Page 39 of Ghost of a Chance
He arched one eyebrow at her.So arrogant.He didn’t have to point out she was being ridiculous.
“Fine.I like you.Being around you is fun.Is that why you’re all I like you and we should hook up?”
“No, I’m like that because I do like you.And I want you.”He shoved his hand through his thick straight hair, making it stand up for a moment before it fell back into place.She remembered how silky and cool it felt.How effortless it all seemed for him.
A slow hum was going through her body.Her mind and good sense were losing the battle with her libido.But she had to stay strong.Their time together had an end date.He wasn’t going to move back home with her.He lived and worked in Chicago, for crying out loud.
The lights flickered above them three times.Judge Judy’s voice blared from the other room.“I am not going to ask you to leave.But, the next time you come into my courtroom, dress more appropriately.You are not going to a beach party.”
Jasper let out a string of curses as he left the room.This was the perfect chance for her to go back to bed and pretend like this never happened.
Run away.
Like the coward he accused her of being.
Fuck that.
She wouldn’t let him be right about that.Instead she followed him.It didn’t mean she’d allow herself to fall back into his arms.But she wasn’t running away again.
He’d see how strong her control was.She wasn’t going to fall for a sexy, high cheekboned man with lips that were made for kissing.Not again.
Except as she entered the living room and saw him standing in front of the TV, illuminated by its blue-tinted glow, an unreadable look on his face, she knew she was lying to herself.
* * *
Honestly, what did he have to lose?Kirsty was in his head.Always the embodiment of mysterious except when she kissed him tonight.A dam had broken inside of him leading to an epiphany.Life was too short not to go for it with Kirsty.
Then of course Paul had to come in and break it up once again.Thankfully Jasper managed to turn down the television to a reasonable volume before it woke the others up.
Judge Judy was on a rip, crisply pointing out in that sharp, intelligent way of hers that the litigant was dumb.He really didn’t like the show because it displayed people at their worst.A woman suing her best friend over getting burnt eating cheese fries… Stuff like that made him realize how fragile trust was between people.
“You just don’t give up,” he said to the textbook.It remained on the living room table.
“Does he answer you?”
He jumped at the sound of Kirsty’s voice.“No.I would have told you if he did.”
“Tell me more about him.”She came into the room and sat on one of the big leather chairs, curling her legs under her.“I want to get a complete picture of him.You told me about his study groups but I want to know more.”
“Like what?”
“Something funny,” she said.
“Do you think it will help you figure out how to contact him?”
“It can’t hurt.”
Shaking his head as he smiled at her, he sat down on the sofa, putting his feet up on the coffee table.He reached over and pulled the book to him.Absently he flipped through the pages.
Physics hadn’t been his favorite subject in high school even though his dad had been studying to become a physics teacher.When he applied to school his love of watching TV and movies had steered him to a BA with Major in Film and Television Studies.Though he and Paul had been in the same physics class so that Jasper could get a better idea of what his dad’s fictional theory was based on.“He liked a puzzle.On my last birthday he gave me a map and some scrambled clues.”
Was that all this was?Some puzzle he had to solve?That would be just like Paul, getting a one-up on him even in death.
“Did you figure it out?”
“Sure did, but it took me about two weeks.When I finally showed up at the location, Paul had left me a present and a cupcake in a watertight box.”
Remembering that stale cupcake and the copy of the latestAssassin’s Creedgame made him smile.Twigged something in his mind about the game where you could travel back on your own timeline.Was that what Paul was doing?
