“It looks like a time capsule,” I say, standing in the doorway of a blue room. The walls are blue, the comforter, the rug besidethe bed. Coast guard posters cover the wall opposite his bed, all with pictures of helicopters.He’s always known this was his calling.
“I’ve tried to tell Mom to pack it up, but?—”
“Is that—a stuffed animal?” I lunge for the bed, reaching for a stuffed orange tabby cat leaned up against the pillows. Jasper tackles me onto the bed, his long arm grabbing over the top of me, securing the cat.
“This is Barney,” he says, his body still hovered above mine.
“Thisis Barney?” He talked about a cat he loved as a kid. Named Barney. But he never once mentioned the cat was a stuffed animal.
“Mom’s allergic to cats,” he says, rolling to the side and taking his delicious weight and warmth with him. I turn, facing him on the bed. He’s blushing a deep shade of red, and fuck if it doesn’t turn me on even more. “I really wanted a cat. So, I got Barney instead.”
“You’re embarrassed?” I ask.
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“I don’t know if anyone told you,” I say, snaking a hand up the side of his neck, “but vulnerability is the new sexy.”
His lips are on mine in seconds. It happens so quickly I can’t decipher who initiated it. But now that our mouths are moving together as one, I don’t care. I’ve been craving his kiss since we made out on the beach earlier. Hell, I’ve been craving his kiss since we parted ways in Cape Cod.
I roll onto top of him, shackling my knees on either side of his hips. I whimper at the feel of his hard length through his uniform pants, grinding myself against him as the kisses deepen and things get handsy. Suddenly, it’s not enough that his hands are cupping my breasts through my shirt, so I sit up, still mounted on him, and pull it off.
“Fuck, Vanessa,” he says, his eyes darkening with desire. As though he wants to devour me.
I forgot how fucking good it felt to be desired by this man.
I reach behind my back and undo the clasp to my bra.
His hands slide beneath the lace before it’s all the way off, the skin-on-skin contact making me so damn wet. He kneads my tits and teases my nipples as I shamelessly grind myself against his hardening cock.
Just as I bend forward and Jasper takes a nipple into his eager mouth, a shrill ring echoes.
“Fuck,” he grumbles, pulling the phone from his pocket.
“Your mom?” I guess.
“She’s freaking out.” He cups my cheek and kisses me so deeply I can almost feel our souls touch.What the fuck?“We better get those bowls to her before she sends Annie.”
I reluctantly put my bra back on and search for my discarded shirt.
“Vanessa?”
“Hmm?”
Jasper locks his heated gaze with mine as he lowers his mouth against the shell of my ear. “Just know that I’m not finished with you. Not by a long shot, sweetheart.”
9
JASPER
“Are you okay?”Vanessa’s voice is muffled as she shouts over the loud engine. Though we both have headsets, there weren’t enough ICS cords for both of us. Her headphones are simply to help reduce the noise of the engine. I’m the only one of the two of us who can communicate with the crew.
I nod in answer, but I have to wonder if my face is fucking green. God I hate not being in the pilot’s seat.
With that raised eyebrow, Vanessa doesn’t look convinced by my answer.
“You sure you know what you’re doing, Steele?” James Devano asks from the cockpit. His question isn’t a surprise. I’ve been braced for it for the past hour we’ve been in the air. If only he knew I’d had Vanessa’s nipple in my mouth less than twelve hours ago, he wouldn’t be so soft about it.
“Admiral wanted me to show her around,” I answer, as though this last-minute request to add both Vanessa and I to the flight roster of a routine training mission had nothing to do with trying to impress the only woman I’ve ever truly wanted.
