The Rivals of Copper County (Copper County #2)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WATT

For a man who kept getting compared to a tree, I was feeling pretty fucking uprooted these days… but when my phone dinged as I stirred the pot of bubbling tomato sauce, I decided I wasn’t mad about it.

Jasper

Why do hockey players make terrible comedians?

I grinned down at my phone. Our silly bet from the other day had evolved into a constant string of jokes so terrible I would have to delete my text history or risk my future great-grandchildren thinking I’d lost my marbles.

I put my spoon down to type.

They don’t. As evidenced by the fact that I am HILARIOUS.

Bet-winningly hilarious.

Jasper

Pfft. You made me laugh once. ONCE. And it was mostly AT you. And anyway, it’s your fault my jokes don’t hit. A comedian is only as good as his straight-man and you never play along.

I snorted.

After this week, I don’t know that I’d pass as anybody’s straight man. Or do I need to remind you what happened Monday night?

The answer was a mind-exploding repeat of Saturday morning’s blowjob that had left me staggering home as crookedly as Jasper after his seven cocktails.

I hadn’t gotten a chance to return the favor—Jasper had gotten himself off again, which had kind of been a relief in the moment—but I’d been thinking about it a lot since then, and it felt like a missed opportunity. Next time I got a chance to put my mouth on him, I would take it.

Possibly even tonight.

Jasper

Don’t you dare get me hard when you’re not coming over for hours, asshole. Answer the question.

And then, before I could tease him again, Jasper added:

Jasper

NEW RULE: those who don’t play along don’t get their dicks sucked.

I smirked.

Fine. Why do hockey players make terrible comedians, Jasper? I’m DYING to know.

Jasper

Because their SCHTICKS are lame!

Do you get it? SCHTICKS?

I actually chuckled out loud, not because the joke was funny—Jesus, no. Even at twelve, I’d had better taste—but because he was. And because texting with Jasper had become one of my new favorite?—

“Dad?” Derry called, walking in from the living room. “I said, can I go over to Zach’s?”

“Huh?” I glanced up and almost fumbled my phone in my haste to put it down. “Sorry, kiddo. Didn’t hear you come in. Didn’t you just drop Zach off?”

“Yeah. I came home ’cause it’s pasta night. Duh.” He strolled into the kitchen and snuck a slice of cucumber out of the salad I’d prepped. “But I meant after dinner. He and I have, like, school stuff to do. His mom says it’s okay if I stay over.”

Stirring my sauce again, I narrowed my eyes. “You also have school tomorrow, remember?”

“Dad, we’re seniors. This time next year, I might be chanting fraternity pledge songs by the light of the moon, and you’d never know about it.”

I stared at him, arrested, and he laughed out loud. “Oh, my God. The look on your face. Aren’t you the one who wants me to have the full college experience? Doesn’t that include pledging a fraternity if I want to?”

“Fuck.” I shook my head. “There was nothing in the parenting manual about this. Yes, fine, you can go. This once. Did you do your English essay?” I demanded.

“Yep.”

“And your history assignment?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And your…” I took a wild guess. “Math?”

“Actually, no. We’re working on spreadsheets , and I was wondering if you could give me a hand?—”

“Go pack your stuff for Zach’s,” I said, unable to stop the grin from spreading over my face as Derry laughed his ass off. “Then get back down here.” I pointed at the pasta timer with my spoon. “You have exactly three minutes, fifteen seconds.”

Derry saluted and ran out of the room. After giving the sauce another stir, I opened my phone again.

Dear Jasper, I am writing this text from beyond the grave because that joke was so desperately unfunny, it killed me. Remember me fondly, Watt.

Jasper

Oh, I’ll remember you. Here lies Watt. He didn’t have a Jaguar convertible and I’m funnier than him. SUCK IT.

Smiling, I took a deep breath and typed back.

Okay. I will.

It took a minute for Jasper to respond.

Jasper

Wait, what?????????? Explain.

Gotta go. Pasta night with Derry. See you later.

“Dad? The timer’s going off. Dad!”

“Shit.” I clicked off my phone and jumped into action, scooping the pasta out of the water and into the sauce.

Derry dropped his duffel bag on the floor by the island and came over to mooch more cucumbers. “You and I are going to have to have a talk about this constant phone usage, young man. When I was a lad, we didn’t have phones. We communicated by tying carrier pigeons to stone tablets, and we never sent them off at meal time?—”

“Yeah, yeah. Grab the salad and bring it over,” I instructed. I nodded down at the pasta pot. “I’ve got this.”

I slid my phone into my pocket before bringing the pasta to the table.

“Soooo,” Derry said, grabbing the tongs and dishing out noodles before I was even seated. “What’s new with you?”

“Me?” I shrugged. “Oh. Ah. Not much. Slow week, now that the U-Pick’s closed. Posted sign-ups for my January course on integrated pest management. Finished winterizing the back garden and planted some rye. Constantine and I met with Chris and Reed to talk about the landscape design for their place—have you been over there to see it yet?”

Derry shook his head, mouth full of pasta.

“Looking good. I mean, it’s actually in the middle of renovations, so it looks like shit, but they took my advice and hired Brew Barnum to do the kitchen for them, and Brew’s gonna knock it out. I don’t care how much you love DIY, if you’re trying to turn an ’80s laminate monstrosity into a Craftsman revival, you need an expert?—”

“Uh-huh.” Derry set down his fork, folded his hands, and looked at me. “You gonna tell me who you were texting?”

I blinked. “Texting?” I said, like I’d never heard of the word. I was pretty sure my face was as red as my pasta sauce. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t be weird about it. You’re nearly as bad a liar as Chris. I know you were texting someone earlier, and I’m pretty sure you were doing it last night, too.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you dating someone?”

“No.” I shook my head, probably a little harder than the situation warranted. “Nope.”

“Because it would be okay if you were. More than okay.” He picked up his fork again and twirled more noodles. “Like, if you and Zach’s mom?—”

“No,” I repeated. “Kayla and I are friendly, and that’s all there is to it. I told you that when we went on those dates a couple years ago, remember? I’m not dating anyone.”

This wasn’t a lie, technically… but saying it felt wrong anyway.

I had a policy of being honest with Derry. I didn’t share every detail of my life, but as he’d grown, I’d been pretty frank about stuff I thought might affect him—puberty, dating, drugs, alcohol, mental health.

This thing with Jasper, though, felt like it was in a category all by itself.

As I’d told Jasper, it wasn’t that I wanted to keep our hookups a secret because I thought Derry or anyone would have a problem with Jasper being a man—they wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t give a shit if they did.

The reason I didn’t want to talk about it was because the whole situation—our friends-with-benefits relationship and my first steps into hooking up with a man—felt delicate and new, like the first green shoots of a sapling that had sprouted unexpectedly out of a seed that had been planted twenty years ago. I wanted to protect it from the elements and let it grow. To see what it developed into, without explaining or dissecting it, even in my own head.

This tree, whatever kind of tree it was, was never going to bear fruit. Who knew how long someone as smart and determined and beautiful as Jasper would want to keep up the -with-benefits part of our friendship? And even if it lasted for as long as he stayed in town, Jasper was leaving, and that would be that. Which was all the more reason to keep it to myself, to enjoy it while it lasted, and to not give the town gossips anything to pick over when it was done.

It wasn’t only Derry I wasn’t talking to about it. I hadn’t updated Chris or Ollie, either, though Ollie had texted me eggplant emojis and question marks repeatedly, and Chris had given me several significant looks earlier in the day.

Derry was the person I felt guiltiest about not telling, though, not because he needed to know about my sex life—he most definitely did not—but because I hated hiding that Jasper and I were more than just co-coaches who’d gotten to be buddies.

Jasper had been my best friend once. He was my friend now. And it bothered me that I’d been so hurt and resentful I hadn’t talked about someone who’d been incredibly important to me.

I’d tried to erase Jasper from my history, and that wasn’t fair.

“What about you?” I asked Derry distractedly. “Anything new happening with you this week?”

He made a thoughtful noise. “The usual,” he mumbled around a mouthful of pasta. “School. Practice. Homecoming’s this weekend. I think Zach and me and a bunch of the guys are gonna go to the dance. Zach’s been having kind of a rough week.”

“Yeah? Rough how? ”

Derry finished chewing, swallowed, and took a deliberate sip of water. “He wanted us to go to a festival in Syracuse this Saturday to have a little fun and blow off steam. But his mom’s, like, obsessed with him getting a hockey scholarship, and she’s convinced the scout will be coming to the game next week.”

“Hmm. I haven’t heard anything about it, but if that’s true, the team’s in pretty good shape. We have a solid shot against Baxter.” I cocked my head. “You worried?”

“No,” he said, but the way he bit his lip suggested a yes . “Zach’s mom said he couldn’t go to Syracuse, though. That he needs to stay home so he can train, rest, and focus. He’s super bummed.”

I nodded. “I get it. Frankly, I see both sides. I’d be disappointed too, but Zach’s been a little bit distracted lately, and it shows.” I’d told Zach the same thing earlier at practice. “He was doing better with his communication on the ice last week. This week, not so much. He’s got to impress those scouts if he wants to wear navy and orange for Utica next year.”

“I know. He knows, too.” Derry looked at me intently. “But hockey’s not the only thing in the world, right?”

I felt like I’d found myself transported to a conversational minefield.

“No, of course not,” I said carefully. “It is pretty important if it’s what’s getting you through college, though, right? I was under the impression Zach couldn’t afford it any other way.”

“That’s what his mom says.” Derry frowned down at his plate. “I told him there are other scholarships. Academic ones. Or, like, he could defer college for a year and save up.” Troubled hazel eyes met mine. “The best part of our Utica plan was that we were doing it together. I want him to be happy, but it wouldn’t be the same going without him?—”

“Hey, hey.” I shook his shoulder gently. Apparently, overthinking was as genetic as hazel eyes and dark hair. “You’re stressing about something that might not even happen. Let’s talk about it next week, after the game. We’ll have a better idea then, okay?”

Derry hesitated for a second, then blew out a relieved breath and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. We’ll hold off until next week. Good plan.”

I grabbed his chin gently. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Dermott. And not just because you’re a good student and a freaking amazing player who’s going to kick ass at college hockey, whether you get a scholarship or not.” I winked. “You’ve got a huge heart. Zach’s lucky to have you.”

Derry lifted one shoulder. “I’m lucky to have him. He’s a pain in the ass sometimes. Or, like, all the time.” He huffed out a laugh. “But… I dunno. He and I are a team.”

I nodded and picked up my fork again. “I know exactly what you mean. Did I ever tell you I had a friend like that when I was your age?”

“You did?” He wrinkled his nose. “Who? Oliver?”

“Nah. Ollie hadn’t moved to Copper County yet. It was, ah… Jasper, actually.”

Derry laughed again, but when he saw I was serious, his eyes widened. “Jasper, as in Coach Lancaster? But… Zach’s mom said you guys were rivals. That you, like, hated each other.”

I shook my head. “No. Never. We were rivals the way you and Zach are. We competed all the time—mostly over silly stuff, and occasionally about important stuff, too. But I could tell him… ju st about anything.”

Derry frowned fiercely, pasta seemingly forgotten for the moment. “What happened? How did I not know this?”

“Because he left town, and we lost touch.” I looked at him squarely and admitted, “And I’ve started to realize, since he came back, that it was half my fault. I was hurt and maybe a little jealous because he was living a big life on the West Coast. I figured he’d forgotten all about me.”

Derry pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Do you regret it? Do you… do you wish you’d stuck together? Stayed friends?”

I dragged the tines of my fork through the last bits of sauce on my plate and considered this. The simple answer was to tell Derry with confidence that I had no regrets, but I remembered Jasper saying Derry’s a smart kid . You don’t have to have all the answers.

“I don’t know, bud,” I said slowly. “On the one hand, yeah, I do regret it. I didn’t act like the person I want to think I am. Because of my own hurt, I wasn’t a good friend to him when I could have been. On the other hand, no, because I have you and this place.” I waved a hand to indicate the orchard. “And I like my life. I’m content. If Jasper hadn’t left when he had and the way he had… I don’t know if I’d have this. Maybe I’d have something different that I liked just as much. Maybe not. It’s… complicated.”

To my surprise, Derry nodded. “If we all followed the same path to happiness, the traffic would be ridiculous,” he said sagely.

I blinked at him. “That’s… true.”

Derry smiled. “Coach Lancaster told me that the other day. I like him,” he declared. “Maybe it’s his mindfulness stuff or whatever, but… he’s got a good vibe.”

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “ He does.”

“So… you’re friends again now, right? And that’s why you took the coaching job all of a sudden?”

“I told you, I did that for the sake of the team,” I said. “Though I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you first?—”

“Meh.” Derry waved this away. “I’m over it.”

I mentally rolled my eyes. He’s been one-word-answering me for a week, and now he’s over it?

But then I thought about my newly recharged friendship with Jasper after I’d been a cranky shithead for years … and decided maybe that was genetic, too.

“Yeah, Jasper and I are friends again. I’m, ah, helping him clear out Mabel’s place. She collected a lot of stuff over the years, and he needs to sort through it before he puts the place on the market.”

“Whoa, whoa. He’s leaving again?” Derry’s brows knit together. “What for?”

“Because his life is in LA, Derry, just like mine’s here. He’s only teaching while Coach Monroe’s on maternity leave.”

“But… did you tell him he could have a life here, too? Like, there’s so many reasons for him to stay,” he said, all fired up. “Do you know if he even likes his life in California? He said he was over the whole modeling thing. Isn’t it your job, as his friend, to call him out when he’s being dumb?”

I shook my head patiently. For all of Derry’s maturity, sometimes he just didn’t understand the way the world worked. “It’s my job, as an adult, to give my friend the respect and space to make his own choices. Remember, living in Copper County isn’t for everyone. Lots of people like to come here for the summer, but most folks don’t stay. Your mom wasn’t a fan of this place. Your grandparents couldn’t wait to leave. Besides…” I spread my hands on the ta ble. “Not everyone is meant to stay in your life for the whole of it, Derry. Some people are just there for a season. They change you, and they… they grow you, but you can’t hold on to them too tightly. You need to let them go so they can grow, too.”

Derry chewed on the inside of his lip. “You really think that? That you need to, like, support your friend, no matter what? Even if they want to leave?”

I raised an eyebrow. “As long as they’re not making choices that are going to harm themselves or others—which includes, but is not limited to, drunk driving, face tattoos, and skipping school?—then yes.” I gave him a wistful smile. “I do.”

“I still say that’s dumb, but…” He sighed, resigned, and pushed his plate back without even going for seconds. “Maybe you’re right.”

I wished I wasn’t.

But it was all the more reason not to waste the limited time I had with Jasper.

Two hours later, after Derry had left, I found myself pushing Jasper against the wall in his back hallway with a sense of urgency I could barely control. My hands fisted in his worn T-shirt, tugging him against me while my lips crashed into his.

His breath hitched in surprise, but he quickly matched my intensity.

Fortunately, Jasper was pretty damn practiced at balancing after managing to stay upright on his skates this week, or we might have ended up on the floor.

Then again, maybe that wouldn’t be the worst outcome .

“Holy shit.” Jasper’s voice was ragged. “I had no idea my jokes would have this effect on you. Wait until… you hear the one… about apples…”

I chuckled breathlessly, and my lips found Jasper’s again, harder this time. When I pressed my body against his, our hips ground together in a way that sent sparks shooting down my spine.

I’d fantasized about this a bunch of times during the week—as in, every day—but it just wasn’t the same. My memory couldn’t quite capture the perfect pressure of Jasper’s cock when he rubbed his body against mine or the way his fingers felt when they tangled in my hair to pull me closer. I deepened the kiss, sliding my fingers down Jasper’s chest, my fingertips mapping out every inch of him through his thin T-shirt.

But when I got to his waist, I faltered like I’d reached the edge of a cliff. In our previous times together, this was the part where I’d stop and let Jasper take over. I didn’t want to do that this time, but I definitely needed a minute.

“So. Tomorrow,” I said. “You and me, skating lesson? I haven’t forgotten. I talked to Ollie. My friend Ollie? One of his physical therapy patient’s grandsons is the maintenance guy at the rink, and he’s letting us in early. Like, five o’clock early. I can pick you up. Or maybe it’d be better if we took separate cars since you’ll need to get to school? Your call.”

Jasper blinked those beautiful blue eyes like he wasn’t sure where my babble tsunami was coming from or why. “N’kay. Whatever you want, Watt.” He licked his lips and added in a drugged whisper, “Kiss me again?”

Laughing softly, I kissed the corner of his mouth, then his jaw, letting my tongue trail down his neck. He shivered against me, and that small reaction made me bolder.

“You are so damn sweet,” I breathed against the shell of his ear. I slid my hands lower to rest on Jasper’s hips, my fingers pressing in just enough to keep him grounded. “Sweet smile. Sweet heart. But how sweet do you taste?” The heat in my voice made the simple words sound like a promise.

Jasper groaned, his hand tightening in my hair as if he didn’t want to let go… and that gave me the courage to drop to my knees.

I paused for a second and looked up. Jasper’s gaze met mine, his pupils blown wide with want, and he nodded frantically.

I swallowed hard as nerves fluttered in my chest—I really hated not knowing what I was doing—but my desire was way stronger than my nerves, and although this was new… fuck , it felt right.

I wanted to learn every part of Jasper while he was here with me.

And I’d have plenty of time for overthinking later.

Pressing a kiss to Jasper’s stomach through his shirt, I moved my hands to his belt. My pulse raced as I undid the buckle, the click click of the metal feeling like a countdown to something I couldn’t turn back from… and didn’t want to. My fingers trembled, but I pushed on, unzipping Jasper’s jeans and sliding them down, down, down… and then off entirely.

Jasper’s dick was long and hard and cut, his length already flushed red and his head shiny with precum. Hands pressed into his thighs, I leaned in and took a cautious lick… and moaned.

He was sweet but also salty and a little sharp, like a green apple. It was perfectly Jasper… and so fucking delicious I lapped at him again, needing more .

Jasper let out an answering groan that went straight to my dick.

It was hard to be nervous when he was already so hard just from kissing and rubbing off on each other. And the look on his face—half-lidded eyes, mouth slightly open, completely lost—made me feel ten feet tall. Like a dick-sucking prodigy, even before I’d fully gotten my mouth on him.

I wanted to make him feel just as good. To show him how fucking gorgeous he was, inside and out. To tell him without words how badly I wanted him.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned in and licked a slow, wet stripe up the softness of Jasper’s skin from root to tip. More precum welled, and I eagerly licked it up.

Jasper hiked up his shirt with a frustrated noise like he was pissed that it was blocking his view, then, in a single smooth move, dragged the offending garment off and threw it somewhere on the floor beside us.

“Y-yes,” he said unsteadily. “Do it.”

Eyes locked on his, I leaned in and suckled lightly at his tip while my fingers tracked the firm planes of his body— fuck, he was cut —up the thick golden-brown of his happy trail, over the dip of his navel, across his smooth, muscular chest, to toy with his small, dark nipples.

His back arched, and I caught his hip with one hand, pushing him against the wall to hold him in place.

Chuckling slightly, I ran my hands up Jasper’s thighs. I knew what I liked when I jerked myself, what felt good to me , so I cupped his balls firmly in my hand and rolled them while still sucking him gently.

Jasper’s arms flew out to catch the wall like he’d been electrocuted, and his legs trembled. Excellent .

Jasper’s body quaked and shivered as I sucked him in another inch, then pulled back.

“Is this… payback?” he demanded. I was pretty sure he meant to sound outraged, but he only sounded dazed. “Oh, God. Suck me. All the way. Please , Watt.”

To be perfectly honest—and for maybe the first time ever—I hadn’t meant to tease him. I’d simply been drawing it out because I was lost in the glory of his body and figuring out what made him craziest. I wanted to lay him out and feast on him for days. I wanted to taste every inch of him—to know what his balls felt like on my tongue, to rim him until he came apart. To taste every freckle that dotted his hard, muscular thighs.

But his plea made my pulse race, and taking a deep breath, I sank lower, taking as much of him into my mouth as I could—which wasn’t nearly as much as I wanted—before I gagged a little bit. Clearly, I was going to need some practice before I could take all of him.

Jasper didn’t seem to mind, though. His fingers were threaded through my hair on each side of my head, his face flushed and clenched, blue eyes glazed with pleasure.

“Watt,” he breathed, almost in disbelief. “Fuck, baby. So good.”

Those whispered words lodged themselves in my chest. I took him deep again and felt Jasper’s body react, fingers clutching at me while his hips moved in an abortive thrust.

I wanted that, suddenly. Wanted him to fuck my face and take control. Maybe not today, but… yeah. Definitely soon.

I curled my fingers around the base of his cock and started stroking him in time to the up-down of my mouth, setting a rhythm that I’d swear echoed my own heartbeat and the steady throb of my cock against my fly.

I spared a single moment of regret that I hadn’t thought to take my own pants off, or at least unzip them, before starting this, but I didn’t have the hands or coordination to do anything about that now. I was too busy worshipping Jasper with my mouth, savoring his gasps and whimpers like I was saving them up for a long, cold winter.

“Don’t stop,” Jasper warned, as though that was even possible. “Please, baby. I’m so close. Watt… I’m coming. Watt !”

Jasper said my name like a prayer, his dick growing even harder in my mouth. I guessed he was warning me so I could pull off, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to feel him come in my mouth. I wanted to taste it. I wanted the proof that I’d made him lose his mind.

His fingers gripped my hair painfully tight, his cock throbbed, and his whole body clenched as his cum flooded my mouth. I caught every pulse and wave of his pleasure, swallowing them all down and making them a part of me. It was raw and… well, beautiful.

Unforgettable.

Before I knew what was happening, I found myself flat on my back in the middle of the entryway rug with a very naked Jasper on top of me, kissing me wildly.

“Holy fuck,” he muttered, his voice as rough as though he’d been the one with a dick in his mouth. “Holy fuck, baby.”

I sucked in a breath, not because I didn’t like Jasper calling me baby or because it felt wrong, but because I liked it a little too much.

It felt a little too right.

Temporary , I reminded myself, even as Jasper’s hands—gratifyingly clumsy now—reached for my fly. Friends with benefits . Do not ruin this with expectations .

But when he tugged my jeans down and got his hand around my length, I couldn’t stop myself from pulling Jasper on top of me, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and plunging my tongue into his mouth to taste him again.

It was too late. I was already addicted to him. I didn’t know if I could ever get enough.

Mind reeling, chest heaving, I forced myself to stop thinking about the future—a future where Jasper would be back in Los Angeles while me and my big, complicated feelings would be here in Copper County—and to focus on the present. On the perfection of Jasper’s hand on my cock and the hot affection in his eyes as he stared down at me.

“Jasper!” I shouted desperately, back arching off the floor as I came and came and came. “Fuck.”

“I may… have been wrong,” Jasper said a long moment later. I was still sprawled on the floor half-naked—which was distinctly chilly—but with Jasper’s forehead pressed directly over my thudding heart and his naked leg slung over my thigh, I didn’t have the will to move.

I was pretty sure my heart kicked up an extra notch, though I tried to make myself sound easy. “Wrong? About what?” Please don’t let it end yet.

“About being better at that than you.” He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at me, teasingly suspicious. “Are you sure I’m the first guy you’ve been with?”

“Oh,” I croaked. I dragged a hand through his messy golden hair. “Yes. Very sure.”

This would have been the time, maybe, to tell him that he was the only guy I’d ever felt this way about. That I could count on one hand the number of people I’d been sexually attracted to ever and still have fingers left over. That my feelings for him were utterly unique to anyone I’d ever met… and that he wasn’t just my first guy, he was probably also my only .

Hell, maybe Jasper could explain it to me since I still didn’t understand it.

But I didn’t want Jasper to get the wrong idea. Friendship with benefits was the rule we’d laid out, and I had no expectation of that changing. Like I’d told Derry earlier, sometimes you couldn’t hold on to things for more than a season. And if there was one thing I’d learned, it was the tighter you tried to hold them, the more it hurt when they left anyway.

“Ridiculous.” Jasper slumped back down with his cheek to my chest.

I blinked, wondering for a second if he’d read my thoughts, then craned my neck so I could see his face. “What is?”

“That you’re so good at that.” He sounded peevish. “I know we tease each other a lot, but it would be nice to be better at something than you are.”

I found myself laughing in disbelief. “You sucked my brains out through my dick twice this week. I’ve been making notes, dumbass.”

“So… you’re saying I taught you everything you know?”

“Mmhmm. You’re an excellent teacher.”

Jasper grunted, apparently mollified, and cuddled closer.

My heart squeezed. I carded my hand through his sweat-damp hair again, and he shivered.

“Come on.” I slapped his flank. “I don’t want you to get a chill. You’ve got an early skating lesson in the morning, remember?”

He groaned and rolled onto his back. “You were serious about that? ”

I laughed as I pushed to my feet and reached out a hand to help him up. “Yep. That’s the only time the rink is free.”

Jasper reached for his jeans and dragged them on, then set his hands on his hips and sighed tiredly as he faced the living room. “I guess… we should start cleaning, then, huh? Before it gets too late?”

“Probably,” I agreed. I ran my thumb over his cheek. He didn’t look quite as weary as he had a week ago, but it was clear this process was taking a toll on him. “Were you working on the house late last night?”

Jasper nodded. “And the night before, too, after I got home from Tam’s. It feels kind of endless. I can’t imagine what it’d be like if I had to work on the campground, too.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the cabins spread through the woods by the lake. “I need to thank your friend Chris and his fiancé for the renovations they did. I’ll pay them back somehow.”

I shrugged. “They don’t expect payment. Though, you know, maybe some pumpkin muffins wouldn’t go amiss.” I patted my stomach.

Jasper’s eyes lit with humor. “And I suppose I could make you some at the same time?”

“It would be the friendly thing to do,” I agreed fake-seriously. I slid my hand down his arm, threading our fingers together.

He laughed… and then yawned. “M’kay. This weekend. For tonight, let’s finish up the den. There are only a couple more piles to sort since I got the rest done yesterday. Turns out, the couch is still in great shape, and the television’s only a couple years old—” He tried to tug me down the hall.

I resisted. “Now, that’s an idea,” I said. “How about we take the night off and watch television?”

“Television,” Jasper repeated, his eyes searching mine. “Like, Netflix and chill?”

I laughed. “We already chilled.” Though, who was I kidding? I’d be ready to go again in ten minutes… five if Jasper remained shirtless. “I mean actual television. I mean the two of us sitting on a sofa together, with blankets, and watching the single greatest television show of all time.”

“Oh.” He sounded surprised. “What show?”

“Jasper,” I said seriously. “Have you ever heard of the show John Ruffian: Pretender ?”

He shook his head. “No? Should I?”

“Oh, baby,” I said, pulling him down the hall. “I am about to rock your world.”