Jasper, page 20
“Already know what?” he asked, studying her.
“I already know that I want everything you’ve got to give and that I want to see just who you are on the inside, on a day-to-day basis. That includes sharing a bed with you, waking up to see your face, holding you in my arms, and being held in yours,” she whispered, as she leaned in closer, her warm breath brushing against his. “But I also know what it’s like to be hurt, and I know what it’s like to not trust, so I’m willing to give you time,” she repeated, her lips just a hair’s breath away from his.
Mixed emotions filled his heart and soul. He’d never met anyone like her. Not this honest. Not this open. Jasper knew his expressive face exposed all the emotions he felt just now.
“So, how about I go back to my bed, and you can just tell me which way you want to go?”
As she was lifted into the air, she let out a shriek. Then he gently placed her on his bed, before he held her close to him. Looking down at her, he asked, “So, is that enough of a decision for you?”
She burst out laughing. “It’s nice to know you can take action at home too, when you need to.”
He rolled his eyes at that. “I don’t think action will be a problem,” he murmured, as he thrust his hips against her, loving the shudders she gave in reaction, “but this is very cheeky of you.”
“Nah,” she replied. “I’m just somebody who knows what she wants and doesn’t want to give you too much time to wait.”
“What’s wrong with waiting?” he murmured, as he nuzzled his nose against her.
“There’s waiting, and then there’s waiting,” she muttered, followed by a chuckle. “There’s waiting because you have a religious conviction, a physical reason, or have made a particular decision, or something along that line. And then there’s waiting because you’re scared of making a wrong decision. Sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet and trust. And I get that trust is hard for you right now, but I have faith that you’ll make the right decision,” she whispered, as she wiggled her hips beneath him.
He chuckled. “I do like the way you think.”
“Good,” she murmured, “so, we’ll give this a try and see where it goes. We won’t worry about who’ll get hurt or who won’t get hurt because we’ll give it our all and see just what we’ve got, right?”
“And if I say no?” he teased.
“In that case, I might just have to work at convincing you again.”
“I’m not against being convinced,” he added, followed by joyful laughter. “As a matter of fact, it’ll take me a long time to forget your coming into my bedroom tonight.”
“Who said you need to forget it? I figured I would keep doing this every night, until you give in.”
He burst out laughing and asked, “You mean, I was supposed to hold out longer?”
“Nah, I knew you would be a sucker anyway.”
“And why is that?” he asked, smiling down at her.
“Because, as you said, something is between us, and … we both want it, and we both want each other. We want what we want, and nobody likes to wait,” she explained. “We’re adults. We’re past that stage of life where we’re worried about playing games.”
“You think so?”
“It’s very much about reaching out and grabbing what life has to offer because you can lose it way too quickly,” she stated. “You and I both know what evil bodes for us out there, and we’re just the people who want to take every moment and to make the most of it.”
*
He lowered his head and gently kissed her, but she wanted more. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, thrust her hips up against him and rubbed back and forth. When he lifted his head, he was panting. She nodded. “You don’t get to be easy, and you don’t get to be soft, and you don’t get to be gentle and to think that you’ll hurt my leg,” she murmured. “I want every damn thing you have to give.” She poked him in the chest and then some.
“Do you?” he asked, a glint in his eyes. “What if you can’t take all of me?”
“Try me,” she dared him, a grin on her face, and she pulled his head down and whispered, “Go ahead. Give it your best shot.”
Amber might have done it as a joke, but Jasper took it as a dare. By the time he lifted his head from his deep, passionate, rousing kiss, she was mindless jelly. She gasped. “Oh my God, I’ve unleashed the devil.”
“Oh, I don’t know about the devil,” he said, as he trailed kisses down the neck of her nightie before pulling it up and off so that she was completely nude beneath him. She realized it was long gone and only felt his heated skin against her sleek, heated skin. With her nightgown now restricting her arms, he held them up high above her head. With one heavy thigh across her good leg, he kept her imprisoned for his ministrations.
His tender kisses, gentle strokes, suckling, tiny little nips and bites, all had her shuddering and crying out for him in joy and pain, combined with need. When he finally slid atop her and sank deep inside, she reacted instantly and then came apart without any warning. He started to move, and she came, again and again, and, by the time he exploded above her, she was already in a place of complete and unrelenting joy.
When he rolled off to the side and pulled her up against him, he whispered, “Are you okay?”
She wrapped her arms around him, then kissed his chest and murmured, “Better than okay.”
“Good, that’s what happens when you dare me.”
She chuckled. “Give me a chance to catch my breath, and we’ll go for round two.”
His laughter roared through the bedroom. “That’s sounds good to me too, but first you need sleep.”
“Just me?” she asked, tilting her head back to look up at him.
“No,” he murmured, “both of us need sleep.” Then he pulled her tightly into his arms and held her close.
Just as she was about to doze off, she asked, “Did you have your meeting?”
“I did,” he murmured. “Masters will take the lead on this next leg of Mason’s case. He’ll track down everything there is to find about the gunman we faced. It appears he may have been acquainted with somebody both he and the sniper knew in common.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “And will you stay here with me?”
He gave her a breathtaking smile and murmured, “Sounds like an absolutely wonderful punishment.” And, with that, he kissed her and whispered, “Now go to sleep.”
This concludes Book 1 of Man Down: Jasper.
Read about Masters: Man Down, Book 2
Man Down:
Masters
(Book #2)
There is no greater motive than bloodlust, DNA, and revenge mixed up in a cocktail of hatred …
Masters has joined Jasper’s investigation team, when they realize another investigator went missing four months ago, yet his case is on hold. Part of the issue is that Masters needs to figure out who on the existing team is trustworthy. He reaches out to the missing investigator’s sister, looking for answers.
Elizabeth has been seeking answers over her brother’s disappearance ever since the last time she spoke to him. With no leads, no tips, and no sign of him, the case ran cold. To her, it seemed no one cared. Having Masters show up at her door, asking questions all over again, sparks anger and hope in her.
Maybe this time they can find out what happened to the only family Elizabeth has left …
Find Book 2 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Masters Woodrow entered the building where the investigators worked, which was dark. Turning on the lights, he headed to the small area that Jasper had used as an office. Sitting down and using his log-in credentials, Masters started the research he needed to do. When he heard a noise, he looked up to see Sam glaring at him. Masters stared back at him. “You got a problem? You take it up with Jasper.” Then he returned to his research.
“It’s Jasper I’ve got a problem with,” he barked.
Masters shrugged, refusing to face Sam. “Then take it up with the brass. Not my problem.”
“Seriously, you’re on this team now too?”
“I am,” he declared.
“What about Jasper?”
“Jasper is too. He’s getting some much-needed rest right now. In case you didn’t hear about the mess happening today, he’s been busy.”
Sam shrugged. “It wasn’t all that bad.”
“If that’s what you think, you don’t have all the details.” Masters stopped, looked up at him, and intensely studied the man for the first time. Sam looked to be about late forties, a hothead by the sound of it, and a little bit gone to pot. He had a good-sized middle rim of flab all the way around his belly, just above his belt loops. His coloring was pale, a little bit blotchy, and his hair was thinning on top already. “What’s your problem with Jasper anyway?”
“He walked in here like he was the boss and took over. He already knew Morgan’s the boss.”
“Morgan was an acting boss,” Masters clarified, narrowing his gaze at Sam. “How come you didn’t tell your bosses how you felt?”
Sam shifted uneasily and scoffed. “You’re just like him, aren’t you? You’re probably friends. Is that how you got the job?”
“I don’t have to do things like that,” he replied. “My reputation precedes me, as does Jasper’s, as does Mason’s. This is what I do. I was coming in to take a job on this base as it was, yet in a slightly different position. However, after seeing Mason shot down right in front of me, you can bet I wanted in on it.”
“Oh, yeah, shot in front of you, but you didn’t do anything to stop it, did you?”
“It would be a little hard to stop a sniper plan set up days, if not months in advance,” he stated. He noted Sam stood unsteadily in front of him. “Are you drunk?”
“No, I’m not drunk,” he snapped. “What are you doing here at this hour of the night?”
“What are you doing here at this hour of the night, drunk or not?” Not liking anything about him, Masters added, “Either you need to get the hell out of here or sit down and do some work. I am working myself. So you choose what you’re doing, but make a decision now.”
“And if I don’t?” Sam asked, his hands in his pockets, but, sure enough, he remained unsteady on his feet.
Masters got up, walked closer, and smelled the alcohol. “You get your drunk ass out of here,” he ordered. “Leave your key card behind, and do not come in until you contact me and I’ve met you outside of work somewhere long enough to confirm that you’re sober.”
“What are you gonna—”
“And, if I find out that you’re not sober and that you can’t stay sober for forty-eight hours straight, you’ll be under drug testing and suspended from work,” Masters declared calmly, as he turned Sam around and gave him a shove toward the exit door.
Protesting the whole way, Sam started to slur his words to the point that Masters was worried he would have to pick him up to toss him out.
When he got him outside the building, a couple other guys were hanging around, loudly laughing and talking and drinking. “Are you with them?”
“So what if I am?”
“That’s fine, but, in the meantime, you are not allowed to drive tonight either.”
“You can’t stop me,” Sam bellowed.
But Masters braced him, quickly shoving him against the wall, taking his car keys and his office key card. “Now get yourself home.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that? You just took my wheels.”
“I did, and I’ll take even more, the longer you stand here. Now get lost,” he snapped. Then he watched as Sam stumbled away.
Shaking his head, Masters returned to the office and quickly sent Jasper a text. Masters wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but how the hell did that guy Sam keep his job here? Maybe they did need a couple new people on this investigation team. He sent a quick text to Morgan, asking him about Sam’s condition as well.
When the phone rang, Morgan was on the other end. “What the hell are you doing there?”
“I’m here because Jasper is at home after an incident tonight,” he explained. “I’m working on Mason’s case. Found Sam in the office, stumbling drunk.”
Silence came on the other end. “Oh, damn.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, he fell off the stupid wagon again.”
“And how much of a problem is that?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem at all.”
“I just took his car keys off him and his access card.” He picked up the card and frowned. “Except for one thing.”
“What’s that?” Morgan asked.
“The card key that I took off Sam doesn’t have his name on it.”
“What do you mean?”
“The key I have in my hand, which I just took off Sam, has a different name on it. … Nicholas.”
“Nicholas, Nicholas Woodrow?” Morgan asked.
Masters frowned at the last name. He had no relative that he knew of by the name of Nicholas. Yet easier to remember the guy’s name, for sure. Masters twisted the key card in the light to see it better, noting the tone change in Morgan’s reply. “Yes, Nicholas Woodrow. Why? You know him?”
“Yeah, he disappeared from our department and the base about four months ago,” he shared. “He was involved in another case on Coronado base.”
“What do you mean, another case?”
“Nicholas was working on another shooting.”
Find Book 2 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Jasper: Man Down, Book 1! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending, Hathaway House series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (Kate Morgan, By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).
Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy, break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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JASPER: MAN DOWN, BOOK 1
Beverly Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2024 Beverly Dale Mayer
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ISBN-13: 978-1-778863-17-2
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Dale Mayer, Jasper
