by Talty, Jen
Jasper made her feel valued. The time he took to make sure she wanted to take whatever they were feeling for each other to the physical level made her want him even more. She envied the woman who would be able to tame his heart and chase away the demons that make him feel he can’t love anyone, because it wouldn’t be her.
Couldn’t be her.
“Ashley,” he said softly, tugging at her hair. “Come here.”
She kissed her way to his luscious mouth, nipping at his bottom lip.
He eased her down on the bed, slipping his hand inside her panties, toying with her moist folds. His fingers glided across her hard nub before sinking deep inside her, only to repeat the motion.
Her skin turned into an electric current of pure pleasure. She arched her back, rocking her hips. “You sure are good with your hands,” she said with a breathy moan.
“I could say the same about your mouth.” He kissed her, shoving his tongue between her lips as he plowed inside her again with another finger.
Wiggling, she rolled her panties down, needing to feel his naked flesh against hers while the sun glistened against the perspiration beading on their bodies. The sound of the waves lapping at the shore as the ocean breeze filtered through the partially opened window.
It seemed like he kissed every inch of her body while he teased her, bringing her to the edge only to back off enough to keep her release at bay.
“You’re driving me crazy.”
“That’s the point,” he mused, as he covered himself in protection before settling between her legs, entering her in one powerful stroke that sent her insides tumbling out.
“Oh…God.” She dug her fingers into the middle of his back, clenching tight around him, desperately trying to maintain some control. The muscles in her stomach twitched. Heat swelled from her toes to her lips.
She moved with him, creating more friction in the places that demanded them the most. His kiss was deep, wet, and wild.
Digging her heels into the mattress, her body jerked with ferocious spasms. Her moans filled the room, bouncing off the walls and landing on her skin, making her shake all over again.
He tucked his face into her neck, sucking on her earlobe. His movements grew faster, but never desperate. As her climax eased, Jasper arched his back as he groaned, his release spilling over her like warm fudge on a chocolate cake.
She massaged his neck, shoulders, and back as they both struggled to catch their breath.
He raised himself up on his elbows, fanning her face, his thumbs rubbing softly just above her cheeks.
It was impossible to hold back a smile. He’d been her knight in shining armor last night, and this morning, her prince charming. There wasn’t a single thing about him she didn’t like, something she’d known after his third visit to her office. He was real. Genuine. Trustworthy.
She could feel her heart shattering already.
5
Jasper managed to avoid Derek throughout the day, but now that the ceremony was over, and the guests mingled about the pool deck, it might be a little more difficult. The sun floated over the evening sky, casting its rays of deep orange, yellow, and speckles of pink.
“When do you go back to New York?” Riggs asked as he sipped his beer, his free arm draped over the back of Ashley’s chair.
When she’d walked down the sandy aisle in her crimson sundress and her dark hair with its bouncy curls flowing over her bare shoulders, he went weak in the knees, and his breath hitched. To say she was stunning would be the biggest understatement. During the entire ceremony, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her and when she slid her fingers over his forearm as they followed the happy couple, his chest puffed out in pride.
“My flight leaves late tomorrow night,” he said.
“So does Ashley’s. Perhaps you’re on the same flight,” Riggs said with a smile.
“Dad, I already told you we’re going to the airport together.” Ashley let out a small laugh as she crossed her legs.
A few hours ago, those same legs were wrapped around his body.
“But stop playing match maker. It’s not going to happen.”
Jasper swallowed his shock, though he had no reason to believe that she would want anything more than a one-night stand. She might have been stone cold sober, but he wasn’t born yesterday and knew damn well she had just used him. What Derek had done to her, changed her ability to trust.
Her desire to love.
His mother had done the same thing.
Riggs tossed his hands to the ceiling. “Are you going to let her shoot you down before you even get a chance to ask her out?”
“I asked her out three times a week for eight weeks. I’ve crashed and burned more times than I care to count,” Jasper said with a slight chuckle, keeping things light. He wanted to lean across the table and remind Riggs who his mother had been. That might stop him from trying to push Jasper and Ashley together.
But then he wanted to whisper in Ashley’s ear about how he planned on making her body shiver and quake like it had this morning.
“That’s pathetic. Just damn pathetic,” Riggs said taking a large gulp of his beer. “Either you have no game, you’re my daughter needs to open her eyes. If I were a woman, I’d date you.”
“No offense sir, but you’d make for an ugly ass woman,” Jasper said. “I know Ashely has to take after her mother.”
“And you’re shooting this one down?” Riggs dropped his hand to Ashley’s shoulder, pulling her in for a fatherly hug. He raised his hand, getting the waiter’s attention. “Another round please.”
One thing Jasper had missed his entire life had been parents who loved him.
“I think I’m going to stick with water,” Ashely said. “Dad, why didn’t you book your flight later in the day? We could have at least had the first leg of the trip the same.”
“You know your mother. She likes me home for Sunday supper.”
“Because now that you’re teaching at West Point, she can actually cook you your favorite meals.”
Riggs patted his stomach. “And my growing waistline appreciates it.”
“Sir, mind if I ask you a question?” Jasper asked. Probably not the best time to interrupt light conversation, but Jasper still had a career decision to make.
“As long as you stop with the sir shit, go ahead.”
Jasper shifted, leaning in toward the table, trying to keep his hand from landing on Ashley’s leg. Having her sit between them had turned out to be a bit of a distraction and a test of his restraint. “How was it going from active duty to teaching?”
“It was an adjustment, but one this old man needed to make, why? Are you considering a teaching position?”
This had been Jasper’s weekend to relax and think about what he should do with the next phase of his life, and he found himself wondering if there was a place with Ashley in his future.
“I can’t go back to SORT, and I’ve been offered two positions. One would be training new SORT recruits in Albany.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ashley shift in her seat. Probably meant nothing. “Higher pay grade and it’s a management position, but—”
“You’d be at a desk,” Riggs said as he folded his arms on the table. “What’s option two?”
“Training new rescue swimmers for the SCUBA unit and a patrol position working with some troopers I’ve known for a while in Lake George.”
“That could be tough on your knee, causing more problems, especially if they are pulling you off active—”
“Ashley,” her father interrupted. “Now is not the time to offer advice.”
She narrowed her eyes and snapped her mouth shut, not looking too happy to be shushed by her father.
What grown woman would?
“I would think training is more up your alley, but recruitment into a program like SORT is an important job. Is there anything keeping you in Lake George? Or would moving to Albany be okay?”
Jasper stole a glance at Ashley, who diverted her gaze
to her fingers as she picked at her nail polish. The question on his mind, was she trying to act as if she didn’t care if he stayed or if he left. “I know the members of the SCUBA team. I’ve worked them. Half of them also patrol out of the satellite office in Lake George. It’s also the longest I’ve lived anywhere, so I like it there. But Albany is only an hour south, so it’s not that big of a move.”
“I’ll be totally honest with you.” Riggs set his elbows on the table. “I took the West Point assignment to bring my wife closer to her hometown. There were other placement opportunities, but my wife stood by me all these years, I owed her a little peace and quiet.”
Ashley patted her father’s leg. “You took the post because Mom threatened to adopt a few more children because she was getting so bored now that we are all out of the house.”
“Well, there is that too,” Riggs said with a hardy laugh. “And she would have brought home a half dozen kids, a few cats, and another dog. So, bringing her closer to Ashley and the rest of our family, it was a no brainer.”
“On that note, I’m going to use the little girls’ room. Anyone want anything while I’m gone?”
“I’ll take another beer,” Riggs said, waving his almost empty one.
“Me too.” Jasper watched as she walked away, her hips swaying in the breeze. Her long legs glided effortlessly across the patio. He tapped his chest as he titled his head, giving himself a better angle as she rounded the corner.
Riggs cleared his throat. “Young man?” he questioned with a deep growl.
“Sorry, sir.”
Riggs laughed. “She’s just like her mother in every way. Looks like her. Acts like her. Neither of them have any clue as to the extent of their beauty or the effect they have on any breathing man.”
Jasper coughed, unsure of how to respond. He felt like he knew Ashley as if they’d been long-time friends.
Lovers.
The ease at which they fell into simple conversation scared him. He’d always wanted someone to love, but he’d never take his chances. Women were conniving. At least his mother had been.
And a few of his girlfriend’s early on.
Besides, when she’d been his therapist, she always keeping him an arm’s length away.
Now that they’d been intimate, he felt unsure of himself which is a concept he didn’t welcome. Not with women.
Not with anything.
He looked across the room, trying to find the appropriate words, but Derek, who headed in his direction, soured his mood. “Fuck,” he muttered.
“What?” Riggs asked.
“Sorry to use such language, but Derek is headed this way.”
“He’s got a lot of nerve.”
“You can say that again.” Jasper rolled his neck and shook out his hands, ready to fight. Not with his fists, but he could have a laser sharp tongue when he needed it. All those years ago when Derek bragged about his girl back home, it seemed like harmless talk at first, but when he started sharing details of their sex life and then the pictures, Jasper was surprised the commander hadn’t done more damage.
But the fight Jasper had been called to report on had to do with insubordination. He hadn’t known Derek’s girlfriend was the commander’s daughter until after they’d returned home.
Not that it mattered now.
“He’s the sole reason she quit working on an Army base, my Army base at the time. She thinks she embarrassed me. Well, she did no such thing, but that little weasel on the other hand not only shamed my daughter, he almost got away with ruining my career.”
“Sir, do I need to worry about you hauling off and hitting him again?”
“Probably,” Riggs said as he stretched out his fingers before retracting them into a tight fist. “I’m not a fighting man, but let me tell you, when my knuckles connected to that asshole’s face, it was orgasmic.”
Jasper nearly choked on his own laughter. “Maybe then I should take a crack at him, because I would like nothing more than to see that dipshit fall to the ground.”
“He’s a cheating bastard, so go for it.”
“Excuse me,” Derek said as he hovered over the table. “Do you mind if I have a word with the commander alone?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for the two of us to be left alone.” Riggs took the last swig of his beer, shoving it across the table. “Jasper stays.”
“I wouldn’t ask, but it’s important,” Derek said in a polite, yet aggressive tone. “You’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
“Whatever it is, you can say it in front of my daughter’s boyfriend.” Riggs folded his arms, smiling like a kid in a candy store.
Jasper swallowed his cough. He wouldn’t mind being Ashley’s love interest, but hearing it roll off her father’s tongue like it were a statement of fact, sent his heart racing in a panic.
He hadn’t caught her.
Yet.
Derek glanced over his shoulder before pulling an envelope out of his back pocket. “You should read this in the privacy of your own room if you’re not going to take a few moments to—”
“Cut to the chase and tell me what’s inside. I can’t stand this kind of bullshit game.” Riggs kept his hands in his lap, glaring at Derek. “Or have you forgotten?”
“If you want to have a confidential conversation about the contents, I’m happy to oblige but not in present company,” Derek said.
“You have a problem with me?” Jasper knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but he couldn’t help himself. Derek was a class A asshole, and Jasper would enjoy putting him in place.
Or watching Ashley’s father do it.
Either would suffice.
“I’m not going to waste my breath on you.” Derek didn’t even bother to look at Jasper, keeping his eyes locked on the commander.
Jasper shifted his gaze back and forth, waiting to jump in the middle.
“And I don’t have time for your rhetoric,” the commander said, his arms raised to the side in an act of aggression. “So, if you don’t have anything substantial to say, then my friend and I would like to go back to our conversation.”
“This is important.” Derek stressed the last word, inching closer. “Trust me, Riggs. You need to hear this.”
“That’s Sir, or Commander to you,” Riggs said with a real bite to his tone.
“You’re not my commander anymore and after how you tried to ruin my career—”
“I’d watch your mouth.” Riggs dropped the envelope on the table before pushing back his chair. He stood well over six feet, his body still a solid mass of muscle. “You’re lucky all you got was a slap on the wrist after what you did.”
Jasper rose, just in case he needed to insert himself between the two men, only he worried how he might react if Derek did anything stupid. If Jasper disliked him back then, he loathed him right now.
“What I did? All I did was defend myself. You—”
“I’m done with this conversation. Leave before my daughter gets back,” Riggs said, easing his stance, making Jasper feel a little better about the situation.
But not much.
Derek shook his head. “Please. Read the information. It’s important to Ashley’s safety as well as your own.”
“Are you threatening me?” Riggs stepped forward. “My daughter?”
Jasper pushed his arm out in front of the commander. Not so much to stop him, but if Derek was going to keep this going, Jasper would be the first to swing. “Let’s keep things civil.”
Derek leaned back, tossing his hands in the air. “This isn’t a threat, and I’m not the person you should be concerned with. If anyone is a danger to you or your daughter, it’s this guy.”
Jasper fisted his hand, itching to have his knuckles connect with Derek’s already messed up nose. “I don’t know what your game is, but back off before I become a danger to you.”
“I warned you.” Derek pointed to the commander before wandering away as if he were taking a leisurely stroll in the pa
rk.
“I’ve never hated a man that I didn’t know before,” Jasper said, shaking out his hands. “I didn’t like him the second I met him during Operation Hondor, I didn’t respect him after I heard him talking about Ashley, and now I just want to pounce on the mother fucker.”
“Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Riggs asked, as he lowered himself back in the chair. The sarcasm might have eased the thick tension ready to explode, but based on Riggs’s rigid demeanor, things were still volatile.
Jasper stared at the envelope. It wasn’t his place to ask Riggs to look inside, though considering Derek accused him of being a danger to Ashely, he really wanted to a peek. “He’s a nut-job.” He tried to ignore the hair sticking up on the back of his head and the sinking feeling that whatever information laid behind the sealed document, had something to do with him.
6
Ashley knew her father well, odd considering half her childhood he’d been deployed, but right now, he was on edge. Something happened while she’d been in the little girl’s room. She didn’t know what, but she suspected it had something to do with Derek.
“You two are being awfully quiet,” she said, glancing between the two of them.
“Enjoying the evening,” her father said as he stared off into the night.
Only she noticed his gaze was fixated on Derek, who had separated himself from the crowd while he talked on his cell.
“What happened while I was gone?”
“Nothing,” her father said.
She knew she wouldn’t get anything out of him, but she’d bet she’d get Jasper to talk. “What’s this nothing my father is talking about?”
Jasper leaned forward, looking across her at her father, who gave Jasper the evil eye.
“That’s a damned if I do, damned if I don’t kind of question. No matter which way I answer, one of you is going to be mad.”
Placing her hand on his thigh, she gave him a little squeeze. “As my mother would say, it’s best to stay on the good side of the person you’re wanting to kiss good night.”
Her father laughed.
