Then & Now (28 page)

“Yes.  I think that is a great idea.”  She sighed as the man who fell in front of them tried to give Jasper a high-five. 

Once outside she finally felt like she could breathe.  Although the party had spit some of its intoxicated out onto the lawn, the air was cool and the space was refreshing.

“Better?”  Jasper asked eyeing a couple of men in a darken corner of the yard.

“Yes, thank you.” She answered while she regarded him quietly.  She couldn’t help but notice how all the woman at the party seemed to stare as he past. Though she couldn’t blame them. He was fluid in his movements, his voice was deep and soulful, and that face, even now in the soft lighting of the streets he looked as if he belonged to the Gods.

“May I ask you a question?” He asked offhandedly.

“Yes.”

“Why do you come to these things?  I know you don’t enjoy them.”

His words caught her off guard.  “What do you mean?  Of course I do.”  She lied with a nervous giggle.

Stopping where he was, he turned and faced her head on.  “No you do not.” He argued tightly.  “I’ve watched you at these absurd gatherings and from the moment you walk in their door, your skin starts itching to get back out.” 

“How did you know that?”  Shocked she eyed him carefully.  She had never told anyone that before.  Even drunk she kept her dislike of her friend’s parties under wraps.

Giving her an indifferent lift of his broad shoulders he kept his beautiful eyes trained hers. “Like I said, I watch you.”

“All part of the job.”  She muttered to herself trying not to put too much into his statement.  He watched her at the parties, because it was what he was paid to do and nothing more.

“That and I enjoy watching you.”  He said in response to her observation.

Her breath caught in her throat.  So much for not putting much into his statement.  “You
enjoy
watching me?”  She asked with each word wobbling off her suddenly dry tongue.

“Yes, very much.”
  His voice dropped to a husky low that had her knees shaking.

“Oh?”  Was the only reply she could come up with?  She was trying to act like his words were unconcerned to her.  But she knew she was failing miserably.  The way his eyes seemed to caress her face did some strange things to her insides.  God, she wanted to kiss him.  To be able to just throw her arms shamelessly around him would be heaven.

Quickly she turned from him.  That would never happen.  Not after all these years.  Not when he still viewed her as the little girl he was hired to protect. 

She cleared her throat and focused on the crowd coming towards them.  “Don’t look now, but I think some of the idiots fallowed us out.”

He nodded as he eyed them carefully. 

“Hey, watch this!”  Someone called from large mob that were closer to them now.  One of them was running in a confused circle with a sheet over his head while the others laughed at his expense.  The group got closer as the boy under the sheet became more frantic with his movements.

“Watch it, boys.”  Jasper called as they got dangerously closer.

Before Leya really got the chance to react the boy in the sheet had ran right into her, knocking her into the street.  Giving herself a moment to steady her wobbly feet, she shook off the dizzy feeling of being spun around.

“Leya!” Jasper’s frantic yell had her whirling in time to see a car coming at her at a speed that had to be double of the required limit.

She knew she had to move, jump, just get the hell out of the way, but her legs weren’t cooperating.  Realizing she was about to be flattened she closed her eyes and waited for impact.  Only it came from the wrong direction.  Her body landed with a hard thud, while her ankle gave a sickening twist in the other direction and her head smacked against the pavement.  She was vaguely aware that she had made it to the other side of the road, when whatever had hit her began to move from the top of her body to the side of her.

It took her brain a moment to realize what hit her was human and another minute to realize that human was Jasper.  “Leya, baby?  Are you okay?”

Did he just call her baby or had she hit her head harder than she took into consideration?

Before she had a chance to answer he was up and running towards the kid that ran into her.  The skinny little nothing had stopped only a few feet away and was staring at her as if he wasn’t sure what had happened.

“What in the hell are you doing?” Jasper shouted while he grabbed the boy who looked no fatter then a pencil when put up against Jasper’s glorious form.  “You could have killed her!”

“Jasper!”  She called to him when she saw the devastation on the poor kid’s face.

“I didn’t think—I d-didn’t see her!” The kid cried.

“That’s right you didn’t think!  You’re drunk!”  Jasper continued to bark, shaking the kid while he did.

“Jasper!”
Getting to her feet, her ankle screamed in protest. She let out a surprised yelp, which got everyone’s attention including Jasper’s.

Troy Power, the host of the uncontrolled party and—as luck would have it—a med student, steadied her as he took a closer look at her ankle.  “I don’t think it’s broken, but I can’t tell in this light.”

She let out a groan of dismay as the pain throbbed into her toes.

“You’re going to have to get this looked at, Leya.  I’m not a doctor, yet.  But if it is broke you’re going to have to take care of it immediately.”
Troy assured her with a sympathetic smile.

While she was weighing her options Jasper’s car appeared by her side and instantly he was helping her into the luxurious looking interior. The cool leather seats hugged around her, making it difficult to really complain. 

She watched in silence while Jasper climbed in and began twist all sorts of gadgets on the console.  Suddenly the car became quiet and comfortably warmer.

“How’s your ankle?”  Jasper asked while keeping his eyes on the road.

Frowning playfully she answered.  “It’s sore, but I think I’ll live to see another obnoxious party.”

“The little shit was being an idiot.”
He grunted. 

Raising an eye brow she leveled her eyes on him.  “It was an accident.”

He shot her a surprised look.  “That wasn’t an accident.  He was being irresponsible. He damn near killed you.”

She gave him a short laugh with shake of her head.  “He was drunk.  Hell, I doubt he even knew we were that close to the road.”

“Why are you defending him?”  His expression was priceless.  He had been too pent up on beating the poor kid that he didn’t see the remorseful contortion on the kid’s scared face.

“He felt bad, I could tell.”  She sighed, shifting her leg in effort to relieve some pressure.  

“Good.  He should feel bad.  He was acting like a lunatic.”  He mumbled.

She had to laugh at his irony.  “Like you are now?”  Grabbing the door handle as he weaved through traffic, she swallowed a scream. “It’s only my ankle.  I’m not bleeding to death or anything.”

“You hit your head on the ground. You could have a concussion.”  He spared her a worried glance.

“Trust me, all the ground did was rattled a few bells between my ears.” 
And had made her slightly delirious.  She could’ve sworn he had called her baby, and yet why would he?

“We’ll let a doctor decide that, Okay?” The concern in his voice nearly broke her heart.

“Okay.”  Her voice was barely audible.  His concern for her safely had her reacting like a teenaged fool.  Her heart skipped in hope that maybe one day he would look at her more as a woman capable of his love, then the helpless teen.

While he turned
the car into the Emergency Center she eyed the hospital’s entrance.  It had been over nine years since she had stepped inside a hospital and the last time was to say good bye to her mother.

She remembered the day as if it had happened yesterday. While her father had died instantly, her mother hung onto life. After three days the massive internal bleeding her mother finally let go of life and ended the pain.
Leya had only been an arm length away.

Suddenly her car door opened tearing her from memories that were still too raw to rehash.  She glanced over to Jasper who was holding his hand out for her to take.  Blinking twice she took his warm hand without looking up at his handsome face.   

Gently he helped her to her feet. “Can you walk?”  He asked, shutting the car door once she was out.

“I think so.”  Refusing to let him know her suddenly awkward behavior, she took a step forward.  A quick stabbing pain shot up her leg causing her to let out a squeal of surprise.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”  He admitted.  Picking her up off the ground as if she weighed nothing at all, he carried her towards the hospital.

“You don’t have to carry me.”  She demanded as she felt the heat rising up her neck.

She got a soft chuckle as his response.  “You can’t walk.  And hopping to the ER will take all night.”

Rolling her eyes she tried to calm the blush before they actually made it through the doors.  Luckily the hospital was vacant.  They were able to go straight back to one of the ER rooms.  Although they had put her into a wheelchair, Jasper fallowed closely behind.  She was comfortable and grateful for his presents, even though she wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of the building.

Once she was settled onto the hospital bed, she squirmed at the thought of who might have been on that bed before her.  An unwelcome thought of the bed covered in someone else’s blood almost had her jumping off the bed and making a feeble run for the door.

“You don’t like hospitals, do you?”  Jasper asked with humor lining his eyes.

She shook her head without looking at him.  “How did you guess?”

“Your skin is crawling.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.  I haven’t been here since….”  She fell silent not wanting to remember anymore.

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Jasper apologized quickly.

She lifted her hand to set him at ease.  “It’s okay.  I’m just little uncomfortable.”

Taking her hand in his he cupped her face with his other hand.
“It will be okay. You’ll be out of here in no time.”  He declared with earnest.

Challenging him, she looked right into his perfect face. “Are you sure you can make a promise like that?”

Then without warning he bent down and kissed her.

Jasper stood in the back of the room with his arms crossed tightly against his chest.    Still in shock with what he did, he waited quietly as the doctor checked Leya over. 

He had kissed her. Though he wasn’t sure what surprised him more; that he actually crossed that line or that he thoroughly enjoyed it.  Was it what Victor had said that had him acting like a loon?  He didn’t know.  What he did know was if that doctor hadn’t walked in when he had, Jasper would’ve deepened the kiss until she forgot where she was.

The way she looked only moments before he claimed those perfect lips nearly ripped his heart out.  He couldn’t believe that he had neglected to remember that this was the hospital that her mother was brought to. 

What a way to drop the ball.  First his mindless flirting had him side tracked enough to nearly get her ran over, and then his lack of assessment had her squirming with discomfort.  To top it all off he acted on feelings that had been plaguing him for the last few years instead of a more professional approach.  What in hell as gotten into to him?

“You’ll be just fine.”  The doctor was saying as he set the clipboard down on the bed.  “Stay off that foot for a few days and it will heal on its own.  And unless you start to get severe headaches, or dizzy, then your head injury will only be sore to the touch for a while.”

She nodded as she glanced in his direction again.  Her cheeks were flush and he wasn’t sure if it was her situation or his kiss that had her skin turning into a beautiful rose color.  He liked to think it was him.

“You’re free to go home.”  The pudgy faced doctor smiled while he pushed his glasses up the brim of his nose.

“Thank you, Dr. Carrington.”  Leya smiled back.  She waited until the other man left before she turned her full attention on him.

Staying where he was, Jasper waited for her to make the first move. Although she didn’t look upset about his advance on her, he still wanted to ease into the next few minutes. He crossed that essential line between boss and employee.  Now it was up to her to determine where they stood.

She giggled nervously.
“You were right, that didn’t take very long.” She held out one small, well manicured hand.  “Help me down?”  She purred.

Quirking the side of his mouth up, he knew in that moment that she was his for the taking.  The revelation should’ve knocked him off kilter. She was his boss. He had been with her for
nine years; at this point he should be a more brotherly figure than a lover.  And yet, looking at the way she was looking at him left no room for brotherly feelings.  Every curve of her amazing body screamed at him in ways no other woman’s had before.

Dropping his hands at his sides as a form of surrender, he pushed off the wall and moved towards the one woman he once thought he could never have.  Unexpectedly, his heart jumped at the new thought of what he could show her.  It was about time she was shown what a real man could give her.