Page 22 of Blade’s Edge (L.A.S.T. Defense #1)

Emi

If it weren’t for the threat hanging over our heads, this would have been the perfect day. The perfect night too.

Jasper built a fire in the wood stove, and we’re cuddling under blankets on the couch while getting to know one another.

Before sunset, we walked around the whole property. This time of year, there aren’t many others up at the lake. The temperature was falling fast by the time we got back to the cabin. It might even snow tonight.

With the drapes drawn, hiding us from the rest of the world, we’ve talked about everything and nothing. Childhood dreams. Adult realities.

I’m full of perfectly cooked steak and roasted vegetables—the last of my grocery order—and Jasper even opened a bottle of wine from a surprisingly well-stocked cellar. He only had half a glass, but I’m on my second, and the slight buzz is making me a bit brazen.

“Tell me about these,” I say as I stroke my fingers gently over his right cheek. The scars are small. I’d barely noticed them before, but up close, with the firelight dancing along his skin, they’re impossible to miss.

“You covered the explosion.” Jasper sits up a little straighter, and the blanket falls away. “Not much more to tell. Lost most of my peripheral vision in that eye.”

My heart squeezes at the pain in his voice.

“I reported on the investigation . But DPS media relations wouldn’t tell me anything about your injuries.

Just that you were in serious condition.

You kicked me out of your hospital room before I could ask in person.

” I cover his hand with mine and squeeze his fingers.

He’s been rubbing his right leg on and off all night.

“Dislocated shoulder. Torn rotator cuff. Broken collarbone. They had to replace my hip and put three pins in my femur. Hurts like a sombitch every damn day, but at least I can still walk. Even run if I have to. But I’ll pay for it.”

Raking his hand through his hair, he stares at the flames dancing in the wood stove. “About what I said earlier…? I ain’t a good bet long term.”

I sit up and grab his shoulders to force him to look at me. “Now listen here, Jasper. You can’t un-ask me out on a date.”

“Emi.” There’s an edge to his voice now that wasn’t there a moment ago. His eyes harden. “I don’t have a job. Bein’ a Ranger? I was good at that. Now, I’m the super at my apartment building. I fix shit and collect the rent. You need someone…better.”

“That’s horse shit, and you know it.” My accent is back, and I don’t care one bit.

“I’m a forty-year-old woman in a business that abhors wrinkles.

In another five or six years, there won’t be a place for me on the nightly news.

Not unless I get damn lucky or find a niche market that doesn’t care when my laugh lines get deep enough you could mine for gold in them. Your job is just that…your job .”

“I don’t know who I am without that star on my shirt!” he snaps.

“I do.” I trail my fingers along his jaw.

“You’re the guy who saved my kale. Who refused to let me take a rideshare home from the hospital.

Who slept on my floor to make sure I was okay.

Who gave me the last piece of cornbread.

I like that guy. A lot. I want to date him.

Maybe clear out a drawer for him. Or…more. ”

Jasper pulls me into his arms. His kiss is all consuming, setting me on fire until I can’t think straight.

I need him naked. Right now.

“Bedroom.” I push to my feet, take his hand, and drag him down the hall. But when he eases me down to the blankets, pain creases lines around his eyes.

I panic until I see how tight the front of his jeans are.

“Come here.” Pushing up on an elbow, I reach for his belt buckle. “I want you naked.”

“Are you sure?”

“Some reason I shouldn’t be?” I cup his cheek, his beard almost soft under my palm. “I was sure last night. Before…everything.”

He strips off his flannel shirt, and son of a biscuit. His arms are seriously cut, and I can see the evidence of what used to be a six pack—or more—though the ridges have gone soft.

Sitting on the bed with his back to me, he sighs. “After I retired—after I was forced to retire—well, I spent too many nights just sittin’ in my recliner with a bottle—or three—of Shiner rather than takin’ care of myself. And the explosion did a lot of damage.”

“Jasper Blade. If you think I’m that shallow?—”

“No!” The word escapes on a snarl. Strong arms band around me, pulling me into his lap so I can tuck my head under his chin. “I ain’t been with anyone in three years, Emi. What I feel for you…I can’t explain it.”

“Then stop talking, and show me.”

Sliding my hands between us, I find his belt and loosen the buckle.

“If you think I give two shits how many abs you have…well, you’re smarter than that, Jasper. Kiss me, and let me prove how very much I do not care. You hear?”

With a little twist of my hips, I grind myself against his arousal.

“Emi…fuuuuuuck,” he groans. “You keep doin’ that, I’m gonna come before I even get you naked.”

“Well, that’s no fun.” I wriggle off his lap and strip off my sweater. My nipples pebble under my bra. “Your move.”

He gets to his feet. The light from the bedside lamp hits his torso. Deep scars traverse his right shoulder. Half a dozen of them, at least. Burns wrap around his obliques and disappear into his jeans.

I press my lips to the deepest scar along his collarbone, and he shudders.

With each kiss, Jasper relaxes a bit more. At least until I score my teeth over one of his nipples. He hisses out a breath, followed by a whispered, “Goddamn, Emi.”

Swirling my tongue over the tight nub, I relish in his every reaction. In the hint of salt on his skin. His scent. The way his fingers slide into my hair and tighten around the strands.

“Off,” he grunts and tugs at my leggings. “I need to see you.”

I only pause my ministrations long enough for him to strip off my clothes—and shed his own pants.

Holy hell. Dark blue boxer briefs strain over his erection. He climbs onto the bed, straddling me. “What do you like, sweetheart?”

With a grin, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his lips to mine. “To be on top.”

Jasper

Damn. Emi swivels her hips, and all the blood in my body heads south. I can’t remember the last time I was this turned on.

“You’ll get your chance,” I say as I kiss along her jaw. “But not until I’ve tasted you. All of you.”

Her pretty manicured nails rake down my back. The sensation lands somewhere between pleasure and pain. Fuck me. There ain’t a damn thing I won’t do for this woman. Closing my teeth over the shell of her ear, I bite down hard enough for her to shiver.

“You like that?” With one more tug, I turn my focus to her neck. Her pulse throbs under my lips, and my mouth waters from the slight hint of salt on her skin.

“God…yes. More.” Her voice takes on a low, raspy tone, and it might be the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.

My palm molds to one full breast, and her nipple rises to meet my thumb. She shudders under me, eyes half-lidded. I swirl my tongue around her other tight nub, then suck it between my teeth.

She clutches my shoulders hard enough, I’ll have bruises in the morning, but I don’t care. The arch of her back and the moan spilling from her parted lips are worth it.

I bite and suck and kiss until her skin starts to glisten. The scent of her arousal fills the room. Sliding down her body, I press my lips to a long, curved scar above her mound.

“Jasper…” The uncertainty in her voice is too much for me. “Don’t look at?—“

I lift my gaze to hers. “What was it you said a bit ago? ‘If you think I’m that shallow’?” To prove my point, I take her hand and press it to the bulge in my boxer briefs.

For several seconds, we’re frozen in time. How can she think there’s a single damn thing about her that isn’t beautiful? That isn’t sexy as hell?

And then it hits me.

The same way I can call myself a washed-up, broken-down has been.

“I wish this had never happened.” I punctuate my words with half a dozen kisses from one end of the scar to the other. “But only because I know you’d change it if you could. Not because it makes you anythin’ less than fucking perfect.”

A tear slips from the corner of her eye. “I don’t deserve you, Jasper,” she whispers.

“No, sweetheart. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”

Emi

Cupping the back of Jasper’s neck, I pull his lips to mine. I know the miscarriage, the infection, and the resulting surgery weren’t my fault. But the last man I slept with—more than five years ago—took one look at my naked body and turned off the light before he went down on me.

Jasper didn’t just look at my scar. He kissed it. And I can feel how hard he is.

My own arousal slicks my thighs. My breasts ache, heavy with need. The rasp of his chest hair against my nipples is almost too much. Slowly, I swivel my hips under him. A growl rumbles through him, deep and possessive, while his tongue does delicious things to my mouth.

“No fair,” he manages when we come up for air. “I had a plan, and you’re messin’ with it.”

“A plan, huh?” His hair slips through my fingers as he slides between my thighs. “What about my plan? The one where I’m on top?”

“We’ll get there.” With a wicked grin, he presses his nose to my entrance and inhales, deeply. “Hold on to somethin’.”

The first flick of his tongue to my clit has me seeing stars. Desperate, I claw at the sheets, dig my heels against the mattress, and arch my back.

Jasper laps, sucks, and bites like I’m a banquet laid out for him and him alone. This isn’t sex. This is…more. So much more. “Oh…God. Yes. Right…there…”

His laugh against my lower lips almost pushes me over the edge. But then he pinches my inner thigh. “Not yet, Emmylou. I’m just getting started.”

Time and time again, my core tightens, my entire body starts to catch fire, but he stops to kiss me, to play with my nipples, or to tell me how beautiful I am.

Our bodies are slick with sweat, and he’s not even naked yet.

“Jasper…Blade,” I gasp. “Stop teasin’…and let…me…come!” Tangling my fingers in his hair, I hold him right where I need him to be.

Another chuckle, and his tongue takes up a punishing rhythm. I let myself feel everything. The flames licking at my core. His stubble rasping against my thighs. The finger he slips inside me.

Too much. It’s all too much.

He adds a second finger, then a third, stretching me wide. I can’t hold back. My release races closer and closer until I implode with a feral scream and fly over the edge into oblivion.

Jasper

I’m not sure what came over me. A man should always give more than he gets, but I think I gone broke my tongue.

Despite all the tender words we’ve said to one another tonight, Emi ain’t mine. Not long term. I’ll get a month with her. Two if I’m lucky. Then she’ll go back to L.A. or New York, and I’ll never see her again.

Maybe that’s why I had to make this night unforgettable. Or maybe…I’m falling in love with the amazing woman in my arms.

She settles closer with a little sigh, and I start to pull the blankets over us. My dick is still standing at attention, but if I focus on baseball stats for an hour or three, I might still get some sleep tonight.

“Not so fast, handsome,” Emi whispers, her fingers curling around the waistband of my boxer briefs. “It’s my turn. Off with these.”

Fuck me. If I thought I was hard before, I was wrong. “Yes, ma’am.”

The dark blue material lands on the floor next to the bed. Emi gently pushes me onto my back and straddles me. A drop of precum beads on my tip.

She wraps her hand around the base of my shaft, leans down, and sucks my crown into her mouth.

“Fuuuuuck.” My eyes roll back in my head. The tip of her tongue runs along the underside of my length. But when she hollows out her cheeks, my balls draw up tight. I’ll come in seconds if she keeps this up.

“Inside you,” I manage. “Now.”

She draws back, and with a quiet pop , my dick slips free. “On one condition.”

“God, Emi. Are you trying to kill me?”

Her sweet smile brings such light to her eyes, I don’t care what her answer is. I could die a happy man right now.

Guiding me to her entrance, she eases herself down until her velvet heat surrounds me. “I want you very much alive, Jasper. And tomorrow, you’re going to come down my throat.”

Emi plants her hands on my chest and starts to roll her hips. She’s so damn tight, I don’t dare move. Hell, I’m not sure I can without shooting my load immediately.

But after a minute, she picks up the pace. I reach between us and find her clit, circling it slowly with one finger.

“Oh, God. Yes. Right there,” she moans.

I want this to last, but my body has other ideas. “Kiss me. Now.”

As she claims my mouth, the release I’ve been dreaming of for a solid week barrels through me. Her inner walls clench, and she tumbles over the edge after me.

With Emi’s hair fanning across my shoulder and her leg draped over mine, I might be the happiest I’ve ever been. Under the blankets, I trail my fingers up and down her spine. Her eyes are closed, and she hasn’t moved since I turned off the light a few minutes ago.

Sleep is about to steal me away, but I press a kiss to the top of her head. Before I can stop myself, I whisper, “I’m falling in love with you, Emmylou Marsh.”

Did I imagine her breath hitching? Or did she hear me? Fuck. Why didn’t I keep my damn mouth shut? It’s too soon for promises of forever. But somewhere between my first taste and her last sigh, my heart decided it didn’t care that our lives were headed in two different directions.

I’m damn close to loving Emi, and when the sun comes up, I’m gonna tell her.