Page 11 of Jasper

“This shouldn’t take long,” Jasper says as he pulls into the driveway of a ranch style log home with a covered front porch. Buckets of bright yellow flowers hang between poles, and two rocking chairs are stationed off to one side. It’s exactly the way he described it that night we lounged naked in the hot tub.Maybe he didn’t lie about everything.

I look over at Jasper as he pulls the keys from the ignition but can’t quite bring myself to make eye contact. I focus on the bay a short two blocks from the house instead.

“You had this view growing up?” I ask, nodding toward the water. Noting that in Houston, the sun would be long gone bynow. But here in North Haven, despite it being nearly ten o’clock at night, the sun is still hanging above the horizon, giving the water and the surrounding mountains an iridescent glow.

“Yeah. Pretty great, huh?” He reaches his hand across the center console, placing it on my thigh. The warmth soaks through the denim, igniting something within me. As though his touch is thawing the last of the icy layer of protection I’ve kept around my heart.

Don’t fall for him, Vanessa.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yep.”

Jasper lifts one eyebrow, challenging my answer.

“Just tired.”

“I doubt that.” He gives my thigh one good squeeze before he lets go, and I feel the absence of his heat instantly. “C’mon. The bowls are in the kitchen.”

Helena nearly had a panic attack when she realized she’d forgotten all the serving bowls. Though the festival doesn’t start until tomorrow morning, she insisted they had to be in the truck tonight. Jasper put his arm around his frazzled mother and offered to retrieve them. It was so damn sweet I practically got a stomachache watching it.

My hand still tingles from the easy way he threaded his fingers through mine and led me to his truck to help him with this easy errand.

Only now that I’m standing on the front porch of his childhood home, nothing feels easy about this.

What was once a whimsical, romantic memory is slowly starting to become a very real reality.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jasper asks, unlocking the front door.

I nod, unable to meet those dark eyes head on.

He reaches a hand to my cheek, cupping it ever so gently. As though it’s the most natural thing to do. He tilts my chin and waits until I finally give in and meet his gaze. My eyes are no doubt shiny with unshed tears.

Dammit, this isnotthe time to fall apart.

“You miss your mom?” he guesses, glancing down at the necklace I’m still clamping in my palm.

“Yeah.”

His gaze flickers to my lips, and my pulse trips. I crave his kiss, if only for the distraction I desperately need. He lowers his head, pressing his lips against my forehead. My entire body responds to the sweet caress of his gentle kiss. Electricity zings from my head to my toes and back again, settling right in my core.

I’ve spent plenty of time wanting this man, but this? This is next level.

It takes all my restraint not to fling my arms around his neck and drag his mouth to mine.

“C’mon,” he says, threading his fingers through mine once more and pushing open the front door.

I spot framed photographs on the wall, but the hazy light makes it hard to make them out as Jasper leads me to the kitchen. Several stacks of paper bowls sit piled on the counter. It’s obvious that Helena plans to sell a lot of clam chowder this weekend, and I hope she does. That chowder is damn good.

“What’s down that way?” I ask of a hall leading away from the kitchen.

“Guest rooms,” Jasper says.

“And?”

“My old bedroom,” he admits.

I’m on the move before he can catch my wrist.

---