Page 17 of Claimed
I jerked my head back. “Are you planning on breaking up with me already?”
He stroked my neck, his eyes smoldering. “Babe, I don’t ever plan on breaking up with you.”
My heart skipped a beat. Jasper Christmas was claiming me. No one had ever done that before—not even those two scoundrels who conceived me. They’d tolerated me because I was there, but neither had really wanted me around. But Jasper did want me. He was sharing himself with me. He was giving me space inside him, which was a warm, cozy, and safe place.
“Thank you,” I barely said throughmy tight throat.
He just stared into my eyes. I could see the fires of lust brewing inside him. “I want to make love to you again, but we both know it wouldn’t be the best use of our time right now.”
I grinned.Truly, that is such a Jasperish thing to say.“No, it wouldn’t.” Then a thought rushed into my head. “Everyone knows you are the powerhouse behind Christmas Industries andwere even before your mother died. You could’ve destroyed Randolph with your pinkie finger if you wanted. So have you wondered why your mother never told you she’d been kidnapped?”
He sighed forcefully. “Yes, but let’s take it one question at a time, babe. You first asked where I found my mother’s film. She left me a box with a lot of things inside it.”
I grunted curiously. “Whatsort of things?”
Jasper shrugged dismissively. “I don’t know. I didn’t spend much time looking. There were just knickknacks and shit.”
My lips parted. I was pretty surprised by his response. He was someone who made it a point to know the details in depth, yet he was so blasé about the items his mother had left for him in a box.
“Where’s the box now?” I asked.
He turnedhis head slightly. “Why do you ask?”
“Maybe we should see what’s in there together. I mean, I get that it was emotional for you…”
“It wasn’t fucking emotional for me,” he said as if I had insulted him.
“But it was, Jasper. Even if you don’t see it.”
His frown intensified.
I stroked the side of his face gently. “I’ve known you nearly a month.” I smiled becauseit was a ridiculously short span of time to have fallen in love so deeply or to even be emboldened enough to claim what I was about to say. But I was a great judge of personality and character. It never took long for me to figure out an individual, and I was certain I had Jasper Christmas’s number.
He also cut a tiny smile, and I suspected he understood what I found so humorous about whatI had just said. Jasper captured my hand and kissed the back of it as he had done numerous times before. I loved that he did that.
“We’re more than soul mates, Holly. We were made for each other.” He kissed my palm. “And you were right about me. When my mother died, she fucking left me to deal with my father on my own. I was angry, but I missed her and loved her. Even though I had my siblings,I was fucking lonely. My mother was very much like me.”
He had my undivided attention, and my eyes remained focused on his lips. I had been in this position hundreds of times—I knew when a source was about to say something that would change the course of my investigation.
“She was smart,” he continued. “She knew my father was a sociopath, but she taught me to not fear him. She wouldsay he was the prey and I was the hunter and Randolph knew it.” Suddenly, his frown intensified. I was acquainted with that look.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I just had a memory, I think.”
I nodded encouragingly, careful not to push him to say anything.
His face went through a number of contortions. “I was asleep—at least, my mother thought I was. She would often use thesecret passageways to enter my room and check on me. Once, after I had a bad couple of days with my father’s special kind of grooming, which involved torture”—he snarled as he sniffed—“I couldn’t move my arms or legs, and I ached all over, and in the dark, she sat by my bed and said, ‘We’re still here because you’re going to make him pay, son. You’re going to take everything he has and leave himwith filth.’” Jasper leaned back, standing with a rigid posture. “Damn it,” he said if he’d just remembered something. “Follow me.”
He took me by the hand, and together, we walked up a curved set of stairs. I realized Jasper felt more comfortable with me by his side rather than with me following him. We entered a great foyer on the next floor. I ascertained that this was the main level.There was another modern-looking living area, except it wasn’t as wide-open as the first, and the furniture faced the skyline. The room had front and back views of the city. There were large hallways on both sides of the space. Only after we’d entered did I smell the light aroma of food cooking. My stomach gave a low grumble in response.
“You’re hungry?” Jasper asked.
I was shockedhe’d heard that. “Um, yeah.”
“We’ll eat soon. However, Bart isn’t here. He’s at the other location. I thought we’d be there tonight, but things have changed, of course.”
I was not averse to cooking for the both of us. As a matter of fact, I could make a mean meal as long as I had a solid recipe. “But I smell food.”
