Reviews for Lily G. Blunt

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JASPER

JASPER AND I first became friends at school. He moved into the area when he was thirteen and, as he was shy, I took him under my wing to protect him from the school bullies. No one dared mess with Nathan Collins and his gang. We hit it off straight away and became best buddies within a matter of weeks. The other lads, especially Kieran and Jack, were pissed off at first, but what could they say? Jasper became part of our clique, and there was nothing they could do about it. Well, they could take a hike, but I knew they wouldn’t do that.

Sometimes, it would be a group of us hanging out, but more often, it became just the two of us. We completed our homework together in our bedrooms, spent weekends in the woods hiking, or camping out in the summer months. We did everything together. Hell, we even volunteered to sweep up the autumn leaves for our parents so we could spend an afternoon with each other. Nothing could separate us. We remained friends at school for the next five years. We didn’t want or need girlfriends. We never argued. We never fell out. We just wanted to spend time together.

There were whispers, of course, but I ignored them. I knew there was nothing funny going on between us—we were best buddies. Jasper surprised me when he punched Kieran on the nose because of some snide comment he’d made. Luckily, Kieran didn’t snitch on Jasper to the headmaster. He claimed he’d bumped his nose during basketball training. However, there were no more mutterings about us from that day onwards.

We were seventeen before we had our first major disagreement. Jasper wanted to go out with a crowd of students to celebrate the end of the school year. I wanted the two of us to go to the cinema. Sulkily, I said I’d give the evening a miss. I could see he was cross with me, but he let it go without saying another word.

In the end, nearly everyone backed out for one reason or another, so it was just Jasper and Sean who planned to go alone to a pizza restaurant. I don’t know why I did it, but I decided to call another friend, Carlton, at the last minute to see if he wanted to go to the cinema with me. As luck would have it, Jasper and Sean decided to go to the cinema after their meal as well. I didn’t realise until much later that they were sitting about ten rows behind us all night.

After dropping Carlton off, I pulled into my driveway and saw Jasper waiting for me in his car. I could tell by his face he was seething but didn’t understand why. He got out and slammed the door shut before marching over to me.

“Did you have a good night?” He stared intently at me.

Puzzled, I said, “Yes, did you?”

He didn’t answer me as we made our way into my house. My parents were out, so we took some cans of soda from the fridge and headed to my room.

“So, Carlton’s your best buddy now, then?” His face settled into a nasty sneer. This was totally unlike Jasper.

“Err… no, I just went to see a movie with him. Anyway, you went out with Sean,” I hurled back at him. We were jealous, but at the time, we didn’t know what we were feeling.

I slammed the door. Jasper let out a sob, which startled me. Until that point, I thought he was angry with me. I’d never seen him cry before.

“Jasper, what’s the matter?” I moved nearer to him. He turned from me, shaking his head, and I assumed he was going to leave.

“Don’t go.” I reached out to him.

“Why? What do you care?”

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I eased him around and managed to pull him close. His head rested on my shoulder, and he held me against his body. We stayed like that for some time, neither of us saying anything or moving. It felt so good; I didn’t want him to pull away.

I felt a slight tickle on my neck at first, moving up towards my jaw before I realised what was happening. Jasper tilted his face towards mine. His lips brushed over my skin, leaving a seemingly scorching trail towards my mouth. He pulled back. His stormy blue eyes locked with mine, asking, pleading, questioning. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was asking, but I nodded, and his lips met mine hesitantly for a second or two. Pulling away slightly, he smiled before our lips connected again. This time it was for longer. It felt so right.

Jasper groaned. Our kiss deepened. The tip of his tongue sought entrance to my mouth, and I parted my lips to welcome him. My first kiss and one I will never forget. As our kissing became less awkward, our hands and hips moved, pulling each other closer. Soon we were panting. Our excitement rose as we crushed our bodies together.