"We're here. Jasper, stop it. Her period just ended yesterday and she's definitely not pregnant."
Skye gaped at me then. "Stop discussing my period with him," she admonished and I was taken aback.
"I thought-"
"What? What did you think, Cole? Just because I'm back with you does not mean I want to get back with this asshole," she snapped, pointing a finger at Jasper and then she jumped out of the car and strode off angrily towards the restaurant.
Jasper started laughing quietly as soon as she left. I stared at him. I stared so hard he stopped and gave me an arrogant look.
"Sorry but it's fun playing with her. She gets fired up so easily." When I continued to stare, he started to frown. "What?"
I swallowed and blinked, trying not to croak out my next words due to all the emotions churning inside my chest.
"I missed the sound of that. You...laughing," I explained soberly.
He regarded me unsmilingly and then looked away. "She'll leave again," he said in a flat tone.
His words were unexpected and yet, not at all surprising for some reason. Reaching out, I grasped his shoulder with one hand. "I won't let her go next time."
We stayed that way for a while and he sighed. "I kind of wanted her to be pregnant," he confessed in a frank manner. "It would have linked her to us forever."
I smiled because I understood the sentiment all too well. "It'll happen when the time is right," I murmured, squeezing his shoulder.
He grunted. "Or you could just put a baby in her and put me out of my misery," he said abruptly.
I laughed. "Baby, it doesn't work like that. I can't just do that without talking to her about it first."
He scowled at the console. "If you don't do it, I will."
I inhaled slow and deep because his words overwhelmed me with a myriad of emotions. First off, Jasper acting like a petulant child instead of me was downright adorable. And then he was also being all primitive caveman regarding Skye and it was sexy as hell. His show of possessiveness gave me hope that he was finally trying to heal. The fact that he just about admitted that he still cared for her and wanted her was a huge emotional milestone.
I should have told him it was not a competition but I was too greedy to see more of this responsive Jasper. The old Jasper. My Jasper. Mine and Skye's.
So I waited until he met my eyes and then winked at him. "Here's hoping you can get it up long enough to do that," I bravely taunted, taking a leaf out of Skye's Tough-Love-for-Jasper book. "Or we could just pick up some Viagra on the way back."
The gleam in his eyes as he narrowed them at me made my heart skip a beat and my dick stir a little in my jeans. Yup. He was about fifty percent back. Fuck. I loved him. And I loved her for returning him to me bit by bit.
~~~
Skye
"Damn it." I jumped back as the jar of blue paint I had been using tipped from my lap and spilled onto my thighs and over the pristine white rug. Shit. I was going to have a hell of a time cleaning that up. Not to mention the waste of such expensive oil paint.
With a grimace, I stepped around the spill and started to strip off my long, oversized t-shirt to get rid of the stickiness. I halted with the edge of my t-shirt directly over my naked breasts before hastily pulling it down to cover myself again.
Jasper was seated in his wheelchair in my bedroom doorway giving me a look I could not decipher. I frowned at him, wondering how long he had been there silently watching me as I painted the rich blue ocean hues of the Amalfi Coast on a sunny day.
"You're in a good mood," he stated in a low voice.
I cleared my throat, a little puzzled. "What?" I had just been cursing like a sailor, not to mention pissed off because my paint had spilled and interrupted my concentration.
He nodded towards the almost finished painting. "Your paintings always reflect your feelings," he murmured and I glanced at the painting then back at him uncertainly.
It had been two days since the lunch outing and we had not spoken a word to each other till now. His observation failed to incite any warmth inside me. Actually, I didn't want him to incite any feelings in me. Period. My silence did not seem to deter him though as he moved further into the room without my permission.
"What do you want? Where's Francesco?" I asked him rudely.
He smiled at me a little and looked me up and down in a lazy manner. "He's taking a nap. I keep telling you guys he's getting paid for nothing." Jasper sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and his brow furrowed a little. "You didn't come out of your room at all today except to go the bathroom. I was...just wondering."
I was busy holding the paint-soaked t-shirt away from my body so his words didn't register at first. Then I straightened and blinked at him.
"You missed me," I said to him in a no-nonsense tone, daring him to deny it.
He almost rolled his eyes but my death stare probably made him change his mind. He knew very well just how sick I was of playing his childish games.
He gestured at the paint stain on the rug instead. "You're going to have to pay to get that cleaned, you know. Part of your rent agreement," he said arrogantly.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
