Strong Enough (Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1)(80)

I smile. “I had to try and let you go. For your sake. So I did. I tried like hell, but God! Every time I tried, I didn’t get more than a hundred miles. Before I knew it, I was on my way back. Back here. Back to you. I didn’t want to be anywhere that you weren’t.”

“Please don’t leave me again, Jasper,” Muse pleads, her eyes glistening, her chin trembling. “I don’t think I can survive it again.”

“I won’t. I can’t. I’m strong enough to kill, to maim, to survive things that would destroy other men. I’m strong enough to do whatever it takes to keep you safe, to protect you. As long as it’s not from me. The one thing I’m not strong enough to do is live without you. Sarò sempre pensare a te.”

“You don’t have to think of me anymore. I’m right here. And I always will be. Wherever you are.”

“I want you to know that I will do anything to make you happy as long as you never ask me to leave.”

“Then you’re already making me the happiest girl in the world.”

She rises up on her tiptoes and presses her lips to mine, her lush breasts dragging over my chest. My cock stirs to life, nudging her soft belly.

“There’s nothing ‘girl’ about you,” I say, reaching between us to palm the firm mounds.

“Mmmm,” she moans against my lips. “Nope. All woman. And all yours.”

I wrap my arms around her waist and pick her up to carry her back to bed. “I like the sound of that.”





EPILOGUE


Muse



Four months later

“Are you sure I look okay?” I ask for the twentieth time at least.

“You look edible. Maybe you should change.”

I tilt my head to give Jasper a withering look, but my lips are still curved in a smile. “Not a chance, buster, because after this, you get to take this home and eat it up.”

A laugh bubbles up in my throat when I see his eyes darken to the color of light molasses. “You do want me to go in with you, right? Because if you keep saying things like that, what I’m thinking will be very apparent to everyone in the restaurant when I walk in with this.”

He points to his lap and I can already see the growing bulge. My insides heat and contract, and I actually consider a quickie before we go inside.

I close my eyes and turn back to face the windshield. “Okay, okay, okay. Fooocus. Fooocus.”

Jasper’s long, warm fingers wind around mine and give them a little squeeze. “Come on. This is more important that your fiancé’s libido anyway.”

I open my eyes and meet the gaze of the love of my life. “Nothing is more important than you. No dream, no job, no art exhibition. Nothing.”

“Well, I’m looking at it this way. Later, you ought to be so wound up after signing a contract to get your work on display in a famous French art gallery that I can just sit back and enjoy the ride. It’s win-win.”

I laugh. “You make an excellent point, Mr. uhhh . . .” I have to pause and think about his name. Jasper picked a new identity, too. We started over. Clean slate. Completely blank. Blank. The only thing we brought from our old lives was each other. And my father, when we get a chance to meet up with him. “Mr. Blank.”

“Besides, soon-to-be Mrs. Blank, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

I lean my temple against the headrest as I consider the man before me. More handsome than anyone I’ve ever seen, more fierce than anything I’ve ever known and more mine than I ever thought he could be. “I wouldn’t miss you for the world.”

He leans forward to take my lips in a kiss that’s both sweet and passionate. There’s enough electricity passing between us to give light to a small country, and within seconds, it crackles into something that nears the “wild and hungry” side.

Jasper pulls away, his breathing harsh and heavy. “Unless you’re up for attending this meeting with a sweaty dress and smeared lipstick, you’d better stay on that side of the car. That or we’ll have to skip it altogether.”

His smile is devilish and I actually consider rescheduling. But then I remember how important this is, not just to me as an artist, but to our future. Jasper told me we need not worry about money, that he had made some good investments, but I want to be able to invest in our life and our happiness, too.

I sigh loudly. “Fine. I guess we’d better get in there.”

His smile is crooked, and I wonder how I got through the first part of my life without it. “We can just . . . postpone this. How about that?”

“Maybe call it ‘dessert,’” I suggest.

“I’ll bring the syrup. And the ice cream,” he says in a voice that sounds like caramel. His words alone conjure an image that affects me in a very visceral way. Muscles low in my belly clench spasmodically. I can all but feel slick syrup and cool cream being dribbled all over my body and then licked off by Jasper. I have to stop myself after I imagine the second swipe of his tongue.

“You’re evil,” I tell him breathlessly.

“I’ll show you just how evil later.”

With a quick peck to my lips, he gets out and comes around to my side, opening my door and taking my hand like a perfect gentleman, like he didn’t just nearly cause me a hands-free orgasm in the parking lot of a restaurant.