“I see I’m going to have to handle this,” Jason said as he leaned in quickly and brushed his lips against hers. She sucked in a breath as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip.
“So sweet, my little grasshopper,” he whispered against her lips. He brushed his lips against hers again. “I know why you left the bed early this morning and why you made sure that I barely had enough time to get ready for work.”
He pressed another kiss to her lips as he took her hand into his. “I’m sorry for being a jerk last night and almost making the biggest mistake of my life. I was afraid of hurting you. I know what I am, and I also know that you deserve a guy that can spoil you rotten and take you to all the nice places that you deserve. I-”
“Jason, I don’t care about those things,” she said softly.
He shook his head stubbornly. “It doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve them, but if you give me a chance to make up for my past stupidity, and I’m not just talking about with you, I promise that I will do my best to make you happy.”
“Jason-”
“I want to try this. You and me, I mean. I know I’ll most likely fuck up along the way and that you’ll want to wring my neck, but I want to try. I’ll do my best not to hurt you.”
Haley smiled, knowing that was the best she could hope for from him. She appreciated his honesty and knew that if they were going to try to make this work, then she would have to be honest with him, at least about the extent of their relationship. He might not like being with a woman when sex wasn’t an option.
She gave his hand a small squeeze. “Jason, if we’re going to try this, then I’d like to take things slow.” He frowned. “What I mean, is nothing beyond the level we were at last night.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “What I mean is no actual sex.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “But you’ll still sleep with me naked and let me do a hundred other naughty things to you?” he asked in a serious tone.
“Yes.”
He brushed his lips against hers again and moved back a few inches to look into her eyes. “And you’ll still cook for me and call me Master?”
Her lips twitched. “Yes, to the cooking and not a chance in hell for the other.”
He sighed wearily. “Fine, how about Lord and Master?”
“Uh...no.”
“God?”
“Nope.”
“My liege?”
“Wait...no.”
He gave her one of his lopsided smiles. “I’ll wear you down, eventually.”
She wasn’t so sure he would stick around long enough to make good on that promise, but for the chance to be with him even for a short time, she was willing to risk it.
Chapter 15
“I hate this. Why did we have to come here?” she said in a bitchy tone as she looked around the large carnival with disgust. “If I had known we were coming here, I would have stayed home. God, have you ever heard of a restaurant? That’s where I should be eating, not something on a stick like some slob.” She flipped her long hair over her shoulder as her glare locked on them.
Jason glanced at Mitch, whose jaw was clenched tightly. The man did not look happy and Jason didn’t blame him one bit. If Jason had known that she was going to act this way, he never would have suggested coming here, or at the very least, he wouldn’t have brought her.
Personally, he loved carnivals and theme parks. He couldn’t pass by one without stopping in for a fried treat and a few rides. Mitch was the same way, which was why they were here. They came to have a good time. Instead, they were stuck listening to this woman bitch and whine. She’d started as soon as she’d heard their plans for the evening.
As soon as she found out, she’d put her foot down and demanded that they take her to a nice restaurant. She’d been outvoted and offered a ride home. She’d refused. Jason knew that she’d decided to come along just to make their lives a living hell for not jumping to meet her demands.
“We can go on the bumper cars or the Ferris Wheel,” Mitch started to suggest.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared, just glared at the man. Mitch cursed under his breath. She turned her cold glare on Jason and he didn’t bother hiding his eye roll. This was ridiculous. There was no way he was letting her wreck his good time.
“Jason!”
He turned around and his frown was instantly gone, replaced by a pleased smile. He watched as his little grasshopper quickly walked towards him, grinning from ear to ear. She had a stuffed animal, a snake from the looks of it, around her neck, a large soda in one hand, and her other arm wrapped around a fake sword, a teddy bear, and the largest piece of fried dough that he’d ever seen. As she got closer, he could see that it was generously covered in powdered sugar, making him lick his lips as he thought about licking powdered sugar off her delectable little body.
