Page 53 of Jasper
My eyes pop open when I realize he’s awake. His bedroom is dim. The light is filtering in through the blinds. Not muchis getting through, and it makes me wonder if he has blackout shades.
My hand drifts down to my stomach. I press gently, to see if I feel different. I’m still awed that I have a new life growing inside me. And not a baby for the Whitmores, but one for Jasper and myself. I’m at some strange halfway point between being his surrogate and maybe being something more. I get lost trying to imagine what life would look like if we were together.
Rubbing my belly, I can’t help but wonder if our unborn child is sleeping too, and if they know how fast the world outside can change. One moment I was alone and being bullied by the man who wanted me to get rid of this baby in order to make room for his own child, and the next moment, I find myself safely wrapped in Jasper’s protective embrace. Once, I was broke, and now I not only have what I need to survive but enough to pay for Gran’s medical copays too. Everything changed in the blink of an eye when I met Jasper, and it was for the better.
When he shifts again, I feel something pressing against my back. My breath catches when I realize he’s hard. His hand shifts, brushing over mine. I glance back to find his eyes half-lidded, the soft curve of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He knows he’s being naughty by letting me feel his hard-on.
“Do you always rub your clearly ginormous junk on people while they’re sleeping?” I tease him.
“Nope, I never slept with a woman before you, so I don’t know what’s considered polite.” His voice is rough with sleep, but it’s deep and masculine.
I slowly turn in his arms, feeling the t-shirt I wore to bed twisting around my body. “So, you’re a virgin?” I ask gleefully. Ialready know he’s not, so his warm chuckle doesn’t catch me by surprise.
“Hell no. I’m a busy man who’s mostly had quick fucks in high school, never made it to college, and in the military, I always lived in the barracks, which made bringing women home with me damn near impossible.”
“What about all the club girls? You must have brought some of the nice ones up to your room before.”
He sighs and runs one hand through his dark hair. “You gotta understand club culture. If I brought a woman up here, everyone would think I’m tryin’ to make her my old lady. My old man always warned us about that shit early on. He said it’s a lot easier to turn a lady into a whore than it is to turn a whore into a lady.”
“Do you believe women are whores simply because they’ve had more than one sexual partner?”
“Wait. What? No. I never said that. Our club girls trade sex for a situationship.”
Not willing to accept that explanation, I tell him, “No. They do chores to earn their keep. That means the sex is free.”
He rolls over onto his back with a groan. His hand comes up to slap his forehead. “Why didn’t my sperm end up in a stupid woman that I could easily win an argument with?”
I laugh at that. He’s acting like a Neanderthal and deserves a good challenge when he first wakes up. I crawl the fingers of one hand up his naked chest, teasing him physically as well as mentally. “This is the part where you say I’m right and club girls aren’t technically whores.”
He rolls over onto his side, all muscles, tousled hair, and sexy tattoos. His blue eyes are intense, but he does the right thing. “Okay, they’re not whores. They’re just women who like to fuck.”
Just when I think I’ve won the argument, he adds, “You notice we ain’t running a geriatric residential establishment, where old ladies come here to live and pay for their stay by doing chores, right?”
Damn, he’s a smart one. “Yeah, I guess they’re only allowed to stay in the first place because they’re young, energetic, and like to sex it up with hot bikers, right?”
He gives me a lopsided grin. “You’re not wrong about that, darlin’.”
I roll onto my back and look up at him fully as he moves over me. Jasper props himself up on one elbow. There’s a small scar near his collarbone I hadn’t noticed before. A faded bruise near his ribs. I bring up one hand to trace the scar.
“Yeah, I’ve got scars. Little reminders that my world ain’t very fuckin’ forgiving of weakness.”
“Yeah, I hear it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, handsome.”
Jasper’s expression softens. “You’re not the least bit scared of me, are ya?”
I slip my hand around the back of his neck and drag him down. Right before our lips meet, I answer his question, “No, should I be?”
He answers me with a kiss. At first, he’s gentle but it quickly gets passionate. Just when I think it’s going to turn into more, he eases up and pulls back. Although his expression has a thick overlay of lust, he clears his throat and speaks.
“You sleep okay last night?”
I nod, still reeling from the lip lock he just gave me. “I did,” I tell him breathlessly. “It was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks.”
His fingers find mine again and link them together, resting them gently against my stomach.
“Good,” he says. “I want you here with me, in my suite, and in my bed.”
I nod, my throat tightening. “For how long?” I ask hesitantly.
