Punt: A British Bad Boy Football Romance (31 page)

M
addie paused
to strip off her panties next, and then Jasper’s boxer briefs. In moments they were pressed flesh to flesh, his heat radiating into her body and intoxicating her further.

She swept her hands down her ribs and over her flat stomach, watching his eyes descend in line with her fingertips. She rose up on her knees and widened her stance just enough to give herself access to touch her most sensitive spot. Slipping two fingers down into her soft curls, she bit her lip against the moan that sprang forth when her fingertip stroked the silky wetness of her sex.

Jasper’s hands came up to grab her ass, and Maddie used one hand to spread herself so that he could see exactly what she was doing. After pausing to lick her fingertips for lubrication, she ever-so-gently swirled them around her pulsing clit. She fell into a little rhythm of motions, absorbed in watching Jasper’s face as he struggled not to interrupt. He groaned and cursed, his hands squeezing her flesh hard.

“Fuck, Maddie. You are so damned hot,” he breathed, sounding a little winded.

Maddie drew her fingers and reached up to brush them against his lips, which made him wild. She then reached around with the same hand and positioned his cock just so before nestling her entrance against him. He thrust, expecting her to pull away. Instead she pushed against him, taking his cock to the hilt in one smooth motion.

Jasper gritted out a string of impressively foul curses, and Maddie leaned over to kiss him again as she rocked her hips in a slow, soft movement. His kiss was scorching, hungry and needing and male. As Maddie began to roll her hips against him, he broke off the kiss with a growl and pushed her upright. He met her every movement with a stroke of his own.

Their excitement spiraled quickly, movements growing desperate as they each raced toward climax. Jasper reached up and wrapped his hand around the back of Maddie’s neck, his possessive need making her feel that much more excited. She peaked suddenly, almost violently, moaning her pleasure into his ear.

Jasper was only a few thrusts behind her, growling roughly as he released into her willing body. He thrust several times, groaning as he pulsed his seed deep into her body.

Rather than pull away, he splayed a hand over her lower back and pressed her close before lying down. They were still joined, Maddie lying atop Jasper, but at the moment it felt right. They lay in silence, each trying to regain enough breath to speak again.

It was some time before either stirred in the thick silence. Jasper was the first to speak.

“What were you thinking about earlier, when I first found you in the study?” Jasper asked.

Maddie blinked, surprised by his question. She thought for a moment before answering.

“I guess I was thinking about getting on a plane and going somewhere exotic. I’ve never been on a plane before, you know?”

Jasper was quiet for a moment before replying.

“No, I didn’t know. I guess I figured you’d taken a year off to travel, like most young Shifters do when they reach adulthood. It’s a pretty standard part of our education,” he said, turning onto his side to look at her as they spoke. Maddie winced as he eased out of her body, but he still held her close.

“I know. This is going to sound silly, but I just couldn’t leave Jace by himself. He never really traveled, supposedly because he was raising me. When I brought up my own plans, he would just look so worried. And then he got a serious job working for the pack and couldn’t just traipse around the world with me for a year,” Maddie said, trying not to sound bitter. She truly loved her brother, even when he was being a complete ass.

“What’s changed? If you’re considering leaving, there must be a reason that you feel you can leave him,” Jasper said. Maddie sighed, loathe to admit the reason she felt Jace would be completely fine without her.

“His mate, Tessa. You can tell when he looks at her, he’s just fucking so lost on her. Like she’s the sun and he revolves around her. It’s disgustingly cute,” Maddie said.

“I thought you didn’t really like Tessa?”

“It’s not that. It’s just… you know, she’s human, and she’s a stranger, and then out of nowhere she’s pregnant…” Maddie paused, not wanting to finish her statement.

“And suddenly she’s stolen Jace away from you?” Jasper asked, absently reaching out and fingering a lock of Maddie’s hair. Maddie frowned, disturbed by his accuracy.

“No. Maybe. I don’t really know. I can’t dislike her, she makes Jace so happy. When she looks at him, you can tell that he’s everything to her. Like without him, there’s no point in living.”

“I know what you mean. It’s an all-encompassing thing. No room for anyone else but your mate,” Jasper said. Maddie gave him a sharp look, suspicious.

“You sound like you know from experience. Did you feel that way about your last relationship?” she asked. “The one you’ve been so secretive about?”

She quirked a brow, letting him know that she disliked his total lack of transparency about his last girlfriend.

“No, I never did. My feelings for… for her… never ran that deep. Hers did, and that’s one of the reasons we didn’t work out. Not the only reason, though.”

“No, I’d guess not,” Maddie said, restraining herself from asking a thousand questions about his relationship with her predecessor.

“You should have seen how angry my ex was when I took a year off to travel. She practically yelled the Bunker down, telling me I should be focusing on my future role as Alpha instead of screwing around. It’s funny, looking back. She was probably right.”

His ex had been part of the pack? Maddie’s mind spun, going through a thousand possibilities for what had happened, but she didn’t want to sound like a fool. She stuck with the topic at hand instead.

“I, for one, am glad you didn’t listen to her. You probably saw all kinds of amazing things and learned a lot. Take it from someone who’s never been anywhere, getting yourself cultured is a big deal.”

“I went a few of the places on my list. Ireland, Egypt, New Zealand. Kenya, for several months. I roughed it anytime I could, just carried a backpack and slept under the stars. It was really incredible, and I could have kept going forever.”

“Well why didn’t you?” Maddie asked, puzzled. If she’d had the opportunity, she might never have come back at all.

Jasper’s gaze settled on her heavily, and he was silent for almost a full minute.

“I left something very important here, and I couldn’t keep going without it,” he finally said, his tone somber.

“Your pack?” Maddie asked.

“No.”

“Money? You ran out of money? Or… Oh. Did you miss your ex?”

Maddie tried not to sound too whiny as she said the last bit.

“Not even close,” he said with a laugh. Reaching out he pulled her into his arms even as she protested.

“What did you forget?”

“I’ll tell you some other time,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.

Maddie sighed and relaxed into his arms, thinking they were just going to drift off.

“I would go with you, if you asked me,” Jasper said after a long stretch of silence. Maddie startled a little, and looked up at him.

“You don’t even know where I’m going!” she said, confused. Where was this coming from?

“I’d still go, all the same.” Jasper shrugged, settling his head down close to hers.

“What about your pack?” Maddie asked, her brain scrambling to keep up with what he’d said.

“I’d figure something out. If you’d invited me, that is.”

“Oh,” Maddie said, put out. While she was trying to figure out how to respond, Jasper smoothed a hand over her hair and kissed her gently.

“Good night, Madd.”

“Good night?” Maddie parroted, now completely flustered. Jasper closed his eyes and almost immediately relaxed into sleep, leaving Maddie wide-eyed and no little bit freaked out.

Was Jasper offering to give up his life here to follow her around the world? If he was, did that even sound like a good idea? Sure, Jasper was funny and smart and interesting. And he really got Maddie on a deep level, almost too much really. Not to mention that he was a phenomenal lover, and he seemed to care for her, to some small extent. A girl could do worse for a traveling companion, especially when the guy was already her mate.

But he had so much more to do here with the Alabama pack, and at heart Jasper seemed to really need somewhere to call home. Eventually he would tire of traveling, and then he’d tire of Maddie. When he left, she’d be back where she’d started. All alone.

Maddie took the thought of accepting Jasper’s offer and crumpled it into a little ball, then stuffed it deep down inside herself. It wasn’t a good idea, and she couldn’t even consider it. It was better this way, better to avoid getting hurt in the first place.

If only that little part of her didn’t know that she’d already gotten a bit too close. That by now there was no way to avoid the pain altogether. Maddie took that voice and pushed it away, stuffing it down deep to keep the other treacherous thoughts company.

Still, it was a long time before she was restful enough to sleep.

J
asper woke late
, wincing at the thin stream of sunlight that snuck through the heavy bedroom curtains and fell across the bed. Rolling over to check his cellphone, he found the screen black. Maddie must have turned it off to give him extra time to rest.

Jasper sighed. Not that he didn’t appreciate the sentiment or the extra sleep, but he had a ton of things to do today. He needed to get together with Gwen and discuss morale, and also try to slog through some of the many requests Maddie had made to improve the Bunker. He didn’t want to change too much too fast and give the males the idea that his Beta was running the show completely, although it didn’t feel that far from the truth.

He considered that thought. The resentment he expected, the same feeling he’d experienced with Gwen, simply didn’t arise. He thought of Maddie running around and reorganizing the Bunker, and all he could muster was a smile. Apparently her unique combination of cajoling and flat-out demanding worked on him.

He wasn’t the one that needed to be sold, though. Maddie had merely to look at him the right way to topple all his intentions and get her way. His pack, though… they wouldn’t be so easy. Frankly, Jasper wondered if he ought to talk to the pack, ask them to be gentle with her. She’d put a lot of hours into this project, and it seemed important to her. He’d hate to see her feel rejected just because the males were wary of overbearing females.

He’d have to be sneaky about it, though. Gods forbid Maddie should find out that he’d meddled in her project. There would be hell to pay if she thought he was patronizing her. Maybe he should talk to her first, explain that the males might take more than a little coaxing to warm to her.

Sighing, Jasper rolled out of bed and grabbed his uniform. He’d worn the fitted black cargo pants and black cotton button-up a few times since he’d returned, and he’d noticed Maddie’s admiring glances each time. She’d mentioned repeatedly that the pack should be allowed to dress down while they were not working, but that didn’t stop her from scoping out his physique each time he wore the uniform.

Hell, maybe it would give him an advantage when he tried to talk to her this morning. A little cologne wouldn’t be off the mark, either. Women used their looks to get their way all the time; maybe turnabout was fair play.

After brushing his teeth and dashing on a subdued bit of cologne, Japer felt ready to take his mate on. Checking his reflection in the mirror, Jasper ran his fingers through his hair and flashed himself a winning smile. Maddie seemed to like gripping his hair during sex, so he’d skipped his usual buzz cut in favor of letting his blond locks grow out a bit more. He chuckled at his own logic as he headed out the door.

Leaving Alpha’s House, Jasper went into the Bunker entrance that led to the gym area. Maddie had worked there yesterday, directing several pack members as they lugged out old equipment and stripped down all the walls and floors. That had been early in the day, though, and Jasper hadn’t seen it since then. There was probably still a lot of work to be done, but he was curious to see exactly what she had planned.

The room was empty of pack members when he stepped inside, but there was still plenty to look at. The entire floor gleamed with new laminate wood, a nice light oak shade to hide scuffs. Instead of the low mirrors surrounding the entire room, the mirrors had been repurposed to create one entire wall of reflection while the other walls were painted a bright green color. There were new mats laid out in several distinct areas for free weights and calisthenics, and a whole area of new machines. Pairs of treadmills, stair climbers, and other machines were set neatly to one side, each with a new flat screen TV. Looking up, Jasper noticed that Maddie had put in discreet speakers all around the room so that music could be pumped through the whole gym.

Jasper’s phone rang. Fishing it out of his pocket, he saw that it was Gwen. Closing his eyes briefly, he answered.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know what the hell they do in wherever your little mate is from, but I am sure as fuck not taking orders from her,” Gwen barked, not bothering with pleasantries.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gwen,” Jasper sighed.

“Oh, really? So this isn’t your work?”

“You’re going to have to tell me what you’re talking about before I can confirm or deny anything.”

“Your fucking mate just told me I have babysitting duty today with the human! As if I don’t have anything more important to do than to sit here and make sure this inconvenient twit doesn’t get lonely!” Gwen seethed. “I am the damned Beta of this pack, Jasper! I have things to do!”

“You’re not the Beta anymore, Gwen.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re my second in command now, to be technical. Maddie’s the Beta.”

“That is not— Gods, Jasper. I’m looking for some support here, not a bunch of bullshit.”

“And you thought I would stand with you over my mate?”

“Clearly I did.”

“Well, you’re wrong. I don’t know why Maddie has assigned you to deal with the human, but I’m sure she has her reasons.”

“She’s being vindictive. She doesn’t like me, so she’s using her title to put me in my place.”

“And?”

Gwen paused, shocked.

“And— And I expect you to stop her!” she huffed.

“Has it occurred to you, Gwendolyn, that Maddie might have a good reason for asking you to babysit?”

“I can’t imagine what that could possibly be.”

“Maddie asked me for the names of five people that I would trust with her life.”

“The girl’s life?”

“No. Maddie’s life. You were one of them.”

Gwen was silent for a long moment, processing. Jasper waited, then added another bit.

“Maddie is convinced that this girl is in real danger, and I agree with her. She asked for autonomy to deal with the girl’s comfort and security, and I gave it to her. The other four males on my list have all had a turn watching the girl, and Maddie and Langston have done some shifts together too. Today must be your turn.”

“I don’t think this is appropriate,” Gwen said after a long silence.

“I don’t care,” Jasper said, his patience lapsing.

“Jasper—”

“No, Gwen. I’ve given you a lot of leeway because of what happened between us. But in this, in anything involving Maddie—”

“She’s just going to leave you high and dry, you know.”

“Enough, Gwen. Go babysit. And if I find out that you treated the human poorly, there will be hell to pay. Believe that.”

Jasper hung up, slipping the phone back into his pocket. Gwen was going rogue, Maddie was ripping up parts of his Bunker and making huge changes to everything…

What in the hell had he done to get himself in so deep with such intense women?

He sighed, crossing his arms and contemplating the new gym.

A door opened behind him and slammed closed, but Jasper barely noticed. He was too wrapped up in mulling over how to tame his mate and his second in command.