Page 76 of Bulletproof Love

“What time is it?” His voice is thick from sleep.

“Around three,” I say with a sigh. When did it get that late? Last I looked, it was midnight.

“Damn. No sleep again?” He rubs his eyes and sits up. “Do you need anything?”

“No, but you’re sweet to ask.”

He nods, fixing my pillow. “What are you doing?”

Do I tell him I’m obsessively going over my DNA result websites and handmade possible family trees? Or that I’m messaging a random woman in Virginia who shares three percent DNA with me?

“Just stuff, nothing important.” I shut my laptop and climb into bed beside him. My wild thoughts settle into a cohesive one—how good it feels to be up against Jasper’s warm body. He settles his palm on my low back and I snuggle in, resting my head below his chin.

“Were you looking for them?” His fingertips trace circles over my shirt. “Your birth parents?”

I tip my head to look into his eyes. “How’d you know?”

“Easy enough to peek at the web browser when you’re not paying attention.” He kisses my surprised scowl. “Any luck?”

“No, but new people join those ancestry sites everyday.” I’m suddenly too exhausted to keep my eyes open. “I’ll find them. I’ll find Bailey too.”

“I know you will.” From the certainty in his voice, I know he means it.

I’m not sure what pulls my mind back there. It could be all these thoughts of my parents making me feel vulnerable. Maybe it’s the way he holds me, or the softness of his words, but the question escapes before I can stop it, the words muffled against his neck. “On Blake’s birthday, why didn’t you want me?”

His hands find my burning cheeks, tilting my face until our eyes meet. “Is that what you think? That I didn’t want you?”

Moisture wells in my eyes. Hell, I hate this. I try to pull back, to bury my face again, but he holds me steady. “We were having fun and then you just left and… I don’t know, I figured you just forgot.”

“Sweetheart, I didn’t leave. I wanted you, so fucking badly.” His eyes search mine, his tongue darting across his lower lip. “I was scared. I’m still scared. You told me I was good that night. That you’ve been hurt so much and fuck, I didn’t want to be another one to hurt you.”

“I did?” I don’t remember any of that. Oh, God. Mortification burns its way down my skin.

He nods. “I figured you hated me after I ruined your night and I’ll admit, I tried to stay away. But I wanted you too badly. The way I want you is selfish and if this ends with me sleeping alone with nothing but the smell of you in my bed, I may never recover, but I’m willing to put it all out there for a chance to be with you.”

I don’t know what to say. His words shatter every wrong assumption I’ve held since I met him. How he feels, what he wants… I want it all too. Desperately.

“I want that. Every bit of it. Sleepless nights like these where we talk and laugh until dawn peeks through the windows. I want to feel your heart beating against mine. To breathe you in and hold you there until I’m drowning. If it’s selfish to want that, then fine. I want to be selfish with you.”

For someone who fills door frames and makes furniture look like dollhouse pieces, when he claims my lips, he’s devastatingly gentle. Savoring me, brushing his lips against mine so softly that I forget how to breathe.

Our clothes come off and bodies intertwine, hands fisting hair, lips dragging along skin. Slow but just as desperate as every other time we’ve fucked. He moves between my legs, spreading me wide, and licking my clit until I come with his name on my lips. He climbs up my body, sucking my tongue into his mouth so I can taste myself on him.

“Baby, I’m done holding back.” He lines his cock up with my entrance, his eyes burning into mine. “You won’t ever doubt how much I want you.”

He thrusts into me, stretching me so good. I cry out, moaning his name. I clutch his back, holding him inside me as deep as he can go.

“You and me.” He pulls out and pumps back in. “No more fighting this.”

“Yes, oh God, yes,” I whimper into his neck.

“Every fucking day.” Our lips meet and I swallow his words, holding them inside like sustenance. “You’re mine. My woman.”

Tears spring in my eyes as another orgasm builds inside me. I whisper against his lips. Everything he wants to hear and more. “Yes, fuck, Jasper.”

He fucks me faster, the sound of skin on skin drowns out my thoughts. I’m so close, I arch into him, chasing my release. Grinding my clit against his pelvis.

“These lips are mine.” He claims my mouth as I tremble beneath him, my muscles tightening around his cock. “This pussy is mine.”

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