“Got any other objections?”
Mo shook her head, soft red waves falling around her shoulders, momentarily distracting me from the importance of this moment.
“But I don’t…why didn’t you open it?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to risk that the baby wasn’t mine.” Saying that shit out loud was scarier than any fight I’d ever experienced, but she needed to hear it.
A nervous laugh escaped. “I don’t get it, Jasper. What’s going on?”
“Ah, so you finally admit that you don’t know everything about me? About how I feel?”
“So, tell me.”
“I tried to tell you, but you weren’t listening. You weren’t ready to hear it.”
She folded her arms over her chest, breath hitching unevenly. “I’m listening now.”
“I got that envelope a week ago, maybe longer since these fucking days just blend together lately. But I couldn’t open it. Been carrying it everywhere with me, hoping to find the right moment to open it, but that moment never came.”
Mo took a protective step backward. “Okay, then, why are you talking about moving in together and raising this baby? Why now?”
“I don’t know, Mo. Ma woke up, and everyone was there. They were happy, and I realized that I didn’t need to worry about them every second of the day. I started to figure that maybe it was time I started to focus on me for a little while, figure out what the fuck I wanted for the future.”
I hadn’t realized it at the time, but now it was clear.
“And what did you figure out?”
“Nothing,” I laughed. “I didn’t figure it out until just now what it meant. I thought of my future and what I wanted and who was missing from the family this morning, and you know what?”
She shook her head. “What?”
“It was you. Your face came to mind. Instantly, without me doing a fucking thing to conjure you up, there you were with that smart ass quirk of a smile on your face, dressed in your Midnight Mass uniform.”
“And?”
“And usually, when I think about you, Mo, you’re naked and on your knees or riding my cock with your tits bouncing in my face. Or best of all, begging me to give you the dick.”
“So you want to date me?”
“Fuck no,” I growled. “I want everything. You. Our baby. A whole fucking life together, this baby, more babies, nonstop sex, dinners in the middle of the week. Shitty gangster movies.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she sighed. “Jasper.”
“I’m serious, Mo.”
She nodded, accepting my words as truth. “And if this letter says there’s a zero percent chance that you’re the father of this child?”
“I still want it. I still want you. Probably always will.”
Her lips spread into a slow, satisfied smile as she handed me the paper. “Congratulations, Jasper Ashby, you’re going to be a father.”
“Forgone conclusions, babe.”
“Say it,” she urged, almost daring me.
“Say what?”
“You know what. Tell me how you feel, Jasper.”
“Mo,” I groaned, heart racing because I knew this was it, the moment when I got what I wanted or fucked it up forever.
“Come on, Jasper. I love you. I have been in love with you for years, and I never thought this moment would happen. I was sure that it would never happen, honestly. But here we are, maybe, sort of, planning a life together. A future together. Tell me why I should accept.”
I took one step forward and hooked my arm around her waist, pulling her body flush with mine. “You should accept because my life would be a hell of a lot better with you by my side. You should accept because I’ll buy you a different pair of that sexy lingerie for every damn day of the year. You should accept because who else but you could teach me to love you the way you deserve to be loved, Maureen?”
She swiped at a tear, and I dropped a kiss to her forehead.
“Jasper,” she said as a warning, and I knew I had to finish it. Say what I didn’t think I’d ever say.
“You should accept because I love you, Maureen. I don’t know what the fuck that means. I don’t know how to love anyone that’s not family, and I want to be able to love you the right way. I need you to show me—”
“I accept,” she answered eagerly, her words as watery as her eyes. “I accept your offer, Jasper. I love you too, and I want…I want it all. With you too.”
Relief and happiness took over me at the same time. I felt warm and satisfied, and most of all, I felt like putting my mouth on hers. “That’s good to hear, Mo. Really fucking good.” And then I did put my mouth on hers, I drank from her sweet lips for as long as I could before other urges took over.
Mo’s hand slid inside my pants, and she stroked my cock in that way guaranteed to get me hard in seconds, but I took my time, savoring every inch of her curves for as long as I could. I fucked her with my mouth until she came on my tongue. I fucked her with my fingers until she begged for the dick.