Page 25 of Ghost of a Chance

Basically he figured it for a one-sided talk. How often had he wished his roommate would shut up and let him talk? But not like this.

“I miss you,” he said, emotion clogging his throat.

Nothing happened.

“Honestly if I’d known that would be your last night in the apartment I would have stayed.”

Every light in the house came on, brighter than before. “Fix You” started playing on Jasper’s phone, and the fire flickered in the fireplace, the flames leaping up toward the flue.

“Wow. That’s a strong reaction,” Kirsty said, pulling out a notebook from her bag and frantically taking notes.

“Yeah, I still need fixing but I’m getting there,” he said to Paul.

Jasper was also concerned about Paul. “I think about that all the time. Like you wanting to work on our side project for my mom. I know you were doing it that night. I feel bad that if I’d skipped… It’s not about me. I want you to know that.” Jasper gave a mirthless laugh. “I finally get that.”

He broke off as Judge Judy blared on as she said, “If you live to be a hundred, you will never be as smart as me.”

Kirsty started laughing. Gia and Dan were both sort of staring at him as if they hadn’t seen him before. Of course confessing to what he considered his worst moment as a human being wasn’t easy.

“Fair enough,” he said.

Dan clicked the TV off. Jasper knew it was because television sound would interfere with his voice on the recording.

“Keep going,” Kirsty said.

“Is there any way you can tell me what you want?” Jasper asked.

Nothing . All that opening up and he was getting the cold shoulder from a damn ghost.

“It’s not healthy for you to be lingering with me,” Jasper said again.

Still no response.

Slowly an hour passed and nothing he said caused another reaction. Dan finally went up to bed at ten, and Gia followed him a few minutes later. Kirsty however stayed, grabbing the bottle of rum and a two-liter of Coke from the kitchen and made the two of them mixed drinks.

“Did you two have something you did together?”

“We played Star Wars Battlefront and watched Game of Thrones .”

“Did the series finish before he died? Maybe we should put it on for him,” Kirsty suggested. They were really running out of ideas.

“No, he saw it all. But he hasn’t seen House of Dragons . Want to sit up here and watch it with us?” That was really reaching. “I tried watching the first episode but it made me miss Paul, so I shut it off and went out instead.”

“I’m here now,” she said, taking his hand. “I’ve never really watched Game of Thrones . I was waiting until the entire series was finished. My mom and I like to binge a bunch of seasons over the weekends. But that last season had so much controversy—”

“Yeah. It was nuts. I still like the early seasons. It’s got lots of stuff I think you’d like,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Snow zombies.”

“Ghosts aren’t zombies, you know.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But they’re still paranormal. This new series is a stand alone. So?”

“Let’s do this.” Plopping down next to him on the couch, she patted the space next to her and Chewie jumped up, curling next to her. He draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. They might not be any closer to their goal, but at least he wasn’t spending tonight alone.

* * *

Kirsty’s mom would be giving her so much shit if she knew she was watching this show. The same show she’d dissed when it first came out.

She was going to eat her words, because the show was good and addicting. Enjoying the steady warmth of Jasper’s body didn’t hurt, either.

Paul’s poltergeist self didn’t do anything as they watched the entire first two episodes. As the next cued up, her phone pinged thanks to her bedtime reminder. Nearly 2:00 a.m.

“What’d you think?” Jasper asked, standing up and stretching.

His shirt rode up and a patch of toned, tanned skin poked through, making it impossible for her to do anything.

“Kirst?”

“Yeah?”

“Want to watch another one after I take Chewie out to pee?”

As reluctant as she was to go in too deep, the genuine look in Jasper’s eyes made her melt. “Maybe.”

He arched both eyebrows at her. “Want to do something else?”

They were down here alone… “Make out on the couch?”

“That works,” he said, snapping his fingers. Chewie jumped off the couch and followed him out the door. “I’ll be right back.”

He practically ran from the room. With how hot and heavy things got earlier in the day, his reaction didn’t surprise her.

She turned off the TV and lit a fire in the fireplace. Not wanting to take any chances, she took the textbook into the kitchen. With her luck, Paul would finally show up again just to interrupt.

Jasper came back in and ordered Chewie to go to bed. The dog obediently left the living room and padded up to Jasper’s room. “Where is he going?”

“His dog bed. I put it in my room when we got here.”

Now that he was back inside, it wasn’t awkward exactly, but it wasn’t totally comfortable either. He didn’t know that he was the first man she was risking more than a one-night stand with since she had her heart broken.

What a dumb saying, heartbroken. Buck didn’t deserve to be the man who broke her heart. He broke the girl she used to be, made it so she’d never be the same. She’d never realized how vulnerable being fearless and impulsive left her.

“Kirst. Woman, that look on your face… I’m tempted to drag you outside. There’s a full moon and some mist in the air. We might as well howl and let loose like werewolves,” he said.

“Let’s do it.”

He smiled and held out his hand. She took it and he tugged her off balance, enveloping her in his arms and kissing the top of her head.

“If you don’t want to…”

“I want to,” she said, looking up at him. “I’m just a bit of a mess when it comes to sex.”

“You were pretty good at our foreplay,” he said.

“Not the act. The other stuff,” she said. What guy wanted to hear a woman talk about her feelings while he was trying to get off? Jasper scared her as much as he excited her. She wanted to open up to him completely, but she was worried that once she started, it would be impossible to stop.

“Yeah, the other stuff is scary,” he said. “Not going to lie, I’m sort of in my feelings for you.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. You intrigue me and I can’t stop thinking about you. I want you, bad.”

Being vulnerable was suddenly easier knowing she wasn’t the only one.

She guided his face closer to hers. He hesitated a moment and then she felt the brush of his lips, his hands gripping her butt, pulling her flush against his body.

They fit together perfectly. She shoved her hands into the hair at the back of his neck. Loved the cool, silky strands, lightly damp from the mist on his last walk with Chewie.

He groaned as he lifted her up and she felt the kitchen table under her ass. Jasper stepped between her legs. Slipping her hands under the hem of his T-shirt, she grazed the skin she’d been staring at earlier. He was muscular and hard, but his skin was soft.

Her memories of his bare, chiseled chest that hungover morning after were mouthwatering. She ached to see him again and tried to push his shirt up. He promptly tore it off, tossing it on the table. Perfectly covering Paul’s textbook.

“Let’s go in the living room. Leave Paul in here,” she said.