Chapter 9
9
Jasper
Moving around my boss’s state-of-the-art kitchen in his new condo, I put the final touches on the dinner I prepared. I’d finished culinary school in Paris two and a half years ago, and after spending some additional time in France, I had moved back home.
When I first returned to Boston, I worked at a couple of fine dining restaurants. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, and I decided to switch gears and became a personal chef. It gave me more creative control over the meals I cooked, and the hours were better too.
One of my clients was Sean Ashford, a top-rated criminal defense lawyer. Working for him was great because he didn’t make many requests and liked anything I made. Due to his long work hours, I only needed to cook at his place a couple of times a week and pack away several meals he could heat up whenever he was home.
As I was cleaning up, I heard the front door open.
“Perfect timing, Sean. Dinner’s ready.” I turned around and was surprised to see his son, Ryan, instead. “Oh, hey. I didn’t know you were eating with your father tonight.”
He smiled. “I’m not. I just finished up a client meeting and wanted to use one of his parking spaces since I’m meeting up with some friends nearby, and parking is a bitch around here.”
Parking within the city was nearly impossible. Any time I wasn’t hauling groceries to a client’s house, I preferred using public transportation instead of driving around the city—a habit I’d picked up while living in Europe. Thankfully, I’d already brought the food up to Sean’s place earlier in the week, so a parking place remained open for Ryan.
“Makes sense.”
“Are you expecting my dad to be home soon? I know one of his trials started recently.”
I shook my head. “He’s been working crazy hours. I haven’t seen him at all for the last two weeks.”
“So, we have the place to ourselves?” He grinned mischievously.
From the first time I’d made a family meal for Sean and his two adult children, Ryan had flirted with me whenever his dad wasn’t looking. At first, I hadn’t reciprocated because I didn’t want to jeopardize my job. However, it didn’t take long before I gave in. What could I say? The guy was fucking hot with his light brown hair and smoldering green eyes.
“I guess we do.”
He walked over and kissed me before leading me to the couch. Once he was seated, I dropped to my knees between his outstretched legs.
I was just getting into sucking Ryan off when I heard something slam into the wall, and I immediately sat back and looked toward the sound.
“Fuck!” Sean yelled as he rubbed his hip, and the console table next to him wobbled.
“Holy shit!” Ryan shouted. “Aren’t you supposed to still be at work?”
My boss kept his back to us and replied, “I came straight home after court instead of going to the office.”
“Sean, I’m so sorry,” I said as Ryan pulled up his pants.
I was beyond humiliated and wondered if Sean was going to fire me on the spot.
“You can turn around now,” Ryan told his father as soon as he zipped up.
Sean spun around slowly, and I turned my gaze to the floor, unable to look at him. “That was completely unprofessional. I should go.”
“Can’t say I was expecting to walk in on that, but you don’t have to rush out of here.”
“I already finished cooking. I’ll make your plate and then be on my way.” I hurried off to the kitchen.
Ryan joined me a few seconds later as I put the salmon back in the oven to warm it up. “You good?”
I shook my head. “Your dad is going to fire me.”
“No, he isn’t.”
“How can you be sure? He just caught me giving you a blow job on his couch.”
“Yeah, but we’re both consenting adults. If anything, he’s madder at me. He’s seen the way I flirt with you. Besides he’d hate to lose you as a chef.”
We continued to chat as I heated up dinner and worried about my job. Eventually Sean walked into the kitchen, putting an end to my conversation with Ryan.
I opened the oven to get Sean’s food and then plated the fish, brown rice, and asparagus. “I made salmon tonight.” While continuing to avoid eye contact, I placed it in front of him, then grabbed some silverware and a napkin and set them beside his plate. “Would you like some wine as well?”
“That would be great,” he replied.
I uncorked a bottle of pinot noir and filled a glass.
“You’re not eating?” Sean asked Ryan.
“I had a late lunch with a client, so I’m not hungry, but I will take a glass of wine.”
The room went silent as I poured Ryan a glass, and Sean began eating. After a few minutes, I broke the awkward quietness. “I’m going to head out. All of your meals for the weekend are in the fridge.”
“Thank you.” Sean wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I’ll see you on Monday if I get home before you finish up.”
Relief washed over me as I realized I hadn’t lost my job. “Sounds good.”
The holiday rush made the next couple of months fly by. It seemed as though I was cooking for multiple parties every week during December, but things seemed to settle down once we got past the new year.
As I made my way to Sean’s place, I popped in my ear buds and listened to Surrender’s new album, “Neon Nights.” It became an immediate success when it was released a couple of weeks prior, and even though hearing Malachi’s voice reminded me of the few months I got to be with him, those bittersweet feelings didn’t stop me from playing it on repeat.
When I got to my boss’s condo, I pulled out the ingredients to make a beef Wellington for his monthly family dinner. Shortly after I got started on the meal, Ryan arrived and sat at the island across from me. The two of us still hooked up on occasion, but we no longer messed around at his father’s place.
As I wrapped the prepared beef tenderloin in puff pastry, I heard the front door open. Even though Ryan and I weren’t doing anything, I still felt a twinge of embarrassment remembering when Sean had walked in on us. It had taken weeks before I could look him in the eye again.
Morgan, Sean’s daughter, walked around the corner and smirked when she saw Ryan was already there. “Should I leave so you guys can be alone, or did you already finish?”
I groaned while Ryan barked out a laugh. When I’d learned he had told Morgan what happened, I had been mortified, but he promised it wasn’t a big deal. Since then, it had been a running joke between the three of us.
“Just finished,” Ryan teased.
“Eww. It was funny when I said it. Not so much when you admit to it,” she huffed and took a seat next to her brother.
“Don’t worry. Nothing happened.” I glared at Ryan.
“Not yet, at least.” He winked.
I wasn’t opposed to what he was suggesting. The thing I had with Ryan worked because neither of us was looking for anything serious, so we got together whenever it was convenient. Since I’d fallen hard—much harder than I’d expected—for Malachi, and it had hurt like hell when he left, I was wary of getting into a committed relationship again. Since then, I’d used casual hook ups to try to forget about the man I could never have. Much to my dismay, it hadn’t worked, and when I was alone at night, with my hand wrapped around my cock, it was only Malachi I thought of.
As they continued to chat, I started boiling potatoes.
“So, I’ve been listening to Surrender’s new album non-stop. It’s amazing, and I heard they are going on tour in a couple of months,” Morgan said out of nowhere, and immediately my ears perked up.
I received regular updates from my brother about what the band was doing and saw a lot of posts on social media about them, but I hadn’t talked to Malachi since the night they’d won The Band Showdown . Even when the guys were on the East Coast for the holidays, I avoided him, telling my brother I had catering gigs every day except Christmas when Malachi was with his family.
From what I could tell, Malachi had moved on and was fully embracing the rock star lifestyle. Pictures of him were plastered everywhere on social media, and he had a different woman on his arm in almost every photo. And while I wanted only good things for him, I didn’t think I could handle seeing him in person again. It would hurt too much because I still missed what we once had.
“We should go to one of their concerts,” Ryan stated.
“Duh. Of course, I’m going, but I was wondering if Jasper here could hook me up,” Morgan said.
Morgan was what could be described as a Surrender superfan. When she had found out I grew up in Southborough and my last name was Bennett, she’d asked if I was related to Jesse. She could hardly contain her excitement when I told her he was my brother.
“Can’t you just use Dad’s credit card to buy a ticket like you do for everything else?” Ryan asked his sister.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to buy my own ticket, asshole.” She turned to me, her voice taking on a much sweeter tone. “But I thought maybe you could get me backstage?”
“Uh, I don’t know how that all works, but I can ask my brother the next time I talk to him.”
“You’re the best.” She jumped up and hugged me.
I glanced at Ryan, my eyes wide.
He laughed. “You just made her day. She has the biggest crush on Malachi Danvers.”
Who didn’t?