“Quinn,” Crystal called. To my relief, she looked happy as she made her way over to Quinn. “You look absolutely beautiful! Just stunning!”
“Oh, thank you–”
“I love that dress! You look gorgeous in it!”
“Thank you.” Quinn sent her a tight smile.
“Yes, you look marvelous.” Eddie smiled. “And I’m glad to see you! I wanted to thank you for taking such great care of my best friend. Words can’t describe how grateful I am to you for helping him when he needed it most.”
“It was no problem! I’m glad I was able to help.”
“Us too.” Crystal smiled widely.
There was a bit of awkward tension before I said, “Right! Well, I was just giving Quinn a tour, and I think we should finish it up now.”
“Perfect! We’ll finish up here and head back down to the party,” Eddie said.
I nodded before guiding Quinn out. The second the door was shut behind us, Quinn tugged at my hand. “Jasper! I don’t know how to tell you this, so I guess I’ll just rip the bandage off, but,” She looked behind us to make sure no one was listening. “The night of the gala, I saw those two kissing in the kitchen!”
“Are you sure? They’re cousins.”
“I am!”
I shrugged again. “Has Eddie kissed you?”
“Of course not!”
“And that’s all that matters.” I chuckled.
She grew quiet, biting her lip to prevent the smile from growing on her face.
The two of us walked in comfortable silence until we made it to the next hall.I stopped in front of my bedroom, sighing as I slowly opened the door and led her inside.
“Wow,” she murmured as she spun around, taking it in. “Is this your bedroom? It’s huge!”
And yet it felt so small. Like a prison cell or a cage that I had been trapped in for years.
“What’s wrong?” She frowned, taking notice of the change in my demeanor.
“It’s just that I spent days, weeks, and months on end cooped up in here.” I sighed as I went to sit on my bed. “This room is a reminder of the years that I spent wasting away.”
“Jasper,” she whispered, coming to stand between my legs. “It doesn’t have to be a reminder of that difficult time. You know what I think?”
“What?” I looked up at her, watching as she put her arm behind her back.
“I think we should make new memories here.” She smiled, slowly unzipping her dress.
I watched as she pushed the sleeves down past her shoulders, allowing the dress to slip off and fall to her feet. I laid back, and she crawled on top of me, her lips sliding over mine once again, but this time, we weren’t forced to pull away from each other as I unbuttoned my pants with one hand and caressed her soft skin with the other.
Quinn
My catering business had been growing steadily, and the restaurant was completely filled on most nights ever since Jasper announced to his wealthy acquaintances at the ball that I’d saved him, and since Jasper’s event planner had raved about my catering services since the charity gala. But despite how busy things had gotten, I still ended up spending most of my evenings with Jasper.
He would pick me up some nights when I was done with work, and we’d drive around the city. On such evenings I would be seated on his lap in the back seat of his limo, and we’d be lost in a frenzied kissing. Occasionally, I’d accompanied him to one event or another in the city. At first, it felt strange being around the upper echelon in the city, but with the hottest man on my arm; it was becoming easier. On some evenings, we simply stayed in to have dinner with my family. And after the kids were in bed, we’d sneak down to the basement and spend the rest of the night together, catching up on our favorite television shows or talking about our day and then make love until the sun came up.
Time always seemed to go by so fast when I was with him.
We’d gotten closer than we ever were before. Jasper had told me more about his childhood, relaying his favorite memories with his parents to me along with all the wild stories about what he’d gotten up to in boarding school, and all the mischief that he caused in the manor whenever he was around.
