Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Jasper
This wasn’t supposed to be happening. After yesterday, I told myself never again. Yet I had come into her office with a small, crude carving of a beer bottle, the one I’d used to work through all my thoughts about the pretty resort owner, and worse, the property she wanted and couldn’t have.
Now it was on the edge of the desk, and she was in my arms. So much for my conviction I could keep my hands off her.
Sheridan’s fingers raked over my scalp, and one leg was hitched around my waist. I had her backed up against her desk.
The door was shut. I had walked into the office to apologize, saw her bent over her desk like she had been about to walk out and had forgotten to grab something, and my primal brain took over.
The same one that had put my mouth on her yesterday was in charge again.
I delved into her mouth, tasting the mint of her toothpaste and the sweet flavor that was uniquely her and slid my hands down her back. The corner of the desk pressed into her butt, limiting my access, so I lifted her. She wrapped both her legs around me.
I needed more. Somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm bell rang. This was more than a kiss. We were making out—in her office.
I tried to end the kiss, but I dragged my mouth along her jaw, tilting her head back, opening her up in some way to me if we had to be fully clothed. “We should stop.”
“Yeah, we should,” she answered in a breathy voice, one thick with desire.
We were on the same page then. I gripped the bottom of her shirt and tugged it out of the waistband of her jean shorts. She arched, giving me more access.
“Jasper,” she whispered. The yearning only encouraged me.
“Just a taste, boss. That’s all I need. Then we’re done.” I licked and nibbled her earlobe. Did I use her nickname on purpose? Maybe. A little warning that we’d each acknowledge. And ignore.
“Yes. Done.”
Another thing we agreed on. I rolled her shirt up to expose her simple white bra. It could’ve been the most expensive lace, but I wouldn’t care. It was what it held that enraptured me. Behind the material, her nipples were peaked enough to drive me wild.
My blood pressure increased. The hammering behind my zipper grew urgent, as if it hadn’t pestered me all day yesterday.
I had taken a shower as soon as she’d left.
Then cleaned the house while half hard. Another shower, and I’d finally jacked off before bed just so I could get some sleep.
From the way she responded to me, she’d been in the same situation.
I kissed my way down her neck, and she leaned back, her chest lifted just for me.
I cupped both creamy tits, wrapped my fingers over the cups, and dragged the material down until her breasts popped out. My goddamn mouth watered.
“Oh, baby. You need my mouth right here, don’t you?”
She stuffed her fingers back into my hair. “Yes.”
I licked across one tight pebble before drawing it into my mouth. Her salty sweetness was on my tongue. I groaned, leaning her farther back.
She rocked against me. Fire laced through my blood. My erection throbbed, banging to get free and be closer to her, but I couldn’t. I might have left a lot of common sense at the door, but not all of it.
I switched breasts. She rewarded me with a low moan. I could’ve smiled, but my tongue was busy, swirling around her tight bud. A shiver ran through her body. I clocked it all. She was responsive. So damn needy. For me.
Voices sounded outside the door. We both froze.
I lifted my head, more irritated than panicked that we got interrupted. Her tight nipples poked into the air, her chest rising and falling with her pants, and her eyes were heavy-lidded. Her gaze darted to the door, and I looked over my shoulder.
I had locked the damn thing, but it was like we each had to double-check.
Because we couldn’t get caught. Shit.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” I said gruffly and tugged her bra into place. Then I rolled her shirt down. My own breaths came out ragged. Her legs were still anchored around me, and it was all I could do to keep my pelvis from rolling into hers, from seeking more and more pleasure.
I had a damn job to do, and having a hard-on wasn’t going to help.
Her fraught but lust-hazed gaze lifted over my shoulder for a moment. “Do you think they know what we’re doing?”
I planted a hand on either side of her, wanting more but needing to calm her. “You were quiet.”
She nodded once. “So were you.”
I was making a little noise. It was hard not to with the demands banging around in my head. Kiss her, hold her, fuck her. “I want to keep kissing you.” I feathered the back of my knuckles down her cheek. “I want to do so much more than that.”
Her white teeth sunk into her lower lip. “I want that too.”
“We’ve established that we shouldn’t.”
“Yeah.” She sighed and dropped her legs from my waist. “We’re definitely in agreement.”
I pushed a hand through my hair and forced myself to step out of the crux of her legs.
My boot hit the hat she’d knocked off my head when we’d first started kissing.
I picked it up and slapped any dust off my pant legs.
I plopped it on my head. “So then what? Every time I see you, I just want to put my hands and mouth on you.” I winced at my plain statement. “If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”
“I want you to. That’s a big part of the problem.”
“I want you to as well.” I stroked my gaze down her body, from the outline of her hard nipples through her shirt to her bare legs.
She pushed her hands into her hair and slipped off the desk. “Not at work. I’ll lose what little respect I have.”
“Got it.” I should be elated. This might be happening.
No more coming together and flinging apart.
But there was a hesitancy weighing on my conscience.
I wanted to go all the way with Sheridan, but I didn’t want to let her down.
Best to temper her expectations. “I should mention that I’m not looking for a relationship. ”
“Oh.” She fluttered her fingers. “Yeah. Me either. You don’t want to be the ex I talk shit about when I get drunk with my next handyman.”
Fuck that guy. He was made up, but I hated him. I also didn’t like her referring to me as an ex. All the more reason to set boundaries now. Sheridan deserved honesty, and she should know it wasn’t her who had scared me off relationships. “I was engaged once, and it didn’t end well.”
A thready chuckle left her. “Want to exchange shitty ex stories? Oh wait. I already did that.” She turned her back to me. “I’m not looking for a relationship either.”
I’d rather see her face when she said that, but it was better I didn’t so I could get this out. “I lost my job, and I was useless to her.”
She whirled around. “When you needed the support, she ditched you?”
Her righteousness soothed an old, achy wound inside me. “Sort of. I might’ve languished for a while.”
“Is that how she said it?”
I shrugged. Basically. “I had a career I’d gone to school for and enjoyed, and they cut me loose. My job replaced me with the code I helped build.”
“Jasper.”
“And then I couldn’t get another job.” I didn’t need her sympathy. There’d been no reason I couldn’t have tried harder, something to be worthy of her. “Didn’t help that she was picky about where she’d move to.” I clenched my jaw. “And what salary she’d move for.”
“She blamed you.”
“I dragged my feet. It’s not all on her.” When she cocked a brow, I swallowed. I wasn’t defending my ex. I was a realist. “Then when she left, I stayed in that rut, living off my investments until they were drained. When Lily met Eliot, he gave me a hand up.”
I hadn’t cared if it was a handout. I had learned quickly that ranch work wasn’t charity. Four seasons of toiling away outside, manual labor each day, but I’d been getting paid and enjoying my work again. Kind of like now. “When the ranch no longer needed me, you were there.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “My mom was—from beyond the grave.”
“Mrs. Bishop had my back.” I exchanged a grin with her. “But this isn’t a forever job. I like it, Sheridan, and I like working for you—office make-outs aside. I’m going to have to find something more stable. With benefits.” They were the kind of things a guy getting into a relationship would have.
“Yeah.” Her smile faded. “I have all the people of this resort relying on me.” She scrubbed her face. “And I’m probably going to lose them all to the competitor. They’ll offer more money, more benefits. Hell, they’d probably snatch you up too.”
I gripped her shoulders. Bad idea to touch her again. I just wanted to yank her into me. “It’ll be okay, Sheridan. We’ll figure this out.”
She tipped her head. “We?”
“If I can keep myself from getting those legs around me again.”
She giggled and dropped her head. “Okay. No more make-outs.”
The finality didn’t sit right with me. “No more—at work.”
She jerked her gaze back up. “Just at work?” she asked almost cautiously and picked up the little gift I had made. She rolled it in her fingers, and it was like her touch ghosting over my skin.
“We’re adults. We want casual.”
“What about anyone finding out?”
It wasn’t my job at risk. No one would respect me less for sleeping with the boss.
“That decision is up to you. If you need me to leave you alone so you can concentrate on Bishop’s Landing, I will.
If you need me to help you ease the pressure in a very explosive way, I will.
And if I have to keep my mouth shut and climb through your window at night? I’ll do that too.”
Sheridan
Two days after I came too close to getting busted making out in my office, I sat behind my desk with the door closed and locked.
It wasn’t to keep out staff or the handsome handyman I wanted a repeat with.
It was to make it look like I did this regularly.
Locked myself in and not just with Jasper.
That would look suspicious, and I was finally earning my staff’s respect without Constance here.
If this place shut down thanks to some new fancy resort, I’d have that.
My lips tingled. My nipples peaked at the whisper of the wind, like they wanted to be ready if Jasper suddenly appeared. The steady beat between my thighs demanded the type of relief only he could offer.
I could take him up on it.
I could do it right now. Casual.
When have I ever done casual? I could use the distraction though.
My office phone rang. I picked up the handset. “Hello?”
“Hi, Sheridan,” Maria said. “Is this a bad time?”
Why wouldn’t she just come in? Oh, right. The office door. “No, this is fine.”
“So there’s a family who rented two rooms, but now they’re asking if they can at least be across from each other. They thought we’d do that automatically.” Her tone turned regretful. She must’ve overlooked that.
“Don’t we have the room to accommodate?”
“Not on the first floor like they want. They didn’t indicate that initially either.”
Shoot. “Um…and no one’s a new check-in that we can bump upstairs?”
“Nope.”
“Then we can comp one of their rooms if they take the second level.” Please don’t let not having an elevator be an issue.
“Okay, but they might not be happy.”
“Offer them a complimentary stay if they cancel.” Pressure mounted behind my eyes. Two rooms for a weekend? We’d eat hundreds of dollars, but I couldn’t lose the customers. Customer service was all I could offer, and even then, a bigger resort could one-up me on that.
I hung up and pinched the bridge of my nose. This sucked so bad. I wasn’t going to micromanage, but I had to keep on top of things. We needed systems in place to prevent something like this from happening again. While I’d been holed up in my office, we might’ve lost out on significant income.
This place was too critical to me. I was too invested to risk it for a guy. I couldn’t mess around with Jasper.