He shook his head stubbornly. "It doesn't mean that you don't deserve them, but if you give me a chance to make up for my past stupidity, and I'm not just talking about with you, I promise that I will do my best to make you happy."
"Jason-"
"I want to try this. You and me, I mean. I know I'll most likely f**k up along the way and you'll want to ring my neck, but I want to try. I'll do my best not to hurt you."
Haley smiled, knowing that was the best she could hope for from him. She appreciated his honesty and knew that if they were going to try to make this work then she had to be honest with him, at least about the extent of their relationship. He might not like being with a woman where sex, well, intercourse wasn't involved.
She gave his hand a small squeeze. "Jason, if we're going to try this then I'd like to take things slow." He frowned. "What I mean is nothing beyond the level we were at last night." She worried her lip between her teeth. "What I mean is no actual sex."
He narrowed his eyes on her. "But, you'll still sleep with me na**d and let me do a hundred other naughty things to you?" he asked in a serious tone.
"Yes."
He brushed his lips against hers again and moved back a few inches to look into her eyes. "And you'll still cook for me and call me Master?"
Her lips twitched. "Yes to the cooking and not a chance in hell for the other."
He sighed wearily. "Fine, how about Lord and Master?"
"Uh...no."
"God?"
"Nope."
"My liege?"
"Wait.....no."
He gave her one of his lopsided smiles. "I'll wear you down eventually."
She wasn't so sure he would stick around long enough to make good on that promise, but for the chance to be with him even for a short time she was willing to risk it.
Chapter 15
"I hate this. Why did we have to come here?" she said in a snooty tone as she looked around the large carnival with clear distaste. "If I had known we were coming here I would have stayed home. God, have you ever heard of a restaurant? That's where I should be eating, not something on a stick like some slob." She flipped her long hair over her shoulder.
Jason glanced at Mitch whose jaw was clenched. The man did not look happy and Jason didn't blame him one bit. If he knew she was going to react this way to going to a carnival he never would have suggested it or at the very least not brought her.
Personally, he loved carnivals and theme parks. He couldn't pass one by without stopping in for a fried treat and a few rides. Mitch was the same way, which was why they were here. They came to have a good time. Instead they were stuck listening to this woman bitch and whine. She started as soon as she heard the plans for the evening.
As soon as she found out she put her foot down and demanded a nice restaurant and drinks. She'd been outvoted and offered a ride home. She refused. Jason had no doubt she decided to come along to make their lives a living hell for not jumping to meet her demands.
"We can go on the bumper cars or the Ferris wheel," Mitch started to suggest.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared, just glared at the man. Mitch cursed under his breath. She turned her cold glare on him and he didn't bother hiding his eye roll. This was ridiculous. No way was he letting her wreck his good time.
"Jason!"
He turned around and his frown was instantly gone, replaced by a huge pleased smile. He watched as his little grasshopper walked quickly towards him, grinning from ear to ear. She had a stuffed animal, a snake from the looks of it, around her neck, a large soda in one hand and her other arm wrapped around a fake sword, a teddy bear and she held the largest piece of fried dough he'd ever seen in the other that was generously covered in powdered sugar.
"Look what I won!" she said, practically beaming with excitement. It was hard to believe someone loved these places more than him and Mitch, but apparently Haley was that person.
When he told her where they were going today she squealed excitedly and threw herself into his arms. He laughed so hard that he almost dropped her. This was their first date since they came together a week ago and thankfully he'd chosen well. He would have liked to been able to take her out sooner, but they'd both been swamped with giving final exams, correcting them, and going over grades. School was over and now they had a whole summer together.
"This is so much fun!" Haley said, seeming oblivious or she simply didn't give a damn about Mitch's date's attitude, he suspected the latter. His little grasshopper didn't let things bother her.
"Where did you get all of this?" he asked as he leaned in for a kiss and a bite of that dough.
"Oh, um," she gestured with her drink towards the direction in which she came from, "after I hit the bumper cars I couldn't resist the basketball game or the darts and then I smelled the fried dough and," she shrugged. "I guess I got distracted."
"I thought you were just going to find the bathroom. We've been standing here waiting for you for over a half an hour!" Mitch's date, Sue or Jude or whatever the hell her name was, pointed out.
Judging by Haley's expression she'd forgotten all about the bathroom and just remembered that she had to go. That was confirmed a few seconds later when she shoved her drink, food, and winnings in his and Mitch's arms and took off running.
Jason took a huge bite out of the dough and sighed happily. No doubt he was going to have to hunt his little grasshopper down in a few minutes near some game or ride and carry her to the bathroom.
Mitch looked down at his arms, frowned and looked at the things Jason was now holding. "How come you got the sword? I want the sword." He reached out to snag the sword. Jason bitch slapped his hand away with the dough.
"My sword!"
"Jerk," Mitch mumbled as he eyed the sword.
Jason looked at his sword too and took another bite. "We could always go win another one and have a sword fight."
"Sweet!" Mitch said. Yeah, they were big kids when it came to carnivals, but who cared?
"I'm not going anywhere," Mitch's date said, intent on wrecking their good time.
Mitch shrugged. "Well, then have a good night."
***************
Haley increased her pout.
Jason chuckled. "I don't care. You're not getting it back."
"That's not fair! You're just mad because I kicked ass!"
Mitch rubbed his shoulder while he glared at Haley. She bit her lip and took a step back and ducked beneath Jason's arm. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.
"Fine, keep the sword. I don't care," she said in a sulky voice. Mitch muttered something and sighed heavily.
"You want to go on the bumper cars again?" Mitch asked with an easy smile. He'd never seen his friend forgive anyone so fast before, but of course Haley had that affect on everyone. It was just so damn hard to stay mad at her. She was too damn cute for her own good.
"I suppose we could do that," she said, already tugging Jason towards the bumper cards. "If you insist that is."
Jason looked back in time to catch Mitch leering at Haley's ass.
************
"That was so much fun," Haley said dreamily as she pulled her shoes off.
"It was okay," Jason mumbled.
For the past four hours Jason had been uncharacteristically quiet. He didn't seem to do much more than glare at Mitch. A few times there she thought he was going to kill the man. She wasn't sure what she missed or if she should even get involved.
A few minutes later they were na**d and crawling beneath Jason's sheets. That's when he really frightened her. He didn't initiate any kissing or touching. In fact he didn't even glance at her br**sts and Jason always looked. Always. They were like magnets for his eyes.
Now he was lying on his back with his arms behind his head. He made no moves to get closer to her or to pull her against him. He was truly starting to scare her now. She rolled over onto her stomach and watched him for a moment.
"Are you okay?" she finally asked.
He shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"You're quiet."
"I just don't feel like talking."
"Do you want me to go home?"
He hesitated before answering, "No."
"Then what do you want?"
"Nothing. I just want to lay here."
"So, you just want to lay there and nothing is wrong," she said, summing it up.
"Yeah."
She rolled her eyes. Seemed she didn't have much choice about getting involved now. It was either that or get up and leave because she wasn't about to stay here for another moment of this.
Before he could stop her she was up and straddling his hips. She made another shocking discovery. Jason wasn't hard. Jason was always hard when they were in bed, the shower, or making out on the couch and all those times in between. She was pretty sure the man would never have to worry about needing Viagra.
He made no attempts to push her off, but neither did he look at her.
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong," she said softly.
"Nothing's wrong."
"Don't make me use my fists of fury to get an answer out of you," she threatened.
His lips twitched, but still he said nothing.
"Okay, you just lay there and sulk then. I'm going home," she said, moving to climb off him.
Jason's hands shot out, stopping her by gripping her hips.
She raised an expectant brow.
He sighed heavily. "You pissed me off."
Well, that was totally unexpected....sort of.
"Hey, I said I was sorry about hitting Mitch with that sword. How was I supposed to know the thing would leave a welt?" she said defensively.
"That's not what I'm talking about. That didn't bother me."
"Is it because I kicked your ass at skee ball?"
"No! And that game is rigged anyway so it doesn't count."
"Riigghhht," she said, drawing out the word. She thought over the rest of the night and couldn't figure out what she'd done. "Okay, you're gonna have to help me out here because I'm drawing a blank."
"I'm pissed because all those men hit on you and not once did you tell any of them to f**k off because you had a boyfriend!" he yelled.
Her face went expressionless. She blinked once and then again. Then she burst into uncontrollable laughter.
***********
"It's not funny," he snapped. That only seemed to make her laugh harder.
All day at the carnival he'd been forced to watch men notice Haley. Every time she smiled or laughed they smiled as if they couldn't help themselves. Every time she jumped up and down excitedly their eyes zeroed in on her jiggling assets. He caught them checking her out and sending her appreciative looks. Mitch, the rat bastard as he was now known, completely ditched his date and focused entirely on Haley.
It only got worse when they went to Joe's Tavern. The place was large, homey and clean and today Joe put out a huge buffet. So with an all you can eat barbeque and several flat screens and five pool tables the place had been filled to the rim with men.
When Haley went up to get food they crowded her, offered to carry her plate, get her a drink, sit with her, scoop her food. When she played pool, and she really sucked at pool, but clearly loved it, they offered to "show" her how to play. Two guys had the balls to send drinks over to their table while she was with him. Several actually had the balls to come over and flirt with her in front of him!
Mitch was no help. When he wasn't trying to pick up some bar tramp he was watching Haley and hitting on her like there was no tomorrow. The bastard didn't even try to hide his leers from Jason. What the hell kind of friendship was that?
Okay, granted in the past, before Haley, he'd been a complete jerk. He openly checked out and hit on his buddies' girlfriends. If he was out and he liked what he saw he never let a boyfriend worry him. But that was no excuse for what Mitch was doing. This was Haley! His Haley!
"Sweetie, I think you had too much sun today," Haley said once she calmed down.
"You should have said something!"
She rolled her eyes. "First off, I have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about. I don't think anyone was looking my way any differently or flirting. They were just really friendly."
He snorted.
"Secondly, even if they were, and they weren't, I don't know why you're complaining. I didn't exactly hear you tell every woman that was drooling over you today that you had a girlfriend."
Another snort.
"I don't give a damn about those women. I've got what I want," he said, gently massaging her hips.
Haley leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before sitting back up. "Exactly. I didn't notice any other man but you," she said softly as she ran her hands over his chest and stomach.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't. I'm awesome."
"I'm glad to see you're humble."
"Hey, I could have said I was the epitome of manliness, but I didn't." He pursed his lips up thoughtfully. "Even though we both know that it's true."
"We do?" She arched a brow.
"Yes, I believe we both do."
"Fine, whatever, as long as you stop paying attention to your hallucinations then I don't care."
He watched her for a moment. The expression on her face was shy and sweet as she traced shapes on his stomach. She truly did not know how desirable she was. He would bet money that she didn't think men noticed her and she'd probably broken a hundred hearts unintentionally up to this point. She was just so damn sweet and innocent, well except for in bed of course. There she was eager, insatiable and thrilling. He never thought foreplay could be so pleasurable before. He had no doubt sex with her would be life altering.