Page 31 of Glass & Groundwork
I had to clear my throat, trying to push my heart back down into my chest where it belonged. “One more?”
Jasper simply smiled and unbuckled himself, before leaning across the cab and grabbing my face. Immediately, my mind returned to the heated kiss in front of the judge and I felt a surge of anticipation. He brushed his lips across mine, a long peck, and then a quick one to end it. The cheers outside erupted once more, and I found myself smiling in return.
“There. Now, that’s a proper send-off,” Jasper said as he settled back in his seat. “Take me home, Gio.”
“Home.” I repeated, loving the way it sounded coming from him. As I drove away, the cans bounced and clanged behind us. I thought Jasper would roll the window up, but he kept it down, letting the ringing sound hang out in the cab with us. Every time someone honked as they passed us, it made me smile. If this kept up, my cheeks were going to ache by the time we got home, but I didn't mind it. By the look on Jasper’s face when I slid a glance over to him, it seemed he didn’t either.
Pulling into the driveway that led to the farmhouse felt different this time. Jasper rolled up the window to keep the dust out, muffling the sound of the cans rattling on the gravel. Cans on gravel. A sound I didn’t expect would make my stomach swoop.
I was returning as a husband,witha husband, someone who would be living with me.Reality check. Rein it in, Gio. Yes, those things were true, but Jasper was a friend. What was having one more person in the house? As I told him, there was always room for more. Only, this one would be sharing my room, which was definitely different, but also not. Shit. My emotions were all over the place, and I needed to get back in control of them and not get carried away.
Eduardo’s car was parked out front. He must have left it here, planning to drive Jasper’s car here. Again, that smile I couldn’tseem to stop, stretched my lips at the amount of planning that had gone into today, especially with such an abrupt announcement. I was proud to know that I had their support, no matter the situation.
I heard the Jeep coming down the dirt road as I parked in front of the house. I looked over at Jasper, who seemed to be studying me. His eyes lost some of their shine and I could see a hint of worry return, so I set aside whatever mixed-up feelings I was dealing with and straightened, trying to appear more confident than I felt.
“Welcome home, Jasper.”
One side of his lips tugged up, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s funny, I knew this was coming, hell, my Jeep is full of my stuff, but now that we’re here, I feel like I’m intruding. Maybe less funny, and more ‘fuck, what am I doing?’”
Oh, no, I wasn’t having that. “Nonsense. I told you from the first time you came for dinner that you were welcome any time, and I meant it.”
He shot me a disbelieving look. “Yeah, but not like this. It’s different and you know it.”
“Well, sure, I didn’t expect that a month and a half later, we’d be coming home with the title of husbands, but I’m never taking the offer back. No matter what happens. If you need space, you can have as much as you need.”
Jasper grabbed my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “You really are something else,Giorgio.”
I grimaced at the sound of my full name, though I didn’t mind it as much coming from him. Jasper tilted his head, clearly seeing my response to it.
“So, that’s a no on the full name thing, huh?”
“It’s the name my parents called me, and it doesn’t have a lot of great memories, so I prefer not to use it most of the time.”
Jasper waved it away. “No problem at all, I’m a huge proponent of respecting names. It just surprised me to hear it earlier. And believe me, I completely understand getting whatever power back from your parents you can. Case in point.” Jasper held up his left hand showing off the wedding ring.
“Sorry, it’s nothing fancy. If I’d had more time to shop, I might have found something different.”
“No, I love it. It was pleasantly unexpected.” Jasper reached across to grab my left hand and hold our ring fingers up together. “We match!”
That light sparkled in his eyes once more, and it made my heart leap to see it. A knock on the window interrupted us, then a flash of light as I saw Eduardo snap a photo of us holding our hands up and admiring the rings.
“Are you guys going to stay in there all night?” Eduardo asked through the closed door.
I huffed out a laugh and met Jasper’s gaze. He gave a nod, as if to say he was ready. “We’re coming out.”
Hopping out of the truck, I hurried around to Jasper’s side to open the door for him, and held out my hand. He took it with a sweet smile and let me help him down. After unlocking the front door, we were about to walk inside when Eduardo yelled.
“Stop! Stop, that’s all wrong.”
“What? What’s wrong?” I felt Jasper tense at my side. Shit, Eduardo didn’t know Jasper had already been having reservations, and this didn’t help.
I pulled Jasper against my side, trying to offer comfort while I tried to figure out what my kid was up to. “Eddie?”
He was holding up his phone, as if he was recording us. “For crying out loud, Papa, you can’t just walk in like it was any other day. This is yourweddingday, for fuck’s sake. You gotta do it proper or it’s bad luck.”
“Proper?” I asked, but then looked at Jasper, wearing his stunning purple suit, and looked to the doorway of our home.Ourhome. It dawned on me what he meant and I turned to face Jasper and held out my arms. “Shall we?”
Jasper looked at my arms and then met my gaze with a gleam in his eyes. He answered by folding his arms around my neck, and I leaned down to hook an arm under his legs with my other wrapped around his waist for support. The smile he wore was so wide and bright, it could have lit up a starless night.
