“It’s okay, you’re allowed to be human and get jealous,” he snorted, snatching a leftover cookie from the display case and sliding down next to me. “I promise, I was only helping him plan something. He’s not really my type, anyway.”
“Ugh, sometimes I wish he wasn’t mine. It’s all sexual tension. You know I don’t date, anyway.” I hated how bitter my voice sounded.
“Maybe it’s time to let someone in. I didn’t have a high opinion of your knight in shining armor, but he’s actually a nice guy,” Leo promised, leaning his head on my shoulder. We sat there in companionable silence for a minute, his presence alone soothing my jagged edges, before he had to get back to help Pops close.
“How did you know that I was upset?” I asked as he pushed open the door. When he turned to look over his shoulder, I could see the wry grin on his face.
“Jasper texted and said you looked upset and wanted me to make sure you were okay.” He didn't wait for a response as he walked out, but I couldn’t help the surprised smile that escaped. I guess when I didn’t wave back earlier, like the petty bitch I was, he didn’t take it well.
Jasper stayed in my mind as I hurried upstairs. He was there while I aimlessly walked around looking for anything to do to distract me. He was there while I looked in the fridge to find something to cook, then gave up. The more I thought of him, the more turned on I was.
Deciding I was done pretending that I could stop thinking about him, I headed for my shower. My cock was already hard and ready as I adjusted the water, loving the way my tension slipped away as I stepped under the spray. My fingers curled around my length as I slowly stroked myself. The steamy water had my muscles relaxing, and my mind wondered what it would be like if he were here with me. I could see him taking the lead, pushing me back against the cool tile as he kissed me fiercely. My cock twitched in my hand as I pictured him kissing and biting his way down my neck before sucking on the sensitive skin over my collarbone, his moans mixing with mine under the spray.
My breath was coming in quick pants, pleasure coursing through me as I reveled in the lust filled haze. Suddenly, it wasn’t my hand wrapped around my dick, it was his. I could just hear his teasing, husky voice in my ear, talking me closer to the edge. I let out a low moan as my body responded to that idea. When I thought of him picking me up and using the wall to brace me, before thrusting inside, I lost it, my orgasm crashing over me as spurt after spurt of hot cum painted the wall.
My eyes snapped open as my brain came back online. I’d just jerked off to thoughts of Jasper, and it was the best self-induced orgasm I’d had in… ever. Fuck, I wanted this more than I realized, and that scared me. I shouldn’t get invested… it’s too risky. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it while it lasts. We had a date coming up, and I couldn’t wait to get to explore the extent of the sexual tension between us.
Getting out of the shower I wrapped my towel around my waist and haphazardly searched for my glasses sitting on the bathroom vanity. When I managed to find them I quickly put them on, though I couldn’t see much from the steam filling the small space.
I opened the door to get dressed for bed and as I passed my bedside table I saw a green light flashing on my phone showing I had a notification. Unlocking the phone I found that it was none other than fantasy-inducing Jasper King.
Jasper: Have you had dinner yet?
Ezra: Nope, I had to take a shower. You can’t relax when you’re covered in flour and batter.
Jasper: Ooo, Kinky! ;)
Jasper: Pizza or Chinese?
Ezra: Always Pizza
Jasper: Topping?
Ezra: Does it make me lame to say just cheese?
Jasper: It’s pizza, there aren’t any lame options other than anchovies.
Ezra: Gross, lol.
Jasper: I’ll be there in twenty, pick out a movie while you wait?
Ezra: On it.
It was almost like he could read my mind; this was the perfect opportunity to get to know him a little bit better. The distraction of a movie was even more ideal. It was relaxed and there were no expectations.
I took a moment to hurry downstairs for an apple pie that I’d baked for tomorrow, throwing it in the oven on low so it could warm up for after dinner. I had a fresh tub of vanilla ice cream in the freezer, so it was perfect. I was easy to please, and this impromptu and adorable evening was my kind of pre-date, hang out. The fact that I wouldn’t be a hot mess, nervous wreck on our date didn’t hurt, either.
Striding into the living room I grabbed the remote off the coffee table and started to flip through the channels to find something to watch. I wasn’t sure what kind of movies he liked but I saw one of my all time favorite Christmas movies was going to start in an hour on the Hallmark channel. I couldn’t resist a good holiday movie and the over the top mushy romantic tropes that everyone says they hate, but secretly love the shit out of. No shame here that I loved it every time. The big city person having to go to a small town because of something crappy happening in their life, meeting someone there that loved the small town life and showed them a new way of living, which led the big city man or woman to leave their job in the city and make a living selling Christmas trees or something else equally unrealistic. I fucking loved every minute of it.
Checking my phone I realized Jasper would be there any moment and I was standing in my living room wearing my glasses and a towel. Shit! I need to get dressed before he gets here. Just as I was thinking that the phone in my hand vibrated with a notification.
Jasper: I’m here!
Ezra: With the pizza?
Jasper: If I say no, do I still get to come up?
Ezra: Nope. Pizza is now required, otherwise it’s just teasing.
Jasper: LOL! Good thing I have the pizza then.
Ezra: I’ll be there in a minute. Just need to throw on some clothes then I’ll be down.
Jasper: Now who’s teasing? No need to dress on my account.
His teasing had me blushing and shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me. Knowing he was downstairs had me hurrying into my bedroom and dropping the wet towel onto the floor. Not bothering to dry my hair I quickly grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a Monty Python shirt I’d had since high school. He was probably still dressed for work, but he knew I had just taken a shower and dammit, after my long day and self-imposed emotional rollercoaster, I wanted to be comfy.
Not letting myself overthink it I hurried through my apartment and down the stairs to see Jasper patiently waiting by the front door. The sight of him brought me up short. The twinkling Christmas lights highlighted the copper strands of his hair and showed off the tattoos visible above the collar of his gray sweater. His gauges today were black, and while they normally weren’t something I liked, at all, seeing him with them made my dick start thinking of round two. Down boy, we haven’t even really had round one.
As if sensing my attention Jasper turned to face me with a grin on his face that grew as he looked me over. Snapping out of it, I quickly unlocked the door to let him in and my heart skipped a beat as his arm brushed against my chest as he went by.
“Did you find a movie to watch?”
I turned to lock the door as I nodded in answer. “Yeah, one of my favorites is starting in about thirty minutes if you don’t mind waiting?”
Insecurity made me answer in a question and his silence had me slowly turning to look at him, but he was just looking at me with a soft smile.
“Yeah that’s fine with me. Talon is helping Jax with the bar so I’m off tonight, unless there’s an emergency, then I’ll have to run over.”
I gave him a shy smile and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “All right then. Let’s go eat.”
I passed him to lead him up the backstairs to my apartment and watched while he took in my space as I closed the front door behind us. I didn’t have time to clean up so there were random books throughout stacked on the coffee table, kitchen counter, and even some on the floor from where I had bee
n reading them. I had a smaller TV on a stand but a hodge podge of bookshelves filled the living room all different colors and sizes, each filled to bursting with books of all kinds. Romance, history, science fiction and fantasy, even some poetry books were scattered throughout. Never being allowed to spend money on books while I was in any of my foster homes, I always splurged at local library sales and thrift stores so I could surround myself with them now.
Pushing away that train of thought I walked past Jasper as he was taking in the shelves and the end of a Hallmark movie that was playing on the TV screen, “What would you like to drink? I have water and Coke.”
“Coke is fine,” he absently replied as he set down the pizza box and walked up to one of the shelves taking in the titles of the books there.
Grabbing a bottle of Coke and filling up a cup of ice water for myself I joined him in the living room. I took a second to relax, willing myself not to fuck this up with nervous rambling or something else equally as embarrassing.
“Do you read?” I asked as he carefully trailed a finger over the spines of some of the books.
“Not like I used to. Taking over running the bar hasn’t really left a lot of free time to do much else to be honest.”
I nodded in understanding. “Yeah I get that. When I opened the bakery it took a while until I got a full handle on things where I could make time for myself. But then again I usually read over watching TV at night.”
He turned and looked at me after that. Laughing at his expression I shrugged. “I’ve always loved reading way more than most television shows.”
“Besides Hallmark Christmas movies?” Jasper asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Do you have a problem with Christmas movies?”
A sad smile pulled at his face for a second before he shook his head slowly. “No. My mom loved those cheesy movies.”
Hearing the pain in his voice I thought about asking more, but I saw the tension in his shoulders and decided now wasn’t a good time. I didn’t like to talk about my mom either.
“If you want, we can watch another movie. I—”
Jasper shook his head cutting me off. “No that’s fine. It will be nice to watch one again since I haven’t seen any in a while now.” As he turned to look at me, he had a wistful smile on his face but it quickly passed as he rubbed his hands together. “Now about that pizza.”
Moving on from deeper subjects we settled onto the sofa and dug into the pizza. Keeping in mind that Jasper was here, I consciously matched his pace as we talked about random stuff like movies, music, books, and plans for the holidays. Before I knew it, we had missed the first twenty minutes of the movie. We quieted down and settled to enjoy the rest of the movie.
We watched as the business woman awkwardly tried to fit into the small town, her falling in love with the equally awkward but gruff lumberjack, and then she got her happily ever after and settled down to, ironically, sell Christmas trees with said lumberjack.
While the movie was playing we must have moved closer because as the end credits and music started to roll I found myself cuddled into Jasper’s side with his arm around my shoulders. I tilted my head up to find him watching me with hooded eyes.
“Jasper,” I breathily whispered, and then his lips were on mine in a crushing kiss. His arm tightened around me as he pulled me flush against him. I matched the intensity of his kiss with my own as I pushed him onto his back and straddled him, all the while not breaking the kiss.
His groan of surprise had me smiling against his mouth as I pulled away. When Jasper tried to follow me, I pushed down on his chest lightly to keep him down. Teasing him with what I hoped was a seductive smile, I trailed my hand slowly down his chest until I got to the top of his jeans, running my hand over his trapped cock. He growled with frustration as his heated eyes watched me continue to gently stroke him.
“Enough teasing.” He tried to grab me but I sat back quickly with a light laugh.
“Not a fan of someone else in control?” I lifted an eyebrow in mock admonishment.
“No,” He roughly answered and before I knew it, I was the one on my back looking up at him above me. Taking me in sprawled under him he leaned down to draw me into a slow kiss that was no less intense than the hard one earlier. If anything this one was more intense because I could feel the care as he carefully conquered me piece by piece. My body molded itself to him and pulled him down so he was pinning me down, with my legs wrapped around his waist.
Testing the waters I rolled my hips to feel my growing erection against his large one I had palmed earlier. The friction was enough to tear a groan from both of us and had him breaking our kiss. I felt like a horny teenager with no self-control, but I had no regrets finding myself here with Jasper as we decided just how far this was going to go tonight. It didn’t take long for me to get my answer.
Just as Jasper went to open his mouth, his phone started vibrating on the table making us both jump. Not letting me get up he reached over and answered the call roughly.
“This better be a big fucking emergency, Talon.”
I didn’t hear what was said over the phone but it must have been serious since Jasper’s face went from irritated to worried and pissed in seconds.
“Did you call my dad?” He paused and listened. “Call him and I’ll be there in a minute. Make sure Jaxtyn stays in the backroom.”
Hanging up without waiting to hear what Talon said, he rested his forehead against mine with a heavy sigh.
“Something happened to Jax at the bar and I need to go take care of it.” His soft whisper brushed against my skin and I nodded.
A large grin filled his face as he leaned back and started to get off me. “Absolutely.” He looked me over as I stayed sprawled on the couch and he shook his head. “You are not helping me get myself under control so I can leave.”
I gave him a smile and sat up. “I’ll try to be less attractive for you then.”
A booming laugh had me letting out a full grin as I stood up. “Go take care of Jax. Text me later.”
A serious look settled on his face as I said that and he turned to hurry out of my place. “I promise.”
I walked down slowly after him and as I entered the bakery downstairs I saw Jasper swing open the bar door as the sheriff’s truck parked in front of the building. Shit, what the hell happened over there?
Jasper
My blood was boiling as I walked back toward the bar. How dare this asshole come into my bar and harass Jax again?! The fact that he was never too shy to tell someone no, made me even more mad. Talon was quick to reassure me over the phone that they had already called the police and some patrons held him down when he tried to run.
“Hey, Son,” my dad called as I got near the bar. He must have been nearby… good. I raised a hand in answer but kept walking toward Talon.
One of his officers had the slimy bastard in cuffs already, his nose bleeding and swaying on his feet as he was escorted out. I’d have to ask Dad for his mugshot later so I could put him up on our bulletin board as banned for life.
“How is Jax?” I asked, stopping beside Talon. Now that the bastard was getting escorted to jail, my attention was on my friend.
“He’s pretty shaken up,” Talon admitted and I frowned. Before I could walk to the back, Dad stopped me with a hand out.
“Let me,” he said gently as he met my eyes. They were full of concern and compassion, though I didn’t miss the rage underneath it all. I nodded, knowing he was probably right. I shouldn’t step in until he got his statement anyway.
“Did I interrupt something?” Talon asked as he slid a beer across to a customer. I walked through the bar flap and started taking orders, not sure what to say to Talon about it all.
“Yeah, but it’s all right, Jax’s safety is more important,” I said, giving him a small smile. Honestly, I was kind of shocked the guy was still standing.
“Just for the record, I broke the guy’s nose. It was all I co
uld reach over the bar,” Talon growled out, slamming a glass down so hard I was shocked it didn’t shatter under the impact. He normally seemed protective with Jax, but this situation had him all kinds of tense. I guess the stoic Talon cares more than he lets on.
“Guess that explains the bloody nose. Good,” I said, giving his shoulder a squeeze as we worked side by side. As the minutes turned to over an hour, I got even more worried about Jax. I’d seen my dad take a statement, and they didn’t usually take longer than five to ten minutes. Then again, Jax was probably shaken up more than your average call. Poor guy.
My thoughts wandered back to Ezra. The way he looked splayed out on the couch, his lips swollen from our kisses and his hair mussed. He’d never looked so sexy. He was hot as hell in his usual style, but something about seeing him carefree and needy had me about to lose control. And control wasn’t something I lost very often.
“You with me?” Talon’s rough voice broke me from my wayward thoughts and I had to turn around to quickly adjust myself now that I’d gotten worked up all over again.
“My bad.” I grinned back at him, trying to change the subject. “So, what led up to the asshole getting punched?”
“He’d been hitting on Jax all night again. He started with some lame pick up lines, but they quickly turned into disgusting lines like, ‘let me take you home so I can show you how a real man fucks’ and shit like that. He grabbed his ass as he turned away from him once and I was too far away to do anything then, but Jax turned around and yelled at him. We thought it would be good and his friends dragged him away. But when we got super busy again, he snuck back up and pulled him in for a kiss. If it wasn’t for my fist, he’d have succeeded. I’m not sure if he grabbed anything else, but his hands were trying,” Talon hissed, finishing the story with a low angry growl. If I believed in scary stories, I’d swear this guy was a werewolf with the way he growls.
“Fucking asshole,” I mumbled, gesturing to the storage room and slipping out from behind the bar. We’d slowed down enough and I was too worried about Jax to let it sit any longer. Plus, I felt like kind of an asshole for not going in sooner, instead I’d sent my dad in.