Chapter 10
TUESDAY MORNING Jasper woke early enough to slip out of bed and make breakfast. He usually resorted to scrambled eggs and toast. Bacon if he was feeling confident.
Pancakes if he had the patience. But today he wanted to try his hand at waffles.
He was sure they had to be easier than pancakes, especially when the waffle iron meant they wouldn’t be misshapen.
Except the first one he made was not only deformed but nearly charred, and he spent ten minutes on his phone finding a recipe with easy instructions.
It took three more attempts before he made one that looked edible, and by then he realized he’d made far too much batter and had to decide whether to use it all, toss it, or save it for later.
In the end he used most of it trying to make four crispy golden waffles like Vincent could make.
Once he had those, he scrambled some eggs, topped them with cheese, and filled two plates.
He found a serving tray to pile it all onto with two large mugs of coffee, and then he headed upstairs.
Vincent was still passed out, so he set the tray on a nightstand and crawled back into bed, where he proceeded to latch on to Vincent and nuzzle, kiss, and bite his shoulder until he woke up.
With an incoherent grumble, Vincent rolled over, pinned Jasper beneath him, and buried his face in his hair. “Who disturbs my slumber?”
Jasper snickered and slid his hands down to grope Vincent’s ass. “It is I, Jasper. Your humble subby slut.”
Vincent pulled away with a sleep-rough laugh. “You got two of three right anyway,” he murmured.
“Hey!”
Vincent smirked as he sat up and reached for a cup of coffee. He took a sip and sank against the headboard, closing his eyes with a soft hum.
“Don’t go back to sleep,” Jasper grumbled, reaching over Vincent for the tray and settling it over his lap before picking up a plate.
“Why not?”
“’Cause we have things to do.”
“And by things, do you mean you?”
“Duh.”
When Vincent shook his head, Jasper grinned and shoved a large bite of waffle into his mouth. They ate in silence until Jasper couldn’t hold back anymore and propped his shoulder against Vincent’s. “Sooo, is it only playing as an evil doctor you’re interested in, or are there other things too?”
Vincent paused with his cup pressed against his lip, clearing his throat and taking a sip before answering. “Role-play is one of the things I enjoy most.”
“Really?” he asked in surprise. “But you’re always….” He flicked his fingers as he sought the right word.
“An uptight dick?” Vincent asked dryly.
Jasper elbowed him. Only he could call Vincent a dick. “Calm and collected.” He shoveled the last of his eggs into his mouth, set the tray with dishes aside, then crawled into Vincent’s lap to straddle his thighs. He hooked his fingers in Vincent’s T-shirt. “So what else do you like to role-play?”
“Anything we can come up with.” Vincent drained the rest of his coffee and leaned over to set it on the nightstand.
When he turned his attention back to Jasper, he settled both hands on Jasper’s hips and slid his fingers under the hem of his shirt.
“Pirate and captive. Prostitute and priest. Rival mafia bosses.”
Jasper’s eyebrows twitched higher with each suggestion, which somehow got progressively more outlandish, but when Vincent mentioned royalty and a knight, he couldn’t stop the impulse to clamp a hand over Vincent’s mouth to stop him. “Like a king or… a prince?”
Vincent smiled against his palm. “Do you want to be a prince?” he asked, his words muffled.
Heat crept up Jasper’s neck at the suggestion, briefly imagining Vincent sprawled out beneath him before realizing a prince could just as easily be the one on the bottom.
He licked his lips and slowly removed his hand from Vincent’s mouth.
“Do you want to be my….” Not a knight or a guard.
That sounded typical and boring. “Advisor?”
“And what would I be advising you on?”
Jasper pressed his lips together and barely managed to keep from saying sex, obviously. “How to be a good ruler.”
“Like making sure you don’t disappear every time the king mentions marriage?”
He tipped his head back with a wrinkle of his nose. “He shouldn’t keep trying to marry me off to snobby princesses.”
“A snobby prince is more to your liking, then?”
“Or a scruffy, pain-in-my-ass advisor.”
“Scruffy,” Vincent repeated, narrowing his eyes.
Jasper lifted his hands to scritch his knuckles against the two-days-worth of stubble on Vincent’s jaw.
“Sexy scruffy.” He trailed his fingers down Vincent’s throat and chest. “You’re more my type.
Don’t you want to advise me on how to please my future spouse?
” he asked, fluttering his lashes with a small pout.
“Am I not to your liking?” A thrill shivered down Jasper’s spine when Vincent’s fingers tightened on his hips.
Vincent leaned forward and dragged the tip of his nose against Jasper’s cheek before whispering in his ear. “You want me to teach you how to properly fuck your partner?”
Jasper went light-headed between the heat rushing to his face and the blood rushing to his cock. A soft strangled moan escaped him at the thought of being inside Vincent. His breath left him with a shuddery, “What?”
“Are you worried you won’t please them, Your Highness?” Vincent purred before tracing his tongue around the shell of Jasper’s ear.
He swallowed hard and twisted his fingers in Vincent’s shirt to keep himself grounded. No way was Vincent really offering to let Jasper top. Was he? “Are you serious?” he asked softly, staring at Vincent when he pulled back. “You’d really let me…?”
Vincent raised an eyebrow. “I’m not against it. Are you?”
“I—That’s not—You can’t—” He snapped his mouth shut when Vincent pressed a thumb to his lips.
“You think a sub can’t penetrate his Dom,” he said, and Jasper nodded and sagged in relief at not having to find the words. “You think because I’m your Dom I can’t enjoy being taken as much as you do?”
“Do you?” Vincent had never mentioned or given any indication he wanted that.
“With the right conditions. And the right partner,” Vincent murmured.
Jasper’s heart skipped before pounding in his chest. Vincent thought he was the right partner. Vincent thought he was the right partner? “I’ve never….”
Vincent didn’t look surprised as he brushed his thumb back and forth against Jasper’s lips. “Do you know why I like role-play?” he asked, waiting for Jasper to shake his head before continuing. “Kink lets you explore physical or mental fantasies, but role-play lets you experience different lives.”
Jasper’s lips twitched, and he lightly bit Vincent’s thumb on its next swipe. “Like a corrupt doctor who likes to abuse his patients.”
“Or a dedicated, loyal advisor who’d give everything to his prince. Even his own body.”
Jasper swayed closer, his fingers splayed against Vincent’s stomach as butterflies tried to burst out of his own. “What if the prince is really bad at sex?”
“He won’t be,” Vincent said, sliding a hand into Jasper’s hair and curling into a loose grip.
“How do you know?”
“Because a good advisor won’t let him be.”
Jasper tipped his head back with a soft gasp when Vincent tugged, heat already pooling in his gut before Vincent’s lips and his scruff left a tingling path down Jasper’s neck. “Are you a good advisor?” Jasper asked.
“Only the best.” Vincent lightly dragged his teeth against Jasper’s shoulder before replacing them with a warm kiss. “Should I prove it, Your Highness?”
“By letting me fuck you?”
Vincent tsked and flexed his fingers tighter in Jasper’s hair. “By guiding you in how to pleasure me.”
Oh. That sounded less stressful. If Vincent was still in control, Jasper had less of a chance to fuck everything up. “Okay,” he whispered. “What do I do?”
Vincent pulled back and settled against the headboard with an approving hum. “You can start by removing my clothes.”
Surely he’d heard that wrong. He’d never seen Vincent fully and completely naked before. He knew what Vincent’s scars looked like and felt like, but not an undressed Vincent. He slipped his hands under Vincent’s shirt and caressed his sides and stomach. “All of them?”
“Mm-hmm.” He caught Jasper’s wrist when he pushed Vincent’s shirt up. “Slow.”
Jasper gave a jerky nod and stared at his hands as he inched Vincent’s shirt up his stomach. When the edge of the burn scars came into view, he paused and glanced up to make sure Vincent was really okay with this.
“I’m sure,” Vincent said softly, resting his hands on Jasper’s thighs.
He caught his lower lip between his teeth and continued pushing the shirt up.
As more of the scars were revealed, he dragged his thumbs against them.
Burn scars were always gnarly, but Jasper found them fascinating rather than repulsive.
Even a decade old, he could tell how severe the burns had been.
Especially after he’d spent two days researching burn injuries in all the medical texts he could find in the college library.
He’d initially started researching online, but he wanted the validity of published and peer-reviewed information.
When he finally got the shirt to Vincent’s shoulders, Vincent lifted his arms so Jasper could pull it over his head and toss it aside.
Then he had the luxury of Vincent half naked beneath him, and he couldn’t resist exploring with his fingertips.
The pale flesh and sparse scattering of dark curls across his chest. The angry red spiderweb of old scars across his torso and the jagged white one down his right arm.
He spread his palm across the center of the damage and pushed past the dark flare of doubt in his gut.
Other lives, Vincent had said. What was the point in pretending to be someone or something else if they couldn’t create a different story for something like this?