Page 49 of Jasper

“Yes.” Jasper shoved off the sink and came up behind her. He’d seen the way her shoulders tensed. “Did he tell them anything?”

“Only that I was out of town for the foreseeable future. She wanted my address, but he didn’t give her that.”

“That’s good. I’ll make a few calls and have an informant of mine go check on your apartment. Or do you live in a house?”

“It’s an apartment building. Do you think they might have gone to my apartment? It sounds like they don’t know where I live.”

“This could all be nothing, pretty girl. It might be someone from college you don’t remember, but you were nice to, and she just wants to connect.”

“Maybe.”

Jasper put his hands on her shoulders and started to knead the muscles.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Your shoulders are tense. I’m trying to help.”

“This isn’t helping.” She put the measuring cup down. “I’m trying to make you a pie.”

He leaned down until his lips were right by her ear. “My stomach appreciates that.”

She let out a long sigh when his fingers hit a particularly tight patch of muscles.

“But I think your neck appreciates my hands more than you’re letting on, pretty girl.”

He wanted to distract her from worrying about the woman who was probably working for the cartel. He had magic hands, or so said most of the women he’d dated, and Sloane did not appear to be immune to them either.

Her body bowed when he kept up a steady pressure on that particularly tight muscle. He leaned in closer. “Do you like that, pretty girl?”

She didn’t answer him, but she didn’t need to. He could hear her rapid breathing and feel how she relaxed against him. Her body spoke to him.

His lips traced the outline of her ear as he worked her muscles, and a small sound slipped out of her. He wouldn’t call it a moan, but it was close.

His hands traveled down her neck, slipping to her back, and continued his gentle massage. It meant he had to back up a bit, but it didn’t deter his lips. They continued their path from her ear to her neck to settle on the pulse point at the base. Her heartbeat was pounding as rapidly as his.

“Jasper.”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I…” She cleared her throat and did something he didn’t expect. She twisted to face him. He saw the desire and need stamped on her face, but her eyes were wary. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

He cupped her cheek in one hand, and she leaned into the touch. “I think it’s a perfectly good idea.”

Then he kissed her.

Just like before, heat exploded. Fire licked along his limbs, and he leaned in closer, deepening the kiss. He wanted to mold himself to her in a way he never had any other woman.

When her arms came up to wrap around his neck, he felt like fist-pumping, but that would mean removing his lips from hers, and he wasn’t ready to do that yet.

She fit against him perfectly, but he needed more, so he lifted her onto the island, his body slipping between her legs.

He pulled away from her long enough to make sure she was okay with this. Her eyes were wide and sleepy, desire pooling in them, making the green more vibrant. Her lips were swollen and wet, and her breathing was as ragged as his.

“Sloane?”

She blinked and took a deep breath. “Kiss me.”

Jasper took full advantage of the request and leaned back into her, placing both hands on the counter beside her. He gripped the counter so his hands wouldn’t wander. He let her hands explore him instead.

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