Page 32 of Glass & Groundwork
“That’s what I’m talking about. I promised everyone I would send them the video.”
“Are you ready?” I asked Jasper.
“Yes. I think I am.”
I carried him across the threshold. An action that only took seconds, but felt like a big step. Caught up in the moment, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, as he inhaled sharply with surprise and tightened his hold on my neck. His body felt so good in my arms. I almost didn’t want to set him down, but I couldn’t simply walk around, carrying him everywhere, that would be…weird, and quite inefficient.
Reluctantly, I lowered him back to standing, holding on to him to make sure he was stable on his feet. His gaze met mine, and damn, he was so beautiful looking up at me like that. This was it, though. This was where the fantasy ended. Jasper was here, but he wasn’t mine. Not inthatway, and that was okay. I think. Mostly.
“Here are your keys. Frankie cooked dinner and left instructions for you all to reheat it. Have a good night, you two,” Eduardo said with a teasing tone.
“Wait. You’re not staying?”
“Uh, that would be a negative. Consider family dinner canceled for today. Well, not canceled, but down-sized; party of two. Nicky and Noah are staying with Yahir tonight. Frankie’sgot their own thing going on, and I have a shift later. Feel free to lock the door, if you’d like, but no one is coming tonight.”
Locking the door was a foreign concept, at least when I was at home. Even though they all had keys, I never locked it, leaving it available for any of them to come at any time. I always wanted them to have a safe place to land, no matter what kind of situation they found themselves in.
“Nicky has school tomorrow.”
Eduardo grinned. “Noah’s going to get her there. We’ve got it all handled. You don’t need to worry about us, Papa.”
I stepped toward him and gripped his shoulder. “I’ll always worry about you all.”
He bobbed his head. “I know, and that’s why we love you. Tonight is about you, though. It’s your wedding night, consider this your wedding present from us to you.”
Overcome with emotion, I pulled him into a tight embrace. “I love you, Eddie.”
“I love you, too, Papa. Now, go take care of your husband.” He pulled out of my arms and gave me a wink before waving to Jasper and leaving.
“It looks like it’s just us.”
“I wonder what they think we’re going to do,” Jasper said in an amused tone.
I shrugged, but felt my warming cheeks betray my effort for nonchalance. “I’m sure they have some ideas.”
Jasper let out a laugh as he flopped onto the couch and propped his feet up. He looked so comfortable I decided to join him. Almost immediately, Jasper scooted closer to me and leaned against my shoulder. He let out a soft sigh. “Today was a really good day.”
Resting my cheek against the top of his hair, my smile returned. “Yeah, it was.”
We sat in contented silence together, decompressing and processing everything that happened. And it was a lot. After a while, Jasper tilted his head up to look at me. “You know what I’d really like to do?”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
Jasper’s hand slid over the lapel of my suit, as he said in a sultry voice, “I think we should get out of these clothes and into something a little more…comfortable.”
My body tensed at the suggestion. No. It couldn’t be what it sounded like. It was our wedding night but for our completely platonic wedding. Completely platonic besides the world-tilting kisses we’d shared. No. No. Fuck. What did I do? This wasn’t something we talked about. Nobody was here, there was no show to put on. I didn’t think I could separate whatever I was starting to feel for him and friendship if we crossed that line.
Jasper let out a loud laugh and got up from the couch, standing in front of me. He held his hands out. “Relax. I meant, like actual comfortable clothes. I need to unload the Jeep and bring all my stuff inside.”
I was such a fool, of course, that was what he meant. My panic started to subside with a hint of regret left behind. Regret I would have to simply tuck away, because I wasn’t going to ruin things with him. “Right. Good idea. It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a suit. It’s not my favorite.”
I took Jasper’s hands and let him pull me up. “I get it, me neither. But I gotta say, you wear one really well. I particularly love the tie, it’s adorable.”
“Thank you. It was a gift. I likeyoursuit, though, it's very you. I’m surprised you were able to find something so perfect on such short notice.”
Jasper scoffed. “Oh, no, honey. I had this already. I was hoping to piss my parents off by wearing it to a formal event, but I have to say it took on a much greater purpose for today.”
The thought of him walking into a stuffy, fancy event, dressed to stand out against the crowd made me smile. I loved his spite-fueled fashion. “You used your power for good.”
