“I’m using you, El.” Jasper’s arms banded tighter. “By taking you to this wedding, I’m using you because I want to throw your beautiful face in theirs.”
Did he expect that to surprise me? Or piss me off? It didn’t. “Hell, yeah. We’re going together, and I’m going to look hot.”
Jasper stared down at me, eyes wide and unblinking.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “Thank you.”
“Welcome.”
“Not sure I deserve you.”
“Oh, you probably don’t,” I teased, earning a chuckle. Not quite the laugh, but I’d take what I could get from this man.
“It won’t be a fun trip,” he muttered.
The wedding was in Italy, something I’d learned about six weeks ago when Jasper had asked me if I had my passport. It was in the gun safe at Mom and Dad’s house. I’d gotten it simply to have, in case of a spontaneous trip. It still had Eden as my last name. So did my driver’s license.
There was no point in changing them to Vale, only to change them back.
“This will be the first time I’ve been to Europe,” I told him. “I’m having fun, no matter what.”
“All right.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Then we’ll have fun.”
“I, um, actually got you something.” I’d been waiting weeks for the right time to do this. A rush of nerves spiked as I shifted off Jasper’s lap, stretching for the nightstand on my side of the bed.
Pulling the drawer back, I felt around until my finger grazed the small, metal circle. I tucked it into my palm, then returned to my spot on Jasper’s lap, letting him draw the sheet around my shoulders.
“Since we’re going to this wedding for some revenge, and you got me a ring before my family’s function. Here.” With it pinched between my fingers, I held up the ring I’d ordered online.
It was titanium. Simple but bold, like Jasper. The inside and outer edges were polished to a shine, but the center had a matte sheen.
Jasper stared at the ring but made no move to take it from my hand.
My nerves doubled. “You said you didn’t wear rings.”
He kept staring at it, like if he touched it, the metal would burn his hand.
Okay, bad idea. I was about to throw it back in the drawer, to pretend like it never existed, when he moved, twisting us both so fast I barely realized what he was doing until I was flat on my back.
“Thank you. For the ring.” Jasper hovered above me, his eyes searching mine.
“Welcome. You don’t have to wear it. It was just a thought.”
“Okay,” he whispered. Then his mouth claimed my own, his tongue sweeping inside. He kissed me until I was breathless, until I pleaded for more.
We clung to each other until long after the thunderstorm outside had passed. Until I was boneless and fell into a deep sleep.
At some point during the night, the ring slipped out of my fingers and disappeared. Lost in the tangle of sheets.
The next morning, when I left Jasper sleeping to go to work, all I knew was that the ring wasn’t on his finger.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JASPER
There were three couples inside the lobby at The Eloise Inn. Two were chatting with each other while the third stood at the reception counter, talking to Eloise.
She smiled as she talked, radiating that gorgeous light, and handed them their key cards. Her hair was up today, not a tendril out of place. The white, button-down shirt she wore was pressed and crisp across her slender shoulders. When she pointed to the elevators, my ring on her finger glinted beneath the lobby’s lights.
I slipped inside, walking toward the fireplace.
Eloise’s gaze flicked my way. She smiled a little wider but otherwise didn’t miss a beat with her guests.
She’d snuck out this morning. Or maybe she’d said goodbye and I’d missed it. Last night was the hardest I’d slept in years.
It was strange to have my past out in the open. Part of me was relieved. Eloise should know what she was getting into before this wedding. But an unease, a vulnerability, had stirred this morning, mixing with the relief. The combination had left me raw.
No one knew the whole truth about my parents or Samantha. And though Sam had been there, I’d told Eloise things about Dan Sensei that even Sam didn’t know.
Eloise wanted to know me better than anyone. Now she did.
How long until she realized she could do a hell of a lot better?
Maybe she already had. Maybe she was counting down the days until this wedding was over and she’d be free.
Meanwhile, I was beginning to fear each and every day that passed. Time was going too damn fast.
Eloise finished with one guest, motioning the next in line forward. So I took a seat on one of the lobby’s leather couches, glancing around as I waited.
The morning sunlight streamed through the crystal clear windows. I hadn’t visited the inn often, but this was my first visit when a fire wasn’t burning in the hearth. Instead of a woodsy, smoky scent, it smelled like spring. Fresh. Clean. Fragrant. There was a small bouquet of flowers on the coffee table beside three artfully arranged magazines.
Every detail was designed to make guests feel welcome. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind who’d bought those flowers or placed those magazines.
“Hey, Jasper.” Knox Eden rounded the end of the couch, hand extended. The tattoos on his arm were visible today beneath the short sleeves of his Knuckles T-shirt.
“Knox.” I stood, shaking his hand as tension crept into my shoulders.
Our first encounter at Eloise’s old rental hadn’t been great. The dinner at the ranch hadn’t been much better. Their family was . . . different. Night and day to my own.
Last night, after Eloise had fallen asleep curled into my side, I’d thought long and hard about my family. About Samantha. About those phone calls I’d been taking for years.
Was the reason I always answered because she was the only one to call? Because Sam was my only connection to anything that resembled family? Was that why I was so resistant to the Edens? Some lingering resentment for my own that I projected onto her family?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
They still didn’t support her like she deserved. They still wanted to change her.
“Eloise said you guys are taking off for a wedding soon,” Knox said. “Italy?”
I nodded. “The Amalfi Coast.”
The trip would take twenty-two hours with the various stops and time changes. We’d be leaving early Thursday morning to arrive in Naples midday Friday.
“She’s excited,” Knox said.
“Me too,” I lied.
The wedding would likely be a disaster. And though I was looking forward to a weekend away with Eloise, of hotels and time alone together, this trip marked the end.
Her laugh rang through the lobby, drawing my attention. That smile of hers was brighter than any light bulb. Any star. She beamed, entirely in her element.
“She loves this hotel,” I told Knox.