Page 39 of Enemies with Benefits

‘I should think not. I’m not sure what’s got into you, but you need to remind yourself where your allegiances lie. Your brother most certainly did.’

For a moment I experienced a resurgence of that searing jealousy I’d tried to suppress for so long. My mother’s blind love for my brother and father had made me wonder what I lacked that her love couldn’t extend to me. For so long, I’d hated that I couldn’t answer the question. In my weakest moments, I still did.

But I’d learned to survive without that emotion in my life, hadn’t I? Surely in time I’d learn to do without altogether? The hollow inside me mocked that forlorn hope. If I could live without it, then why had Jasper’s gentleness affected me so much? Why did I, even now, yearn for it when the probability of it being ephemeral—like my mother’s regard—was the true reality?

Just sex. Given and taken. That was all I had to give Jasper. It was delusional to believe Icouldgive anything more when my reservoirs had never been filled.

‘Is that all? I have work to do, Mother.’

Her lips pursed, then she snatched her gloves and bag off the table. ‘If my feelings and opinion are worth anything to you, Wren, then you’ll think harder about distancing yourself from the Mortimer boy. His family have brought us nothing but grief and if they’ve done it once, they’ll do it again. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise.’

She sailed out without deigning to deliver the air-kiss she normally dispensed when we were in public. I told myself I was glad, but the searing realisation that I craved even that small show of false affection made my gut twist in mild sorrow.

God, was I really that needy?

I was still mired in that maelstrom of anguish and anger when my phone rang minutes later. I reached for it without stopping to check the caller. And experienced a different emotion entirely when Jasper’s deep, sexy voice flowed into my ear. ‘Sushi or Greek food?’

I scrambled to focus. ‘Umm...what?’

‘Your choice for lunch.’

‘Neither.’ My appetite was non-existent after dealing with my mother. ‘I wasn’t planning on eating lunch. I had a very big breakfast,’ I replied, then felt heat swelling through me at the double entendre.

The wickedly sexy man on the other end of the phone laughed, sending electrical currents along my nerve endings, making a mockery of my effort to keep him at arm’s length. ‘Hmm, so you did.’

‘Wow, seriously?’

His laughter deepened, surprisingly numbing a layer of my pain. ‘Your fault, sweetheart. You teed that up nicely for me.’

I felt a smile playing at my lips and immediately killed it. ‘Thanks for the offer of lunch, but no, thanks.’

Jasper went silent for several moments. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

My fingers tightened on my phone. ‘What makes you think anything is?’

‘Don’t play games with me, Wren. We’re past that.’

That suggested a new level of relationship I wasn’t sure I was ready for, even business-wise. And yet, I found myself answering, ‘I had a disagreement with...someone.’

‘A board member?’ he pressed.

‘No.’

‘Your mother?’

A gasp left my throat before I could stop it. ‘How do you know?’

‘Wild guess. With Perry temporarily out of the picture, I’m thinking it could be one of three problems—board, family or lover. And since I’m your lover and I’m being on my best behaviour...’

The remainder of his deductive reasoning melted away, his words eliciting a fizzle of warmth.

Jasper Mortimer.My lover.

Lover. Love.

The smile evaporated.

No.

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