Jason could very well be the person to get her to break the rule of only one man for life, because she knew without a doubt he would never marry her. He might be able to handle an exclusive relationship with her, but for how long? She knew sooner or later he'd get bored and moved onto the next girl. It would hurt like hell, but she knew it was coming.

So, that left her with a very important decision to make. Did she take a chance and give herself to him, hoping her heart wouldn't completely shatter when he moved on, or keep it at the physical level that she was comfortable with?

The only thing stopping her was the regret she knew she would feel a year from now when yet another woman came screaming and banging on her door in the middle of the night.

She watched as Jason finished dressing. The entire time he scowled at her or looked longingly towards the stack of waffles, toast, eggs, bacon and sausage. Of course she cooked this for him, and he knew it on some level, but it was Jason and he took his food seriously. Too seriously, but that was a job for Dr. Phil to work through, not her.

When he finished dressing he threw his bag over his shoulder, grabbed the bottle of syrup and soaked the waffles. He grabbed a fork and the plate and headed for the door, leaving her to roll her eyes and follow him.

While she drove they ate. For every two bites he took he gave her one, which worked for her since it didn't take much to fill her up. Secretly she loved it when they did things like this, especially when he took care of her. It was so sweet. He made sure she was given the best piece of bacon or bite of sausage and always made sure to double dip her bite of waffle into the syrup, knowing how much she liked it.

By the time they pulled into the staff parking lot they had finished and the plate was on the backseat sitting on the large beach towel she put back there for times like this.

They sat there for a moment and watched as buses and cars drove up in front of the building. It occurred to her that she was suddenly nervous. After last night she thought it would be awkward first thing this morning, another reason she left the bed early. Instead they jumped right into their normal relaxed routine. Now that the food was gone and they were sitting here she was really nervous.

Did he regret what they did? Was she about to get the speech that he didn't want anything serious? Would he get pissed when he found out she wouldn't sleep with him like several men before him had? Damn it! What earth shattering thing would he say?

"You've got syrup on your lip."

Okay, not exactly life altering.

She licked her lip. "Is it gone?"

"No."

She wiped her mouth with her fingers. "How about now?"

He sighed. "I see I'm going to have to handle this." He leaned in quickly and brushed his lips against hers. She sucked in a breath as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip.

"So sweet, my little grasshopper," he whispered against her lips. He brushed his lips against hers again. "I know why you left the bed early this morning and why you made sure I had very little time to do anything else but get ready for work."

He pressed another kiss to her lips as he took her hand into his. "I'm sorry for being a jerk last night and almost making the biggest mistake of my life. I was afraid of hurting you. I know what I am and I also know you deserve a guy that can spoil you rotten and take you to all the nice places that you deserve. I-"

"Jason, I don't care about those things," she said softly.

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 fuck 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 naked 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 naked 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 breasts 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.