Page 22 of Glass & Groundwork
Jasper yawned again. “Coffee?”
I had to force my eyes to stay on his face and not linger on the bare chest that was staring at me. I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I could go get a pot going, if you’d like.”
He waved me off. “Go shower. I can figure it out.”
Jasper turned away from me and stood at the side of the bed, stretching again, wearing only those little black briefs, putting his legs on display. I would have stayed and admired the view if I wasn’t desperate to hurry to the bathroom while his back was to me so he wouldn’t see the state I was in.
A sigh of relief left me when I was safely hidden away in the bathroom, making me feel like a teenager again. I looked down at the bulge beneath my sweat shorts that begged for attention. Attention it wouldn’t get right now. I didn’t have time, and I felt too weird about jacking off with Jasper here. Cold shower, it was.Sigh.
At least the cold helped me rush through the process, getting ready in record time. My dick had been thoroughly punished and was hiding from the brutally frigid water by the time I got out. I shivered as I wrapped myself in a towel and ran a quick comb through my hair.
The effort of the shower was almost undone when I came out of the bathroom to find Jasper sitting in the arm chair, wearing a pair of my pajama pants while he sipped a cup of coffee, looking completely at home. Holy hell, why was that such a hot image?
“I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want to run around the house in my underwear, so I snooped and found something to put on.”
I shook my head and swallowed hard. “No, I don’t mind at all.”
Jasper stood and quirked his lips to the side. “I did run into Nicky, though, who seemed very intrigued by me wearing something she recognized as yours. So… I’m sorry if that causes any issues.”
I chuckled awkwardly. “Well, wearegoing to get married, right? Seems like they’ll have to know sooner or later.”
Shit, how was I going to explain this to them? It was unusual, to say the least.Married.The word still felt unreal, but it didn’t bother me as much as it probably should have. Except when it came to worrying about what my kids might think.
Jasper sucked on his teeth and set his coffee down. His eyes flicked to mine before looking at the floor. “Yeah. About that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just overwhelmed yesterday.”
Crossing the room to him, I cupped his chin and tilted it up to meet his gaze. “I said yes, Jasper.”
His brows pinched. “I’m not going to hold you to that. It was a weird moment, and too much for me to ask.”
I shook my head. “I’m not one to go back on my word or to make false promises. I’m okay with it, really. We’re going to do this and we’re going to get you out from under your parents' hold.”
His golden eyes grew misty. “You really mean it?”
I ran a finger through his hair without thinking. “I mean it.”
“If at any time you change your mind, you just tell me, okay? I swear I won’t be offended or hurt or anything. I care more about our friendship than my own drama. And my shop? Well, it will come eventually.”
“I’ll let you know, but I’m telling you that I’m not going to change my mind. I want to do this.”
Jasper sighed, a weight lifting off him, while wiping at his eyes. “Thank you.”
Needing to get away from the growing emotion, I put on my dad voice. “Now go get ready, we need to leave soon.”
“Yes, Papa,” Jasper said with a cheeky grin.
I loved the title, loved hearing my kids use it, but it didn’t feel right from him. Not with the way I’d woken up tangled in his body, or the reaction it caused. No, I couldn’t have him using the same term my kids used. “No. Please don’t call me that.”
“Okay…Daddy.” Jasper winked before pecking a kiss on my cheek and running off to the bathroom.
That was…unexpected, as was the surprising effect a simple word had on me. Maybe agreeing to this marriage was a bad idea after all. Or maybe I just needed to get him out of my system so it wouldn’t be endless torture. Sadly, I still didn’t have time to address my dick’s piqued interest.
I dressed quickly, and went to the kitchen to busy myself and gain some distance from the whole Jasper thing. Feeling anxious, I checked my phone to see the time. If I had been on my own or even if one of the kids came with me as they sometimes did, we would have left about five minutes ago. I wasn’t late, not really, I just preferred to get there early and not have to stress.
Every worry about the time fell out of my head when Jasper entered the kitchen. He wore a pair of my jeans rolled at the waist so they sat low on his hips. They were cuffed at the bottom, too, reminding me of our height difference. That would have been sexy enough, seeing him in my jeans, but he paired it with one of my flannels tied in a knot in the front showing off the dark hair around his belly button. Jasper’s damp hair flowed around his face in loose waves, looking like a fresh-out-of-the-shower dream.
He held out his arms and twirled around slowly. “Since you didn’t seem bothered by me using your pajamas, I hoped you wouldn’t care if I found some of your clothes to wear. I abhorred the thought of having to put my suit pants back on, and, well, I already threw my shirt away and didn’t want to look at it again.”
Fuck, my clothes had never looked so good. “I, um, don’t mind. Not when you look like that.”
