AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your home office?”
“No. I’ve been thinking about starting up my own firm.”
“What?” I relieved him of the frame, setting it aside so I could send him to his back, my hands plastered on either side of his head as I held myself above him. “When did you decide this?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I said I’ve beenthinkingabout it.” But he was breathless with anticipation. He wanted this; he just needed to know he had a right to go for it.
“You get to be excited about this, Jasper,” I said, tugging his lip free and watching a smile split his face. “You never have to hide or downplay your happiness with me.Never,” I said again with emphasis. “I’m not him.”
“It’ll be costly. But there’s loans, and I’ve got a little savings—”
“You’ve got more than alittlesavings,” I said. “You have enough company shares to fund a small country. And you haven’t touched your trust—”
“That money doesn’t belong to me.”
“My father—”
“Would snatch it away in a heartbeat if he knew the truth. I’d have donated every cent of it by now if it were mine to give.”
I sank my fingers below the turtleneck he strategically wore to hide my handprint and stroked the column of his throat. It would do me no good to argue with him. It wasn’t how I wanted our night to end. “How can I help you?”
“You can’t,” he whispered, and I knew he was talking about more than the firm, the same way he probably knew my question had gone far beyond that, too.
“Okay,” I said. “Have you told anyone else?”
“You’re the first to know. You’ll always be the first to know, Cole,” he said, reading my need well.
I ran his lower lip between my teeth. “What should we do with the rest of our night? How should we celebrate?”
“I’m tired, to be honest,” he said, raising his head to graze his soft lips up and down my stubbled chin. “Someone kept me up all night?”
“Well then, will you let me bathe you, take you to my bed and massage some fading cream into your bruises, and then hold you?”
“Do you really need to ask?” he said, stealing a kiss.
Daniel
3 years, 8 months ago
“MR. DES MOINESis here.” Jessica’s voice sounds through my office phone’s speaker.
“Send him in.” I press the disconnect button, and quickly stand to stretch into my blazer, buttoning it as my office door opens.
Jasper Des Moines steps in like a soft breeze, but something about him also screams chaos. His features are gentle, striking, even, with the juxtaposed clash of his obviously masculine body beneath the suit he seems uncomfortable in. One can’t help but to take the time to notice him.
“Mr. Ward,” he says, his bashful smile and baritone voice adding to his polarity. He holds out a hand, and I take it, his grip is firm but not challenging in the slightest, confident but willing to concede power.
“Interesting,” I say.
“Excuse me?”
It’s clear his perfect balance of demure charm, deference, and self-assuredness isn’t a façade, a means to win me over. No, he’s oblivious to his intrigue.
Something moves in me, then, but not enough. Not enough to make a difference.
“Please, call me Daniel, and welcome to the internship program.”
Jasper
