Legally Bound 4: Allegations of Love Read online

  ~B~

  Looking at the picture of Marie, Jasper didn’t want to share what had placed the smile on his face with Olivia. She had been true to her word. After that first night, he had avoided her when he could. He had felt like he betrayed his love for Marie.

  Eventually, Olivia had persuaded him that they could enjoy each other and it would mean nothing, but giving each other the release they needed. Soon Jasper started to crave the power that Olivia offered him. Especially when he found out that Marie was dating someone in college.

  Jasper shrugged his shoulders, marking his page and closing the magazine, he placed it on the table. They were in his apartment. His Uncle had changed his assignment after a year and a half with Olivia. She had not been pleased, but Jasper needed the training his Uncles would give him to return to Nate’s side.

  “When is your flight,” Jasper asked instead of answering the question.

  He turned in her arms and wrapped his around her waist. He saw Olivia as a good friend. Even when he did not express to her what was going on with him, she helped him work through his growing rage and frustration.

  The thought of Marie in another man’s arms drove him pure mad. He had gone to visit Marie and Rita a few times in the past, but he stopped once it got back to him that she was in a relationship. It was too much for him to bare. He couldn’t give her what she needed, but he thought she understood. He thought she would come to him before making such a change in their relationship.

  “You know you don’t lie to me well,” Olivia said with that beautiful smile of hers. “Don’t change the subject.”

  Three years had done nothing to age her. If nothing else, she had grown more beautiful. Jasper just knew he didn’t love her, although at times he suspected that her feelings for him ran deeper than she would admit. They had broken things off a few times just to find their way back into their place of comfort, each other’s arms.

  “There is nothing to lie about,” Jasper said a little more harshly than he meant to. He sighed and shook his head. “I was thinking of a friend.”

  “Ah,” Olivia’s smile wobbled a little. “You were thinking of her. I should have known. My flight leaves in two hours. I was coming to say goodbye.”

  Jasper tilted his head to the side at her tone. “You sound as if this is more than goodbye for now,” he said cautiously.

  It was Olivia’s turn to sigh. “What are we doing Jasper? I am thirty-five and you are twenty-four. I still want a family. You are in love with another woman,” Olivia shook her head willing her emotions not to show.

  “I am in love with a woman I no longer know, a woman who is in a relationship with someone else. I will always love her, but I am not the same and I am sure she is not who I remember as well,” Jasper said in frustration.

  He enjoyed what he and Olivia had. He could not find a woman to satisfy the dark side he had grown to crave, not that he hadn’t tried. Once he found out about the douchebag Marie was dating he had searched for someone to fill the void in his heart. Olivia had come the closest to doing just that. No, it wasn’t love, but it was what he needed to keep the rage at bay.

  Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. She knew what he meant. It pained her every time he had that distant look in his eyes. Dominance was something he now craved and needed. Especially once this young girl broke his heart, but she could not help feeling like she had changed him.

  Olivia believed she had stunted him from finding a real relationship. It had been selfish of her, she knew it then and she knew it now. She had done something far worse than the young woman he loved so dearly. Her betrayal was far more severe because she could never undo taking him to the dark places she had shown him.

  “What if she could understand who you have become? What if she turns out to be the perfect pet for you? She would always be a step ahead of me,” Olivia said with trembling lips.

  “I don’t see that happening,” Jasper snorted. “She is so innocent. I could never know if she could handle this and I would never drag her into something like this. Not knowing that I could lose her completely.”

  “You would know. I have taught you well. It would only take a few words and you would be able to read it her eyes,” Olivia gave a small smile. “I think it is best I move on. Our damage has been done. I can’t hurt you anymore, but I am afraid I can still be burned beyond repair.”

  Jasper furrowed his brows. “You have never hurt me,” he said in confusion.

  “The fact that you say that only deepens the wound. You were so innocent when we met. I should have just remained the friend you needed,” Olivia replied sadly. She moved to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you, Jasper. You have done more than I could have asked for. I hope someday I can return the favor.”

  Jasper stood stunned for a moment. When it sunk in that Olivia too was abandoning him, his veins grew hot with anger. Without a word, he stormed from the room. He needed to get some air.

  Olivia stood staring at the magazine on his desk. She chewed on her lip for several moments before once again making a decision that would change both of their lives. This one, she felt she owed to both of their broken hearts.

  Present Day New Jersey …..

  “You will call your little boyfriend and have him and his new slut, wire me fifty million dollars,” Christian growls into Olivia’s face.

  “Is that all you want,” Olivia scoffs. “I’ll wire you the money right now. I don’t understand why you are doing this. We have been over for years now.”

  “You wouldn’t understand you filthy slut. Don’t worry, you will be wiring the same amount, but your lover will pay the price as well. I want his entire family and that slut to know what he has done, what he is into,” he spits.

  “Is this because of your pride? Because you found out, I was sleeping with him. I tried to tell you then that it meant nothing. It was no different than the way we met,” Olivia tried as she looked into the barrel of his gun praying she would make it through this.

  She would not let Christian bring harm to Jasper or the young girl Jasper was so in love with. She should have followed her gut when she first became involved with him. She should have turned him away when he came to seek her out. This man had been a sadist from the beginning. He had tried to hide it, but there was something in his eyes. When he pursued her for a real relationship she had been vulnerable and latched onto him in hopes, he would distract her heart from falling for the man she couldn’t have.

  Now she regretted the day she clicked onto his profile. Coming across him on such an upscale training site had given her comfort back then. They were supposed to screen everyone on their list. She had no idea how this psycho made it onto the site.

  Right now her main priority was to keep Jasper safe. She worked through her thoughts of what to do as Christian stood seething before her holding his gun and her phone. He wanted her to call Jasper now. She couldn’t do it, not without knowing she could warn him.

  “That’s bullshit and we both know it. I saw the way you looked at him. I still see the longing in your eyes, even when he doesn’t want you. Stop stalling! I told you, I already have the videos on their way to all the right people. Either you call him now or this is going to blow up in your faces in a bigger way, Baroness,” he snarls the title with such disdain, bitterness, and loathing.

  It was clear to Olivia that Christian had not uncovered everything there is to know about Jasper. She hadn’t introduced him to Jasper as her bodyguard. Olivia was still a little miffed and mystified on how he found out about the young man’s affections for the pretty grey-eyed brunette Jasper loved so deeply.

  However, this lack of knowledge would work in her favor. She could see in his eyes that if she didn’t make this call, reputations would be the last thing she would have to think about. She slumps her shoulders knowing that right now she just really needs some help.

  Chapter 1

  You have met most of my family and our extended family the Mairetties. I’m the quiet cousin that most wonder,
but don’t have a clue about. I love my family and I respect what we do, but there is someone I love so much I would walk away from it all to have.

  Without question I have loved the same girl since I was a little squirt, trying to be like my big cousin and his friends. She knows we belong together. Yet she has been running from what we both know we want for the last year and a half.

  I take most the blame. I messed things up big time. Or at least, I thought I did. The funny thing is, you never know what is going on in the background of your life that is affecting the things right in front of you.

  I sure will learn the hard way that everything is not as cut and dry as you think they are. I mean I thought I knew this in my line of work, but I guess sometimes a lesson has to drive itself close to home.

  So I’ll say this to you. You can’t judge my past without having all the facts. What you may be pissed at me about may not have even happened the way you think it has. That means you need some solid facts.

  Let me start with this. I am Jasper Kyros Briggs. I am head over heels in love with Marie Antonella Mairettie. She is it! No one else holds my heart like she does. No one ever will. I play the shadows because that is what I was trained to do, but for once I will reveal it all because the life I want depends on it. From out of the background, darkness, and silence, you will definitely meet, understand, and know me, Jas.

  Chapter 2

  Two weeks and two days earlier…

  “Pamela,” Earl calls out and Pam stops in the hallway. She was going to search for Marie so she could take the girls home. She was still worried that Nate would return home before she and the girls left. She wanted to follow the plan. If Nate caught her here now, she didn’t know what she would do.

  “Yes,” Pam turns and gives Earl the best smile she could manage. She was still taking back by the love those men shared with her this afternoon. Hearing about Nate’s mother’s request had touched her heart.

  “I wanted to know if you would allow me to accompany you home. I have something I would like to ask for your assistance with,” Earl says with his bright smile.

  The genes in the Briggs family are strong and these are some good looking men. Earl like his brother does not look his age at all and is still very fit. Pam had once thought the two were twins, but Nate had told her that his father and uncle were only nine months apart. Thomas being the oldest, Earl had come nine months later, being born prematurely.

  Earl watches Pam closely with his hazel green eyes, waiting for her response. Pam shrugs her shoulders deciding she just wanted to collect the girls and leave as soon as she could. “Sure, but how will you get home,” Pam finally replies.

  “I will make due. Let’s get those angels of yours into the car,” Earl says with a warm smile.

  They find Marie in the garden with the girls. Pam could see the fondness in which Earl speaks to Marie, like a loving father. Pam also notices the moment Jasper arrives and the way Marie tries to act as if he isn’t there. Pam laughs to herself. These two are a trip.

  Once Pam and Earl secure the twins in her car, they take off in silence. Pam retreats into her thoughts about the man she misses so much. She is in thought about the diaries he had sent her when Earl interrupts her thoughts.

  “I am sure you are wondering why I asked to tag along with you,” Earl starts.

  “Um, I guess,” Pam shrugs.

  “It seems you and Nate will have things ironed out soon, which leaves my son and Marie. I am sure you noticed him hovering in the background,” Earl chuckles.

  “I did,” Pam laughs.

  “What they don’t know is that I know why they are circling each other. You will learn nothing happens in this family without my brother and I knowing,” Earl says pointedly as he looks at Pam.

  Pam looks away from the road quickly, then back, laughing at her man’s uncle. “Okay,” Pam chuckles.

  “Problem is they are both hiding a dirty little secret. I think it is time they were forced to tell each other the truth,” Earl says giving himself a nod as his smile stretches across his face.

  “O…kay, so where do I come in,” Pam lifts a brow peeking at Earl again.

  “I want to ask you for a favor. Marie is angry with us all for keeping Rita’s true assignment a secret from her. She will know we are up to something if this plan comes from one of us,” Earl chuckles.

  Pam shrugs. “I know what being stubborn can do to love. I have watched it in my sister’s life, Rita’s, and now mine. I will do what I can as long as she isn’t too pissed at me after.”

  “She will never know,” Earl says winking at her when she turns to look at him.

  Chapter 3

  A week and five days later…

  Marie was happy for all her friends. Pam and Nate deserve this day. The proposal was adorable and Pam and Nate looked so happy. Standing just inside the sliding glass doors of Marcus and Rita’s home Marie stares at the man she wants a happy ever after with.

  Marie and Jasper had a special relationship. They had been friends for years and then things changed. Although he was two years older than her and Rita, he was always around. Marie couldn’t remember a time that Jasper wasn’t somewhere around.

  She hadn’t meant for them to end up here. She had started dating Chad out of hurt. At the time he was there, he was handsome, and he gave her the attention she needed. It was only after she realized the hurt she caused Jasper that she considered the relationship a mistake, no matter how hurt she thought she had been. Then she learned just how big a mistake and misunderstanding it all had been.

  Finding out that Chad was cheating on her with Whitney hadn’t been as devastating as she thought it would be. It only served to show her how hard she had been trying to make something work that was never meant to be. If she were honest, she had wanted to come home a long time ago.

  Marie let her eyes roam over Jasper’s form. He had taken her breath away when he arrived for Bobby and Paige’s wedding. He took her breath away now. At six three Jasper is no longer the young boy she had secretly crushed on for so long or the young man she had shared a secret with.

  He is now all muscle and all man. His broad shoulders and muscled arms stretch the t-shirt he has on and his jeans hug his tight ass to perfection. He now wears his blonde waves combed over to the right in a regal style with a part on the side and the left side cut just a bit lower, more flush to his tanned skin.

  Like his father and uncle, he is just an olive version of Nate. The Briggs men are pure eye candy on any day of the week. There is just something about the way Jasper stands that makes Marie tingle between the legs.

  ~B~

  Marie knew the minute he touched her, her panties were going to be soaked. She had been drooling over him since he arrived two days ago. When Rita said she was going to Greece Marie had wanted to follow her, but she had already promised to join her family.

  Truthfully, she wasn’t ready. All she had done, all she had been doing when no one was watching had been for Jasper. When Rita thought she was spending time with Chad, she was really doing what she had to. She wasn’t surprised to find out Chad was cheating, in the past two months she had given him plenty of time to.

  All of it had an end result. She just wasn’t ready to face those results. What if Jasper didn’t want her? It had been almost seven years since he left for Greece. They were not the two dreamy eyed teenagers that made promises they couldn’t keep.

  She may not have been ready, but her body told a different story once Jasper walked through those doors looking like sex on legs. She had spent the last two days avoiding him. It was just for the best. When she called her mentor, she had agreed. Marie just needed a little more time.

  Time she learned soon enough that she didn’t have. Nervously, she stepped into place. Jasper stepped up to place his hand on her waist. His green eyes locked with her grey ones and he gave her a sexy grin.

  “You’re mine now, Marie,” He murmured with such finality.

  Marie just looked up
at him in awe, and then nodded. It was not what she expected him to say. Her submission to his words had come so naturally.

  She was confused. The last time they spoke, he was so angry with her. The things he had said had shown her that he was not the same Jas she had grown to love. She expected that she had hurt him, but she didn’t know how to explain it all to him, in his moment of fury. He didn’t know it, but she thought he had hurt her first.

  Someone had sent her pictures of him and a beautiful woman. She was everything Marie wasn’t. It was then that she had decided she was tired of being lonely. Chad had already asked her out a few times. So when the pictures arrived and broke her heart, she accepted his offer for dinner that same night.

  Nevertheless, Jas’s words had cut deep when he called her that night so long ago. He had shredded her with his final words. ‘I guess this is for the best. We would never work. I’ve become someone else, someone you would never want anyway,’ Jas had breathed into the phone brokenly. ‘Goodbye.’

  He had hung up the phone and she had sobbed her eyes out. So to stand here and have him declare she was his, after all she had done in secret, left her more than confused. She thought she would have a bigger fight on her hands. He said nothing else as his hand on her waist gave a slight possessive squeeze.

  ~B~

  Marie blinks the memory of Paige and Bobby’s wedding away. She could hardly believe it had been a year and a half ago. She brought her family so much hurt with her poor choices in friends. Sure she was still hurt that her best friend had lied to her for so long, but the real reason she hadn’t spoken to Rita until last night was because she was ashamed of how she had not seen Whitney for who she was.

  Instead, Marie found time to spend with her mentor. It was harder now with Jasper around. If he wasn’t working, he was wherever she was. When he followed her and Rita to London, she’d avoided the talk they needed to have for a full three days before he cornered her.