by Taylor Rylan
After thanking the movers and stopping at the apartment office to drop off my keys, I headed to Salvatore’s one last time to enjoy my favorite Alfredo and breadsticks. I'd miss them, but I’d rather have Jasper any day.
After checking into the hotel, I realized it was late enough to call Jasper. Once I’d called him, I could turn in early so I’d have enough rest and get an early start.
“Hey, Cupcake.”
“Next time I see you, I’m going to make you pay for deciding Cupcake was a good thing to call me, Liam. You’ve been warned.”
“I’m counting on it, Cupcake,” I teased. “Please make me pay for it. I’ve been a naughty boy and I need to be spanked,” I jokingly said to Jasper. It must have been the right thing to say, if the gasp that I heard followed by heavy breathing was any indication. Knowing I had that effect on Jasper made my dick as hard as granite.
Jasper coughed and growled. “Okay, we have to change the subject, now. How did the packing go?”
“Great. I’m all checked into the hotel. I’ll leave for California bright and early tomorrow morning. How was work?" I hated lying to Jasper. I wasn’t going back to California, I was going straight to Wyoming in the morning. I was only able to do it so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise. I was taking a big chance and hoped he wouldn’t be angry with me.
“Work was just that, work. It was pretty boring.” Jasper sighed and continued “I miss you. When is the three weeks up again?” Jasper chuckled.
“You have two more weeks to wait, Jasper. I promise it’ll be worth it.” It warmed my heart to know he missed me.
“I know,” he whined. “I just miss you and want you here. It’s not the same without you.” I could almost hear the pout in his voice, but he masked it well.
“Who was it who told me to have patience?” I replied.
His voice hardened. “I’m patient, and you know it. Get to bed because you have an early start tomorrow. I don’t want you driving when you’re as tired as you were before, understand?”
“Yes, Cupcake. I understand,” I replied, egging him on. He didn’t seem to take the bait.
“Goodnight, sweetheart. Drive safe tomorrow.”
“I will, I promise. Don’t worry, I’ll call before I leave and with each stop.”
“Okay, goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Two days later, on Monday evening, just a week after I’d left Jasper with the promise to return in three weeks, I was back in Crooked Bend, anxiously knocking on Jasper’s door. It was late in the evening. I stood outside for several minutes, but he finally answered. The look of surprise, exchanged for immediate lust when he saw me standing on his porch, let me know I’d made the right choice.
I gave the man of my heart an impish grin. “Hello, Cupcake. Miss me?”
15 — Jasper
The absolute last person I expected to see standing at my door when I opened it on a Monday evening was Liam, but that’s who was standing there. At first, I couldn’t do anything except stand and stare at my little imp. I’m not even sure I was breathing. He was here. After only a week away, he’d come back to me. He shivered, standing outside in the cold on my doorstep. Finally, I realized that it was not a dream and double-checked behind him to make sure nobody was watching us before I grabbed him and crashed my mouth against his.
God yes! Definitely Liam. Only Liam could kiss me like that. Only Liam did that little thing with his tongue. I went from flaccid to fully hard in seconds. I backed up and pulled him into the house, closing the door behind us. My hands developed minds of their own, fighting with his layers of clothes without separating our lips. Unsuccessful, I didn’t seem to care much. I didn’t want to stop kissing him for anything.
Liam pushed gently on my shoulders and turned his head to the side in order to end the kiss. I was so happy to see him that I got carried away. I’d been stifling his ability to talk.
“I missed you too. Terribly,” he sighed into my shoulder. It seemed he was hesitant to speak for a moment then he opened his mouth again. “You aren’t upset that I came back earlier than we planned, are you?” He looked up at me through his golden eyelashes.
Liam removed his coat. Zipper! I'd have been able to get the damn thing off him if I had enough brain cells left to remember how to pull down the pull tab. That happens every time Liam is near me. All of the blood that’s normally in my brain rushes to my dick, leaving me slower than usual.
I shook my head at his ridiculous assumption. “What? Why would I be upset? I didn’t want you to leave in the first place! I’m ecstatic that you’re back already. How long can you stay this time?” I asked while guiding him further into the house. I made plans for this visit the minute he climbed into the Jeep and drove away. I was trying to figure out the logistics, and how much we could do in whatever time was afforded us.
I finally took a good look at Liam and realized he was tired. He didn’t look nearly as tired as the last time, but he still looked like he could use a good night’s sleep.
“How long do you want me to stay?”
“Don’t tease me, Liam. You know I want you here. Forever.” I could even hear the desperation in my voice. “I don’t want you to leave. I want you here with me always.”
“Done.” He seemed to be waiting for my reaction. He sure as hell got one. I was stunned. “Now, see how easy that was?” Liam shouted back to me as he sauntered down the hallway.
I followed him. I had absolutely no idea what was going on nor did I know what his destination was. He walked into the bathroom. Well of course he did! It was late and there wasn’t anything open once he left Jackson. I stopped in the bedroom and sat on the bed. I was hopeful that I hadn’t heard him wrong. Did he say he would stay with me forever? I quietly waited for him to come out of the bathroom. I didn’t have to wait long.
Liam walked into my waiting arms and stood between my legs. I hugged him tightly, afraid to let him go. I pressed my head into his chest and breathed in his scent.
Liam hummed and I felt the vibration in my head, traveling down my body, and to my own heart. “It’s late. I know you have an early meeting tomorrow morning, and I’ve spent a god-awful amount of the day driving. Can we shower and curl up together to sleep? I know we’ll have to talk tomorrow. I guarantee I’ll be here when you get home from work tomorrow. I’ll even cook you dinner.” He pulled back to look me in the eyes with his bloodshot and hollow eyes. “You do have food, don’t you?”
“Good luck with that. I stocked up when you were here two weekends ago, but that food’s long gone. I’ve not restocked since. I’ll stop and get pizza. Sound good?”
I was relieved. “Pizza sounds great.” He hugged me again “How about that shower? Care to get all soapy and wet with me?”
I swear, the little imp was asking for it. I knew he was tired. The dark circles under his eyes were more prominent than I realized at first. “A shower sounds wonderful and I promise to behave. Well, I’ll do my best. I can’t help myself when I’m around your scrumptious body. Especially in the shower.”
“You can behave or misbehave as much as you want, Jasper. I don’t have much energy left, though, and I might not do much participating.” Liam chuckled and licked me on the nose. The little imp.
“Don’t worry, I can behave. I’m gonna have fun washing you, though. Come on, let’s go." I held Liam’s hand as we walked into the bathroom together. I was so ready to get him naked, even if I needed to behave. Tomorrow, all bets were off.
If ever there was something that should always be done, waking up with Liam in my arms was that thing. I wanted to start every morning like that. Could I make it happen? Liam said done when I told him I wanted him here always. Could it be that easy? Could I really keep him here with me? I sure hoped so.
This morning, my mind was in the wrong place. I had to get to work, I was scheduled for an early meeting at a ranch on the other side of Jackson. This would be a wonderful time for an additional architect. Sean and I handled it all righ
t now. Damn inconvenient this morning, if you ask me. I whispered a kiss across Liam’s temple and gently pulled myself away from my warm, snuggly bedmate. I took care of my morning ablutions, relieving myself, shaving, and combing my hair, to get ready for the day.
He wasn’t in the bed when I came out of the bathroom. I could smell fresh-brewed coffee and knew Liam had gone to the kitchen. I smiled, I couldn’t help myself. Something as small as making coffee for me meant the world to me. I’d never known anyone that willing to make me coffee except my twin. After quickly getting dressed, I went in search of Liam and coffee, in that order. I found both in the kitchen.
I wrapped my arms around Liam and kissed the back of his neck while he stood at the stove flipping French toast in a skillet. “Coffee and breakfast? What did I ever do to deserve such a treat?”
“Well, for starters, you didn’t kick me out last night when I showed up on your doorstep unannounced.”
I snorted. “Like that'd ever happen.” Surely, he didn’t think that I could ever refuse him. We so needed to have a talk if he was so insecure about our relationship. Even though it was a fairly new one, he should still know that I would never do that. I looked apologetically at the skillet. “That French toast is a wonderful surprise, but sadly I don’t have time to stay for breakfast this morning. I spent too much time after my alarm rang just staring at you sleeping. Now I’m running behind.” I poured my coffee in my travel mug. I looked at Liam to judge his reaction.
He shuddered in feigned disgust. “You stare at me while I’m sleeping? I don’t know if I find that creepy or if I’m flattered.”
“Be flattered, there is nothing creepy about me thinking you’re beautiful. I can’t stop looking at you. I’m so, so sorry I can’t stay for breakfast, but I really have to go or I’ll be incredibly late for this meeting and Sean will be pissed if I’m late.”
“Go, and don’t worry about this.” He gestured at the hot skillet toasting the delectable breakfast. “I’ll see you this evening after work.” He stood on his toes to kiss my cheek. “Is it alright if I set up my laptop here, on your table? I can work on editing my latest manuscript while you’re at work.”
“You don’t have to use the table. You’re more than welcome to use the extra desk in the office. Sean left it behind because Simon had a nicer desk in his home office. That means there are two in there. You’ll probably have to stack up a pile of papers and crap I’ve piled on it. Sorry about that.”
Liam’s face lit up. “Wow. Thanks! Don’t worry about it. I can do that easy. It won’t be long before I’m lost in the world of Officer Micah Swanson and Detective Nolan Holloway. I’ll see you this evening.” Liam once more stood on tiptoes to give me a goodbye kiss.
I could definitely get used to having him here: falling asleep arm in arm, waking up together, goodbye kisses, sharing meals. I was unquestionably ready for that in my life. Now I understood exactly what happened to Sean when he fell in love with Simon. Those thoughts made me stop in my tracks on my way out the door.
I turned around and stared at Liam for a moment before heading on my way. Did I love him? If I didn’t already, I was well on my way. Having never been in love before, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was or what it felt like.
Knowing that Liam was in my house waiting for me made me happy. It helped make my shitty day better. I needn’t have worried about being late for my early meeting. The client himself was over a half hour late. Sean and I weren’t happy about that. With such a start to the day, I expected it to go downhill from there. Unfortunately, I was right. The wrong supplies were delivered to the wrong site, blueprints went missing. It seemed that if it could go wrong, it did. If I’d been superstitious, I'd have thought it was fate telling me no about Liam, that we shouldn’t be together. Thankfully, I’m not. Even if I was, I wouldn’t have listened anyway.
I decided to talk to Sean about hiring more people, A.S.A.P. We had grown so much since we opened our firm. It was past time we hired some staff.
I decided to just go for it. I got out of my chair and walked to his office. “Hey, Sean, you got a minute?”
Sean looked up from a project he was working on. “Sure, Jasper, what do you need?”
“You know, after so much going haywire today, I think we should look into hiring at least an office manager and a third architect. We have more than enough work to justify both. With poor Leslie only able to work part time, we need more personnel. We need someone here full time. Maybe two? I mean, we’ve talked about a second office in Crooked Bend, too. I am really starting to see the sense in that. I have been thinking. Traveling here can be downright treacherous in the winter. To tell the truth, I’m tired of working late all the time, too. It’s starting to wear on me.”
Sean laughed at my soliloquy. “Wow, Jasper, tell me how you really feel?” He stopped when he looked at my expression. “What brought all this on? Don’t get me wrong, I’m in total agreement. I’m sorry if I’ve put so much of the workload on you so I can get home to Simon. I’ll make sure I pull my weight around here.”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I don’t mind you cutting out early so you can head home to your man. Not at all. I’m happy for you, Sean. I really am. Since last summer, and especially since Rhett’s kidnapping, I’ve done a lot of thinking. There’s so much more to life than work, eat, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. I’ll never find what you found with Simon if all I ever do is work.”
“Wow, Jasper. You’re completely right.” I was glad Sean was taking me seriously now. “We can place an ad for a full-time office manager tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll find someone experienced enough that there isn’t a learning curve. As for the architect, didn’t Jonathan mention something about his cousin being an architect?”
“Maybe? I can’t remember. Would he want to leave Monterey to come to Wyoming? Who does that?” Even as I said it, I thought of Liam and smiled a little.
Sean smirked at me. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. “We did. We’d just have to make the proposal appealing enough.”
“Alright, I’ll see if I can’t find out about Jonathan’s cousin tonight. I need to call Rhett, anyway. Travis is always near Rhett anymore and Collin is his cousin as well so hopefully I can get some information about him.”
“Great! I’ll write up an ad for an office manager and forward it to you for approval. When you okay it, we’ll have Leslie post it tomorrow, sound good?”
“Sounds great, Sean. Thanks.”
I paused before leaving Sean’s office. “Do you want to come out to the ranch tonight for dinner? Simon put a stew in the Crock Pot this morning. You know how delicious it is.”
I thought about Simon’s stew. It was delicious. “Thanks, Sean. Not tonight. I just want to go home after this travesty that pretended to be a day.”
Sean chuckled. He knew just what I was talking about. “No problem. I’ll just go write up that ad and get it forwarded to you before I leave.”
“I’ll look at it tomorrow. I’m headed home soon with a stop for a pizza and binge-watch some Supernatural.” I grabbed my keys, phone, coat, and messenger bag and headed out the door. I had a sexy little imp waiting at home for me.
16 — Liam
Since Jasper said he wanted me with him always, I decided to take him at his word and believe that he meant it. After he hurriedly left that morning, I started hauling the stuff from my car into the house. Thankfully, I’d left my clothes here last time so I had clothes to put on. I was most happy about it because Jasper’s clothes were way too big for me. His T-shirts were comfortable, sure, but nothing he owned would actually fit.
After getting Baloo unloaded, I distributed the rest of my clothing into the half of the closet Jasper cleared out for me, and into the chest of drawers he offered. He used the dresser, but the bedroom set came with both and he just had it sitting there empty.
Once I finished with that, I went to the office to see what I had to do to clear off a desk. Jasper warned me tha
t there were extra papers piled on the extra desk. That was an understatement! You couldn’t even find the desk. It was buried deep under piles and piles of paperwork, blueprints, and miscellaneous everything else. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a kitchen sink there, somewhere. And that was just one desk!
The desk he used regularly didn’t look much better. His drafting table was in pristine order. You could definitely tell where he spent the majority of his time when he worked at home.
I decided to do my best to make temporary, but neat piles of paper on the couch. I saw a filing cabinet in the corner. When I opened the drawers, I wasn’t surprised to see that it was empty, especially considering the state the two desks were in. We were definitely going to have to work on organizing Jasper’s office. That level of disorganized chaos, I quickly found, did not allow for me to concentrate on my manuscript.
I wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything in the clutter, so I decided to look around the rest of the house. I knew it was a three-bedroom rental. I also knew that both beds in the house were blissfully comfortable because Jasper fucked me on both many times. Other than the office and master bedroom, the house didn’t look lived in. Jasper had nice furniture throughout the house, but that was it. There weren’t any personal touches anywhere. No pictures, no knick-knacks, nothing. Maybe he either didn’t like them or just didn’t have any. I wasn’t sure.
I’d been to his dads’ house. It was huge, but it was lived in. It was a home. This appeared to be a place for Jasper to sleep and work. What exactly did that mean? Did Jasper like his life so simplistic that there was no room for anyone permanent? What effect would that have on us? Were we going to be something more?