2023 - Near Paris, France

[keptherwaiting]

Four hours outside of Paris in a eighteenth-century stone-built farmhouse is where the Whitlocks have been living for sixth months in blissful, post-second wedding (or vow renewal, depending on the view) bliss.

Jasper enters the said house late in the overcast afternoon and hears Alice on the phone with Esme. The separation has been harder on her than it has on him, he knows. He can sense her sadness now as she talks to Esme, but he also knows she’s been happy too. It’s strange, being away from their family for such an extended time, but also - good. They need this, and the timing was finally right.

He tries to give her the semblance of privacy as she finishes her call - or as much privacy as a vampire with super hearing can - and hums softly to himself as he washes the grime from his hands. He’s been working on one of the more derelict barns on the 28 acres they now own and it isn’t a very clean job.

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[betagainstme]

“—yeah,” Alice murmurs into the phone, glancing reflexively toward the door when she hears Jasper’s movements, the sound of the sink turning on. “It is nice, Mama, but—“

Her lips twist to the side and she shrugs even though no one can see her. “I just miss you, Mama. Maybe you and Dad can visit soon?”

Esme promises her that they will, and Alice can hear Carlisle’s enthusiastic agreement in the background, babbling at her in rapid French. It draws a delighted giggle from her as she stands, moving to lean against the kitchen’s door, watching as Jasper washes dirt from his hands.

“Oui, Papa. Nous allons aller à la Louvre—ah, non—“ she rolls her eyes at Carlisle’s string of questions, her smile brightening. “I should let you go. We’ll plan your trip out here soon. Maybe Bella and Edward can come too. Uh-huh. Yes, I’ll tell Jasper. He misses you too.”

She grows quiet for a moment, Esme’s soft voice barely heard over the water in the sink. Alice shifts, bouncing lightly on her heels before ducking her head, her voice trembling just a little when she says: “I know. Thank you—I love you, Mama, Papa. Tell the others I love them too. Okay. Yeah. Bye.”

Alice slips the phone in her pocket and moves across the kitchen to wrap her arms around Jasper’s middle, her face pressing against his back. “Hi.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper’s lips curl into a smile, trapped as he is between the counter and his little lady. “Hi.”

He shuts off the sink and dries his hand before covering her hands with his but doesn’t otherwise attempt to move from her hold. He likes it there.

“It’d be nice to have them over,” he says, in reference to the end of her call and the pending visit.

[betagainstme]

“Yes, it will,” Alice whispers against his shirt, that tendril of sadness still there for a flash, then it fades as she snuggles harder against her husband.

“And Esme can give pointers on curtains for the back room. I’m still undecided. She always has the perfect eye for those things.”

She moves to his side, lifting his arm so she can duck under it, tucking herself against him, looking up at him. “How goes the barn?”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper grins down at his wife, now snuggle against his side, and he ducks to kiss her quickly.

“It goes.”

He’s been trying to work on it slowly, at a more human pace, so as to not rush the project.

“Maybe Esme can give us some ideas as to what to use it for when I’m done.”

He used to help her on some projects around the new houses when he couldn’t quite handle attending school yet, and he does miss those early days and working on projects with Esme.

[betagainstme]

“Well, we could always go with my suggestion of another closet. A barn closet.”

Alice laughs at herself, then hugs Jasper close.

“She says hi, Esme and Carlisle both do. And she says she loves you and misses you.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper laughs, and Alice can surely feel the rumble of it in his chest as he holds her close.

“You don’t need another closet - or a barn closet! You got two rooms devoted clothes already.”

But, if she really wanted it, she knows he’d give into her whims. He usually does.

He kisses the top of her head.

“I miss them too, but I have enjoyed having you all to myself again.

“And being able to walk around naked in my own home.”

[betagainstme]

“Me too,” Alice murmurs into his side, enjoying the feel of his shirt’s texture against her cheek. “Having you to myself. You bein’ naked—even if that is very distracting from the work that needs to be done.”

Extricating herself from his arms, Alice hops onto the counter by the sink—with minimal scrambling of her feet to make it there, thank you very much. She smooths the fabric of her daisy-patterned dress over her legs, smiling at him from her new vantage point.

Here, she doesn’t have to crane up to see his face. Here, she can see a smudge of dirt across his cheek. Giggling, Alice gestures for him to come closer, wiping at the mark. “You got messy.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper cages her in his arms, hands braced on the countertop besides her, as he dutifully leans in for her to wipe at the smudge.

“It’s dirty work. I should probably take these clothes off too to keep from dragging in the grime.

“‘Less that’d be too distracting for you,” he teases, kissing at her nose.

[betagainstme]

“You distract me, regardless,” Alice smiles, leaning in to kiss him properly when she’s done with the smudge.

It’s true—a lot of the work could have been done faster if they weren’t so often distracted by one another. But then again, Alice wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You’re just so damn handsome,” she sighs, overdramatic. “I’m constantly forced to stop my work and look at you.”

[keptherwaiting]

“Well, not like we don’t have the time and the place to ourselves to partake,” Jasper whispers, his voice on the husky side as he leans in and brushes his lips across her jaw.

And, as much as he too misses the family, having the place to themselves has been good for being free with his powers and moods.

No having to find a spot to escape to, here.

“I’ve got this beautiful, sexy wife and, if we want to have sex with her at two in the afternoon on the kitchen counters, then so be it.”

[betagainstme]

He chases any lingering sadness away, with his presence, his lips at her jaw.

That husky quality in his voice. She shivers, tilting her head to the side to give him more access. Drawing her hand up his arm, Alice curls her fingers around his shoulder, tugging him closer still.

“So be it, huh?” She whispers, a little breathless.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper nuzzles her neck, and takes a deep breath. “Uh huh.”

His hands move from the countertop to her waist, pulling her closer as she pulls him nearer.

His teeth scrape across her skin.

And then he’s pushing away from her.

“Except, not right now. I’m too busy,” he teases.

[betagainstme]

“You’ll pay for that,” Alice half-growls, half-laughs, fingers tightening at his shoulder, not letting him get too far away from her.

“Tease,” she whispers, shaking her head at him. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper moves easily into her space again, slotted right between her legs with his arms caging her once more.

“I’m sorry, darlin’.”

Except he sounds anything but, especially with the grin he’s sporting.

“Tu ne devrais pleurer que dans le plaisir.”

[betagainstme]

Her arms loop around his neck, her nose bumping against his before she kisses his cheek.

“Well, I do that quite a bit more than I cry for other reasons,” Alice’s voice lowers, taking on a sultry tone. She leans forward, letting her lips catch the edge of his ear as she speaks. “I could always use a reminder, however.”

[keptherwaiting]

“It has been roughly six hours since the last,” Jasper jokes, pulling away from her whispers only to chase her lips with his own.

He tugs her off the counter and into his arms as soon as he captures her in a kiss.

[betagainstme]

“Memory of a goldfish,” Alice quips, squeezing his waist with her knees as she wraps herself around him, cradled in his arms.

She presses her forehead against Jasper’s after breaking the kiss, just breathing him in as she threads her fingers through his hair. “We can just kiss a bit if you wanna—there’s lots of pictures to hang and things to fold still, if you don’t wanna bang me on this counter right now.”

Her words are punctuated with a long-suffering sigh and a pout. “I guess.”

[keptherwaiting]

Her pouting is too much. It is an art she has perfected.

Jasper laughs.

“Well, I had been plannin’ to take you right here and bang you on this counter, but now I’m concerned because you brought up the Honey-Do list and what’ll happen if I keep puttin’ off on hangin’ those pictures?”

[betagainstme]

“They’ll keep,” she whispers, hands sliding down his arms until she reaches low enough to start tugging at his shirt.

Alice manages to pull the hem of the shirt up enough to free it from between them, so she can skate her fingers on the bare skin of his abdomen underneath. She shifts, needy for him as she so often is, her mouth leaving a trail of kisses and nips across his jaw and throat.

“We won’t,” she pants against his skin, her fingers moving higher up his chest, tangling herself in his shirt. “Use the kitchen for anything else, after all.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper, even if he hadn’t been joking, doesn’t know if he could escape now. He’s helpless for her.

He adjusts his grip, settling her back on the counter so he can slide his hands under the skirt of her dress.

“Well, it’s not like we haven’t been making the rounds of defilin’ the different rooms of the house,” he murmurs, throat bobbing against her lips from her touches and kisses.

His fingers skate along her thighs, teasingly.

[betagainstme]

Her hips buck forward at his fingers on her thighs, stuttering the slide of her hands under his shirt for just a moment.

Then she’s back to curling her fingers, nails scratching lightly against his skin, her lips curling into a small against his throat.

“Gotta christen them all,” Alice whispers, humming softly under her breath. “Our first house with just us. Can’t just let these rooms go unused.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper has been so used to holding back with his powers. Even when they’d find a secluded spot or a weekend away, he’d be in control. Now, though, in the quiet of their own house with no one for miles, he’s begun to truly let go.

The thrum of their twin desires fills the room around them, the air choked with it, the feelings amplified, as Jasper’s hands finds her hips beneath the skirt of her dress and pulls her flush against him.

“God, Alice,” he murmurs, moving against her sinuously as he toys with the thin straps of her undergarments.

His mouth captures hers is another hungry kiss.

[betagainstme]

She inhales sharply, lips parting under his, tongue darting into his mouth to slide against his.

Her hands grip the edge of his shirt, pushing it up, up, up until they’re almost tangled in it. Alice breaks the kiss to yank the shirt over his head and toss it behind him somewhere on the kitchen floor.

Her ankles cross at his back, keeping him pulled tight against her before she nips at his bottom lip with a soft growl, kissing him again.

[keptherwaiting]

She makes him feel so feral with how greedy he gets for her.

The thick of their desire would be a fog if could manifest physically. His own pulls at hers eagerly.

He bends her back as nips and bites at her lips, licking his way into her mouth, as soon as his shirt is discarded and forgotten on the floor.

His hands tug at her underwear to strip them off of her with a clear rip of thread and fabric. He grips at her bottom tightly then as he grinds against her with an answering growl.

[betagainstme]

A whine leaves her when he grinds against her, his pants an overwhelming texture against her bare skin.

She feels like she could fly apart—before this house, alone in France, it had been so long since he’d been able to truly be free with his powers. Alice had almost forgotten what it could be like and now she’s desperate to never forget again.

“Jasper,” she gasps, rolling her hips against his, his name a breath of air against his lips, wanting to stay as close as possible. “God—I love you.”