by Blue Saffire
“Hey Jas, it’s me, Pam. Did you guys make it in okay,” Pam yarns.
“Yeah, we made it in just before the storm prevented it,” he replies.
“Yeah, about that, my assistant told me that the shoot had been postponed when you guys first arrived. I just received a call and it looks like the crew is already snowed in and the location is useless at this point.
“I feel terrible. Why don’t you guys use the cabin for as long as you like, it’s the least I can do for this mess I’ve gotten you into. Don’t worry about anything the trip is totally on me. I’m sure Marie is just happy to get away for a bit.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Marie speaks up. “I’ll just stick around for a bit just in case they decide they want to shoot once the weather clears. Will you give me a call to keep me posted?”
“Sure,” Pam chirps. “I tried calling your phone, but it went straight to voicemail.”
“Oh,” Marie frowns. “I’ll have to see what that is about.”
“If you can’t reach Marie just give my phone a ring. Thanks, Pam,” Jasper pipes in.
“You’re welcome, Jas,” Pam giggles before the line goes dead.
“It really is looking bad out there isn’t it,” Marie asks as she looks out the large cabin windows.
“Yup, we should be fine in here, though. We have plenty of firewood and the cabinets are well stocked. I’ll look around for other supplies we may need after dinner,” Jasper shrugs placing his phone back down on the countertop and strolling back over to their makeshift dinner table in front of the fire.
Marie bites her lip and looks up at him through her lashes. “Um, did you know this place only has one bedroom,” she asks coyly.
“One of the things I hate about the job. While the client gets all the comfy accommodations I usually get stuck on the couch,” Jas chuckles slapping the sofa behind him.
Marie looks at the sofa and frowns. “You would never fit on that thing,” Marie presses her lips.
“I always manage to fit,” he says with a hot stare and a wink.
Marie can feel her cheeks flush. The temperature is definitely rising and it is not coming from the fireplace. It is the man that is sitting across from her, his words, his eyes, that chest.
Marie wanted to ask Jas to put his shirt back on. It was her goal to have him completely naked, but right now he is distracting her from the task at hand. They have some talking to do before they can get to any of that.
With the shoot now officially canceled for the night Marie felt herself relax. She didn’t have to rush this. She planned to take her time now. Redirecting her eyes to the fire, she starts to think of how to start things. Marie knew where she wanted them to end, she just didn’t know how to get there.
Marie starts in on her dinner as she watches Jasper do the same. It isn’t the first time he has cooked for her. The thought of the first time he did comes to mind and puts a smile on her face.
Jasper tilts his head as he watches her back and smiles. “What are you thinking about,” he prompts.
“Remember the first time we sneaked off to the old lake house,” Marie felt her smile grow wider.
Jasper throws his head back and laughs. “Do I, I was so nervous. I hadn’t been in the kitchen since,” Jas pauses as his smile fades a bit. Marie knew he was thinking of his Aunt. It had been about a year after they lost her if Marie remembered correctly. “I wasn’t sure I could pull it off by myself.”
“You did a great job,” Marie smiles at him and reaches to place her hand on top of his.
Jasper laces his fingers through hers and gives her a heated stare. “Is that all you remember from that day,” his voice rasps out with enough heat to set her body on fire.
No, it was not the only thing she remembered from that day.
~B~
Marie had been seventeen and Jasper was nineteen at the time. It was his birthday and he had asked her to spend it with him. They had been sneaking around for a year now. Well, as much as they could with Jasper in college.
Many weekends Marie would get Rita to cover for her and she would meet Jas and spend the weekend with him in his dorm. Being that he had chosen to stay closer to home for college, they had made it work with only two close calls. Jas had come up with the idea to spend this weekend at the lake house instead of his dorm.
No one would be going to the house this time of year and the family hadn’t been there in forever. Rita was going to a sleepover at their friend Emma’s and as far as everyone else was concerned Marie would be there for the weekend as well.
“What are you making, it smells so good,” Marie chirped from her seat at the kitchen island. The lake house had a brand new chef’s kitchen, despite the house’s lack of use.
“Roasted eggplant parmesan, salad, and garlic bread,” Jas smiled at her from the stove.
Jasper couldn’t believe she was there with him for his birthday. Sure they had been sneaking around for some time now, but Jasper had been nothing but a gentleman with Marie. He loved her; just getting to spend time with her was enough to make him happy.
In his dorm, his roommate was always in and out of the room. Here they could just be alone. He would have all her attention and like always she would have all of his.
“Can I help with something,” Marie asked eagerly.
“No,” Jasper said a little too quickly and laughed when Marie’s face fell and she started to pout. “Come on, Baby, you burned water.”
Marie’s mouth fell open in horror. “That was not my fault and you know it. If you didn’t have your tongue down my throat I wouldn’t have forgotten about it,” Marie pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Okay fine, I’ll give you that, but what happened with the Ramen noodles,” Jas lifted a brow at her.
This time, Marie bursts into laughter throwing her head back. He was right, she totally ruined the simple meal she tried to make them. She had been too busy on the phone with Rita trying to get help making it.
“That wasn’t my fault either. Rita could have explained it better,” Marie laughed.
Jasper gave her a pointed look. “Marie…it was Ramen noodles. Ramen noodles,” Jasper drawled.
Marie huffed and gave him a pout. Jasper laughed and sauntered over to plant a kiss on her lips. As he stepped between her legs, Marie wrapped her arms around his neck. Jasper wrapped his arms around her waist.
Girls at college were constantly throwing themselves at Jas, but Marie was it for him. She was sweet, caring, and her heart was so open to love. Marie gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.
“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Why don’t you go and pick a movie for us to watch after dinner,” Jas asked planting another kiss on her lips.
“Sure, anything to get me away from the kitchen, right,” Marie pressed her lips at him with a teasing smile on her face.
“You said it,” Jas teased before turning back to his task. Marie sat for a moment marveling at how things had changed between them so much in just a year.
Jasper and Marie had eaten dinner and watched two movies together before Jas went to the kitchen to retrieve some chocolate ice cream. It was both their favorite. Jasper sat feeding them both ice cream as they sat lost in thought.
Both were day dreaming of what their future together would be like. Jasper felt more like his dreaming was impossible. His father and Uncle had pulled him aside the day before to talk to him about the options they were considering for his future assignment.
He had to figure out a way to stay with Marie without causing suspicion. Jasper’s heart sank when Greece and Italy came up as possibilities for his assignment. Marie had talked of going overseas, but neither of his options was on her list of possibilities.
Marie shook herself from her own daydreaming to watch Jasper as he spooned ice cream into his own mouth. He was so handsome. Those green eyes would capture your soul with one glance. She had to admit she feared he would find a girl at college that he would find more mature and
interesting and he would choose to break things off.
The distant look in his eyes made her wonder if that had already happened. It wasn’t like Jas to be so far away. Marie reached out and cupped his face. “What is it handsome,” she asked with a slightly nervous smile.
Jasper realized he was freaking her out. He smiled at her and scooped ice cream onto the spoon lifting it to her lips. Marie opened to accept it, but the soft ice cream slid off the spoon and landed on Marie’s cleavage. The v-neck t-shirt she had on allowed the melting treat to drip down her breast and in between the valley of her cleavage.
Jasper sucked in a breath at the sight. He licked his lips before looking up into Marie’s eyes. She gave him a nervous smile and nodded at him.
Jas needed no further prompting. He dipped his head capturing the ice cream with his tongue and lips. Marie moaned and squirmed reaching to lock her fingers in his hair and held him to her. The sensation of his warm mouth heated her to her core. Once the ice cream was gone Jas flicked his tongue against her skin one more time before lifting his head capturing her lips.
This was the most intimate they had ever been. In the past kissing and light petting was as far as they had gone. Jasper felt himself getting extremely hard and broke the kiss.
“Did I do something wrong,” Marie panted innocently.
“No,” Jas shook his head and winced as he reached to adjust himself. “I just think we should chill out a little. We agreed we wouldn’t take things that far.”
Marie bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes. She wasn’t crazy. Jasper is sexy and if she didn’t take care of his needs, then those girls in college would be more than willing to.
“And we don’t have to go that far. There are other things we can do,” Marie’s eyes dropped to the bulge in his pants, she reaching out a tentative hand.
Jas covered her hand just as her hand covered him. “Are you sure about this,” he asked huskily.
“Yes,” Marie answered with no hesitation.
Jasper nodded and stood, holding his hand out for her. If they were going to do this, he wanted to do it right. He led her to the master bedroom by the hand.
~B~
Marie smiled to herself as the memory flooded through her. Jasper had given her, her first orgasm that night and several others to accompany it. She may not have been experienced, but she knew he had a talented mouth.
Marie had let Jas taste her to his heart’s content, but Jasper would not let her return the favor with her mouth. She had stroked him to his finish a few times before they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter 9
“Marie,” Jasper calls her back from her thoughts.
Marie blinks in his direction to see him giving her a knowing smile. She looks at his plate to see it empty as is hers. She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t realized she was devouring the delicious meal. Everything Jasper made was delicious.
Marie looks back up at Jasper and replies. “Yes?”
Jasper was tired of this game they were playing. For a year and a half Marie was in his grasp, yet so far away. It was time to close that gap. He knew she was hiding something. Honestly, if Jas wanted to, he was sure he could figure it out, but this is Marie.
Marie had her privacy invaded so often over the years with Rita being planted in her life as her best friend and personal bodyguard. Jasper was happy she had finally gotten over that betrayal. He didn’t want to ruin the new trust they were starting to build once again.
Jas just needed to know where it all went wrong. “I know it was selfish for me to ask of you what I did before I left the States. I asked it of you and never promised the same,” Jasper pauses feeling the guilt well up inside. Jasper sighs as he wars with his feelings.
Knowing he was selfish and in being so he could have ruined the one thing he wanted most, forever. Jas used to try to justify it as him being young and stupid, but it had been something else. It had been Jasper’s conscious decision to learn what Olivia wanted to teach him.
A part of it was because some day he wanted to share all of that knowledge with Marie. His twenty-one-year-old mind told him it would help him to please her when the time was right when they could be together. Marie had after all given him permission to sleep with other people. What she asked for in return was much different from his request.
~B~
“I want to ask you to promise me something,” Jasper said into the darkness of his dorm room.
It was all set. He was leaving for Greece in just a few months. Marie’s decision to stay Stateside after high school had set things in motion. Jasper would never tell her that. He knew she wasn’t sure about what she wanted to do. He wouldn’t pressure her into changing her life because of him.
This was his fate after all and even if Marie changed her mind he could be pulled from her detail at any time. Rita was her main bodyguard; all the others on the detail were interchangeable. Jasper could be with Marie for a year, a month, or a few days and then gone the next on a mission his father and uncles felt suited his training better. No, he would never let Marie know her decision caused this.
Marie shifted in his arms to look up at him. She knew something had changed. Jas had been distant all day since she arrived.
“Okay,” she answered simply. She trusted Jasper with everything she was.
Jas sighed and shifted to lean on his elbow looking down into her eyes. “I have been assigned to go to Greece. There is nothing I can do. They intend to train me to be Nate’s right hand someday. That means I could be there a few years. I am so in love with you Marie,” Jas paused to search her eyes before he continued.
“I want to make you my wife someday. We can make it through this. All I ask is that you promise me if it becomes too much. If you can’t wait for me, you will come to me first. You will talk to me so we can see if there is another way,” Jas reached to cup her face. “Promise me you won’t give yourself to another.”
“I promise,” Marie answered without hesitation.
Jasper shook his head. “You didn’t even think about what I am asking,” he frowned.
“I did and I know what I want. I want you, Jasper. There will never be another for me. I will not give myself to another because I belong to you. Now can I ask you to promise me something?” she asked coyly.
“Anything,” Jasper replied and dropped a kiss to her lips.
“I want you to promise me that if you decide waiting for me is too much you will satisfy your needs, but you will never fall in love. You won’t enter into a relationship that could take you away from me. You’ll get what you need and keep your heart safe for me,” Marie’s voice shook as tears filled her eyes. Jasper knew this was going to be as hard for her as it would be for him.
They never lied to themselves that this wouldn’t be a possibility. Jasper being a Briggs always loomed over them like a shadow waiting to overshadow their hope. Now it was here and there was nothing they could do but make each other promises.
“Marie, I don’t want anyone but you,” Jasper said shaking his head.
Marie interrupted him. “No Jas, I see how dedicated Nate is to Bobby. I have watched how he has followed my brother and not gone to do the things he has wanted to do. If you are leaving on assignment, you could be gone for so long. I won’t be selfish and ask you to wait for me, to hold your needs back because of me.
“I know it is different for a man. When I give myself to you, I’ll be giving you my soul, that is why I will wait as long as I have to, but you will need to release a bit of stress every now and then. If you can do that without your heart, I want you to,” Marie reassured him.
Jasper sat watching her for a moment. He knew he loved her and didn’t want anyone else. Making this promise wouldn’t matter he would always be hers and she would always have his heart.
“I promise,” he said with so much conviction Marie’s heart swelled.
~B~
“I never asked you to promise the same,” Marie’s vo
ice brought him back from the past.
“I know you didn’t, but I should have given you the same promise. I was so angry with you and I had no right to be,” Jasper shakes his head to clear it.
“Yes, you did,” Marie interrupts him.
“No, I didn’t,” Jas demands and runs a hand down his face.
“No, Jas you did. I never came to you like I promised. I made a foolish mistake,” Marie tries to explain.
“Marie, I slept with someone else while we were apart. Before I found out about that asshole you were dating,” Jasper murmurs out with a pained look on his face.
Marie sighs and shrugs. “And I told you to. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You only did what I asked you to.”
“It changed me,” Jasper tries to find a way to explain. “I never gave Olivia my heart, but I gave her something else. A different part of me and it changed who I am. I feel like I need to explain our relationship so that you understand who I have become.”
Marie already knew who Jasper had become. It was in his walk, the way he talked to her at times, the possessive way he handled her. Everything about Jasper screamed his true nature. He may have thought she was naïve, but she wasn’t the same girl anymore either. She saw him for who he really was.
This is it, is Marie’s thought as she gulps down a breath and rubs her sweaty palms down the front of her robe. She reaches for the wine Jasper had poured with their dinner and takes a deep swallow all as Jasper watches her reaction.
“Jas,” she starts her voice coming out in a whisper she herself didn’t recognize. Closing her eyes, she tries to reclaim her nerves.
“I’m so sorry Marie,” Jas says, mistaking her reaction for hurt.
Marie shakes her head. “What if I told you that I know all about Olivia and that the one who has wronged us in this relationship is me?” Marie finally spits out.
Jasper frowns and sits back. His eyes roam over Marie as he tries to make sense of her words. Jasper’s eyes harden, his jaw sets and he clenches his fists into balls at his sides.
“How could you know about Olivia,” Jasper asks in a deceptive calm.