CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
While she was confident with most of her answers, there were a few she wasn’t sure about. She knew she could only get six wrong if she wanted to pass, so she hoped she’d done okay.
When she completed the test, she held her breath as she waited for the result. Relief flooded her when a DMV employee approached her and informed her that she’d passed.
Getting up, she hurried back to where Jude waited. His brows rose questioningly as she approached him.
Waving the paper the DMV employee had given her, she said, “I passed!”
In her excitement, and without conscious thought of her actions, Angela threw her arms around Jude.
For a moment, she worried that he’d push her away.
But instead, his arms came around her, gently holding her close.
If only time could stand still. She wanted to bask in the moment and commit it to memory.
But even though she wanted to prolong the contact, Angela released Jude and stepped back.
He smiled down at her with a smile that reached his eyes. This wasn’t Jude, her bodyguard, smiling at her. This was Jude, her friend… the man her heart longed for.
“I knew you could do it.”
“I didn’t get a perfect mark, but at least I didn’t fail.”
“Well, that’s all that matters.”
Kiara came out then to announce to them that she had also passed. Angela hugged her tight, so glad that the test was over. Of course, an even more difficult test was still to come. But she’d deal with that later.
It took them a while longer to finalize everything that would give them permission to drive off the estate. Angela still didn’t have the excitement about driving that Kiara did, but it was probably a good skill to have.
“Will I actually have to drive anywhere?” Angela asked as they got back into the SUV once they’d finished everything at the driver’s licensing office.
“What do you mean?” Jude asked.
“Won’t I always have to have a bodyguard with me? Like Jill said?”
“Yes. I can’t imagine that Duncan would want you going off on your own.”
“So I assume the bodyguard can also drive. Right?”
“It’s true that they could drive you if you preferred that. Most of the time, Annie prefers to drive her own car, and Dawn follows in one of the estate vehicles.”
“I’m sure Kiara will want to drive, even if the bodyguard is in the car with her.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Jude said. “For now, if you want to practice driving with your bodyguard, you can. Or, you can let them drive if you’re more comfortable with that.”
“When will we know who our bodyguards are?”
“I think Lucy will become Kiara’s full-time guard,” Jude said. “We’re still working on yours. But for now, it’s me.”
The joy that information caused her brought a smile to her face. “And I’m fine with that.”
After a beat, Jude said, “So am I.”
With the stress of the test gone, Angela was able to relax in her seat next to Jude.
The quiet hum of the SUV and the warmth radiating from Jude's presence beside her made Angela's eyelids droop momentarily. The adrenaline from passing her test had faded, revealing the effects of the fractured sleep she’d had the night before.
In her relaxed state, Angela studied Jude’s profile as he gazed out the front window—the strong line of his jaw, the scruff on his cheeks, dark lashes that might make a woman jealous.
She blinked and turned her gaze away from him.
When had she started memorizing these details about him? It was as if she wanted to capture every moment they were together to ponder when they weren’t.
"Thank you," she said quietly, not wanting to disturb Kiara, who had fallen asleep in the back seat.
Jude turned to look at her, his blue eyes questioning. "For what?"
"For helping me study. For believing I could do it when I didn't believe in myself." She twisted her hands in her lap. "For everything, really."
Something shifted in his expression, a softness that made her breath catch. "You don't need to thank me for that."
"I do, though." The words tumbled out before she could stop them. "I don't know what I would have done without you these past few weeks. You've made everything feel less overwhelming."
Jude's gaze held hers for a moment that stretched longer than it should have. Heat rose up her neck as Angela realized how much she'd revealed. She looked down at her hands, suddenly fascinated by the way her fingers tangled together in her lap.
The silence stretched between them, filled with unspoken words that Angela didn't know how to voice. She could feel Jude's attention on her, could sense the tension radiating from his still form beside her.
A sideways glance revealed his gaze was still fixed on her face with an intensity that made her forget how to breathe.
The space between them seemed to shrink, though neither of them had moved.
Angela's heart hammered against her ribs as she watched something shift in his expression—a crack in the professional mask he always wore.
The SUV hit a rough patch in the road, jolting them both back to reality.
Jude cleared his throat and looked away, his jaw tightening as he stared out the window with renewed focus.
Angela pressed her back against the seat, trying to create a distance that felt impossible within the confines of the vehicle.
Embarrassment filled her as she realized how close she'd come to… what? Leaning toward him? Closing that gap between them? The thought terrified and thrilled her in equal measure.
She’d been so caught up in the moment that she’d completely forgotten that Jude was on the job. Kiara might be asleep in the back seat, but Lucy and the driver certainly weren’t. They could hear everything they said.
"We should be back at the estate in about twenty minutes," Jude said, his voice carefully neutral again.
Angela nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She turned toward her own window, watching the snow-covered landscape blur past as she tried to sort through the tangle of emotions in her chest.
The moment had passed, but the feelings lingered, brightening in her heart. The muted feelings she’d had for Jude had just had their intensity turned way up.
They were no longer something she could easily ignore. But even if she couldn’t ignore them, she couldn’t do anything about them either.
Jude would keep her even more at arm’s length if she had more moments like what they’d just shared. At least she thought they’d shared it. Or had it all been in her mind?
For the rest of the drive back to the estate, Angela kept her gaze fixed on the passing scenery, acutely aware of every shift in Jude's position beside her. The air between them felt charged, like the moments before a thunderstorm when the atmosphere grew heavy with anticipation.
When they finally pulled through the estate gates, Angela felt both relief and disappointment.
Relief that she could escape the confines of the SUV and the intensity of whatever had passed between them. Disappointment that their time together was ending for the time being.
Kiara stirred in the back seat as they came to a stop, blinking sleepily. "Are we home?"
Home. The word still felt foreign on Angela's tongue when it came to the estate, but less so than it had weeks ago.
"We're back," Angela confirmed, already reaching for the door handle before Jude could get out to open it for her.
She welcomed the sharp bite of the air against her heated cheeks as she stepped out of the SUV. She needed something to clear her head, to remind her of the boundaries that existed between her and Jude, no matter what her heart might be telling her.
Duncan was waiting for them in the mud room, his face lighting up when he saw them.
"How did it go?" he asked, his eyes moving between Angela and Kiara.
"We both passed!" Kiara announced, grinning proudly.
"That's wonderful news." Duncan's smile was warm. “I knew you could do it.”
“You weren’t that happy when I got my license,” Annie remarked as she appeared beside her—their—father.
Duncan gave a rueful laugh as he slipped his arm around Annie’s shoulders and dropped a kiss on her head. “I know. I’m sorry about that. I realize now how important that was to you.”
Annie shrugged. “At least you came around eventually.”
As Angela watched Annie and Duncan interact, she wondered if she would ever get to the point where she was that comfortable with him.
When they’d first arrived at the estate, she would have said that she’d never be comfortable enough with him for that, and that she didn’t really care.
But as the weeks had slipped by and he’d continued to demonstrate the kind of man he was, Angela wasn’t so sure that she didn’t care about a close relationship with Duncan.
Maybe she did want a father in her life. A good father, this time around.
Their arrival in Serenity Point had introduced them to many good men. There had been good men in Briar Hollow—she’d met them at the church—but unfortunately, the men she knew the best there had been anything but good.
But now she had Duncan. And Jude. Even the men on the security team seemed to be decent and respectful. Julian… Well, she was reserving judgement on him.
So though she might have at one time resisted the idea of any type of close relationship with a man, that was definitely changing.
She was quite sure that Duncan would embrace a closer relationship as father and daughter, but she didn’t know for sure how Jude would feel about her desire for something more serious with him.
She needed to find someone to talk to about what she was feeling. Kiara would normally be her first choice. But in this instance, she kind of wanted to speak to someone who knew Jude well, which limited her possibilities to Duncan, Elizabeth, and Annie.
Glancing at Annie, Angela thought maybe it was time she had a conversation with her twin.