I open my eyes just so I can narrow them at my naughty future husband. “I’m always a good girl.”
He smiles down at me warmly as his finger pushes into me. “I know you are.”
Jasper can always make me come without removing my clothes—a special talent, that—so I shouldn’t be surprised when he slides his hand down inside the front of my pants and toys with me until I’m writhing in his arms.
We shouldn’t be doing this in the living room—there are security cameras even in our part of the house, plus anyone could come looking for laundry and walk in on us, but Jasper has a way of making me forget about those things. I’m so swept up in his touch and his words, making him filthy promises I can’t wait to keep. Being Jasper’s good girl might mean being on the traditional naughty list, but I’m perfectly okay with that.
I try to mind my volume as I cry out and melt in his arms, going so limp I’d fall flat on the floor if not for the strong, solid wall of his body behind me.
“Mm, that was nice.”
He chuckles warmly against my ear. “Now, are you ready for your early Christmas present?”
“I sure am.”
“It’s a big one.”
I smile slyly, reaching back to rub the bulge in his pants. “I can’t wait to open your big present.”
Jasper chuckles, catching my wrist and drawing it away from his cock. “Christ, that’s not your present, snowflake. I’m being serious. I want to give you your big gift tonight, that way it doesn’t overshadow Livy’s present opening tomorrow.”
“Oh.” I try summoning some of the strength back into my muscles. “That’s a good idea, actually. Should I give you yours, too?”
He shakes his head. “I can wait. I just really want to give you this one tonight. I think you’re gonna like it a whole lot.”
I smile, crossing my legs and preparing myself for a gift Jasper picked out for me. “I’m sure I will.”
Despite saying he was giving me my big gift tonight, the box he pushes over to me is small and rectangular, like the one I gave him that first year with the keychain in it.
“This is my big gift?” I ask skeptically, reaching for it.
Jasper nods, his gaze trained on the small box. He looks almost… nervous. That’s not a look I see on him very often.
More eager than I was before, I tear into the paper.
Beneath the gift wrap is a box that looks exactly like the one that came with the keychain I bought him in Stillwater. My brow furrows and I cast him a curious look, but he simply nods for me to keep going.
I remove the top of the box and sure enough, there nestled inside is the keychain I bought him in Stillwater.
“Is this a joke?” I ask, looking at his face. “You can’t regift me the present I bought you three years ago and call it a present, mister.”
Jasper smirks. “Look closer.”
My gaze darts back to the box. I pick the keychain up, and when I do, I see it’s not just the my heart is in Stillwater keychain I bought him. There’s a key dangling from the ring.
“A key? A key to what?”
“Remember that house you liked in Stillwater? The big one on that street right before my mom’s with the Christmas tree in the window?”
My heart stalls. “Yes,” I say tentatively.
“I bought it for you.”
Shock.
“For us,” he amends.
“What?” I say breathlessly, unable to comprehend.
I mean, I hear what he’s saying, but there’s no way we could afford that house, not even saving every penny we’ve made between us these past three years living in the servants’ quarters of Mateo’s mansion. Jasper does okay, but my pay is a pittance.
“Jasper, how? We can’t… we can’t afford that.”
“We can,” he assures me. “I cashed in every favor I’ve ever been owed, and I’m lucky to have good friends who were happy to help out a bit as a sort of severance package.”
My gaze lifts to his, my eyes wide. “Severance package.”
Jasper shrugs, almost bashful—a look I’ve definitely never seen on him. “I told you we’d move to Stillwater if I ever retired.”
I’m too stunned to move, but joy swells up inside me. “You’re retiring?”
I’ve never had a problem with Jasper doing what he does for work—he was in it when I met him and that was the life that suited him.
Deep down, though, it’s hard not to feel afraid sometimes when the man you love is routinely putting himself in immensely dangerous situations. I may not know every detail of Jasper’s work, but I know enough to know it’s not safe.
That got even harder after Livy was born.
I would have never asked him to change, to stop, but my fear of losing him did grow after that. He assured me that if anything ever happened to him, Mateo would make sure Livy and I made it back on our feet, but that wasn’t what I was worried about.