Page 176 of Entangled

It’s no wonder he asked what I was here for.

“Would you like to know why I shut down? You come in here and parade yourself half-naked in front of me, your nipples begging for my clamps—and in another man’s shirt, no less. You’ve re-crossed your legs twice without a care, though I can see every single inch between your pretty thighs. It was either take control of myself, my girl... or take control of you.”

I clamp my legs together, mortified. Jasper leans forward, and the sharp motion dislodges a single, rogue lock of his sable hair. The one that always escapes his control.

“It’s too late for that. When it comes to you, Eden, I see everything.” His voice becomes a hiss. “Did you think I wouldn’t look? That I wouldn’tcare? The things that I imagine of you would curl your hair. You areobliviousto the threat of me, and that alone tells me you have no understanding of the things I would do to you.”

We stare at one another for a long moment, perilous promises whirling between us.

Jasper’s eyes have been on me constantly since they found me outside the Sinners’ camp. Looking at him now, the severe edges of him for once barely contained by his restraint, I wonder whether it wasn’t just out of professional interest or cursory friendship. Was he wishing he were in Jaykob’s place, fucking me between the trees?

He’s right that I still don’t entirely know what it means to be with a sadist. But he’s wrong about the rest.

I do see the danger of him.

In many ways, Jasper is the most dangerous man in this house.

“You decidedforme that I would never find out,” I remind him. My body is tingling, alive with tension. Shakily, I add, “I was willing to try.”

Jasper’s return stare is intense. Settling back in his chair, he looks like a prince weighing the price of a crime.

“I won’t hurt you any more than you’ve already been hurt, Eden,” he says finally. “Not now, while everything is so fresh. And that is no reflection on how much I care about or am attracted to you.”

I fight with his words. Despite his suggestion, I’m not oblivious. I know he’s trying to protect me—but if he wants me like he says he does, and I’m willing, why won’t he give it a chance? In that moment, I sympathize with the years of frustration Lucky had to go through.

Butnot nowhas possibilities.Not nowis not a “no.”

Not nowmakes my heart race.

“Do we understand one another now?” he asks.

Jasper wears no mask now, his expression haunted and lovely, kind, and hungry. I see the same restlessness in him I feel. The same frustration.

I sigh. “Yes. I think we do.”

I look down at the workbook in my lap thoughtfully.

“If you didn’t come here to see me as a professional, Eden, and if you didn’t come here to seduce me”—he smiles faintly, and I return the look wryly—“why did you come?”

I wish I had an easy answer for that.

“I came to seeyou, Jasper.” I sigh heavily, willing him to understand what I don’t understand myself. “I’m just... lost. And I needed you tonight. Not you, the faraway psychologist. I need the person who talked me down when I panicked. The one who made me feel like I might actually be able to make a home here.”

His forehead twitches then—a hint of surprise, just for an instant.

The tension in the room thickens again, spreading between us like a gently tugging chain.

Jasper tilts his head, and that single lock of hair sways. “You want my help, but no professional distance between us—is that right?”

No distance. There are so many things I want from him, things that my mind continues to push down, but my body silently begs for.

No distance is the barest start of that.

Pushing my glasses back up my nose, I nod.

Jasper nods back. “Then come here.”

Chapter40

---