Page 54 of Jasper

Second, it would risk Conner. He’d trusted him with classified information and with his own role in the deaths of men responsible for Henry’s death. Given what he’d done to avenge his brother, Jasper would never put him at risk.

So, that meant he had to come to terms with the fact there would never publicly be an admission of what truly happened to Henry. He would have to accept the judgment Conner had achieved.

And for that, he was grateful. Conner made them pay for it, and that meant his brother did get justice.

Jasper wasn’t sure how long he sat there, but the moon was high when he finally got up and dusted himself off. A sort of peace settled over him as he walked back to the house. Something he hadn’t felt since his brother died.

And all of it had to do with the girl waiting for him.

“How did you rascals escape?” Jasper barely missed stepping on a kitten when he came downstairs. They were all wrestling in the middle of the living room. At least until they decided his shoes were their new attack toy. The three amigos, as he’d taken to calling them, were as rambunctious as full-grown cats. And they seemed to get into twice as much trouble.

He knew for a fact he’d secured them in the big-ass crate he’d bought. The damn thing even had a litter box in it. Just because they were small didn’t mean they didn’t deserve a big play area while they were locked up.

He reached down and collected all three of them, their tiny claws as sharp as daggers. The scent of percolating coffee tickled his nose, and he laughed. “So, that’s how you three escaped. Mama let you out.”

Sloane stood by the pot, a mug waiting. She was wearing a pair of plaid pajamas, her hair a mess, and fuzzy bunny slippers on her feet.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

She jumped and shrieked so loudly the kittens raced up his arms, slicing and dicing his skin as they went.

“Easy, pretty girl. It’s just me.” He reached up and plucked one of the kittens out of his hair, wincing as he did.

“I…” She let out a shaky breath. “I thought you were up and gone already.”

“Nope. Thanksgiving dinner is still sitting in my gut, making me sleep.”

“That was three days ago.”

“We had leftover turkey sandwiches for dinner, so I’m still suffering from the side effects.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

He grinned. “I’m charming.”

“There you go, thinking you’re all that this early in the morning.”

“I am all that, and you damn well know it, woman.” He set the kittens down and got their milk out of the fridge, pouring out a small amount to warm it. “How long have you been up?”

“A while. I couldn’t sleep. Be careful not to heat it too long. You’ll burn their tongues.”

“I’m not the one who burned their tongues. That was all you.” He got one of the bottles out of the dish drainer and filled it with warm milk before picking up Scrappy and sitting down to feed him. The little orange ball of fur latched on to the nipple and started sucking like his life depended on it.

Sloane sat down and idly watched him feed the kitten. He took care not to let it choke. The kittens, especially Scrappy, tried to drown themselves in milk. “Can we go into town and find a Christmas tree today?”

“Don’t you have enough decorations up already?”

“Decorations are not a tree. Besides, the kittens will love to sit under it and stare up at the lights.”

“You honestly think the three amigos are going to idly sit under it and not attack the tree and lights like the hooligans they are?”

She glanced at Rocky and Patches on the floor. The two little angels—or devils when they wanted to be—were chewing on Jasper’s shoes. They loved to climb, and he was right. They’d be all over the tree.

“Well, hell.”

Jasper laughed. “We can do without a tree.”

“Not gonna happen, buster. We’re getting a tree, and you’re putting lights up outside.”

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