Three's A Crowd. (Now Published On Amazon)

Chapter Five.

Skye

I woke up in a semi-dark room and blinked a few times in confusion, trying to remember where I was. The bed felt too soft, the sheets too silky. The fog in my brain cleared and I sat up slowly, my t-shirt and jeans sticking to my body. Glancing over to the bedside table where a lamp was lit dimly, I noticed my phone, the keys to my apartment and a change of clothes. I needed to pee and my stomach kept growling even though I had had dinner. Cole must have put me in the spare room after I fell asleep.

Changing into the boxer shorts and t-shirt he probably left out for me, I breathed easy and made my way over to where the bathroom was. The house felt quiet at night and kind of spooky because it was not familiar to me so I kept the bathroom light on which sort of spilled into the kitchen.

Cheesecake. He told me there was some cheesecake in the fridge but I had somehow forgotten about dessert as we talked into the evening even after the movie had ended. Finding the cake, I placed a slice on a plate and settled at the counter, scrolling through my phone to find a song to play. The quiet was getting to me. My own apartment was connected to others in a long building with thin walls so there was always some kind of noise even this late at night. I liked it that way.

As I swung my legs and dug my fork in the cheesecake, Selena Gomez started crooning Hands to Myself, the volume just low enough so that nobody would be disturbed by it. I kind of missed Cole. If it wasn't for this Jasper dude who was probably home by now, I would be waking Cole up and asking him to share the cake with me before we crawled into bed together. He was right. This situation was not going to be easy at all.

I was lost in thought and my eyes closed momentarily as the sweet flavour of the dessert hit my taste buds so when a tall, broad figure walked into the kitchen, I nearly had a heart attack.

No shirt. Bare feet. Just dressed in black sweatpants that clung to his hips in a sexy manner. I was not prepared for my other reaction at all.

A slow throbbing started between my legs, making me squirm in my seat. The guy looked good enough to nibble on. As I watched him open the fridge and remove a can of soda, a thin sheen of sweat formed on my forehead and my heart started thumping wildly inside my chest.

Without a word, he walked over to the opposite side of the breakfast bar and gulped down some of his drink while I watched with my mouth half open. Watched his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, the strong column of his throat left exposed. Watched the lithe, firm, broad torso he had on display for my hungry eyes. He made me want to bury myself in his chest and meowl like a kitten.

When he lowered the bottle and caught me staring, he slowly licked the moisture from his lips and it was like some kind of a cue for the moisture to start seeping from my pussy.

"What?" he snapped with a slight frown and I shook my head like a dumb person before clearing my throat.

"You...er...you must be Jasper. I'm Skye," I croaked, going back to my cake, my wit and intelligence deserting me in the face of his overwhelming sexiness.

Jasper grunted something and sat down opposite me, taking the spoon from my hand and digging it in the cake.

"Well, we've seen each other twice before already so let's not make a big deal out of this," he said in a rude tone but I was too busy being mesmerized by the way that spoon slipped into his mouth. He savoured the taste for a moment before licking some of the cream from his lips.

Jesus. What was he doing to me? Hunger unlike anything else clawed its way from inside me fighting to be given priority. I felt so horny at that moment. So fucking turned on. And he was just sitting there, apparently unaware of my state of arousal.

I almost moaned when his tongue darted out and he licked the spoon after taking a few more bites of the cake.

"I'll get you another," Jasper said absently referring to the spoon but I removed it from his hand before he could get up.

"Don't worry about it," I muttered and dug into the cheesecake again, feeling kind of angry with myself for finding Cole's boyfriend so attractive. Even his blond stubble was appealing to me when I always claimed blonds just didn't do it for me. Not cool.

He watched me silently for a while and then drank some more soda, still keeping his gaze on me. I could feel it. Just like the first time I had seen him. It was penetrating. Intrusive. But I liked the attention.

A minute passed and then he asked in a low voice, "You okay? You seem kind of...nervous."

"What? No," was my immediate response. "I'm alright. Guess I'm kind of weirded out because I'm finally meeting the boyfriend and Cole's not even around to-." Act as a buffer.

His knuckles tightened around the soda can, making it crackle and I looked up into his narrowed gaze.

"Like I said, it's not a big deal. I'm sure he's explained things to you. What to expect and all that shit."

A few seconds passed where I felt the sexual tension between us forcing the air out of my lungs. And then there was Selena Gomez crooning '...keep making love to each other...' as though she was egging me on or something to act upon my lustful urges.

I cleared my throat again and focused on his words instead. His tone. His body language. They all said one thing loud and clear. He was only putting up with me for Cole's sake. Well, of course. But I could also tell he hated me. He was not okay with this at all and agreeing to it must be costing him a lot.

"You really love him, huh?" I murmured, steeling myself to face this man's hostility for a long, long time.

He was territorial and possessive. He didn't like adding me in their equation. I got it. I knew where I stood with Jasper Wells. And he probably read me clear as a book because I could see how he was sizing me up as an opponent, not bothering to hide his resentful feelings from me at all. He pursed his lips before standing up and tossing the can in the trash.

"Don't hurt him, Skye," he warned me roughly. "Cole means more to me than he ever would to you and the last thing I want is to pick up the damaged pieces that you leave behind when you finally grow tired of this arrangement. There's still time to back out."

I looked up him up and down, ignoring the cavewoman instincts in me which wanted to be handled so roughly by this man that she did not even remember her own name, and gave him a smirk.

"Thanks for the heads up," I said arrogantly. "You don't know how much Cole means to me because you don't know me. I noticed how you used the word 'when' and not 'if' which gives me the impression that you're just waiting for me to show myself out the door as soon as possible." Standing up, I tried to stare him down despite the fact that he was way bigger and taller than I was. "Good luck with that."

His jaw clenched in response and he glared at me. Bully. Did he really think this would work? That I was just going to let him scare me away from the most wonderful guy I had ever met who treated me like a princess? No fucking way. It was game on.

"By the way, this, me being here, is Cole's choice. He wants me and since you agreed to it, you might as well suck it up. Cornering me and trying to intimidate me in the dark of the night behind Cole's back isn't going to send me running in the other direction so don't bother. Good night, Jasper."

I left him standing there scowling at me and looking really scary but hot and strode to the spare bedroom as if I owned it. What a douchebag. So this was his game. He only gave in to make Cole happy but he intended to drive me away slowly but surely. It had started already, this battle of the wills.

Fucked if I was going to let him win.

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