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‘It means that I will not put you in a compromising position.’ He would not let her down like that. Wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt if he did. He had to take the moral high ground, no matter how much his heart screamed otherwise. ‘Therefore, I can only be your friend—for now at least, but—’
‘I see.’ She bristled, clearly not seeing at all. ‘Five minutes ago, you claimed to want to send me a hundred crimson tulips but after one kiss we are back to being just friends again.’
‘Only until I have weathered the scandal and...’ Jasper raked a frustrated hand through his hair, his sensible head at war with his heart and soul. ‘What I mean to say...what I have absolutely no right to ask is...’ He tried to stall the selfish question, or at least rephrase it, but he did not possess the willpower to hold it back. ‘Would you wait for me, Hattie?’
‘Wait?’ She was frowning but at least the hurt was gone.
‘Only until the dust has settled and you and I can...’ He shrugged, blushing himself now too because he had never laid his feelings so bare in front of another living soul, and especially not one who held the power to shatter him with her answer. ‘Explore what we just started.’
She furrowed her brows while she digested that, making him sweat on her decision for at least half a minute before she answered.
‘Only on one condition.’
‘Which is?’
‘That I shall concede to being your friend in public, Jasper—for now.’ She grabbed his lapels again and rose on tiptoes to place a lingering kiss on his mouth. It was nowhere near as passionate as their last kiss but still heated his blood all over again. ‘But never in private.’
