Seth groaned, twisting his half asleep form around so that his head rested against Jasper's shoulder. Alone in the living room, Jasper glanced at him, feeling half forgotten emotions stirring in his stomach and swarming through his bloodstream.
They were supposed to be keeping watch for Sam's pack, but Jasper couldn't take his eyes from Seth's lean face, the way the electric light spilled over his dark cheekbone. He ran his thumb over Seth's cheek.
He knew that Leah would kill him if she ever knew that he was entranced by Seth's long lashes, or the pulse beating in his neck that showed that life flowed into his lean limbs. Even knowing that Leah could tear his head from his shoulders, he couldn't stop the happiness that those things brought to him.
Seth's eyelids fluttered, and he pushed himself farther into Jasper's side. Indulging the werewolf, Jasper wrapped an arm around him. His body was hot against Jasper's side, scorching the cold out of him.
"You're doing this on purpose," Jasper murmured, as he felt Seth's breath on his neck.
Seth grinned, pressing so close that Jasper wondered if the werewolf was going to pull a vampire and bite him. "Maybe." he teased. "Is it working?"
Leaving his arm wrapped around Seth, Jasper pulled away. Seth protested, raising his face up to him as he blinked the sleep from his beautiful eyes. Leaning down, Jasper pressed a chaste kiss to Seth's protesting lips.
Wiping a piece of Seth's raven black hair from his face, Jasper grinned. "Always."
With a content sound, Seth leaned back against him, pulling his legs, and boots, onto the clean white couch. They left a smear of forest mud on the clothe. Seth glanced at it, and then pulled an exaggerated frown. "Sorry,"
Jasper pulled him into his arms. "It's okay, darling. Nothing in this house is pure anyway."
Seth leaned into his arms, his head coming to rest on Jasper's chest. There was no pulse there, a sign of a monster, he had thought for a long time. But now, he found it comforting. "Tell me a story."
"A story now, is it?" Jasper's voice held a thread of amusement as his fingers curled in Seth's belt loops. "A story, a story." He drawled in his perfect voice. "What kind of story?"
Seth caught Jasper's hand as it migrated past his belt loops. "A story about you. A happy one." He threaded his fingers through Jasper's. Jasper's fingers were so cold against his, but he loved it.
Jasper drummed his fingers against Seth's knuckles. "I don't know many happy stories about myself."
Pulling himself up, Seth braced himself on the back of the couch and Jasper's knee, and leaned over him. His brow furrowed as he took in the vampire in front of him. "You got to have a happy story."
Wrapping a hand about the back of Seth's neck, Jasper pulled him down for a kiss. "I have to have one, do I?"
"Everybody's got a happy story."
"Yeah?" Jasper asked, kissing his nose. "Okay. I know a happy story."
Seth kissed his cheek, lying down on the vampire. "Tell me a story then."
Rolling his golden eyes, Jasper once again wrapped his arms around Seth. "You're a pain, you know that? Alright. This story." He settled back, his hand twisting a strand of Seth's hair. As he relaxed, his southern drawl surfaced in his voice, causing goosebumps to rise on Seth's skin. "Once upon a time, a vampire moved with his family to a rainy little town. And there, because his brother fell in love, he met a werewolf."
"Did he fall in love?" Seth asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Jasper grinned, revealing shark-like teeth. "How could he not?"