A Tough Pill to Swallow

As Charles and Katherine approached her bedroom, she saw Jasper waiting outside. He must have sent away whoever was guarding her room so that he could be ready to meet her when she arrived.

He still had his expressionless face, but he kept his eyes locked on Katherine as the pair got closer. To anyone else Jasper probably looked bored, but Katherine could feel the coldness coming from him.

She instinctively took a step away from Charles, which caused him to look over at her with confusion on his face. "Everything alright?" he whispered to her.

Unable to remove her eyes from Jasper's unforgiving stare, she simply nodded. The walk down that small stretch of hallway seemed to go on forever, but when they finally reached her bedroom, Charles gave her a tight smile and said, "Call me if you need anything and I'll be right over."

Katherine looked over at him and said a quick thank you before she opened up her bedroom door and went inside. She knew Jasper would not follow her in until the hallway was clear of everyone, including Charles, so she had probably about a minute until she had to face him.

She paced back and forth in her room, and when she heard the click of the door, she turned expecting to see Jasper upset, but she quickly saw that she was wrong.

He had the same passion in his eyes that he did last night, and as he charged at her, Katherine could not feel more relieved.

Neither of them said a word as he closed the space between them and scooped Katherine up in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held tightly to his neck as their lips found each other.

Jasper held tightly to her thighs as he moved and pushed her back up against the nearest wall. He kissed her with such passion that it made Katherine dizzy, and she forced her mouth away from his so that she could fill her lungs with fresh air.

That did not deter Jasper in the slightest, and he nibbled at her ear while she recovered her breathing.

Since Katherine was planted firmly against the wall and was holding onto Jasper securely, he let go of her legs and brought his hands up to rip her shirt off. He pulled until the fabric gave out under his strong grasp, leaving her bare skin exposed.

He had never been so urgent with her as he had been in that moment and the night before, and it startled her. This did not feel like the man she loved who she knew loved her in return. It felt possessive and angry.

"Jas, wait," she breathed out as she unwrapped her legs so that she could stand on her own.

He ignored her and brought his hands down to hold her bare skin at her waist where he held her too tightly. His mouth moved its attention to her neck where he kissed her with such force that it broke past pleasure and went to pain.

She moved her hands to his chest and gave him as strong a push as she could manage. "Stop!" she yelled at him.

The power behind her voice snapped him out of his trance, and he blinked as he took a couple of steps back. He looked at her, and for a second, Katherine didn't recognize the man she saw in those bright blue eyes.

They both were breathing heavily, and Jasper swallowed hard and ran his hand through his blonde hair before he managed to breathe out a sincere "I'm sorry."

He was calming down and starting to look more like himself, so Katherine walked over to him and took both of his hands in hers. She looked up at him and saw sadness fill his eyes. She did not have to ask to know what was wrong.

She guided him over to her bed, and they both sat down on the edge, facing each other.

Jasper could not bring himself to look at her, and Katherine patiently waited for him to be ready to talk. Clearly they needed to, and she was not going to let him walk away or ignore what the issue was.

After a while, he finally whispered, "I'm just not ready to lose you. I love you so much, and seeing you with him..."

His voice trailed off, and she could see him trying to hold back from crying.

Katherine moved one of her hands so that she could hold his chin. She moved his face so that he was facing her, and she waited for him to look at her.

When their eyes met, she leaned forward and kissed him. She knew that Charles being around was uncomfortable for Jasper, but she did not realize just how much it was bothering him.

He must have been holding back his feelings for a while, and something about today finally caused him to break.

"No matter what happens, you're always going to be the love of my life," she softly told him when they broke away from their kiss.

Jasper brought his hands up to Katherine's face, and he held her gently as he leaned forward to kiss her again. The urgency that was present earlier was replaced with love, and Katherine made sure to match the emotion when she kissed him back. She needed him to know how much she loved him.

They pulled away from each other and took a moment to just look into each other's eyes. He stroked her cheek, and Katherine leaned into his hand.

His eyes trailed down her body to where he had ripped apart her nice shirt, and guilt washed over his face.

"I'm sorry," he said again as he moved one of his hands to trail it along the broken fabric.

"It's alright," Katherine said. "But you can't rip all of my clothes. I'm sure the people wouldn't be happy to find out their taxes were going to pay for my new wardrobe because you just can't keep your hands off of me."

His eyes darted back up to hers, and his lips pulled into a smile. They both laughed before Jasper's face turned serious again.

He leaned forward and kissed her, and Katherine felt relief. This was the way he usually kissed her-- tenderly and deeply.

For a moment, Katherine felt as if time had stopped, and she savored the taste of his mouth on hers. They slowly started exploring each other's bodies, and it did not take long for them to end up ditching their clothes and coming together in their passions.