Chapter Thirteen
Hallie
Seeing Camille Dubois hanging all over Jasper brought a streak of jealousy to my heart so strong it was staggering. “Bitch,” Sage hissed as we stopped dancing to see the redheaded beauty wrap her arm around Jasper’s neck and whisper something into his ear.
“I’ll tear her hair off her head,” Sage said, meaning every word. She made to walk over to Camille, but I grabbed her arm and yanked her back.
“We’re not together,” I said, and the worst part of that was it was true. I had no claim on Jasper. He’d made it clear there would be nothing between us. He was free to sleep with whoever he wanted.
Camille Dubois had a reputation. Even in the Under-25s, we’d heard of her more than adventurous sex life.
It surprised me that Jasper and she were close.
I had never met Alexis Hobbs. But one of the newer riders from Belgium, Sofia, warned me about her.
Alexis had spent last year’s tour trying to find any dirt she could on Sofia, only backing off when there was none to be had.
But the way Camille touched Jasper spoke of intimacy which, frankly, made me sick. So when Jake sidled up to me, I decided to drop my pain and dance instead. But as he spun me around, I caught sight of Jasper watching me with as much jealousy in his gaze as I knew I had in mine.
Shaking his head in frustration, he turned and fled, and without thinking, I followed him.
Lifting my golden dress off the floor, I kicked off my heels, knowing Sage would grab them, and ran to find him, only to see a dark figure storming out the door and past the barn toward the business center where I knew Jasper was having lots of meetings this week.
I saw him enter the Knighton Equestrian trailer, and checking the coast was clear, I ran up the steps, opened the door, and slipped inside.
The door slammed behind me, instantly locking me in.
The first thing I saw was piles of saddle pads strewn around the room, then in the back, Jasper, crouched down low with his messy dark hair tumbling over his fingers as he buried his head in his hands.
Hearing my entrance, he snapped his attention my way and immediately got to his feet. His face was hard, and I knew I was back with the cold Jasper who had chastised me in the barn—the one intent on pushing me away.
Were we really back there?
“Why are you here?” he said, between gritted teeth. His hands were balled into fists at his sides and, even from across the large trailer, I could see they were shaking.
“I came to see if you are okay?” I said, and crossed my arms over my chest. The trailer was hot, the air-conditioning turned off and only the emergency low lighting illuminating the space.
In the orange glow, Jasper looked like a god.
A fallen, domineering god with stubble on his cheeks and fury in his midnight eyes.
“Am I okay?” he said, repeating my words. There was a mocking tone to his voice. Then he said, “I made it perfectly clear that you need to stay away from McGowen. And I arrive at dinner to find you on the dance floor, spinning in his arms.”
His words were fuel to my fire. “Excuse me?” I said. “I need to stay away from him?”
“He’s bad news,” he bit out. “And he’s only paying you attention to fuck with me.”
I laughed incredulously. I was so done with this shit. “So no one could be genuinely interested in me, is that it?”
“Don’t fucking put words in my mouth,” Jasper snapped, his hands opening, fingers stretching before closing into fists again. Even in the dim light I could see that his cheeks were flushed and his pupils dilated.
“But it’s okay for Camille Dubois to hang all over you like some cheap decoration?
” I stepped closer and then closer still, until I was mere feet from where Jasper stood.
“Tell me, Mr. Knighton,” I said, mockingly using his surname.
“Have you fucked her? Have you let down your walls enough to screw Camille?”
“Careful,” he warned me. But I was past warnings now. This was one wild horse he couldn’t break.
“Why? ’Cause it’s true?” When all I got back was stony silence, pain sliced through my heart.
So I laughed. I laughed right in Jasper’s face.
“Perfect. You chastise me for dancing with a man I have zero interest in, all the while a woman you’ve screwed paws all over you and that’s acceptable?
” I shook my head. “Fuck. This. I’m done! ”
I turned and walked to the exit, full to the brim with anger, when Jasper commanded, “Do not dare leave this trailer!”
I whipped around, the hot-blooded Texan cowgirl rising up in me. Even as a child, I never let a bull or colt get the best of me, so I sure as fuck wasn’t letting Jasper Knighton. “What did you say?” I said calmly, measuredly. Threateningly.
Jasper rolled his lips together and his eyes roved over every inch of my body. My traitorous nipples hardened under his heavily lidded stare, but I wasn’t backing down. “I said, what did you say?”
Jasper stepped closer and his sandalwood and mint scent ghosted over me.
“I fucked her years ago. Once. In my early twenties when we were at the Horse of the Year Show and I was drunk off my arse.” He laughed without humor.
“Believe me, I wish I could be interested in her now. It would be a lot fucking simpler.”
“What does that mean?” I snapped.
Jasper turned, his head tipping back. I watched his broad back move up and down as he took a deep breath, then exhaled.
“Because then I wouldn’t be thinking of you twenty-four-fucking-seven!
I wouldn’t be convincing myself day and night to stay the fuck away from you.
That you’re too young for me, that you’re my employee, that being in any way attached to me puts you in too much danger!
” Jasper was breathless, his chocolate gaze wild.
“God, I wish I hadn’t heard you come with my fucking name on your lips—twice!
I wish I hadn’t heard you scream my name just imagining me fucking you! ”
Deathly silence stretched between us. I’d been right. He’d heard me somehow, he’d actually fucking heard me . . .
I wasn’t sure who moved first, but one minute we were glaring at one another, thick static sparking between us, and the next our lips slammed together, and Jasper’s hands threaded into my hair.
His fingers wrapped around my thick strands as he pulled me even closer.
This wasn’t a soft, sensitive kiss. This was rough, raw, and passionate and the culmination of weeks upon weeks of endless wanting and pushing and pulling.
It was fucking explosive.
I moaned loudly, and Jasper used that moment to push his tongue inside my mouth.
My legs weakened as his tongue slid against mine, hot and strong, and I was sure I’d never be able to be kissed by anyone else again.
Jasper consumed me. I clung to his jacket as he walked me backward toward the wall, slamming me against it.
Jasper’s tall frame crowded me so much that I was covered by him.
Jasper broke from the kiss, only to pepper more down my neck. He groaned with every nip at my skin, and every fantasy I’d ever had of what Jasper would be like if he kissed me, if he fucked me, were tossed out the window. He was more, so much more than I could have ever imagined.
I squeezed my legs together, my clit pulsing. My hips rolled forward, looking for any kind of friction. But Jasper kept me away from him, completely controlling the moment.
“Jasper!” I groaned in frustration.
He reared back and stared into my eyes. Jasper looked ruined, untamed.
His cheeks were flushed, and his nostrils were flaring.
He lifted his hand and ran his thumb over my bottom lip.
“You’ve fucking teased me for weeks, Angel,” he said, voice so gruff it brought goose bumps to my skin.
I rolled my hips again, searching for release, when Jasper took hold of my arms and spun me, pushing me to the center of the room where a padded wooden saddle rack stood.
Jasper turned me in his arms, leaning me against it, and, taking hold of the cowl neck of my silky dress, he yanked it down to my waist, revealing my nude strapless bra. He reached behind me, and in less than a second, my bra fell to the floor, putting my breasts fully on display.
Jasper groaned as I was bared to him, his tongue peeking out to run along his lips.
“Perfect,” he murmured, then bent his head, taking my right nipple in his mouth.
“Jasper!” I screamed, my head tilting back as shards of electricity zipped from my breasts to my already dripping pussy.
I gripped the back of his head and pushed him harder into my flesh, crying out when he bit down on my nipple before moving to my next one, giving it the same rough and ecstatic treatment.
I was spinning. With my eyes closed and Jasper’s mouth finally on my body, I was a live wire.
Every part of me was radiating raw need and heat.
Jasper pulled back from my breasts, then meeting my eyes, he kept his stare locked on me as he grabbed my dress that was gathered around my waist and began pulling it over my hips.
His mouth never left me. Jasper kissed down my torso, licking his tongue over my stomach until my dress was flung to the floor and he began kissing along the edge of my panties.
I thrust my hips forward, searching for his mouth, his tongue, fucking anything to relieve the building pressure between my legs.
But Jasper didn’t comply. His heated stare told me exactly who was in charge right now—and it wasn’t me. It wasn’t like me to submit, but right now, with this version of Jasper, I’d willingly drop to my knees and do anything he wanted if he’d just finally give in and make me come.