by Starla Night
His gaze lifted, and he smiled, lazy and pleased, as though his generosity was already repaid. “Entitles me?”
“To after-dinner fun time.”
He blinked. “Hm?”
“You know. Any bedroom time. In a bedroom. Because it doesn’t. Or anything outside a bedroom, either.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…I’m…You know? We can’t talk about this here.” She finished, stuffed the napkins into the empty boxes, and cleared the table. “It’s a school night. We have to go.”
She tossed the trash, called Liam—who did not want to come down, and she had to count and then bargain and then negotiate.
Jasper finished his soda. Even without his jacket, he looked like a banker or a movie star. Everyone around stared. He stood out even when he was just being ordinary, and even when he was doing nothing at all.
But his gaze wandered to her as though he was oblivious to the stares.
When she finally got Liam into his shoes and out the door, Jasper handed Liam the toy prize from his meal, and Liam calmed right down for the walk home.
The day was still ridiculously hot, and she bloomed with sweat, while Jasper ambled with an easy-going stride, cool and collected. They rounded the corner to her apartment complex.
His gaze fixed on her hand.
He was so easy to read.
She had a little argument with herself. Yes, her palm was hot and sweaty, and yes, holding his hand made everything way too real, like they were an actual couple, and her anxieties rose like ghouls of funerals past and tried to drag her screaming into despair. But Jasper was right in front of her, and she was supposed to be his girlfriend—a role she had no experience with—it would make him so happy if she did, so she should just get over it and—
“Did you mean sex?” he asked suddenly.
She jolted. “What?”
“Bedroom time. Is that a euphemism for sex?”
“No. Well, yes, but don’t talk about that outside.”
He appeared to make a mental note. “Inside is okay…”
“No, stop.” She held him up at the complex gate. This was awkward enough. “Forget I said anything.”
“This is important.” Jasper scooped both her hands and pressed them to his broad chest. “I promise that I won’t pressure you to move faster. I will treasure every moment. Being with you is my dream, Rose. I want you to be happy with me, too.”
Her heart thudded out of rhythm. She coughed at the lump in her throat. “I am happy.”
“Good.”
Liam zoomed his plastic toy across the white fence separating their complex from the sidewalk.
“How do I gift my offerings and not pressure you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Tonight, you feared the purchase a $4.99 hamburger meal placed you under my debt.”
Her hackles rose. “Okay, wait.”
“But I would like to gift you much more than $4.99.”
“I know it sounds a little weird, but—”
“Maybe Luis will know how I can get over this hurdle so that you do not associate hamburger sets with sexual acts.”
“That’s not—”
“Because I will think of sexual acts with you regardless of whether we are eating hamburgers sets or starving.”
“Jasper.”
“But I promise I will never exchange sexual acts for hamburger sets, ever.”
One of her neighbors drove through the gate with their windows wide open. They caught the end of Jasper’s sentence and whipped around to stare.
She clapped a hand over Jasper’s mouth. “I get it.”
The neighbor drove on, but their eyes reflected in the rearview mirrors. And the hedge wasn’t that thick. Anyone standing on the other side of the fence could hear, too.
“Unless you’re wearing, say, a hamburger-set type of costume.” He gestured at his chest, talking around her hand. “With the buns as a bra, and for the panties—”
She pressed harder and leaned close. “Stop talking.”
He blinked and focused on her. “But—”
“Never talk about this again.”
“What?”
“Any of it. Sex for burgers, burger sex, this costume nightmare, anything.”
“But at McDonald’s, you said—”
“Uh-uh. No. That’s what I mean. And if you ever bring it up again, tonight’s dinner, buying Liam a Happy Meal, this thing, we’re finished.”
“You’ll break up with me if I mention buying Liam a Happy Meal?”
“Yes.” She leaned back, put her hands on her hips, and waited.
He pressed both his hands to his chest. “I will never speak of this again. You have my oath as an Onyx.”
Okay, that was as good as it got. “Thanks for tonight.”
His face fell. “I can’t come to your apartment?”
She crossed her arms. “The last time you came, my neighbor called the police.”
“Doesn’t that mean I should apologize?”
She hesitated, not because he was wrong, but because it would be embarrassing. And even if they didn’t see Taylor, Rose would be tempted to bring Jasper into her apartment, and that would be a real problem. She’d spent all afternoon telling him not to make a move on her. It would be very awkward if she made a move on him instead.
“You will eventually allow me to visit your apartment,” he prodded, “won’t you?”
“Okay, fine, come on in and don’t act like a lunatic.”
She summoned Liam, and they braved the gate, checked her mail slot—empty—and ran the gauntlet past her neighbors’ houses.
Her heart thumped hot and heavy in her chest. Maybe they would make it to the apartment and no one would stop them!
She turned the corner to her row.
Taylor was dead-heading azaleas on her porch. She had her back to the street, but as they approached, she stood and stretched. Then she checked her wristwatch, stretched again, and put a hand on her door.
Rose held back.
If she waited a few moments, Taylor would go inside and Rose could avoid her worlds colliding.
Liam scuffed his foot on the pavement. “Rose, I have to pee.”
“Just a minute, Liam.”
“Not a minute! Now!”
Taylor’s shoulders shook with amusement. “When you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta...” She saw Jasper and her face clouded.
“Right.” Rose hurried up to her front step. “Liam? Come on.”
“You…” Taylor took a few steps off her porch. “You were arrested here a few weeks ago.”
Rose shoved the key in the door, turned it, and rushed Liam inside. “Go pee.”
He tore across her clean floor in his muddy shoes.
“I’m Jasper Onyx.” Jasper offered his hand.
Taylor didn’t take it. “You scared the pants off us.”
“I apologize.”
“Well, you can say that, but you still prowled around Rose’s apartment with a knife.” She looked at Rose for an explanation.
“It’s a long story,” Rose said.
Liam thundered back to the door. “He bought me a Happy Meal!”
Rose shooed him away. “I thought you had to go pee.”
“I do!” He raced across the floor again and this time made it into the bathroom.
Taylor eyed Jasper. “Did you buy Liam a Happy Meal?”
“I must not speak of it.” Jasper held up his hand. “I vowed to Rose on my honor as an Onyx.”
Taylor stared like they were both deranged.
Great, this was only making it worse. Rose had been terrified for months her neighbors would realize she was too trashy to live in a nice apartment complex like this, and now, her worst fears were coming true. “Jasper? Inside.”
Taylor stepped forward. “Wait. Rose? Is it really okay?”
“It’s okay. There won’t be any more misunderstands, I promise. Right, Jasper?”
“Yes, there w
ill be no need.” Jasper nodded. “Rose has promised to marry me.”
Taylor’s mouth opened and closed in shock. “After you threatened her with a $600 chef’s knife?”
Jasper tilted his head. “I grabbed what was in the staff room. Why do you mention the cost of the knife?”
“It’s a lot of money to invest in a weapon of convenience to threaten your future wife.”
“Money doesn’t matter. Rose will not have sex with me for a ride in my Jaguar, a $4.99 hamburger set, or even a $600 chef’s knife. She already explained.”
Taylor’s mouth flopped. She gripped the railing as though faint. “What?”
Rose gritted her teeth. “Jasper!”
“Yes?”
She jerked her hand at the open door. “In. Now.”
He bid her shocked, confused, and judging neighbor farewell and strolled up the stairs. “I’m invited inside?”
“Just go in.” She waited for him to cross the threshold and slammed the door. “Don’t do that again.”
He eyed her index finger. “Do what?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
“Rose.” He curled his hand around her index finger and pressed it to his chest. “Being invited to your private lair is a dream. The last thing I want is to anger you.”
“Well, it’s too late, because I’m already angry!” She yanked her hand free and stormed to the windows. Throwing them open swept out the stuffiness of being shut up all day. The bathroom faucet gurgled suspiciously. She banged on the bathroom door. “Liam? What’s taking so long?”
He giggled. “It’s a flood!”
Great. Just great.
She popped the lock and stopped his brimming cup of water from dousing the floor. “No! Wash your hands. Don’t lose our security deposit.”
He obeyed, splashing like crazy. She tore his sticky clothes off and dumped him into an inch of bathwater to scrub off caked grime. While he squirted it like a fountain, she washed his clothes in the sink and hung them over plastic rods to dry, then stopped him from flinging the entire inch of bathwater onto the warped linoleum, and heaved him out. “Dry off and get your pajamas.”
He raced into the living room leaving wet footprints. “Naked Liam on the run!”
“Pajamas!” she called. “Towel and pajamas, or you don’t get a book!”
He squealed and raced into his bedroom, slamming the door.
At least in this heat, he dried quickly.
Jasper stood in the middle of the living room right where she’d left him.
She sagged. Drained, exhausted, and sorry. They’d both been through some upheavals today. He’d survived better than her. “Can I get you a glass of water? Cup of tea?”
“Do you have a toasted s’mores espresso?”
She snorted. “Do I look like a Starbucks?”
He glanced around the shabby apartment as though he wasn’t sure.
She shook her head and filled her kettle with tea. If he wanted to be hot, be hot.
Then she left him in the kitchen while she got Liam ready for bed.
So to speak.
She flung open the bedroom door. “Liam, pajamas.”
He bounced on his half-mattress bed, giggling and squealing.
“Okay, I’ll choose your pajamas.” She started toward the cracked plastic hamper.
“No! I’ll do it!” He wrestled the hamper away from her, cracking the next level of plastic, and poured his clean clothes out on the floor.
“I see Superhero Squad pajamas…”
He dove for them, ripped the pants out of her hand, and quieted as he concentrated to thread his knobby legs into the holes.
They repeated the ordering, begging, negotiating cycle through the rest of the routine. She brushed his teeth, read him a book, and got him into bed.
He wiggled under his bare sheet. “Goodnight, Rose.”
She knelt at his shoulder and tucked in the blanket around his skinny little body. “Goodnight.”
“I’m going to tell you a secret.” He motioned her closer, pressed his lips right up to her ear, and said in a normal tone, “I love you, ugly.”
She snorted.
He leaned back and snuggled into the creaky single mattress. “Tell me the secret.”
She leaned close and whispered, “I love you, too.”
“Keep it secret or the bogeyman will take me away.” He sighed, then looked beyond her. “Is the bogeyman Jasper?”
“No, honey, Jasper’s a dragon.”
“He could eat the bogeyman!”
“Maybe.” She stood and went to the door.
“Rose?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you leave the door open?”
“Will you stay in bed?”
He was silent for a long moment. “Yeah.”
“Okay, then I’ll leave it open.”
“I want to see Jasper eat the bogeyman.”
“Okay, well, watch from your bed or else I’m going to shut the door.”
She strode to the living room couch to collapse—picked Liam’s wet shoes off the couch, dropped them by the front door, and brushed off the dirt—and then returned to collapse.
Jasper studied her, his body filling the small kitchen with masculine energy. A frisson of anticipation made her tingle.
Now she was here with Jasper.
Should she be aroused? Or terrified?
Chapter Eleven
Jasper set a glass mug of tea on her scuffed coffee table. “Chamomile?”
“Fine.” She rested her head on the back of the couch. Her muscles pinged as they released her stress and relaxed for the first time. “So, you wanted to get in so bad three weeks ago. What do you think?”
He clicked the button to boil the water again. “It is a pleasant human home.”
Pleasant. Human. What did that mean?
His corporation offices were so different. Dark paneled woods, tinted bulletproof glass, high tech view screens, gold-leaf toilets with fancy patterns on the tiles.
Her apartment?
In the silence, her nerves frayed. She looked, really looked, at the apartment she’d left him in while she’d put Liam to bed.
Empty. Shabby. Unsteady.
A wobbly white kitchen table supported a chipped white vase filled with Taylor’s wilting azaleas. A fine layer of dust dulled the cabinets no matter how hard she scrubbed with Old English. Uneven coffee table, faded pillows, and Liam’s bookshelf with the veneer peeled. Everything had come free off craigslist; Patty had snagged anything Rose mentioned seeking during her weekly estate sale runs. Different forks, mismatched plates, Goodwill glass.
Jasper carried in a second glass mug and her favorite glass teapot. “It is educational to see how you prefer to live.”
“Oh, you think this is what I prefer?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No. If it were up to me, we’d be living in a place like in a magazine where everything’s matched and shiny and beautiful, with a big silver fridge, and a farm kitchen with a fancy water filter, a full-sized stove, two ovens, and organic food. Bowls full of lemons and apples, baskets full of white tulips. I’d have my own chef and a robot maid to vacuum my floors. That’s how I’d live if it were up to me.”
“Why isn’t it up to you?”
“Because it takes money, Jasper.” She sipped the soothing tea.
“You can get more money.”
“Not on a high school diploma you can’t.” She patted his chest. “You can get more money. You’re a dragon. I’m just a human, so I can’t.”
“That’s backward.” He rested his half-consumed cup on the couch and angled to face her, sinking deeper into a thick downy seat. “Dragon society is fixed. Your caste determines your job options, and once you select a job, there’s no movement. No promotions, no raises. In most cases, no salary.”
“Then how to do you live?”
“Company housing.”
“But here you are.”
“Yes, Mal brought us here
to do the impossible. Exceed the limits of our low caste, break the rules. And, against all odds, we accomplished it.” He looked around her apartment as the waning light dimmed the bare walls. “It is common to dream of another life, even if your current one is completely adequate.”
“This is completely adequate?”
He looked at her again, and warm, melty heat simmered in her insides. “Isn’t it?”
Her mouth went dry.
His gaze centered on her lips. His chest rose and fell evenly, steady and powerful, like the rest of him. He didn’t judge her. He accepted her. The only one who judged her harshly was herself.
And here he was in her house, smelling gorgeous like soap and woods and musk. When he left, she would snuggle up in the couch and bury her nose against the armrest and breathe. Imagine his arms are around her, telling her she was completely adequate.
Or… her heart beat in her belly and hot curls of arousal sweetened her veins…maybe she would entice him to put his arms around her and murmur she was okay while his mouth claimed her—
“Rose?” Liam’s plaintive voice floated from his bedroom. “I need a drink of water.”
She sucked in a deep breath, let it out, and stood. “Yeah, coming.”
After he got the water, he had to get up and pee, and then he was hungry.
“You can’t be hungry,” she said, crossing her arms. “You just ate a whole Happy Meal.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Fine. You can have a piece of bread.”
“Not a piece of bread!”
“Then you’re not really hungry, are you?”
Liam looked beyond her at Jasper. He crossed one leg over the other. “Can I sleep with you in your bed?”
“No.”
“Jasper is.”
“You get back into yours or I’ll shut the door.”
“Aw!”
“Bed. Shoo.” She watched Liam climb under the covers again. “This is your final warning, or I’m closing the door.”
“Don’t close the door!”
“Then stay in your room.” She flounced back to the couch and flung herself into it, the mood thoroughly broken. “Kids.”
Jasper shared her smile. “Liam calls you Rose instead of Mother.”
“Because I’m not his mom.” She sipped her tea.
He blinked. “You’re running an orphanage?”
