Page 31 of His Christmas Gift

“Pretty much,” Jasper agreed, stealing her away when someone got his attention across the room. For the rest of the evening, they mingled and schmoozed with his investors, but as everyone was leaving, there were zero complaints letting them head home in good moods.

Melissa kept herself in it as the last days of her internship passed by quickly. She packed her weekend bag the night before her flight home, and she spent the rest of it with Jasper in the library, indulging in him, wanting every possible memory to hold onto if something went badly.

“What are you thinking?” Jasper asked as she laid on him, the throw blanket over their naked bodies, the fireplace crackling just beyond them.

“Nothing,” she lied resting her face in his neck.

“You’re worried about tomorrow, introducing me to your father,” he stated, and she let out a low sigh. “I promise to behave, princess.”

“I know you will. I’m just a little anxious, I guess. I want you two to get along.”

“I’ll do everything to make sure we do,” Jasper promised, and she held onto that for the rest of the night and into the morning and their flight out.

Neither of them had checked luggage and they slipped out towards the front where she spotted Michael waiting for them.

“Welcome home, Miss Melissa,” he said, taking her bag before looking at Jasper as his hand slid onto her waist. “We weren’t expecting any guests.”

“It’s a bit of a surprise for Dad,” she stated, kissing his cheek before slipping into the town car.

Jasper slid in next to her, lifting her chin his way. “Something you want to tell me, princess?”

“Dad has a service on retainer for whenever we need them,” she stated. A half truth because they really did, but Michael was their personal driver whenever they didn’t want to drive themselves and part of the house.

Jasper nodded, keeping her next to him as they headed through the traffic. When they pulled through the gate onto the driveway his brow rose further, and her breathing tightened a bit. “Missy?”

“I’ll explain when we’re inside,” she said, kissing him softly while Michael parked beside the front steps. She moved up them, her smile tightening when Barbara greeted her as formally as ever.

“Welcome home, Miss Hannover. Your father will be happy to see you when he’s back from the office.”

“Thank you, Barbara,” she mustered out before guiding Jasper into her favorite room beyond her bedroom. The windows overlooked the water from their height, and she waited for him to say something as his eyes took in the entire space, the photo of her and her father on the mantle at the fireplace.

“Hannover?” Jasper said, shaking his head as he moved directly in front of her. His hand slid up her cheek, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “As in Hannover Electronics?”

“I didn’t want it getting between us,” she admitted with a slight nod. “People treat me differently when they know who I really am, and I didn’t want you to…”

“Stop caring, expect you to be an accomplished hostess without worrying that you knew no one at events?” he guessed.

“Something like that, I honestly don’t mind planning events, hosting them, but there was something so sweet about the way you were being, and I didn’t want it to end. I wanted you to see me, not all of this,” she added motioning around them. “Yes, I come from money but that’s not all I am.”

“Do you think I don’t know that by now, Missy? That I didn’t know that after the dinner party you put together, the way you responded to me that night? You could have told me that weekend and I wouldn’t have changed one single thing beyond moving you into my place right then and there,” he returned, making her heart flutter. “Why on earth did you move in there? Out of the entire city…”

“I didn’t want anyone to learn who I really was, staying there was feasible on the internship’s pay. If I moved into a suite or condo, they’d take one look at my address and know there was no way I could afford it. My mother’s maiden name was Carson, it’s my second middle name.”

Jasper pulled her up against him, lifting her face back to his not about to let her worry over this a moment longer. Hell, he didn’t care if she was penniless when he met her, knowing this made no difference at all, except to explain parts of her knowledge that had always intrigued him. His lips slid over hers, hushing her worried tone, caressing a smile from them.

“Jasper…”

“I love you, princess. Nothing is going to change that. I wish you’d told me earlier, trusted me with it rather than holding onto all of this, worrying about it. I knew the first night I met you that your father was pushing you for a life you didn’t want, knowing this is what that life is, just makes me want to give you the life we want more. I know you gave your father your word about six months, but I would have stopped that instantly. Let you enjoy yourself without those worries filling you. There’d have been no way that I’d let him force you into grad school, especially away from me.”

Melissa slid into his hold entirely, her body relaxing into his, and he lowered his face to hers, pressing soft kisses over it. This was his girl, the one he’d known from the start. Her background only made it easier to fit into his life. Made her brilliant and talented in the things he needed in a partner.

Her heart didn’t come from her lifestyle, it came from her and likely her mother. Hell, he knew too many girls that came from similar backgrounds who only cared about themselves. Wouldn’t begin to donate a dime to someone in need, while she’d shown him nothing but the beauty of her heart that exceeded her outer beauty.

He’d been waiting for someone like her far too long to care that she’d kept the truth to herself until now. If he’d been listening better, he’d have realized her background more than matched his own long before now.

“You don’t know my father,” she said, pulling his gaze back to her. “If I’d tried to renege, or if I’d told you and you tried to discuss it with him, he’d have been on the doorstep immediately. He’d have kept pushing and we weren’t at the place yet.”

“I was there the night we met, princess. I let you organize the dinner to see how you’d fit into my life, princess, had the excuse that you’d only had a day in my back pocket if anyone tried to say something disrespectful towards you. Seeing what you did…it made me want to hold onto you even further. I wasn’t joking about where I saw us in twenty years, Missy. I wanted all of that then and I want it more now. Nothing in this world is going to make me let you go.”

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