Page 7

Chapter 7

Jasper

C aleb let Jasper sleep on him until well after the sun went down. Jasper only roused when Caleb lifted him up, the blanket still draped over him, and carried him back to bed.

If he was going to be too sleepy and loose limbed to walk to bed, this was a pretty decent alternative.

Caleb set him down gently and adjusted the blanket around his body. Groggy as he was, Jasper managed to catch his hand before he could pull away. “Stay?” he whispered. Unless Caleb was hiding an entire other half of his cabin, there was only one bed. Jasper didn’t want to force him out of it.

With a scowl, Caleb considered him. “I can sleep on the couch.”

If he hadn’t been so dizzy, he’d have rolled his eyes. “Your bed is, like, orgy sized.”

Caleb choked, turning red under his beard. “What would you know about that?”

Okay, so Jasper couldn’t help rolling his eyes, even if he regretted it a second later. “Got a weird family. What I’m saying is that we could fit three more people in here and none of us would even have to touch. I just”—Jasper swallowed—“I don’t want to kick you out of your own bed? I’ve already crashed your entire day. I don’t have to fuck up your night too.” When Caleb’s scowl deepened, Jasper shrank into his shoulders. “Please?”

Caleb nodded tersely. “But I need to put wood on the fire. And change.”

Jasper beamed. “ ’Kay.”

He watched while Caleb turned around, toward a chest of drawers. He pulled off his shirt, exposing a broad, firm back. If he hadn’t seemed so standoffish, Jasper would’ve told him to turn around and give a little show. He was not at all used to people who didn’t want him—a welcome revelation and, in this particular context, a disappointment. He didn’t want Caleb to have to have him; he wanted Caleb to want to have him. Or show more than vague discomfort when Jasper said something racy.

He pulled on another shirt—dark and soft, without buttons—and replaced his jeans with flannel pajama pants.

“Do you have an extra pair?” Jasper sat up, suddenly keen. If he fell asleep in his skin-tight jeans, he’d regret it in the morning. “Or gym pants. Or, uh...”

Caleb frowned at him, but he dug around in his drawers and found a pair of gray sweatpants and a T-shirt. Jasper didn’t bother getting up to kick his jeans off onto the sheepskin rug. The sweatpants were too big, but so was the T-shirt, so he tugged that over his head and left the sweatpants behind. “Perfect. Thanks.”

For a second, Caleb stared at him. The shirt’s short sleeves were down to Jasper’s elbows. The thing practically swallowed him. Not the cutest look, but there was something soft in Caleb’s expression that warmed Jasper for the first time in days.

“Okay. Fix the fire. I’m cold,” Jasper pressed, earning a grumble from the grumpy bear of a man. It got him moving, though, and that meant that in moments, he’d turned off the lights and was crawling into bed, slipping under the blanket with him.

Jasper turned over. Caleb’s eyes caught the firelight, but the effect wasn’t the scary red glow of demon eyes. It was warm and concerned and soft.

“I didn’t thank you for saving me today.”

He could feel the heat rolling off of Caleb. He could’ve snuggled into him, but he’d already asked a lot.

All in all, this wasn’t such a bad day to go out on. A big, strong, sexy man had saved his life and made him hot chocolate. Maybe Caleb didn’t look at him like he just had to split him open, but he had watched TV with him and let him lean on his arm. He’d been kind, not because he wanted anything, but because it was his nature.

Caleb hummed. “It’s fine.”

Jasper nodded. He reached out slowly, and when Caleb didn’t pull his hand away from where it rested on the mattress between them, Jasper set his on top of it. “Well, okay, but... thank you. For saving me, and for Oreos.”

Despite all his best intentions, by morning, Jasper had squirmed his way into the warmth of Caleb’s chest to sleep under the weight of his arm, so he damn well felt it when Caleb got up.

Normally, Jasper thrived in the early morning light. He liked to go out and run, and felt like filling his days made his empty nights easier to get through.

Now, he was too tired to be bothered getting up, much less running.

Until he remembered the Oreos.

He slipped out from under Caleb’s heavy blanket. Everything was fine as he walked over the sheepskin rug, but when his feet hit bare floor, he hissed. Jasper bounced the whole way to the kitchen, hopped onto a stool, and pulled his feet up, tugging Caleb’s shirt down over his knees and curling it under his toes. The blisters on his feet weren’t healing like they should, but they weren’t so bad.

“Your shirt’s in the dryer,” Caleb said as he moved around the kitchen, pulling out a bowl, a whisk, and a pan.

Jasper narrowed his eyes. “Well, unless you’re bringing it to me, this is what I’m wearing. I’m not walking across your ice-rink floor again.” He reached for the Oreos and pulled the pack toward him. “Milk?”

Caleb sighed but poured him a glass. “You need to eat something with some substance.”

Cocking a brow, Jasper shrugged. Sasha would’ve said that Caleb was “something with some substance,” but Jasper just pulled his lip beneath his teeth to hide a smile.

“Yes, sir.”

He dipped his cookie into the milk while Caleb huffed and shuffled around and whisked eggs with grated sharp cheddar. He kept his head down, furiously beating eggs, but if Jasper didn’t know better, he’d think the man’d gone a little pink around his ears.

The eggs were quick to cook, and Caleb set a bowl of them beside Jasper’s pack of cookies. “Eat.”

“As you wish.” While Caleb watched, he lifted a forkful to his lips, took a bite, and moaned. “Delicious.”

With a jerky nod, Caleb started eating his own breakfast. He leaned against the counter with his hip, one foot on top of the other. He, at least, had the wisdom to put on socks.

Jasper liked him in pajamas. Since he didn’t have regular dates with people, the people he spent the night with rarely wore clothes. PJs made Caleb look warm and cozy. He could imagine sliding his hands under Caleb’s shirt, feeling his stomach, the rise and fall of his breath. It’d be easy to make a game of touching everything he couldn’t see while Caleb played his rumbling, scowling space heater.

“Could I—” he blurted before he thought any better of it. After a second, he cleared his throat and started again. “I parked my car at the trailhead, and I’m still feeling kind of... off? Would it be okay if I stayed here today? I mean, I don’t want to put you out, I just... maybe I’m not great at the whole outdoorsy thing.”

“Oh, really?” Caleb eyed Jasper’s new hiking boots, set against the wall near the bed.

“Hey, shoe guy told me those were the best hiking boots he had.”

“And you got them yesterday?”

Jasper grinned. “I absolutely did. For my wilderness adventure.” Jasper spread his hands and moved them in an arc through the air. Just there, he saw the faintest hint of a smile on Caleb’s lips. Definitely. “So, can I hang out?”

Jasper tried not to let his smile turn sour and nervous as Caleb looked him over. Finally, he shrugged. “Sure.”

“Cool.”

Jasper spent most of the day watching TV—some silly sitcom he didn’t have to pay full attention to. Caleb didn’t stay in all day, but went out and brought more wood for the stand by the fireplace. There was plenty to do out in the middle of nowhere—things Jasper hadn’t ever thought about. He’d bet they didn’t even have DoorDash this far out.

Meanwhile, Jasper thought he was going to actually starve. He couldn’t eat enough. He polished off the entire pack of Oreos by himself, ate a bagel with cream cheese, toast with strawberry jam—Caleb had gone on some kind of carb binge when he’d gone to the grocery store—and ate some early spring berries from the drawer in the fridge.

At around four, Caleb finally sank into the couch beside him to watch TV, or maybe just to take a load off. For a while, Jasper didn’t move much. It was nice to have company, and if he drew Caleb’s attention, he’d wreck it. If Caleb didn’t look at him and jump him a second later, he still might not want a lingerer. But then, Jasper’s stomach growled.

Caleb stared at him. “Really?”

He’d borne witness to most of Jasper’s snacking all day long.

Jasper smiled, wrinkled his nose, and shrugged. “I mean, yeah? I’m kind of hungry.”

But food wasn’t doing the trick; it wasn’t going to. This was just his starving body telling him to take anything and everything that might make him feel full again. But he was an incubus, and no amount of cookies or carbs was going to fix what ailed him.

What if Jasper asked outright? That might fix something. Or Caleb would think he’d lost his marbles and turn him out. Shit.. . Jasper’d never had to ask before.

With a sigh, Caleb pushed down on his knees to get back to his feet. “I’ll make you something.”

Chewing his lip, Jasper looked after him. It was kind and good of Caleb to try, but it wasn’t going to fix anything. It’d just be more wasted effort for Jasper’s sake.

He got up from the couch to follow him. After breakfast, he’d showered and put his jeans back on, but he’d left his shirt in the dryer. It’d be fine whenever he got it, and Caleb’s was comfier.

Caleb turned from the fridge and startled when he saw Jasper standing behind him. Jasper rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry.” He laughed.

“It’s okay. Sandwiches?” He held up turkey and lettuce.

Jasper shook his head. “Actually, I was thinking...”

Shit. This was weird. Kind of a good weird though—there was a tingle in his stomach, and he didn’t know what would happen. Any second, he might fly or he might fall. There was a whole spectrum of fear and elation and hope that he had lost since he’d become a demon.

He chewed on his lip while Caleb stared down at him. Carefully, he pulled the lettuce and meat out of Caleb’s hands and set them back in the fridge door. Then, he stepped in close. He gave Caleb a second to step away or to put his hands out and stop him, before he leaned up and brushed his lips across Caleb’s. His beard tickled Jasper’s cheeks, but his lips were soft and warm. They didn’t part for him, but he didn’t press in, just fell back onto his heels again.

“Maybe I’m hungry for something else,” Jasper suggested. “If it’s okay, I could... stay the night? Like, actually stay the night.” His hands shook a little, so he set his palms flat against Caleb’s chest.

All Caleb was doing was staring down at him like he’d gone crazy, and Jasper fought the urge to sink into his shoulders. Demonic incubus magnetism or not, he was still an incubus—still attractive, vaguely functional, even. Hell, he was a pretty decent lay on his own merit.

He liked that if Caleb didn’t want him, he could say no—he really did. But if Jasper said what he wanted out loud and Caleb rebuffed him, he thought he might shatter.

“If you want,” Jasper continued into the silence, his lips a nervous tremble of a smile. “I do. Want. Uh, you? If that’s okay?”

Jasper’s right hand slid up to cup Caleb’s neck, and when he tried to pull him down for another kiss, Caleb let him.