He had her, again and again, throughout the night. The kissing, tasting and teasing of her lips and fingertips, Niles didn't want it to end. He wanted to go back to France with her, so that they might make love all night long in the comfort of either of their homes rather than in an impersonal hotel room.
He missed what had become his city, his neighborhood, his home. His woman.
The primal voice he'd long ignored flared with the claim over Jasmine like a mantra: Mine. Mine. Mine.
She gasped and cooed beneath him, atop him, beside him. Her lips and fingertips played over him as Niles sought out the comfort and reassurance that she had no hesitation to give herself to him, and Jasmine had every reason to take her time with his pleasure.
Sweaty, exhausted and empty, Niles rolled onto his back and watched as Jasmine strode across the room, naked, to the bathroom. She threw him a wink over her shoulder. "I need a shower, Niles."
"You need my company for that?" He asked, smirking and moving to follow her.
"I need your help." She replied as she bent to turn the faucet.
The bathroom was actually larger than he'd expected, and no less impressive than the bedroom. The shower was hot, and they wasted no time to get in. Niles took a washcloth from the tiled insert shelf and wet it before placing it between her breasts, still flushed from the bedroom. She shivered against him as his hands roamed her body in the guise of cleansing.
It was minutes of torture before Niles dropped the cloth and slipped his hand between her thighs, the way he'd learned to play her body, feeding its pleasure until she shuddered in response. Jasmine clung to him for support, her eyes glassy from climax. Her lips parted for him, begging. Niles dipped his head to kiss her, holding her against him as the shower continued to stream hot against them.
It was later, after Jasmine had similarly pleased him, that Niles allowed the old insecurities to creep in on his mind. He'd been fighting off the past for weeks, and now he was in the thick of it all, being back in Seattle; where his mother had died, where he'd become a pathetic shell of a man, where his marriages had fallen apart, where he'd fallen in love and been defeated.
Beside him in the bed, Jasmine sighed slightly. His young lover, the woman he'd dived into the affair with and never once hesitated to question it. There had been no reason to stop himself in France, he realized now. There had been no silently disapproving father, no meddling brother and no standard of society to worry about. He'd gone back to the Old World to gain his freedom, and he'd been able to find some measure of happiness there as well.
Niles pulled Jasmine a bit closer to him and smelled her hair. No cherry bark. No almonds. She was his woman, but she was not Daphne. Her hair was scented with vanilla and honey. Possessively, he cupped a breast and hugged Jasmine closer. She was so warm.
The wedding was coming closer. Daphne would be there.
Niles had heard no news of her in over a year- Frasier had done as he'd asked and had been very careful not to mention her in any of his e-mails, but the man could not exclude a close family friend from his wedding. Daphne was a close friend of Roz as well; Niles didn't delude himself to the point where he thought Roz would agree to exclude Daphne from her first (and hopefully, only) marriage.
In a way, he wanted Daphne to see him with Jasmine. He wanted her to see that he hadn't run away to sulk in the art and dusty museums of Europe; he wanted her to see that he was his own man, a man who had gained the affection of a lovely young woman. It was malicious to wish for Daphne's envy, but Niles couldn't help himself. Yes, he wanted her to regret the way things had ended between them; he would never wish for Daphne's pain, but for her to regret her choice, to wish that she was in Jasmine's place in his life, his bed...
Niles wanted Daphne to want him. It was that simple. Niles longed to be wanted- a trait neither of his wives had possessed.
A voice whispered that Jasmine, the woman he now held in his arms, wanted him and had since their first union. The voice continued to remind him that it had been Jasmine who'd initiated their affair, who'd agreed to accompany him to play the part of arm candy to impress a woman from his past, who was happy to have their relationship continue in this aimless fashion. She didn't know everything, but she understood enough to know Niles's wariness of a deeper involvement, and she did not hold his past against him.
She is a wonderful young woman, but I can not give her more than this. How long will it be before she leaves me?
This question left Niles uneasy through the night- unable to sleep and unable to think of anything else.