Wanting My Stepsister(22)

“Oh my God!” The kitchen is huge. One wall of cabinets holds two double ovens, and a massive kitchen island with a work area and sink stands in the center of the room. It’s almost twice as big as Mom and Dad’s. I could easily bake ten pies at a time. I don’t think I could keep up with that, even if I tried.

Jasper steps in front of me, picks me up, and places me on the kitchen island. He puts a hand on either side of me, closing the space between us.

“You’re all I ever wanted, Libby. The moment you walked into my life, you filled in places in my heart with a softness I didn’t know I needed. It was always just my dad and me, but you came in with all your sweetness, and I wanted to soak it all up. Never let it go.”

“I don’t think I can let you go, Jasper. It makes me feel selfish.” I grab a hold of his shirt and pull him closer. “I don’t want to hurt our family.”

“But we are hurting it. I didn’t see it at first, but look at us. Fighting this could rip this family in two just as easily. I’ll never get over you. Hell, I thought you didn’t want me and I still built you this house. I came home to it every day thinking what it would be like if you were here each night. Coming home to you making me dinner and one of those cherry pies I love in the oven. You moving around a kitchen I’d built for you, wearing only one of those fucking aprons that drive me nuts.”

His eyes are pleading, and I know he’s thinking I might push him away again, but I can’t. We’ll find a way. We have to. “My aprons drive you nuts?”

He lets out a small laugh.

“You wouldn’t believe all the things I’ve thought about doing to you while you wore one,” he says, making my face warm.

“I’m sorry I ran. I got scared, and I was just trying to fix it. I was—”

“Trying to make everyone happy. I know, baby girl. It’s how you’ve always been. You love putting a smile on people’s faces. Always have. Kinda why I started to pull away from you, the last year more so than ever.”

I know I’m a people pleaser; I can’t help myself. Then it clicks. I’ve been feeling lost because I didn’t have him. The one person who means the most to me. I love my mom and Ned, but this is different. He’s my real home. Jasper is the one I always want to make smile more than anyone else. He is where I’m supposed to be, and I’d just been drifting with him gone.

Why would that make him pull away from me? My face scrunches in confusion.

“Every time you got close to me, I wanted to grab you. I wanted to take you home with me, and I knew I couldn’t. For one, you were too young.”

That was probably true. I haven’t been eighteen long.

“You bought this house for me thinking I might never come live here with you.” I look around, thinking how lonely that must have been, because staying away from me had made him stay away from our parents, too. At least I had them to go home to every night. He came home to an empty house.

“No, I got this house and lied to myself. I told myself that I wouldn't cross the line to make me feel better, but I was really just biding my time. This was coming one way or another. All Dad had to do was whisper in my ear that you were thinking about starting to date and I was done. Kept telling myself I was going to check on you, nothing more. But deep down I knew what I was doing. I was coming for you.”

“You’ll always come for me.” I say his words from before back to him.

“Always.” He says it with such determination.

“And I’ll always wait for you, Jasper.” I slide my hands up his broad chest and around his neck. “I didn’t know what I was waiting for, but I knew it was something. But that's always been you, hasn’t it? Even when I was younger, it was always you helping me find my way. Never far from me. Watching over and stepping in when I needed you. Like now. I needed your push. To show me.”

I tilt my head back, needing his mouth on mine. He leans in and gives me what I want. But I pull back before our lips connect, and our eyes lock.

“Show me everything, Jasper. Show me all that we can have together.”





13





Jasper





I grab Libby’s ass and pull her off the counter, carrying her back to the bedroom. She lets out a little giggle, and I assume it’s because of how fast I’m walking, but we’ve both waited long enough for this moment.

Laying her back on the bed, my lips go to hers and my hands are running all over her body. I feel her tongue run along my bottom lip before she bites down a little, and I moan at the sensation. She’s being more aggressive than she has before, and maybe it’s because things are finally becoming settled between us. We still have to talk to our parents and get that straightened out, but the two of us are solid.