“Calm down, Charlie,” he said. “It’s only Jasper.”
“Jasper, who didn’t see anything!” Jasper yelled from outside.
He would have, if he’d arrived a few seconds later.
“Ignore me!” Jasper yelled again.
“Kind of hard to do with him shouting like that,” Kevin said.
“Carry on and finish! I’ll be out here playing with Phil! Take your time!”
“All right, then,” Kevin said, and kissed me.
“Mmph.” I tossed my head. “No!”
Kevin sagged with a gusty sigh, his heavy weight mashing me into the bricks. “Let him wait.”
Even if I had been able to ignore Jasper, it was moot. The appalling thought of being caught with my dick down Kevin’s throat had well and truly murdered my erection. “No.”
Kevin dropped a quick kiss on my lips. He levered away from me in a vertical pushup, then hauled me from the support of the wall. “To be continued,” he said, and managed to make it sound like both a promise and a threat.
4
Ihustled out of the garage, leaving Kevin to the wasps and the mice.
Jasper and Phil were keeping themselves occupied at the bottom of the garden. At least, Phil was keeping Jasper occupied at the bottom of the garden. He sat on the lawn, panting happily, as Jasper thrashed about in the flowerbed, crushing my plants and, presumably, looking for Phil’s tennis balls.
Phil liked to gather things and guard them, and if he could outsource the gathering part, so much the better.
Jasper shoved past an overgrown hydrangea and strode out of the bushes, the pockets of his gym shorts bulging.
“Hi!” he shouted at me. “That was quick!” He jogged over to Phil, pulled out four balls, and dropped three in front of him.
Crouching, he rolled the fourth a short distance over the grass. “Go on, Phil. Give it a go. You’ve got to fetch one of them yourself. Go on, I know you can do it. Dig deep. I believe in you, buddy.”
Phil heaved to his feet and, once Jasper had physically oriented him in the right direction, lumbered after the rogueball. He picked it up and tenderly carried it over to the rest, swinging his tail proudly at Jasper’s, “Good job!” He laid the ball down beside the others, nosed them into a tidy pile, and settled down to watch over them with his head on his paws.
Jasper bounced over to me with a big grin.
I lifted a brow. “Thanks for ruining my day,” I said, and headed for the house.
He followed me into the kitchen. “Whoops. Didn’t you?—”
“With youwaiting, right outside? No, I did not!”
“Want me to go?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I took a bag of beans out of the cupboard above the Gaggia and shook them into the grinder. There was some espresso left from the morning grind in a small canister next to the machine, but fresh was always best.
“Can’t be that mad about it if I’m getting a coffee,” Jasper said, and sat expectantly at the kitchen table.
I’d have made him a coffee even if I was angry.
I wasn’t, of course. It was impossible to get angry with Jasper. Irritated with him, yes. Angry, no.
“Can I have a latte?” he asked.
“Yes.”
