Page 41 of Claimed
Chapter Thirteen
He could definitely be president, I thought as I watched Jasper through the small round window of the aircraft. His strides were long and sure as he strolled toward the ramp. He was having a conversation with the pilot on one side of him and his security chief onthe other. It was clear who was in charge: the man in the middle.
For a second, our eyes connected. I smiled and waved at him. He winked, and his acknowledgement made my soul flutter. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Jasper was only thirty-three—he carried himself like a man ten to fifteen years older than that. But on rare occasions when he smiled, he looked younger. I couldn’t settleon which version of him I liked most. When making love, I certainly preferred the man. No boy could bring my body such divine pleasure. Also, it was the man who paid attention to how I felt at all times. However, it could have been the scared little boy inside that motivated him to do so. I felt that Jasper feared losing it all—not his money or power, but the love of all those he fiercely protected.
I had taken my phone off Do Not Disturb mode, and now it was ringing in my purse. I quickly fished it out of my bag and saw that Kylie was calling, and I knew why. It was about the time when someone mentioned in the article would be questioning the veracity of Kylie’s facts. Dennis was probably chewing her ass out at that very moment. Plus, I was sure she was planning on following up herarticle with a special feature on BCN. She was probably scheduled to appear onThe Rochester Report, using the story to tease her own show, which was slated to begin the Monday after next.
I pressed the button on the side of my phone, sending her to voice message. I would have loved to hash it out with Kylie. However, now wasn’t the appropriate time. Plus, I was still upset about how she’dtried to use me. If I had validated all of my sources, and if what I’d sent her had been true, she would have stolen that story right out from under me.
I grunted, struck by a thought, and sat up straight. Our friendship was over. She had never wanted to be my friend in the first place. Instead, I had inadvertently brought her an opportunity to stick it to Jasper, and she had taken it.I thought about that with a sharp pain in my heart until Jasper walked into the aircraft.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, sitting down beside me.
I didn’t have to force a smile—his beautiful face was enough to make me do it for real. I nestled up against his strong arm. “All’s well now that you’re here.”
He stretched his arm around me and kissed my forehead. “What was botheringyou before I showed up?”
Of course Jasper would ask me that. It was one of the few ways in which we were similar. So I told him about the call from Kylie and what I planned to do about it.
“You know you don’t owe her an explanation,” he said.
I felt my eyebrows collapse into a severe frown. “No, I didn’t know that.”
“Unless you still want a relationship with her,” hesaid. It sounded as if he were testing me, assessing my strength of character by the answer I provided.
I shook my head. “She burned that bridge to the ground.” That was how I felt about Kylie.
He nodded, giving a tight-lipped smile. I could tell I had answered correctly. I wasn’t trying to please him, even though I was glad I had.
I smirked. “Fuck her, then.”
“Yes,fuck her,” he said, smirking too.
“So…” I sighed, squeezing his powerful thigh. My gaze fell on his engorged cock, reminding me that I owed him a blowjob.
“So?” he said.
I shook my head, waking myself out of my lustful stupor. “Um, so what’s the plan once we arrive in Nashville?”
He was staring at my hand on his thigh. “I don’t know,” he whispered thickly.
Itested my theory and raised my hand higher. Jasper skipped a breath. He was just as horny as I was.
“You don’t?” I said in a sensual voice.
“I really don’t. I know what to do, but…” He lifted his hips so his bulge could reach my hand.
I caught his drift and grabbed a handful of Jasper Christmas’s solidness.There’s no stopping me now,I thought.Then two flight attendantsboarded, and that cooled me down.
Jasper winked at me.
“Hello, Mr. Christmas,” one of the ladies said.
They both examined me as if I were an exotic creature. Next, Joseph, Jasper’s security, boarded the craft. He took a seat in the chair nearest the cockpit.
I put my mouth to Jasper’s ear. “If we weren’t going to be alone, then why did you encourage me?”
He grinnednaughtily. “I wanted to see how far you were willing to go.”
