by Marie Force
“I’m very, very willing.” He grabs hold of my hand and tugs me along behind him into the bathroom that adjoins Kristian’s office, kicking the door closed behind us and locking it.
Oh my…
My emotions are all over the place—soaring highs, crushing lows and everything in between. The overwhelming support of my partners and Ellie’s parents has cemented my resolve to fight my father with every tool in our considerable arsenal. Flynn’s idea to do the interview, to steal my father’s thunder, is brilliant.
If there’s anything Henry hates more than negative publicity, I don’t know what it is. Well, he probably hates me most of all right about now, but I can live with that if it means freeing myself from the shackles he’s had me in my whole life.
But with my lovely Ellie in my arms, the last thing I want to think about is my father, his threats or those bloody shackles. I’d much prefer to think of shackles of a different kind, the sort in which Ellie is bound to my bed and submitting to me. Since that’s not possible right now, I turn her to face the mirror and hold her from behind, running my hands over her sexy body while watching her reactions play out on her expressive face.
I cup her breasts and drag my thumbs over her nipples, watching as her mouth falls open and her eyes widen with desire. I fucking love her sweet face and how it gives away every thought and emotion she experiences. She hides nothing from me, which only makes me love her more than I already do. Lifting her top up and over her head, I fixate on the sight of her breasts contained by the sheer, sexy bra that leaves very little to my fertile imagination.
I release the front clasp and slide the straps down her arms, leaving her bare from the waist up. Her nipples tighten before my eyes, making J.T. so hard he could pound nails.
“Put your hands on the vanity and lean forward.”
As she follows my command, she meets my gaze in the mirror, and the slight hint of apprehension I see in her eyes only makes me harder. She knows I would never, ever hurt her, but she’s uncertain about what’s about to happen. Judging from the glow in her cheeks and the tight buds of her nipples, the apprehension is feeding her arousal.
I drop to my knees behind her and run my hands up the backs of her legs, raising her skirt up and over her bottom. Ah, God, look at that sweet arse with the thong disappearing between her supple cheeks. I could die right now and I’d go happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I touch my lips to cheeks that are still pink from the spanking on the plane and revel in her gasp.
“Does it hurt?” I ask her.
“No. Just very sensitive.”
“I like very sensitive.” My fingers continue their journey to the front of her, which is hot and wet and swollen. I press against her clit through silk panties that are soaked from her desire. “How about here?”
“Also aching in a good way,” she says breathlessly.
Suddenly ravenous for a taste of her, I roughly remove the strings she calls panties and bury my face between her legs. I spread her arse cheeks and leave no part of her unexplored with my tongue. She goes crazy, bucking up against me and crying out every time my tongue circles around her clit.
“Oh God,” she says, “I need to come. Please, Jasper…”
Because torturing her is so fun, I don’t give in. Not yet. By the time I’m ready to burst myself, her legs are trembling madly and sweat is rolling down her back. I love how real and raw it is with her. I never have a single doubt that she’s as into me as I am with her.
It’s time to give her what she wants so I can have what I want—my cock, balls-deep in her. I press the flat of my tongue against her clit and drive two fingers into her from behind. Letting my tongue vibrate against her throbbing flesh, I tell her to come.
She explodes, screaming so loud I wonder if they’ll hear her up on the roof. Hopefully, the kids are making too much of a racket, and hopefully, no one chose that moment to come looking for us. I bring her down softly, gently, calming her until she sags against the vanity, her legs still shaking violently.
“Jesus, Jasper,” she says, gasping for air.
Smiling at her in the mirror, I grab a towel off the counter and wipe my face, tossing it aside in my haste to free J.T., to drive deep into her, to start her climbing all over again.
I reach around to fill my hands with her breasts, pinching her nipples between my fingers. Her inner muscles clamp down upon my cock, and I have to bite my lip—hard—to keep from coming too soon. God, it’s never been like this before. I’ve never had to fight so hard to maintain control with any other woman.
Later we’ll have time to spend hours in bed, but right now we’re on a schedule. That’s the only reason I give in to the powerful need to let go, to join with her in another combustible moment of unity. Our eyes meet in the mirror in the second before we hit the peak simultaneously. I’ve never felt closer or more in tune with another human being than I do with her right here and now.
I keep my arms wrapped around her and my face pressed to her back while her muscles continue to contract around my cock. Christ have mercy… I’m never going to survive her. What I’d consider “vanilla” sex with anyone else is almost too hot to handle with her. I love that it’s as exciting to bend her over a bathroom vanity as it is to tie her to a bed. It doesn’t matter what we do or how we do it, as long as we do it together.
“They’ll be relentless,” she says after a long period of silence.
“I’m not finding the will to care.”
“Me either, but now I’ve got a heck of a job to do to put myself back together for TV.”
“You could go out there starkers and be the most beautiful woman she’s ever had on that show.”
“Starkers?”
“Naked.”
“That’s not happening.” She nudges me with her elbow. “Let me up, you sex-crazed beast.”
I stand upright and zip my pants. “Ouch. That hurts my feelings.”
“No, it doesn’t. You can’t fool me.”
With her hair disheveled and her face flushed from two orgasms, she turns to face me. I’ve never seen anything more stunning than she is after we make love. I caress her face with my thumb.
“Is there a dictionary I can get my hands on?” she asks.
“Pardon?”
“Of all these British terms you toss around. I need a translator.”
“I’ll be your translator.” I kiss her nose and then her lips. “How about we borrow Kris’s shower and make ourselves presentable for this interview?”
“I need my bag to be presentable.”
I kiss her again. “I’ll go find it. Be right back.” At the door, I look back to see her shimmying out of her skirt, and I have to remind myself that I was supposed to be doing something. Now that I’m allowed to touch her any time I want, that’s all I want to do.
I leave the bathroom and cut through Kris’s office to the hallway that leads to the foyer where Gordon left our bags. I’m on my way back with both bags when Flynn waylays me in the hallway. He stares at me but doesn’t say anything, which puts me on edge.
“Everything all right, mate?”
“You tell me. You talked to my parents?”
“We did. They were very supportive.” I pause and try to interpret his unreadable expression. “Flynn, I’m sorry if my relationship with Ellie has upset you—”
“It’s not that. I actually think you two will be great together.”
“Then what is it?”
“The rest of it. Did you think we would tell anyone?”
I exhale a long sigh when I realize his feelings are hurt by the secrets I kept from him and the others. “It wasn’t that.”
“Then what? I want to understand how I could work side by side with you for all this time and not know the first thing about who you really are.”
“That’s not true.” The words come out far more sharply than I intended. “The Jasper you know is exactly who I really am. The man I’ve been here, with all of you, is the only person I’
ve ever wanted to be. I’m sorry if you’re hurt by the secrets I kept, but I kept them out of self-preservation, not because I didn’t want you to know. It was never that.”
“Fair enough.” He looks up at me, and asks, “Does she know? About me? And the club…”
“No. I’d never tell her that. It’s not my place, and I doubt she’d want that info anyway.”
“You… You’re being careful with her, right?”
“I love her, Flynn. I’ll always be careful with her.”
That seems to satisfy him. “Good enough, I suppose.”
“I need to get ready for Carolyn.”
He moves to step aside to let me pass. “You’ll take care of her, right?”
I know he’s not talking about Carolyn. “Always.”
With a curt nod, he turns and walks away, leaving me to feel like I’ve just passed a huge test I wasn’t expecting to take right then, but I suppose that conversation was inevitable from the moment I set my sights on his sister. When I open the door to join Ellie in the bathroom, I’m greeted with a cloud of steam.
I shed my clothes and step in to join her, wrapping an arm around her waist and propping my chin on her shoulder.
“I wondered if you were coming back.”
“Flynn found me.”
“Oh jeez. I hope he didn’t say anything ridiculous.”
“Not at all. We had a good chat.”
“You’d tell me if he was an arse, as you would say, wouldn’t you?”
“I’d take great pleasure in telling you that, but he wasn’t.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Everything is better than okay, and once we get this interview out of the way, I’ll feel a thousand times better.”
“Then let’s get it out of the way.”
Chapter 22
Carolyn Justice is lovely and gracious and down to earth. After a few minutes in her presence, I see why Flynn chose her for the one interview he did when Natalie’s painful past was made public. She puts Ellie and me at ease by first speaking to us off camera about what we’d like to say and what we won’t talk about. Not surprisingly, she has a lot of questions about how a British aristocrat became one of Hollywood’s most successful cinematographers.
I realize as I tell her the quick version of my story that it’s a huge relief not to have to keep it secret anymore. My father did me a favor by spilling the beans, not that I’ll ever let him know that.
And then it’s show time. Ellie and I are seated next to each other with cameras pointed at us, and I discover how much I prefer being on the other side of the cameras. Being interviewed doesn’t come naturally to me, not like it does to Flynn, Marlowe and Hayden.
As if she knows I need the reinforcement, Ellie reaches for my hand and holds on tight. After we pass the welcome-thanks-for-having-us pleasantries, Carolyn begins with my father’s bombshell announcement.
“What can you tell us about why you chose to keep your title a secret for all these years?”
“At first it was about wanting to separate myself from the Kingsley name and everything it stands for. I was eighteen, venturing out on my own for the first time, and I was interested in a career that had nothing at all to do with my title, my legacy, my inheritance. I just wanted to make films, and that’s what I’ve done for the last fifteen years.”
“Very successfully, I might add,” Carolyn says, launching into a list of the awards I’ve won over the years, culminating with the recent Oscar for Camouflage. “Why do you suppose your father decided now was the time to go public with the truth?”
“I don’t pretend to understand much of what my father says or does, but I suspect the timing had to do with my recent visit to London during which I let him know that I won’t be available to take over Kingsley Enterprises, as he’s always planned for me to do.”
“How did he take that?”
I glance at Ellie, who’s watching me closely. “Not well. In the time it took me to fly home from London, he told the world who I really am, and here we are.”
“What I don’t understand is how it was possible to keep such a secret for all this time, especially in the digital age when everything is on the Internet.”
“At home, Jasper Kingsley is known as an eccentric inventor, squirreled away in his Cornwall workshop. Here, I’m a lowly cinematographer, made famous by osmosis thanks to the company I keep. I was extremely fortunate that no one ever dug into my background. I guess I’m just not that interesting.”
“I’d argue with that,” Ellie says, drawing smiles from Carolyn and me.
“As I understand, you went to see your father because you’ve decided to get married and have a family here in LA.”
“That’s right.” I squeeze Ellie’s hand as I look over at her. “Ellie and I are making plans that don’t jibe with the plans my father has made for me all my life. I figured it was time to let him know that I won’t be joining him at Kingsley Enterprises. I felt it was only fair to give him time to make other plans for his business.”
“Ellie, how did you feel when you learned the truth about Jasper’s background?”
“First of all,” she says, “I already knew when it went public. I respect and admire Jasper’s family history, but I don’t believe that he or anyone should be forced to live any life but the one they choose for themselves. In this day and age, he can certainly uphold his responsibilities to his title while continuing to pursue a career that means the world to him at the same time. Not to mention, he’s insanely talented, and the world of film would be lesser without his contributions.”
“You sound like a woman in love, Ellie,” Carolyn says.
Though my heart is full to overflowing, I say, “I paid her to say all that.”
Both women laugh at my comment.
“What does your brother think of your relationship with his business partner?” Carolyn asks Ellie.
“He’s been very supportive of us both, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Jasper has been our close friend for many years, so it’s not like he’s a stranger.”
“And your parents?”
“The same. They’re big fans of Jasper’s, and they’ve always wanted the best for me. They’re thrilled that I’ve found that with someone they already love.”
“First Flynn, then Hayden and now you, Jasper. Love is in the air in the Quantum building.”
“So it seems.”
“Some of our viewers may not understand the role of the cinematographer. Can you explain it for us?”
“Simply put, I’m the director of photography on a film shoot. I work very closely with the director, usually Hayden, whose vision I bring to life through light and film. I’m in charge of the camera and how a scene is shot.”
“How does one become a cinematographer?”
“Many of us get our start as photographers first. For me, it all began when my grandfather, ironically my father’s father, gave me a thirty-five millimeter Leica Rangefinder and then taught me how to develop the film in his darkroom. I was instantly hooked. I progressed into tormenting my sisters with an eight-millimeter film camera. Being accepted to film school at USC was one of the best days of my life, and I’ve never looked back.”
“When your father passes away, you’ll become a duke, which is the highest rank below the royal family in Britain. How do you plan to balance your responsibilities to your family in Britain with your family here in LA?”
“I’ll find a way to do both, but I don’t see any reason to walk away from a life and a career I love here in order to fulfill my responsibilities there. As long as my father’s company isn’t in the mix, I see no reason why I can’t have it all.”
“Here’s to having it all,” Carolyn says. “Thank you both for being here, for the exclusive opportunity to hear your story. I wish you nothing but the best.”
“Thank you so much.”
“And we’re out.” Carolyn immediately removes the microphone from her lapel. “What an amazing story
, Jasper. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“Liza explained that the timing of this interview is critical?” I ask, referring to our publicist.
“She did. We plan to air it tomorrow during my prime-time show. Will that suffice?”
“That’d be ideal. Thank you again.”
She shakes my hand and then Ellie’s. “Thank you both. I appreciate the exclusive.”
“Flynn thinks the world of you,” Ellie says.
“Likewise.”
When we’re alone, Ellie looks up at me. “That went well, don’t you think?”
“It went very well, and you were brilliant, my love.”
“Listening to you talk about your work… It would be so wrong for you to be anywhere but here where you belong.”
I wrap my arms around her. “I know, darling.” I hold her for a few minutes, taking some badly needed comfort from her. “I have to make a phone call, and then we can rejoin the others.”
“Are you calling your father?”
I shake my head. “No, his assistant.”
“Do you want me to stay close?”
“Always, but go have a drink. I’ll be right along.”
She kisses me before she leaves me alone in the room that was full of people and lights and activity a few minutes ago. Carolyn’s film crew has packed up and moved on with a kind of efficiency I admire. Left alone with my thoughts of Ellie, the things she said about me in the interview and a fierce determination to chart my own course, I place the call to Nathan.
Even though it’s early Sunday morning in London, he answers on the second ring. “Jasper.”
“Nathan.”
“I’ve been expecting your call.”
“So he told you about how he’s blackmailing me with embarrassing photos of me and people I love that he’s going to release to the media unless I yield to his demands?”
“Yes.”
“How do you do it, Nathan? How do you continue to work for a man who would blackmail his own flesh and blood?”
“I’ve begun to ask myself that more often lately.”
That’s the first crack I’ve ever seen in Nathan’s armor when it comes to my father. “You should come to LA. I could find a job for you in a second.”