Max when it was obvious at this point that his brother was definitely going to be there.

  Chapter 10

  Jasper had some of the tables for two in the lounge swapped out for several that would seat six. He initially thought to just do it for their dinner, but given last night’s crowd, the rearrangement made more sense. Sam agreed, and they’d ended up doing the work themselves.

  “So what do you think of Chloe?” Jasper asked as he and Sam slid the last of the chairs into place.

  “I like the new layout,” Sam said, glancing around. “And what I say about Chloe Zanders depends on you.”

  He grinned in answer to the grin on Jasper’s face. It had been a long time since he’d seen Jasper so animated.

  “Give me your honest opinion,” Jasper stated. “You can have a free one on this. Say whatever you want.”

  Sam bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Jasper didn’t want to hear his opinion. He wanted Sam to stay away from Chloe. It made him laugh that his friend had this level of interest in a woman after all these years.

  “You
know I like the same things in women you do. If I thought I stood a chance of getting my hands on the woman, I wouldn’t give a damn about our twenty years of friendship or my interest in your hotels. With a voice like hers when she sings, imagine what the woman will sound like when she hits the high notes in the middle of a big o—,”

  “Stop, or I will be forced to kill you,” Jasper said firmly, his face flushing because his body had already imagined the moment Sam described many times. “I’m—,”

  Jasper paused and looked at Sam, blinking a couple times before saying it aloud and making it real. “Hell, old man. I’m staking a claim to Chloe.”

  Sam burst out laughing. “Good for you. Now I’m glad I let Maximillan talk me into calling you last night.”

  “Max just wanted me to see him win our damn bet. He talked all three of those reasonably intelligent older women into kissing him,” Jasper said, shaking his head in mock disgust. “I lost sixty damn dollars to my womanizing brother. I should know better by now.”

  “They might have kissed him, but I didn’t see Max walking out the door with any of them,” Sam said reasonably, heading back behind the bar, then he stopped talking to snap his fingers, “but wait—I distinctly remember seeing you and the lovely Chloe leaving together. What did you do, give her a tour of the hotel?”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Jasper declared, climbing on a stool as Sam went to get them something to drink. “I took the woman to my office and kissed her senseless until she agreed to date me.”

  “Who the hell are you and what have you done with my best friend?” Sam demanded roughly, slamming a coke down in front of Jasper and making the ice cubes jump in the glass. “You left your supermodel prima donna ex-wife pining in your bed while you sat in my lounge and seduced another woman. You can’t be the stuffed shirt rich kid I met in college. The Jasper Wade I know wouldn’t have had the balls to do what you did.”

  “I know. I can’t believe it myself, but Chloe has given me a whole new appreciation for my balls. She’s shown me a higher purpose for them that I’d all but forgotten about,” Jasper told Sam, putting enough dignity in the words to have his friend laughing so hard he had to lean on the bar.

  “Yeah? She must be some woman then,” Sam said wistfully, waiting for more details but seeing only Jasper’s smirk instead. “Just tell me if she tastes as amazing as she looks.”

  “Touch her and die, Samuel,” Jasper said, sipping his coke as Sam laughed again.

  Max walked in and slid onto the stool next to Jasper. Sam fetched another coke with a broad smile still on his face.

  “What’s so funny?” Max asked, feeling a bit left out.

  “We were discussing the current condition of your brother’s balls,” Sam said, sliding Max’s coke in front of him.

  Max laughed, sneaking a sideways look at his brother’s laughing face. Chloe deserved a reward just for putting that wicked look on it.

  “Why? Has Chloe raised your awareness?” Max asked his brother, keeping his tone as serious as he could around the urge to laugh.

  “Yes she has, along with raising pretty much everything else I own as well,” Jasper said dryly, listening to both Sam and Max laugh loudly at his crude joke. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you clowns making high school jokes about my sex life.”

  “It’s called having fun, Jasper,” Max said easily. He reached over and patted his brother’s arm. “I know you don’t recognize it, but just trust Sam and me on this. You’ll get used to it again soon. Chloe must have some magic.”

  “I wouldn’t know. All I’ve done is kiss the woman,” Jasper told him sharply.

  “Yes, I saw a demonstration of your expertise a few hours ago,” Max admitted, smiling at Jasper’s obvious discomfort at being confronted about it. “Nice job by the way. So how great is she? I only got a cheek kiss last night because you were watching, but even that was promising.”

  “Touch her and die,” Jasper told his younger and still disreputable brother, grinning when Sam laughed loudly again.

  “I think Jasper’s trying to tell you Chloe is off limits, Max,” Sam told him.

  “Yeah? Well, that just sounds like a challenge to me. Want to make another bet about Chloe kissing me for real?” Max asked Jasper. “I did pretty well last night. Two out of three were on the lips. I’m all for trying again. Double or nothing, old man.”

  “I believe I’ll just go see how the front desk is doing this evening before Chloe and her friends arrive for dinner,” Jasper said, ignoring Max and sliding off the stool. “It will be more productive than killing my brother. Plus I’d hate to have to explain Max’s demise to our parents. It would interrupt their jet-setting to have to come home for his funeral.”

  Jasper was smiling as he walked out leaving the two men snickering behind him.

  ***

  Max watched Jasper saunter away, one hand in a pocket, practically whistling. He was trying to remember the last time he’d seen his brother so pleased with life or himself. Max thought it was probably when he had still been in high school.

  “Rayonna has informed me that she’s going to hook Jasper up with one of her friends,” Max said, confiding in Sam, which was something he frequently did nowadays.

  Sam was practically family, had been for years, but Max was starting to really appreciate the long term friendship between Sam and his brother. He wished he had a friend that close.

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Jasper is smitten. Unless Rayonna produces a friend with breasts bigger than Chloe’s and a voice sweet enough to make angels jealous, your brother won’t even notice. The woman wears a double D. Those are damn hard to compete with, especially challenging for small breasted models. Push-up bras can only fool a man for a short time.”

  “Double-D? Are you sure? And if you are, tell me how you know Chloe’s breast size?” Max asked, truly amazed at how glibly the fact had rolled off Sam’s tongue.

  Sam grinned. “It’s a gift of age and experience.”

  “What kind of experience?” Max asked, grinning back.

  “The kind a man doesn’t openly brag about to young players who think they’re God’s gift to all females,” Sam told him. “I could tell you the size of both her friends too. Want to know about the one you like?”

  “No—I like surprises,” Max said, sighing and looking at the bar. “Plus I think my bragging days are mostly behind me. I may not even miss them.”

  “Blue halter with the matching blue eyes got you that hooked?” Sam asked, feigning shock.

  “You are an observant man,” Max said sincerely.

  “I’m a bartender. I miss nothing. She busted you, Cutie,” Sam said, laughing.

  “She did,” Max agreed, “but I gained some points back playing and singing with them last night.”

  “Not as many as your brother got,” Sam said, still surprised at Jasper.

  Jasper had always been a serious man. Even in his thirties, he was discreet and sedate with women. Sam found it genuinely hard to believe Jasper was acting so forward with this one, no matter how good she looked—or sounded.

  Max laughed. “You don’t even know the half of it. I think Jasper was copping a feel at the pool today. Chloe was wearing this black bathing suit with all kinds holes in it. Jasper kept trying to cover her up with a towel. Then he sat next to her at one of the pool bar tables so close that they were bumping each other. Next thing I know, Jasper is leaning over to cover her, and her face is turning the color of her mai tai.”

  Sam laughed so hard again that he had to lay his head down on the bar. “You’re lying. Jasper Wade did not cop a feel in public.”

  “I am not lying. Get this—it happened right after Rayonna interrupted my lunch to inform me that Jasper was lousy in bed,” Max told him. “I can understand her being upset about him not sleeping with her last night, but she didn’t have to insult his manhood to me.”

  “That’s fucking bullshit anyway, in case you’re concerned,” Sam said, shocked that Jasper’s ex w
ould say such a thing to his brother. The woman was incorrigible. “Jasper may have settled down some after he got married, but he didn’t become a damn eunuch. I know him better than that.”

  “I didn’t believe her either, but I wonder if Jasper may have settled down a little too much over the years,” Max remarked. “I have no doubt Jasper was faithful, but I don’t think he was ever in love with his wife. Between us, that’s the only piece of sorry I feel for Rayonna. Mostly I wish she would leave and never come back.”

  “Don’t look now, Maximillan, but I think you’re growing up,” Sam said.

  “Keep scaring me like that and I’m going to fall off the wagon,” Max threatened.

  “No you won’t,” Sam told him. “Wicked Wade is not going back on the sauce. You want back on the ice a lot more than you want a drink.”

  “True,” Max said, sipping the coke. “Now I can only hope the ice will want me back. If it doesn’t, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “You’re a damn good piano man,” Sam said, grinning.

  “There’s a difference between a hobby that makes some pocket change and a real job,” Max said, wiggling his eyebrows. “It would be terrible if I had to sell my body and start endorsing products for a living. But I guess I’d have to suck it up. Life can be hell sometimes for famous jocks like me.”

  “Do you remember meeting me when you were seven years old?” Sam began, not really expecting an answer to his question. “Jasper brought me home from college with him for a long weekend. Your parents were in—I don’t remember—Aruba or someplace. You were being cared for by the lovely Nanny Baldwin, who was also a double-D in case you ever wondered. She remains the epitome of my best experiences with women. Time and distance can pull some great relationships apart.”

  Max laughed at Sam’s story and shifted on the stool. “I do remember that time. Jasper promised me then that once he finished college, I could come live with him.”

  Sam nodded. “And he kept that promise because that’s just who the stuffed shirt is under that superior tone he uses with most people.”