by Taylor Rylan
“Yes!”
24 — Liam
“He’s so adorable, Jasper! What are we going to name him? I can’t believe you got me a kitten for my birthday! He’s the best present ever! You are so getting laid tonight. Not that you weren’t anyway, but you’re definitely getting extra. Maybe we should call him Spot. No, that’s a bad name for a cat. Tiger? No, every cat is named Tiger. Shit! We don’t have anything he’s going to need at home!”
“Liam!" Jasper had to raise his voice to get my attention. I’ll admit, I was overly excited and rambling. He did get my attention, though, and I sheepishly looked over at him.
“Sorry. I guess you could say I’m a little excited.”
“A little?” Jasper smiled at me and I knew he was only picking on me. It made me feel a little better about rambling.
“Let’s see if I can remember all of the questions. We have everything he needs at home already. I picked everything up this week. It’s all stored out in the garage. We have food here with us, but you’ll have to run to the pet store and get more later in the week. I’m sure you’ll want to pick out some more toys for him, anyway. I got the basics. Litter box, scratching post, some sort of tree tower climbing thing, and food bowls.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “As for getting laid. I’m never going to turn that down. Please don’t ever feel obligated to have sex with me, Liam. That’s not why I got the kitten. I got him because you told Rhett you always wanted a kitten growing up but your parents wouldn’t let you have pets. As for a name, I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”
I knew my voice was shaky, and that there were tears in my eyes but I couldn’t help myself. It took everything in me to not tell Jasper then and there just how much I loved him. I did. I knew I did, but it wasn’t the right time. Not then. Not yet. I'd figure out a time to tell him. I was going to have to figure out something soon before it slipped. I told him how grateful I was, instead.
“You got everything he needs? That’s amazing, Jasper! Thank you so much!" I did a major no-no and unbuckled my belt so I could reach him across the bench seat and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. I quickly got back into my seat and buckled my seatbelt. “As for sex with you, Jasper, you’re amazing in bed. I never feel obligated to have sex with you. I enjoy it. A lot. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before. Trust me when I say it’s absolutely no hardship at all.”
I cuddled my little purring fur ball in my lap and thought about how long I’d wanted a cat and how for my twenty-sixth birthday that I was finally getting one. The little fluff ball reminded me of something I’d heard about Ernest Hemingway and his house in Key West. The property still has descendants of his original cats. The cats were mostly all polydactyl like our new kitten.
“I’ve got it!”
Looking over at me, Jasper asked, “Got what?”
“The perfect name. Let’s call him Hemingway!"
“Hemingway. Is he one of your favorite authors or something?”
“I admire his work. But it’s because of his toes. Hemingway’s house in Key West has several descendants of his original cats living there. They're polydactyl just like our kitten. It’s a perfect name!”
“I told you, you could name him whatever you wanted. Hemingway is a fine name. But how do you know his cats are polydactyl?”
“The cats in Key West are polydactyl because of inbreeding actually. It’s a mutation that they’ve developed. I only know because I’m obviously a Hemingway fan and have read about him. The cats on the island around his home are a huge tourist attraction.”
I cuddled little Hemingway for a bit longer before I put him in his kennel and relaxed, enjoying the drive. Jasper talked about everything happening at work and I told him about my latest work in progress. I was making great progress on a pair of spin-off characters that I introduced in my last book. I was stepping outside my normal genre and was writing more of a romance than a murder mystery. I guess what they said about writing what you know was true. I found romance and love and now I was writing about it. Although, including what Jasper and I did between the sheets, and anywhere else we happened to get busy, I might have to classify it as erotica rather than romance. It was hot. I hoped it would be well received because I was having a ton of fun writing it.
I rolled my head on the headrest and looked at Jasper.
He cleared his throat and started talking. “Hey, I’ve been thinking. I know we said we’d wait a little bit, but what do you think about looking for a house again? It’s warmer and we’ve been together for almost six months now. I know it’s not that long but like I’ve said before, you’re it for me, Liam. I think it would be good to find a home for ourselves. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea. We can call the Realtor and see what she has available and go from there. When we get home we can go over what we both want and tell her when we call. I know that houses are more limited in Wyoming than where we grew up, but hopefully we can find something suited for us. My biggest requirement is a larger water heater.” I laughed, remembering our first shower together and how short we had to make it. “I want to take a long, hot shower. Preferably with you in there with me. With one or both of us on our knees, mouths full.”
Jasper pushed on the front of his jeans and sent me a lascivious look. I knew exactly what I was doing. Although, I didn’t necessarily want to turn him on when he was driving down the highway and I couldn’t help him with his intended erection. Sheepishly, I looked at him and offered an apology.
“Sorry. I’ll behave until we get home. Then I’ll pounce.”
“Promise?”
“Yep!”
It took five hours to get home but we finally made it and I was happy to be back. Jasper had all day Sunday and Monday off and I was excited to spend as much naked-time with him as I could. I didn’t know how that was exactly going to work out anymore with a kitten. Dangling parts. Kitten with sharp claws. We might have to throw on underwear or sweats or something before roaming around. The thought of Hemingway attacking my balls made me cringe. We’d hopefully be able to teach him. Hemingway took off to explore his new digs while I grabbed a notepad from the office. We had a list to make and I wanted to get it finished before I got too distracted and forgot.
The list was easy enough. We both pretty much wanted the same thing. At least three bedrooms. One for us, a guest room and one for an office. Two bathrooms were a must. A modern kitchen would be nice since we were being all domestic and shit and cooked more nights than not. I never thought this would be my life. I had an amazing boyfriend, a job I loved, we just adopted a kitten together, and were discussing buying a house. This was definitely something I never imagined.
We discovered that finding a house wasn’t difficult at all. Our choice to wait until late May seemed to have provided us with the ideal time for house hunting. The Realtor showed us a substantive list of houses to review. I was charged with sorting through them to find the ones in our price range that met our requirements. Not too difficult a task, and I quickly narrowed it down to three. Jasper was coming home early, if you could call six early, tonight because it was my birthday. I wasn’t upset, nor did I have any complaints. I did everything I could to reassure Jasper I understood that he was busy and it was not a big deal. I honestly understood and was okay with it. I worked long hours, too, and was making great progress on my manuscript.
Although, I'll admit that I worked considerably fewer hours after Hemingway joined us. He was just so damn cute. The tower that Jasper got for him was his favorite thing. We put it in front of the window in the office. He'd lie on it most of the day and watch the birds in the yard. When he wanted attention he had no problem letting me know. He'd just jump onto my laptop and lie down on the keyboard. That was a good way of getting the attention he expected. If I couldn’t do my work, he'd get petted.
I was excited that Jasper was coming home early tonight. He promised to bring home a pizza, my idea, and we’d celebrate. He already gifted me w
ith the best present ever. I was excited to tell him about the houses the Realtor found for us. There were three, but one definitely caught my eye. It was a small, four-bedroom log cabin. It had an extra bedroom but maybe we could each have our own office, or we could turn one of the bedrooms into a library. I loved that idea! I had so many books in storage. Right now I didn’t have anywhere for them, so they were far away in Jackson.
The sound of a key in the lock let me know that Jasper was home, and he was even earlier than I expected.
“Honey! I’m home!”
I couldn’t help it, I busted out laughing at Jasper’s greeting. He just smiled at me when I walked out of the office with Hemingway behind me.
“It appears that your shadow shrunk a bit.”
“Huh?”
Jasper pointed to the floor behind me. I looked down to see Hemingway following me. He had been doing that all day and I didn’t know why.
“I don’t know why he’s following me. He’s been doing it all day." I walked up to Jasper and gave him a welcome home kiss. What started out as a gentle peck quickly turned into so much more when Jasper swiped his tongue across my bottom lip and I readily opened for him. It was second nature at that point. His tongue gently explored my mouth and all I wanted to do was forget the pizza and drag him back to the bedroom. With a few gentle nips and kisses to my lower lip, Jasper pulled back and ended the kiss.
“Happy birthday, Liam.”
“Thanks. You already wished me a happy birthday this morning when we woke up.”
“I know, but I wanted to say it again. I’ve never spent a birthday with a boyfriend and it’s new, so I want to keep saying it.”
I shrugged but decided he deserved a little teasing, anyway. “What about next year? Aren’t you planning on spending my next birthday with me too?”
“That was the plan. Just humor me, alright?”
“Okay, I suppose that’s not too difficult a request.” I took a deep breath and smelled marinara sauce and fresh-baked crust. “The pizza smells so good. Thanks for picking it up.”
Jasper walked toward the kitchen with the pizza. I followed him, and Hemingway followed me. “Not a problem. It’s literally on the way home so it’s not a problem to pull in and grab a pizza. It’s your birthday, so you should get to pick what you want for dinner.”
“Pizza is perfect. Shall we eat?”
We went to the table and sat down to dinner. We didn’t even bother with plates. We just ate out of the box. Between the two of us, it wasn’t difficult to finish off the large pizza and the double order of breadsticks. I so loved their breadsticks.
I swallowed my last bite when I remembered to tell Jasper about the house listings. “Oh, hey, I almost forgot. I was going through the listings the Becca the Realtor sent to us. I found three that we would agree on. There is this one, though, that I really want to see. I need to know when you’re available to view it so I can get it scheduled. We should probably see all three, right?”
He took a drink of wine and swallowed before responding. “If you want to see all three, we can. If you want to see just one, that’s fine too. I can join you anytime this week during my lunch break or any time after six in the evening. Set up the appointments and I’ll make it work.”
That was easy. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll put it down as a meeting and make sure I’m there. Just let me know when and where.”
“Awesome.” I made a mental note to set up an appointment. “How was work without Sean?”
“Busy. Crazy. Thankfully, we don’t have any new-client meetings this week or next. Simon decided to keep Sean away for a week and a half so that helps. I have to run from site to site checking on not only my projects, but Sean’s as well. It’s going to be a lot of driving from one place to another. Nothing I can’t handle.”
While I listened to Jasper, something occurred to me. “Once Collin joins you, will you take on more clients?”
“God no! We already have enough work for at least three full-time architects. When Collin gets here, we’ll each have very manageable schedules. That in itself will be a huge relief.”
“You finished talking yet?” I asked while looking at the empty pizza box between us. I had plans for the rest of the evening, and they involved getting Jasper naked as fast as I could.
Jasper seemed to be reading my mind. He had a smirk on his face before he asked me a question. “Yep. What did you have in mind?”
“You. Me. Naked. Sweaty. At least two orgasms each.”
“If that’s your plan, can you tell me why we’re still sitting at the table?”
In unison, we stood. Our clothes were history by the time we reached the bedroom. The trail of clothing in the hallway was the last thing on our minds. I'd pick it up later. At that particular moment, all I wanted was a naked Jasper. Apparently, he wanted me equally naked. It was good to be the birthday boy this year. Jasper brought me to orgasm three times!
25 — Jasper
Liam was right. He found absolutely the most perfect house. He scheduled a viewing for all three houses for the same evening. We went from one to the next, ending with the one he was most interested in. It didn’t take me long to understand why. The house had four bedrooms and three bathrooms with an open floor plan and a nice-sized kitchen. It wasn’t even an old home. We found out the seller’s wife hated winters in Wyoming and wanted to move back to Texas so he was selling his dream home. I kind of felt bad for the guy. Kind of, but not really. His loss was our gain.
I could tell Liam was excited about the house as soon as we pulled up. He was bouncing in the seat. His seatbelt was off and he was out the door before I even put the truck in park.
“Calm down, Liam.” I couldn’t help but laugh at his excitement. I was excited too, but I knew I needed to stay calm. We needed to view the house, and we needed to do it with an open mind. I definitely shared some of Liam’s excitement, though. I had a good feeling about the house.
Becca, our Realtor, walked us through the house and did her little routine, like she had with the first two houses. When we met in the kitchen after looking through the home, she asked us what we thought, Liam spoke up, catching me by surprise.
He was still bouncing on the balls of his feet. It was like he’d just been given the best gift ever. “Can we go through it again, real quick?”
“Of course, take your time. I’ll be here. You two can make your way back here and let me know what you think, okay?” she responded to him.
Liam snatched my hand up and started walking toward the stairs. After we reached the top, he pulled me into the master bedroom, stopped and sighed. I felt an immediate urge to wrap my arms around him and pull him back against my chest. I rested my chin on the top of his head. We stood there in silence, enjoying the moment, before I asked a question I already knew the answer for.
“This is the one, isn’t it?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Only because I feel the same way. It’s perfect, Liam. I can definitely see the three of us living here for a long time.”
“Three?”
“Hemingway. Were you planning on leaving our fur baby behind in Crooked Bend?”
He snorted before he replied. “No. I do find it cute that you constantly refer to him as our fur baby.” I tightened my grip around him. “Technically, this house is still in Crooked Bend. It has a Crooked Bend address.”
I stuck to the fur baby comment and explained why I called Hemingway that. “I don’t know if I would ever want the other kind. I don’t know how good a dad I’d be. I’m a little selfish and work so many hours.”
Liam’s chest rumbled with laughter that I could feel through my chest. “Oh hell no! Can you imagine us with a kid? I get so lost in writing the poor thing would starve! Don’t worry, Jasper. I don’t see kids in my future either. I'd like to see this amazing house in our future. Can you imagine all of the sexy times we could have here?”
“Yes, yes, I absolutely can. Y
ou ready to give Becca our offer?”
Liam sighed with a satisfied whisper of breath. “Yes. Hopefully they'll accept our offer." Another sigh escaped Liam’s lips. He looked longingly into the bedroom once more before we left.
We took our time returning to downstairs to the kitchen. The rental we lived in was ranch-style. My imagination was already working on overdrive, considering everything I could do to Liam on those stairs. Jesus! I needed to change my thoughts, and now! The last thing I wanted to do was return to the kitchen with a hard-on protruding from my jeans. By the time we made it back to the kitchen, I had my dick under control. Liam just gave me a sexy look that let me know he knew exactly what I was struggling with, and why I was struggling. Hopefully, his thoughts were of a similar nature.
Becca was waiting at the kitchen table when we entered. “What did you think? Did any of the houses you saw today speak to you?” She looked directly at Liam, not me. She sure had us pegged correctly. What Liam wanted, Liam was going to get.
I redirected her attention back to me. “Sure did! We’re interested in this house. You said the owners were anxious to sell?” I asked.
“That’s right. They're very anxious to sell. I usually don’t do this, but for you, I’ll tell you that you should put a bid in at fifteen percent below their asking price. That will leave room to negotiate if they don’t accept your first offer.”
I looked at Liam. I needed to be sure he agreed with me. “You’re sure this is the one?”
“Absolutely. Green all the way.”
“We’ll make an offer five percent below their asking price. Liam wants this house and I want him to be happy. What makes him happy makes me happy,” I replied, never taking my eyes off of Liam’s. His grew as big as saucers. The sellers were definitely motivated to get out of the house; the asking price was below what my grandparents had put into trust fund accounts for Sean, Rhett, and me to buy a house. Sean was going to use his to pay off the loan Simon and his family had taken out to have their new arena built that we were building for them. Although Simon didn’t know it yet.