Chapter 38 (Jasper)

I loved how naughty Mandy could get. Even though she was submissive in bed, she wasn’t afraid to instigate our intimacy. Some days, she’d come out of the shower wrapped in nothing but a towel and walk right up to me. As soon as she was close enough, the towel would fall to her feet and there she was, in all her beauty.

God, just thinking about her naked body was enough to get me going.

When I looked over at her, I could tell that her thoughts were also taking a dirty turn. That sparkle in her eye. The way she sat with her hands on her thighs, almost like she wanted to touch herself.

Oh yeah, she wanted me. Bad.

she would just have to wait.

I did my best to remain innocent as we drove to HQs. Once we entered the heart of the city, traffic picked up. This was one of the things I hated about city life. Everything was always so congested.

When we stopped at a red light, I looked over at her and smiled. “You truly do make me happy.”

She smiled back. “I’m glad.”

As we continued to drive, various people cut me off, nearly resulting in a collision at one point. “This is awful,” I mumbled under my breath. “These people don’t know how to fucking drive, I swear to God.”

She placed a hand on my knee, squeezing it gently, trying to calm me down. “Getting angry isn’t going to help the situation.”

“I just don’t understand why people can’t drive like they are supposed to. It’s really not that hard. And, if they can’t drive, public transportation is there for a reason.”

“Jasper.”

“What?” I snapped, losing my temper.

She frowned. “I was just trying to help.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. It's just so easy to lose your cool in the city with all these fucking idiots everywhere.”

Her frown deepened. “Don’t worry about them.”

I shook my head. “That’s impossible.” We were once again stopped at a red light. I pointed through the windshield. “Do you see that man getting really close to that woman?”

She nodded. “He’s a pickpocket. He’s going to snatch her wallet out of her purchase and when she goes to buy formula for her baby, she’ll discover that she doesn’t have a cent to her name.”

“No…”

“Yes. That’s the ugly reality of the city. You used to be a detective. You should know first-hand how disgusting human beings can be. They kill and hurt one another without an ounce of remorse and the more you interact with them, the more infected you become.” I sighed. “That’s why I left. I hated the man I was becoming. I couldn’t stand that I was treating people like garbage. At least in the mountains, no one bothers me. I don’t have to deal with mankind’s stupidity.”

“ there’s some good in the world.” She pointed out.

“I should have known you were an optimist.” 

“Sometimes, you just have to be. If you always think about the bad stuff that happens, then you’ll never see the good, either. As a detective, I saw my fair share of homicides, rapes, you name it  at the same time, there were plenty of rewarding cases as well.”

“Such as?”

“Well, cases where teenagers run away from home and we find them. Or, a kidnapped toddler that’s rescued. Or, when we finally bust a crime rig because someone finally gathered the courage to speak up against what was wrong.”

“Hmm, I guess you have a point but if you ask me, I’m better off in the mountains. I don’t mind coming back to the city every once in a while, but I could never live here. Not anymore.”

“That’s fair. You know, I like the woods too.”

“Then, why do you keep your house in the city?”

“Well, it’s in the suburbs.” She clarified.

“Okay, whatever. Why do you still keep your house in the suburbs when you know you always have a place to stay at the cottage.”

“Because you never asked me to stay.”

I pulled into my parking space in the company lot and before I could turn off the car, I looked at her. “Really? You were waiting for me to ask? Wasn’t it obvious by now that I wanted you to stay.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure.”

I shook my head. “You amaze me.”

“And, while we’re on the subject, you never asked me to be your girlfriend, either.”

“Living together for six months and staying by each other’s sides at the hospital wasn’t enough to establish our relationship?”

“I’m just saying that we never agreed to anything explicitly.”

“Well, then I’m explicitly asking you now. Will you be my girlfriend? Will you live with me so that I can wake up to your beautiful face every morning?” I was on the cusp of saying more – of asking her to marry me but I knew that now was not the right time. Besides, I wanted to make it special – to get her a nice right.

If I was going to propose to this woman, then I wanted it to be something she would never forget.