Page 3 of Jasper (Guardians of the North #5)
VANESSA
He’s a coastguard pilot.
Military .
I’m so damn mad I could scream, but making a scene in the ladies’ room seems unwise with all this stupid tile.
The echo would carry to every diner in the hotel restaurant.
As I’m not willing to humiliate myself any more than I already have, I settle instead for beating my palms against the marble counter.
Jasper lied to me. When I told him the one thing I don’t do is date anyone military, he looked me in the eyes and lied to me. And now I’m supposed to spend the long festival weekend with him without working. Without killing him and hiding the body.
“Maybe he joined the coastguard after you met?” Erin suggests.
“You don’t become a captain—or a pilot—in that amount of time.” Even if that were possible, the way my dad spoke of him and his impressive career, made it very clear that Jasper is a lifer. “I can’t do this,” I tell Erin. “I can’t spend the next four days with him. You have to take my place.”
“I don’t know your dad, but…”
“I know, I know. Ugh! ” My dad doesn’t use his pull as a high-ranking military official often, but when he does, it’s because he has a message to send.
Considering Erin’s future job is at a military resort, he could mess things up for her if he wanted.
Though the odds of that are incredibly small, I’d never risk it.
“Maybe this is a good thing.”
I let out an incredulous laugh. “How do you figure that?”
“You two obviously have some things to straighten out. Start there.”
I don’t want to straighten out anything. I want my carefully preserved memories of Cape Cod to remain intact. On the worst days, I’ve been able to escape reality and sit awhile in a hazy daydream. Tangled in silk sheets and Jasper’s hard body. But in none of those fantasies was he military.
Years ago, as my mother was dying, she made me promise to steer clear of military men.
I know she loved my dad with all her heart, but it wasn’t easy.
Dad was gone a lot and she didn’t handle it well.
She didn’t want me to endure the same pain and suffering.
The constant worrying and sleepless nights.
It was the only thing she asked of me on her death bed.
“We better go back out there,” Erin says gently.
I squeeze the heart-shaped pendant and nod.
As I follow her back to our table, I stare at the pattern on the floor to avoid Jasper’s intense gaze.
I can feel it burning into me. Though I’m livid with the man for lying, it hasn’t done much to dull the chemistry between us.
A sizzle of electricity that could power the entire state of Alaska at its worst. At its best…
“Your dad had to run,” Jasper says, drawing my attention to the table. “He asked me to wait for you.”
“Of course he did,” I mutter.
I could take the out. Run back to my room and flip the deadbolt. Deal with Jasper tomorrow. My brain hurts. My heart hurts. I need space. Time to regain my equilibrium. Which is why I have no idea why I slip into my chair and reach for the dessert menu.
“I need to make a couple calls,” Erin says, pushing in her chair before she sits down.
“But you love chocolate cake?—”
She pats me on the shoulder. “I’ll try it tomorrow.”
I think it’s the devilish male smirk across the intimate table that sets me off. With a deep inhale, I close the menu and set it down despite the urge to chuck it across the table at the smug coastguard pilot. “Start talking,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Vanessa, it’s really good to see you.”
I narrow my eyes at him, pretending my traitorous nipples aren’t responding to the silky smoothness of his voice. “Cut the bullshit, Jasper. You’re in the military?”
“Yes.”
“You lied .”
“Yes, I did.”
I wait for the inevitable apology to follow, but instead the lug picks up the same dessert menu I discarded and starts perusing the selections. “That chocolate cake does sound good.”
“Jasper!” I hiss.
With leisure, he closes the menu. “Do you remember the night we met?”
Of course I remember. Every detail of that magical memory is burned into my brain.
The live band playing on a stage beside the water.
The strings of white lights above the outdoor bar.
The soft caress of dusky darkness. The intoxicating aftershave that wafted to me when Jasper sat down on the barstool next to me.
“Yes, I do. You left out something very important.”
“Do you remember the first thing you said to me?”
If you’re a military guy, turn around and walk away now. I give a subtle nod, staring at my sweating glass of ice water because a simple locked gaze makes me all melty inside no matter how pissed I am. My dry throat demands a swallow, so I take one.
“If I had listened to you, the whole weekend would never have happened.” Jasper leans over the table, lowering his voice. “I couldn’t stand the thought of never having met you. Of never kissing you. Of never?—”
“I get it!” I hold my hand up in surrender, turning more than a couple of heads.
Dammit. So much for being inconspicuous.
I abandon the idea of dessert, suddenly desperate to get away before I lose the willpower to try.
I scoot my chair back, pretending I don’t have a death grip on the edge of it.
“Contrary to what my dad thinks, I do have work to do tomorrow.”
“Then we work.”
“There is no we ,” I correct.
Jasper stands, reminding me of his height. Of the way my head once tucked so easily against his chest. “I’m a brave man, Vanessa. But even I’m not brave enough to defy your father’s wishes.”
“That didn’t stop you four years ago.”
He presses a hand to the small of my back, ushering me toward the exit. My stupid body reacts in a way it hasn’t in years. It takes every ounce of strength not to melt into his touch. Not to lean against him and relive a very pleasant memory. “I wasn’t the only one lying back then, sweetheart.”
“I—” Shit, he’s right. And I hate that he’s right. I never told Jasper I was a military brat, much less an admiral’s daughter. His admiral’s daughter.
In the lobby, Jasper stops us both. Without any room to maneuver around him, my palms flatten against the wall behind me as I back up against it.
It’s an automatic reaction I have zero control over.
I’m frozen in place as he hovers closer, propping one hand against the cool tile just to the side of my right cheek.
He leans close enough that his breath tickles my neck.
I’m taken back to the magical moonlit night when that first kiss completely rocked my world on its axis.
For years, I’ve craved even a single kiss that held a candle to that first one I shared with Jasper.
I part my lips in anticipation, lost entirely to fantasy.
Forgetting where we are. Gone is all rational thought.
“I’ll pick you up at the hotel in the zero eight hundred hours.” With those abrupt words, Jasper pushes off the wall and struts off toward the sliding doors. Leaving me panting and—much to my irritation—wanting more .
One thing is abundantly clear: Now that Jasper Steele is back in my orbit, I’m in serious trouble.