chapter 41
[Angelica]
I hold my breath as Jude stares at me. Knowing he might be angry. Knowing he might push me away. But his typically icy eyes are clear, and he’s evidently going somewhere.
“Angelica?” he breathes out my name in surprise and relief. At least, I hope it’s relief. It sounds like relief. A little breathy. A little eager.
Still, I don’t move.
“Merry Christmas, holiday hottie,” Gertie states, pushing forward and helping herself to enter Jude’s place.
“Gertrude,” Gran groans before addressing Jude. “Merry Christmas, Jude. We don’t mean to intrude.”
“Yes, we do,” Gertie calls over her shoulder. “Oh, look, the party has already started.”
I glance around Jude. “You have . . . guests?” I swallow at the thought. Is another woman in there? Already? I don’t want to believe it. Even if he’s Jude, he can’t possibly work that fast, can he?
Instantly, I’m jerked against Jude’s chest. His arms wrap around me like a vise clamp. I’m so stunned, I don’t respond. My arms hang limply at my sides. My throat tightens. Just as quickly, he releases me and addresses Gran and Christmas.
“Please, come in.”
But Jude holds me back by a hand on my belly. Once my family enters his place, he reaches behind him and shuts the door, closing us off in the hallway. He gently presses me across the space until I’m flat against the wall opposite his door.
“You left.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, straining to keep my emotions in check. “I panicked.” Maybe Jude could get caught naked in his store, but I didn’t want to be found in a compromising position.
He nods, leaning over me by pressing his hand above my head.
“Don’t leave me like that, ever again. You aren’t the only one with abandonment issues.”
I’ve never heard Jude so vulnerable, but I’m on shaky ground as well.
“Don’t you leave me, Jude.”
He stares at me for a second. Those icy eyes are clear pools today, but he’s unblinking as he pushes himself off the wall.
“What?” he whispers as he crosses his arms. “What did you say?”
“Last night felt like goodbye.” I meet his stare. My own eyes water. “Are you saying goodbye, Jude?”
“No.” His voice hardens, and I watch his throat roll. “No, absolutely not.” His eyes search my face. “But I want you to repeat what you just said. Exactly as you said it.”
I give him a questioning gaze before I state, “Last night—”
“Not that. The other statement. Don’t you . . .”
“Don’t you leave me, Jude?”
Our eyes remain locked on one another before he whispers, “It was you, wasn’t it?”
I chew at my lower lip, knowing exactly what he means.
“You are the angel.”
“No angel,” I whisper.
“Yes. An angel who begged me not to leave her.” He pauses as his brows lift.
I dig harder at my lip.
“You brought me back.”
“Back from what?”
Jude watches me for a long moment before he laughs. The sound abrupt and sharp. Then he laughs harder.
“Oh my God, it’s been you all along.” His hands cup my jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His expression returns to a pensive gaze. The same vulnerable one he gave me when he asked me not to leave ever again.
“Transference, like I told you. I didn’t want you to think you’d fallen for me under a false pretense. Or some sense of obligation.”
He chuckles while shaking his head, then presses his forehead against mine. “Angelica.” He exhales my name again. The sound once more like relief. “No obligation. No false pretense. Only love.”
Then, he kisses me, and as our lips meet, I melt beneath him. The warmth of his mouth. The tenderness of his hands. The desire in his taste.
“Because I’ve fallen. Fallen hard and fast and so deeply in love with you, angel,” Jude whispers against my mouth.
The wind knocks out of me. “Really?” I whisper, emotion clogging my throat.
“Really,” Jude says, his twitch of a smile no longer present. Only a blinding grin, emphasizing that apostrophe at the corner of his mouth.
“I love you, too.”
Jude’s smile grows even wider before his mouth is on mine again. We kiss like we have all day. A snow day. A holiday.
Suddenly, Jude’s front door flies open behind him.
“Gertrude,” I hear Christmas groan.
“Just capturing a moment,” Gertie says.
“I want every moment with you,” Jude mutters against my lips, ignoring my great aunt behind him. “Strings attached. No . . . ribbons. And bows. I want to wrap you up and unwrap you and keep you all the same.”
I chuckle against his mouth, giddy with the thought of him tying me up, but even more ecstatic that he wants to keep me like I want to keep him.
“Aunt Angelica is making out in the hallway,” a small boy’s voice announces behind Jude, but we don’t stop smiling at one another.
“Bunch of horn dogs, Maggie,” Gertie tsks, but I can hear the approval in her voice.
“Want to meet my family?” Jude asks me.
“Your family is here?”
Jude nods. “They’re staging an intervention.”
“I’m so sorry. We can go. I can round up my clan and—”
Jude covers my lips with one single finger. “Why are you here?”
“I didn’t want you to be alone. I don’t want you to ever feel alone again.” I will be here for him. Me, and my family, and apparently, his.
“You gave me an angel for my pocket, but I want the real Angelica by my side.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Time to cook the roast beast,” Gran announces, letting out a rare whoop and dragging her sister away from the door. “I’ll close the door so you two can make out in private.”
“Oh God,” I mutter, tipping my head into Jude’s chest.
He chuckles above me and kisses the back of my head. “Later. Let’s make a date of it. Make out in my room in an hour?”
“A date for a date,” I arch a brow, reminded of our initial agreement.
“All the dates, including holidays.”
I chuckle and tip up on my toes to kiss Jude one more time before he leads me into his condo.
When we approach the living room, he wraps his arms around me from behind and settles his chin on my shoulder.
“Tucker. Mae.” He points toward his father who is a stunning man in his sixties and the lovely brunette with a purple streak of hair beside him.
“My pain in the ass sister, Julia.” He points at her, while love fills his voice. “Her husband, Chopper, and their rugrats, Charlie, Ransom, and Lolly.”
Jude kisses the side of my neck and stands taller.
“Family. This is my girlfriend, Angelica. Her favorite color is orange, favorite number nine, and she loves . . . me.”
I twist to look up at him over my shoulder, where I’m met with the warmest gaze I’ve ever seen from Jude.
“And I love her.”