When he didn’t, I cupped his cheek, turning his face to mine. He was so close that I could feel his warm breath on my lips.
“You’re freaking me out, I’m not going to lie,” I told him. His behaviour had been off for weeks, months even. But today. Right now. I was really concerned.
His eyes locked on mine, letting me see the dark circles that shaded them and the flecks of gold in his light brown irises that the sun bounced off like shards of priceless metal.
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I dropped my hand from his face, placing it on his knee, letting my thumb skim under the jersey material of his shorts. “No one really does. We’re all just winging it, but this place, Jas. What you’ve done here... what you’re going to be doing, is nothing short of spectacular.”
He huffed. “Work is easy. It all makes so much sense, but everything else...”
“You wanna talk it through?” I rubbed my thumb in circles, trying to soothe the unhappy expression on his face.
Shaking his head, he replied. “No, but thank you. I know I’ve been a lot lately. Grumpy, snappy, distracted.”
“Aren’t you always all those things?” My lips curved into a smile as my grip on Jasper’s thigh tightened.
“You’re a cheeky fucker.”
I dipped my head in a nod of agreement. “It’s why you love me.”
I didn’t realise that my hand had edged higher until Jas let out a soft moan as I kneaded his thigh.
I softened my tone, hating that he seemed to be hurting so much, and I had no idea why. “Seriously, though, life is what you want it to be. You have the world at your feet. In fact, you have the world’s oceans at your feet. You can do anything, be anything you want to be. If you’re not happy with any part of it, you get to change it. You just don’t get to give up on it. Understand?” My voice had dropped, dominance hanging in the words.
“You sound so bossy.”
I winked. “You have no idea.”
Jasper shuddered, and his eyes fluttered closed for a second before he snapped them back open, his cheeks turning pink.
I leant back, my palm tingling from where I’d been touching him. I was walking a thin line; I knew that. The impending deadline for our time together making me reckless.
“Shall we get back to work?” He pointed at the office behind us. The place we’d spent almost five years together. The place I was about to run by myself. The place I couldn’t imagine being in without him.
He held out his hand, and I took it, letting him pull me up until we were standing toe to toe.
“Yes, Professor.”
“Fuck off with that name.”
“I could call you Aquaman.”
He glared at me before his lips curled into a rare smile, the dimple in his cheek popping, making him look even sexier than his usual level of hotness.
“Well, I was going to let you play on the boat tomorrow, but now I’m not sure.”
“The new submersible?” Excitement flooded my words because that amazing thing arrived days ago, and Jasper hadn’t let me take it out until he could come along as well.
I pushed out my bottom lip, pouting, and he rolled his eyes.
“Work, Trav.”
I nodded, and he turned, but I wrapped my hand around his wrist to make him wait. “You haven’t answered my question, Jas. Are you okay? Should I be worried about you? You know, you can tell me anything.”
He offered me a half smile and a nod that didn’t reassure me in the slightest.
* * *
