“I had fun last night,” Kait declared coyly.
“I’m glad,” Jasper leaned towards her and purred the words into her ear. Kait melted against him. Whenever she was around him, she became dizzy and struggled to focus. Soon his lips were pressed against hers, and they were kissing with heated intensity as though they hadn’t had one another just hours earlier.
Jasper moved away just before the kiss could deepen any further. He pressed his lips to her neck and began to caress her body with his strong hands. Kait trembled in delight beneath him. With his lips, he began to carefully kiss a path down towards her breasts and then towards her navel, Kait as still completely naked from their earlier escapades.
She gasped as Jasper moved below her navel. He was taking his time, making her grow in expectation.
By the time he gently suckled her clitoris, Kait thought she might explode. She cried out in ecstasy as her toes curled. The world exploded in fireworks before her eyes, and her heart hammered excitedly in her chest.
Chapter 13
They spent the entire day in bed. It was something Kait had never done before. Sure she’d been in relationships, but she never liked to linger with someone the way she did with Jasper. Her mind was always racing about the hundred and one things she needed to do. Sundays were laundry days, and she would also go for a long jog weather permitting. But all those tasks were instantly forgotten when she was intertwined with Jasper’s powerful body.
They enjoyed one another again and again. Kait reached new levels of pleasure she’d never previously believed were possible. Jasper was a caring, attentive lover with impressive stamina.
“I really need to shower,” Jasper told her as outside the day had begun to darken.
“Me too,” Kait agreed from where she was resting her head on his chest, enjoying listening to the steady beat of his heart.
“Do you want to shower together?”
Kait snapped her head up and looked down at him. Her whole body once again tingling with desire. Just as she was about to eagerly accept his offer, she saw the fresh wound on his chest, the one he’d endured whilst protecting her. As her face dipped in sadness, she softly ran her finger beneath it.
“You’ve got so many scars.”
His chest was equally as adorned as his back. So many old wounds. Surely they hadn’t all happened in the ring.
“True.” Jasper replied stoically.
“How did you get them all?” Kait titled her head in interest as she addressed him.
Jasper inhaled sharply.
“You don’t think I got them all from fighting?”
Kait shook her head as her eyes scanned across his exposed chest. Many of the scars were long and hinted at deep wounds, wounds that could only be inflicted by a sharp object rather than the dull blow of a fist or foot connecting with his chest.
“Not all of them,” she admitted.
“You’re right,” Jasper sat up and folded his thick arms across his chest, covering some of his scars from view.
“Some of them I picked up on the streets when I was growing up.”
Kait thought of what she’d read about Jasper, about how he’d grown up in the foster care system and lived a troubled life before he’d found professional fighting.
“Were you stabbed?” In her mind she remembered the glint of the blade the gold toothed man had held and the sinister sparkle in his old eyes. He had meant to stab her, to gut her as though she were just a fish being prepared at market. It was the first time she’d had to face down such evil, and she had been terrified. She couldn’t imagine facing such an ordeal as a teenager or a child.
“Yeah,” Jasper’s jaw tightened. “Many times.”
The scars suddenly seemed more troubling. Each told of a violent attack, a heated altercation got out of hand.
“Why…” Kait’s eyes misted as she let her gaze fall to the bed, unsure of what she was even meaning to ask.
“My life was tough growing up,” Jasper’s tone was gentler than she’d expected. She thought he was going to be defensive about his scars and how he obtained them. Instead, he reached for her hand and pressed it against his chest.
“Where I lived, people used violence to get what they wanted. It’s why I was originally interested in learning to fight.”
Jasper had placed her hand over a particularly large scar which ran all the way from his shoulder blade to the center of his chest.
“I got this one for refusing to run drugs. I spent two weeks in hospital and lost a lot of blood.”
Kait felt the rise of the scar. Now it was just a deep ridge upon his skin, but it had once been a gaping wound so cruelly inflicted.
“I was twelve,” he told her, and Kait thought her heart might break. She removed her hand and began kissing each and every one of Jasper’s scars. He’d endured so much, and yet he was still finding the courage to chase his dream, to get in the ring and fight every night. He could have run drugs; he could have stabbed people to bend them to his own will. But he rose above all that.
As she kissed his scars, Jasper groaned. They remained there for a few more minutes before he scooped her up in his strong arms. She wrapped her legs around him as he carried her towards the bathroom. She could feel how excited he was. He lowered her gently in to the bathtub and stepped in after her, pulling back the shower curtain. Kait quickly turned on the water, and soon they were both being bathed in the hot stream.
Jasper grabbed her wrists and held them above her head, pushing her back against the wall. It felt strange to have the cool tiles at her back as the warm water splashed over her front. As he held her wrists up he kissed her deeply, his tongue desperately pressing against hers. Kait eagerly kissed him back as she arched her back and ground her hips against him. Jasper groaned again as they kissed.
Kait wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close. When he entered her, they both gasped in delight.
Chapter 14
It was dark outside as Kait walked through the living room towel drying her hair and wrapped in a robe. Jasper was on the sofa wolfing down the pizza they’d previously ordered. A movie was playing on the television which he was half watching.
Kait dropped down beside him and reached for a slice of the still warm pizza. Her stomach grumbled appreciatively at the sight of it. As Kait took a bite, she realized that she hadn’t eaten all day which was unlike her. She also never ate pizza, always opting for a sensible salad or pasta dish instead. But with Jasper, she felt like she didn’t need to care about all that stuff, that she could just be herself. Eating the pizza reminded her of movie nights with her mother when they’d curl up together on the couch and watch girly films. Kait struggled to remember the last time she’d done something like that. She was always either working or thinking about working. It was as if she’d forgotten how to switch off. Until Jasper came along.
“What are you watching?” She nodded at the television.
“This movie where Denzel Washington is a pilot.” Jasper quickly replied. Kait was impressed by his knowledge.
“You seen it before?”
“Twice.” Jasper replied in between bites of pizza.
“Twice?” Kait asked with a smile on her lips, her tone slightly teasing.
“What?” Jasper turned and looked bashful, his confident demeanour having briefly fallen away.
“So I like movies? I’m not always training you know.”
“So when you’re not training you’re watching movies?”
“Pretty much,” Jasper agreed proudly. “I’m something of a movie geek.”
“Good to know,” Kait laughed.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What do you do when you’re not working?” Jasper eyed her expectantly. Kait paused as she fumbled for a response. She could feel her cheeks beginning to burn with shame. The truth was that somewhere along the way, work had stopped being something she did and had overtaken her life, bleeding out to all areas including
her social life. She worked long hours, and when she made it back to her apartment, she’d just drag herself in to bed so that she could wake up bright and early for the next working day.
“I’ve been a bit too consumed with my work lately,” she told him sadly, not wanting to lie and pretend that she was living some exciting, enriched life.
“I know how that can be,” Jasper nodded. “Fighting is my life; it can be hard to switch off.”
“You switched off today,” Kait told him brightly.
“So did you,” Jasper grinned. Kait was smiling back at him when she noticed the glimmer in his eyes fade. He straightened on the sofa and turned his back on the television.
“But tomorrow it all starts up again,” he told her. “You go back to work, and I’m back to training. This,” he gestured to the space between them, “will be put on the back burner.”
Kait struggled to swallow over the lump which had formed in her throat. What did he mean? This was surely the start of something great, something wondrous. Why would he want to take a step back from that? Kait didn’t want to return to who she had previously been. She didn’t want her life to solely revolve around work. When Jasper saved her from knifepoint in the parking lot, he did more than save her from those thugs, he saved her from herself. When she was around him, she was remembering how to live, how to truly be alive. It no longer mattered that she got a promotion or a bigger house; all that mattered was the moment and that they were together in it. But now Jasper was taking all that away again. What did it mean? Did he want to be involved with her or not?
Cupping her face in his warm hands Jasper uttered the words Kait dreaded to hear:
“I mean, this has been great, so much fun. But my fighting comes first, Kait and it always will.”
Chapter 15
The following day Kait struggled to focus at work. No matter how many urgent emails flashed on her computer screen, she couldn’t stop thinking about Jasper. After telling her that his fighting would always come first, he had left. With a pained expression, he told her that he would call. Kait doubted that he would, but she needed to cling to the promise that he would even if it had been made in vain.
She understood his drive and determination when it came to his fighting. She admired the tenacity he applied to following his dream. But did that truly mean that he also wouldn’t have time for her?
Discreetly, Kait reached for her phone and checked Jasper’s Twitter account. As she’d expected, he’d already posted several updates regarding his training even though it wasn’t yet ten in the morning.
Been killing it in the gym all morning! @J_Duboix
Play hard – work harder! @J_Duboix
He’d even posted a picture of himself lifting some impressively huge weights. His biceps were flexed and beaded with sweat. Jasper was yet again pushing himself less than forty eight hours after a fight he’d only narrowly won.
Kait scowled at her phone’s display before shoving it back in to her handbag. She was once again angry at Jasper, angry at his decision to push himself when he needed to rest. The time they had spent together had hardly been restful. When did he ever actually take the time to just stop and relax? If he carried on as he was, surely he’d just burn out.
The sound of her desk phone ringing made Kait jump. She took second to clear her throat and prepare her most formal answering voice.
“Good morning, Kaitlyn Stewart speaking.”
“So! She lives!” Anna’s bright voice bubbled down the phone line. Kait cringed as she realised she’d neglected to contact her friend over the weekend which wasn’t like her.
“Anna, I’m so sorry I’ve not been in touch this weekend. Things have just been crazy.”
“If you say you’ve been busy with work, I’m officially disowning you!” Anna threatened.
Kait took a deep breath and made sure that no one was lingering around her desk, eaves dropping on her conversation.
“I was busy, yes, but not with work.”
She could sense Anna’s mounting excitement on the other end of the line.
“So what were you busy with?” Her friend asked breathlessly.
“A guy.”
Anna squealed down the phone, and Kait had to hold the receiver away from her ear for a few minutes.
“Details! I need details!” Anna insisted once she’d finished screaming.
Kait chewed her lip thoughtfully. She wasn’t really sure what there was to say about her and Jasper. They weren’t a couple. She didn’t know quite what they were.
“It’s nothing really yet. We’re just…hanging out.”
“Oh my God,” Anna gushed, “the last time you were just hanging out with a guy we were in college. This is huge.”
“It really isn’t,” Kait could feel her cheeks burning. She wanted to share with her friend, but she also didn’t want to make her and Jasper out to be something more than what they were. He’d quite clearly told her that he didn’t have the time for her. But what did that even mean?
“Are you okay?” Anna’s brightness became subdued with concern.
“Yeah,” Kait sighed. “I’m fine.”
“Dinner, after work. We clearly need to talk.” Anna instructed, and Kait didn’t have the energy to fight her on it.
Chapter 16
Despite her long day at work, Kait had no appetite. She pushed some potatoes around her plate with her fork and gazed absently across the restaurant.
“I thought you’d be all glowing and excited over your new man,” Anna noted. She’d already polished off the salad she had ordered.
“I was,” Kait admitted with a roll of her eyes. “But I feel like I never know where I stand with him.”
“How so?” Anna propped her elbows up on the edge of the table and leaned forward expectantly.
“When we’re together it’s…amazing,” Kait smiled slightly to herself, remembering the day spent in bed with Jasper. It had been perfect, and she’d never experienced anything like it before. But just a day later, and it seemed like a distant memory, something that had happened to someone else.
“Ooh,” Anna smiled deliciously and arched an eyebrow in approval. “That good, huh?”
Kait laughed nervously and waved a dismissive hand through the air.
“I’m getting off track. When we’re together, yes it’s great but then when his attention switches back to his career, it’s like I’m invisible.”
“So his career is important to him?” Anna deduced, nodding thoughtfully.
“Very.”
Kait thought of his much Jasper pushed himself, how he would fight night after night. What was he even trying to prove? He was already the best in his field. Yet he’d spent all day in the gym according to his Twitter feed. Kait found herself feeling jealous of all the focus he gave his career and his training. He hadn’t contacted her once during the day. If he had time to Tweet to his followers surely he had time to send her one lousy text message?
Maybe it wasn’t so much that he didn’t have time for her; it was more that he didn’t want to make time for her.
“What does he do?” Anna asked, her eyes wide with interest as she tilted her head.
This made Kait pause. Jasper’s career was hardly a traditional one. He was a mixed martial arts fighter. If she told Anna as much, her friend would instantly be concerned.
“Well?” Anna prodded her.
“He’s an athlete.” Which was pretty much the truth. “And he’s extremely focused on his career and on training.”
“Urgh,” Anna wrinkled her petite nose in dismay. “Athletes are the worst to date. They don’t drink, and they spend more time at their precious gym than with you.”
Kait flinched at the honesty of her friend’s words. Already Jasper was forsaking her for training sessions at the gym, and they weren’t even properly dating yet.
“But he’s just driven,” Kait found herself leaping to Jasper’s defence. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No,”
Anna agreed, “of course not. But it just means that there isn’t much room in his life for a relationship. And that’s what’s troubling you, right?”
“Right.”
A few days ago, Kait would have said that she didn’t have room in her life for a boyfriend. But then she’d met Jasper, and she knew that she’d make room for him. He mattered to her. What they shared together felt special and worth finding time for. She blinked back tears as she wondered if Jasper had any intention of ever calling her again. How could he spend so much time with her, in her bed and in her home and then just detach like he had?
Mason: Inked Reapers MC Page 28
