Only At Night

Chapter 12

Revelations

I fell asleep to Jasper singing to me and awoke to a text from him bidding me a good morning. I missed him already and could not wait until he came into town again, hoping it would be by the weekend. I noticed a new text come in from Rosalie wanting to have lunch. I'm sure she was anxious to hear about my weekend with Jasper. I sent her back a quick text that I'd meet her at noon at the lunch place halfway between her office and the firm where we met several times in the past few weeks.

Classes flew by in the morning and I was getting apprehensive about having to talk to Jay about transferring; maybe Rosalie would have some insight. As I drove over to meet her for lunch I thought I'd ask her advice. Rosalie was already there and seated at a table waiting for me when I arrived.

"Hi Rosalie." I greeted her as I slid into the booth across from her.

"Hi Bella, don't you look sharp today?" Rose teased.

I thanked her and we made small talk while we looked over the menus and ordered. As soon as the waitress was gone Rosalie smiled and started looking for information.

"So, how was the weekend with Jasper?" She leaned over the table smiling.

"Awesome."

"GO ON!" Her hands did more of the talking as she waved frantically at me.

"Rose, he is amazing, it is so easy to be with him and I can't believe how easy it is to open up and talk to him." I giggled thinking about the details of our conversations.

"Ok, so you really like him then?" She grinned.

"Yeah, I really, really like him." I felt the blush rise on my cheeks.

"What is it that you like about him?" Rose prodded.

"Well, he is sweet and kind, wild and crazy, disciplined and focused, smart and educated, giving and confident, thoughtful and respectful and oh, did I happen to mention he is hotter than shit?"

"Oh my. What did you learn about him?" Rose's expression changed but I couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Oh, well, his parents died when he was 16, so we have that in common. Rose he has a PHd for crying out loud. History of all things, he was in Seattle to interview for a position at the University. Um, let's see, he is from Texas, he has one brother…."

"Uh huh, go on."

"Well, you are going to think I am crazy and please don't tell Emmett, I want to tell him myself, but um, well, we are moving to California together."

"You are what?" Rose looked a bit pale and she stared directly at me.

"I know it sounds crazy, but he was going to accept the job here in Seattle because of me and I can't wait to get out of Washington. So as it turns out he has also been offered a job at Stanford, and well, California was on my short list of desired relocation destinations. We both want to explore the relationship and we can't do that from two different states."

"Bella, you don't think this is moving a little fast?"

"I know it is moving fast, but I just feel like there's a reason all of these factors lined up at the same time. We both want to start a fresh life someplace else, we both are at the beginning of a big change in career, we met on a fluke and while we was thinking of moving here to be with me I was thinking I would move to Texas to be with him. Hell I'm just glad we figured it out before it was too late. Besides, I wont move until I finish the semester, at the earliest." Thinking back now I realized how absurd we both were being for even thinking that way without talking to one another.

"Bella, how do you feel about him right now?" Rose was looking down at her hands and didn't look up when she asked.

"Rose, I am head over heels crazy in love with him. He is the ONE; I just know it in my soul. I can't stand to be away from him, I think about him constantly when he isn't here and when he is nothing else seems to matter. We have so many things in common and I just want to spend every minute learning all of the things I don't know yet." I smiled at her as she looked up and looked into my eyes.

Rose sat very still just looking at me for a couple minutes.

"Bella, what do you know about his family?"

"Well, I told you that his parents are gone; he lives with his brother Peter on the family ranch that has been in his family for generations. His brother kind of runs the ranch and Jasper really wants to teach and research and write. I don't think there is any other family around really. I know the ranch is very large and it is profitable. I think he has some family money."

"Would his 'having' family money bother you Bella?" Rose was looking back at her hands again and I realized that is exactly what she left behind. I wondered if that bothered her, I didn't ever have the sense before that it had.

"No, I could care less. He took me to Canlis for dinner and I made him promise that if he insisted on doing things like that then he had to balance it out with chili cheese fries. He thought it was hysterical but agreed. Rosalie, you know, I never had any money, my parents never had any money, and I would not trade all the money in the world for family or love. It just isn't that important to me. So what if he has a buffer, he works hard and loves what he does and I love him."

"So you would not freak out if you found out he had boat loads of cash and go running off on him then?" Rose was smiling again. She was acting too weird.

"What, no, and I wouldn't freak out and go running off if I found out he was in debt up to his eyeballs either. We'd work it out."

"I'm very glad to hear you say that, because there is something I have to tell you, well, show you rather and you must promise not to freak out, but Bella, this is something you have to know before you go running off for the sunset with Jasper Whitlock."

"How the hell did you know his last name?" Oh God, oh God, oh God, what the hell is going on? Rosalie's past, oh fuck, did she know Jasper? NO, no he would never!!

Rose passed a Magazine article across the table. It was a couple years old. There, staring back at me was a picture of Jasper Whitlock and the caption Most Eligible Bachelor.

Oh God, I am going to puke. I looked up at Rose and she was eyeing me cautiously.

"Just read Bella."

Jasper Whitlock, 26, Texas. Brother of Peter Whitlock, son of the late Harrison and Margaret Whitlock and co-heir to the Whitlock family fortune estimated at $58 Billion. With the oldest brother Peter Whitlock essentially off the market, but not yet officially married, the youngest Whitlock bears this years title as America's most eligible bachelor. The young Whitlock could not be reached for comment.

"Oh my God. Rose, please tell me you don't know, he wasn't, he didn't…."

Rose looked at me, confusion clouded her beautiful blue eyes for a moment and then the realization of what I so ineloquently asked dawned on her.

"WHAT, GOD NO, Bella. I am so sorry; no I have never met him. Oh honey I am so sorry I never thought you'd think, no, no Bella."

I already knew the answer; I knew Jasper would never ever be involved in something like that; I just had to have her confirm it. What I couldn't grasp was why in the world would Rosalie know him and why would she have this magazine. Confusion, shock and disbelief flooded through my every thought.

"Why do you have this?" I demanded, irritation seeping thorough in my tone.

"I recognized him at the bar but I couldn't figure out why, I knew he looked familiar. It dawned on me the next morning where I had seen his face." Rose was quick to explain and apologetic in her response.

Rose took the magazine and flipped pages to the obituaries pushing the magazine back across the table toward me.

"I can't tell you how many times I have read this entire magazine cover to cover. It is the last connection to the pain." Rose's eyes welled up with the tears I knew she would never shed. She was done crying long ago.

"Jesus Rose, why the hell would you keep this?" This was just sick; it was masochistic and could not be good for her.

"Bella, I'm not as strong as you think I am. Are you ok? I take it you had no idea just how much money…." She changed the subject artfully and I knew that conversation was not happening today, but I made a decision then that we would have to talk about this another time. She couldn't keep putting herself through that pain.

"Uhhh No! Rose, Jesus, what am I going to do? That's like $29 Billion with a "B" if they split it between them, who the fuck has that much money? What in the hell do you even do with that much money?" I wrung my hands and felt the nausea rising in my turning stomach. My throat began to flame from the acid slowly climbing up my esophagus, burning as it went.

"Well, actually that article is a couple years old; it's probably even more by now." Rose giggled.

"Oh, great, that's just… excuse me." I ran for the bathroom and covered my mouth. The tiny room was spinning and the blinking fluorescent light humming threatened to pull me deeper under. I barely made it to the porcelain god before my stomach's contents made their way back up. Once I was certain there was nothing more left in my stomach to keep me in the putrid smelling room I cupped water from the sink into my hands and rinsed my mouth and splashed my face.

Walking back to the table I noticed Rose sitting restlessly looking at the article, hands folded in her lap.

"Sorry." I said sliding back into the booth across from her.

"Are you ok?" Rose smiled softly.

"I don't know; I don't know if I can handle this. What do I do?"

"Well, you do what you told me you would do, you stay and you work it out. You let him tell you first of all and then you tell him how you feel about it."

"I don't know if I can live with that, I mean the pressure, the attention, and the expectations. People will always think the money is the reason I'm with him. I don't…."

"Bullshit Bella." Rose crossed her arms across her chest and sat back in the seat.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Bella, you fell in love with him having no idea about the money, you said it wouldn't matter before you found out. What changed?" Rose's brows lifted in question.

"Why in the hell did you tell me Rose, you should have let him be the one to tell me? He would have told me eventually. You had no right to take that from him." God I was furious, why the hell hadn't he told me, why would she tell me, what the hell do you even do with that kind of information, seriously?

"Good, be mad at me Bella, yell at me, but you know damn well if I hadn't told you, you would be freaking on him instead of me. Would that have been better? I know you; I know what you would have done, how you would have reacted. You would have run away. You would have blown the best thing that ever happened to you and you know it." Rose didn't move, she sat perfectly still and challenged me with her eyes.

I sat for ten minutes staring at her, her staring at me. But damn it, she was right. Didn't I just tell her that I loved him and it didn't matter? I would have freaked when he told me, I would have bolted, and I would have hurt him.

"Do you know anything else about him?" My voice barely above a whisper.

"He is not your typical uber-rich society brat. From what I know he and his brother live pretty much off the grid. They don't parade around like a couple playboys. Honestly, it seems to me that neither of them has been very affected by the money. They still live in the same house they grew up in and while they may have some nice toys they don't really conform to the BS. The money goes back generations and compounds."

"You are right." It killed me to have to admit that.

"About?" Rose smirked.

"I would have freaked, I would have ran, I would have hurt him. We would have worked it out but it would have caused a strain on the relationship. Thank you for knowing me well enough to do what was best for me; for knowing me better than I know myself sometimes. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"That's what sisters are for." Rose smiled.

"Rose?"

"Yeah Bella?"

"What do I do?"

"You let him tell you himself, if I'm right about him he will and soon. He won't let this get much further without telling you. It will probably be very hard for him; my guess is he has never told anyone. People probably either know because they have known his family forever or they think, as you did, there is some money but not the extent, or they have no clue."

"How do I start a life with someone so completely out of my league?"

"That is your first mistake right there. Don't you ever think that. I bet he believes he isn't good enough for you. Bella, I can't be sure, I don't know him, but trust me he is nothing like anyone I've ever known with money. His money puts all of them to shame and yet, I can't even begin to explain the difference between him and well, even my own family."

"You really think he'll tell me the whole truth?"

"Yes. Bella just relax, yes, you will have to get used to him wanting to take care of you and yes you will have to impose the limits that will make you comfortable, but Bella it is ok to let him spoil you a bit. It's like any other compromise in a relationship; just remember that he is accustomed to certain things, like the penthouse instead of a cheap chain hotel. You can't demand he give everything up, just like he can't demand you accept things that make you uncomfortable. Just remember that money is relative."

Rosalie began to laugh and as her laughter grew, tears streamed down her face until she was clutching her sides and shaking her head back and forth.

"What is so damn funny?" God she could be so irritating sometimes.

"Do you have any idea how many women live to find a man like Jasper, obsess over it, and spend every waking moment searching for it? Leave it to you, you just so happen to fall mutually in love with one of the wealthiest men in the country and not only couldn't you honestly give a shit about the money but you would actually consider running away because of it. I'm sorry that is just hilarious. Jasper is a very lucky, no, a very smart man."

"Rose, thank you, thank you for everything. One more thing I could use your help with, though."

"What?"

"Any advice on how to tell my boss I want to transfer to San Diego, or Palo Alto?"

Once she stopped laughing her ass off Rose gave me some very good suggestions not the least of which was "QUIT, dumbass, you don't need to work".

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I walked out of the office with nothing more than my purse and computer bag. Ah, the benefits of never bringing personal items to work with you. No pictures to pack, no silly little knick knacks, nothing to slow me down on my way out the door. I never made any real friends so there was no one to say goodbye to. I merely wrote down the password to the company email and server on a sticky, placed it on the monitor, threw my badge and keys on the desk and walked out the door. I just wanted to be gone before Jay tried to stop me. If he was smart he wouldn't.

I knew I had to calm down before I called Jasper. If I called him this upset he would see right through me and want to know what I wasn't telling him. It would be better if he didn't have to hear all the sordid details. I can't imagine Jasper taking something like this well. I knew he was not the violent type, but I really wasn't sure how he would take hearing this. It was bad enough I was going to be looking for a new job.

I stopped and grabbed a Caramel Macchiato with whipped cream at the shop in the lobby. The yummy buttery caramel sauce soothed my temper with each sip.

God, I wanted to kill Jay, the little fucker. I knew he was a pig; I'd been fighting off his advances and attempts to get me into bed for months. I honestly thought he was more talk than anything else though. The fucking audacity, unbelievable; I really shouldn't let him get away with what he just did. When it came right down to it, I couldn't work for him or this firm so what was the point of complaining or reporting his behavior, it would only end up with me in the middle of a sexual harassment suit and I didn't want that kind of aggravation.

Shit, now I have to think of the attention and what that would do to Jasper, and hell, it would probably make news because of my relationship with Jasper. Jesus, yeah, my life would never be the same.

With Jasper by my side I would get through this, hell he was my life now and it might not be the same but it would always be better just because I was with him.

I gulped the last of the decadent coffee and hit speed dial calling Jasper as I got into the car.

"Hi darlin'." Jasper's cheery voice was all it took to melt the remainder of my foul mood.

"Hi babe." I smiled into the words longing to have him with me rather than on the phone.

"Where are you right now?" Jasper's smile was evident even over the phone. I could just picture the loose blonde curls hanging into his eyes twinkling in his smile.

"In the car driving back home." My voice managed to remain even and calm despite the anger and panic I had been feeling before hearing his magical voice, relaxed now under his spell.

"It went that well huh?" I could hear the turn of his lips slip and the smile fade along with the twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, it doesn't look like there will be a job in San Francisco. I'll have to start looking for a new one." I tried not to let the anger and disgust come through my voice.

"Oh darlin' I'm sorry, are you sure you want to move, we can stay in Seattle if you would rather." He was so sweet he'd really settle for the job that wasn't his dream for me. NO, not when it was not even a job I wanted.

"Yeah, that wouldn't really be helpful at this point I sort of quit today." I gritted my teeth and realized I couldn't keep anything from Jasper. I would tell him the whole story as much as it was going to piss him off. I wasn't starting a relationship by keeping secrets.

"Bella, what happened?" The concern in his voice was clear and I thought I could sense a bit of guilt.

"Jasper, I promise I will tell you the whole story but I don't want to do it over the phone, okay." I prayed he wouldn't push right now and let me wait until we could be together when I told him.

"Just tell me whether you are ok, please?" I could hear the stress and worry and felt guilty.

"Yes, babe, I am fine. Besides now I can concentrate my search in Palo Alto and forgo the drive to San Francisco." I smiled, knowing that it would be better not to add a commute to the time away from Jasper the first years in a firm would require.

"Okay, then I'll call Stanford in the morning and let them know I am accepting." I wished he could be more excited and hated that my news made this less than the perfection it should have been.

"Oh Jasper I am so excited. I can't wait for the semester to end." I wanted to make this a happy moment, not something to be grim about. Damn Jay for causing this.

"Mmmm, are you home yet darlin'?" That seductive tone in his voice hinted that he was excited too.

"No, why?" I teased.

"Get your cute little ass home, get naked and call me back, I am going to take care of you darlin'." He growled and purred with the demand making me feel the fire begin to burn between my thighs.

GULP.

"Ten minutes cowboy." I hung up and eased on the accelerator careful not to get pulled over; unbuttoning my shirt by the time I hit the driveway. My shoes didn't make it out of the garage and the stream of clothing trailed from the garage to my bedroom. It was 8 minutes and 32 seconds later when I hit redial pulling my panties off and jumping into my bed.

"What did you do, fly home, you naughty little girl?" I could hear the teasing even through the sexy drawl.

"Yes, now what were you saying about taking care of me cowboy?" I lowered my voice and teased him back.

"Well, are you naked yet darlin'?"

"Yes cowboy, totally naked and already wet for you." I whispered.

"Oh, you naughty little minx, just how wet are you?"

"Oh baby, dripping for you, are you hard for me?" I let my voice drag out.

"Like a rock darlin, now I want you on your back across your bed, your knees bent and your heels against your ass. Do it now." The urgency in his voice egged me on.

I put the phone on speaker and threw it on the bed next to me as I rolled over and assumed the position Jasper demanded, god he was hot when he was like this.

"I'm ready cowboy." I gave him my best attempt at sultry.

"Be my hands baby, I want to touch your beautiful breasts, I want you to circle them until they are hard peaks ready for my mouth to suckle them. Do it for me darlin', pinch those sweet little buds for me. Let me know when they are ready for my tongue."

"Oh Jasper, I'm ready baby."

"Imagine my tongue circling your nipples, and I want you to suck your fingers for me baby, pretend it's my cock and lick up and down, slowly."

"Mmmmm." Holy hell, this was the hottest thing anyone ever did.

"That's it baby; pretend that's my cock fucking your hot little mouth, in and out, in and out. That's it baby suck harder."

Oh god, I moaned around my fingers bucking my hips following his every instruction all too willingly.

"Okay baby, good, now take those hot little fingers of yours and trail them down your chest, down your stomach slowly now, all the way down to that wet sweet pussy and I want you to play with yourself, flick your clit. That's it baby, rub it for me while I stroke myself for you." His voice was growing more gravelly with each word.

"Oh god, Jasper."

"Don't stop baby. Now take one finger and fuck yourself for me darlin, in and out slowly, good baby…deeper now. Good baby, god you are so fucking hot. Add another finger… faster, in an out baby, keep going…don't stop.

"FUCK, Jasper, I'm going to cum."

"No, not yet baby, take your fingers out, taste yourself for me, is it the most delicious thing you ever had?"

"Oh god Jasper, you are making me crazy, yes, it is so good baby."

"Bella, fuck you are so hot. I'm going to cum, do it with me baby. Use your fingers, make yourself cum with me."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Jasper grunted through the phone lines as I collapsed into the bed.

"Sweet Jesus Bella; that was the hottest fucking thing I ever heard."

"Jasper, when the hell are you gonna get here?" I panted into the phone, picking it up and taking it off of speaker.

"Shit, as soon as I can darlin', as soon as I can. I love you."

"Not as much as I love you."

~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Couple of clarifications, Jasper is now 28 and Bella is 25. I'm dying to know what you think on this chapter. How do you feel about all that money?? Don't tell me the amount of money is ridiculous, I already know that and that is the point. Just a little bit of money wouldn't have our Bella appropriately freaking out and just wouldn't cause enough of the drama we need. Also, Jasper had to be wealthier than the younger Facebook creator and some of the other FORBES top 100 America's wealthiest entries so go Google it if you want, it was entertaining actually. Besides it is fiction people.

Reviews are love, keep 'em comin', please???