Page 39 of All I Wank for Christmas

“I’m so hungry, I could eat a gas station breakfast sandwich.” I unwrap the sandwich and bite into it. The buttermilk biscuit flakes in my hands, and I throw my head back in pleasure as soon as the salty bacon hits my tongue. “Good,” I mumble around the mouthful of biscuit, bacon, egg, and cheese.

“I knew from the moment I met you that I wanted to buy you breakfast,” Jasper says, opening his coffee lid flap and blowing on the steam. “I didn’t think it would be quite like this, though.”

I swallow and take a sip of my own coffee. It’s still too hot, so I place it next to me and focus on filling my stomach. “What exactly did you imagine?”

He turns to me as he unwraps the sausage biscuit. “When I met you yesterday, I imagined taking you to breakfast.”

“Yesterday feels a million years away.”

“That’s the damn truth.” Jasper takes a bit of food, chews, and swallows before taking a sip of his scalding coffee. “When I saw you in the waiting room, that’s what came into my mind – waking up next to you in a soft bed with crisp white sheets, rolling over, and asking you to breakfast at some nice brunch place.”

“Like the type that serves eggs over easy and adds spice to their bacon?” I ask.

“Yes. With thick French toast with strawberries and whipped cream. Oh, and don’t forget mimosas. When I imagine it, you’re wearing one of my t-shirts.”

I groan a little at the idea of a nice breakfast with him. Will I see him again after he drops me off? Will I ever get to wear his t-shirt and pull the fabric up to my face so I can smell him?

We eat and drink our coffee in silence and watch the movement around us. People in cars packed with presents wash their windshields, pump gas, and walk in and out of the station. Jasper eats his sausage sandwich, and we split the other bacon sandwich. Jasper tears it in half and hands it to me without asking. I take it and savor it as cars pull in and out of the parking spots around us.

I sniff and look around at the trees in the area and the birds just starting to peek out of their nests for the morning. “Where are we?” I ask.

“Michigan and Ohio border.”

“Not too far from home, huh?”

“I should have you home in less than an hour or so.” He looks down at his boots and wiggles his toes. “What time do you have to work?”

He sounds sad. Is he thinking of me giving another man or multiple men hand jobs today? My stomach roils at the thought. I’ve never been squeamish about my job, but the idea of touching a man other than him repulses me now. It’s just friction on a dick and doesn’t mean anything, but it meant something with him.

It all meanta lotwith him.

“Noon. But Mom’s going to need her meds in a couple hours. If she wakes up and I’m not there, she may be scared. Helena will be rolling out to work, and she’ll get worried if I’m not home soon, especially if she realizes I didn’t come home last night.”

Jasper’s quiet a moment and rubs the back of his neck. “Holly?”

“Yeah?”

“Tonight meant a lot to me. Nobody has ever done so much to help me. When you figured out everything and then came to get me from the station, that was just…”

His voice trails off, and I press my index finger to his mouth, smiling. “Shush. I loved helping you.”

If it wouldn’t be weird since we just met yesterday, I’d offer to be his ride-or-die girl for as long as he’d have me.

He looks to the construction site and pushes himself up from the curb, crumbling his last sandwich wrapper in his fist. “I feel like we’ve known each other forever, like you’re a friend I went to school with or something. Thanks for coming with me. It couldn’t have been easy to get on my sleigh.”

He offers his hand, and I take it. I teeter a little when I stand, and Jasper wraps his arms around me. Once I’m stable, he doesn’t let go. We stand there and hug on the Michigan and Ohio border while the sun comes up, neither one of us wanting to let go. It may be because he wants to hug me. It may also be that we’re the only thing holding each other up.

Chapter 15

Jasper

Hollyopenshereyeswhen the sleigh lands with a thump on her roof. She slept for the last twenty minutes, and I didn’t have the heart to wake her. She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed and a slow line of drool dripping out of the corner of her mouth. I wiped it away a couple of times for her, but at least she doesn’t snore.

“Are we home?” Holly asks in a weak voice. I hate that she moves away from me. Even though she was drooling, I liked her leaning against my shoulder.

“Last stop. Want me to carry you downstairs?”

She rubs sleep out of her eyes and blinks twice. “Do I need you to carry me? No. Would I want you to carry me just so I could be close to you another minute?”

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