35. Judd
Never in all my career had I found it so hard to do my job.
Performing the simplest tasks like taking someone’s blood pressure and injecting an EpiPen was usually done without conscious thought before, but now needed my complete focus and attention. The problem with that was the woman standing near the fireplace in Josh and Claudia’s lounge room staring at me in shock like I had grown two heads, and next minute her look changed to if looks could kill I should be six feet under.
Five weeks ago, the woman glaring at me now had a completely different look on her face when she begged me to make her come. She did not have a death glare when she sucked my cock into her mouth pulling groans and orgasms out of me all night long. That night Elle … Blessing as I just discovered rocked my fucking world with her passion, her sincerity, her forthrightness, and her vulnerability.
Then I woke up alone in the hotel room, no signs she had even been there, that the best sexual experience of my life had been a figment of my imagination. At first, I thought it was, a wet dream beyond magnificent if it had not been for the lingering scent of her floral perfume. Something I remembered well before I fell asleep. The first time that scent filled my nostrils had been at the bar earlier. It drew me in the second I smelt it, screamed at me to find the source.
My eyes scanned the room as my nose guided me until I found where it came from. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the sexy blonde sitting at the bar drinking. Alone. It took me all of three seconds to get to her, to be closer to the most amazing intoxicating scent. She invited me to sit down, and she brought me a drink. We agreed to only exchange first names, but after talking with her at the bar for a short time, I had already decided to end that deal. My mind roared at me to know every single detail about her, to take her as mine and claim her. Never in my life had a woman made me think or want that, never.
Elle had a quality about her that drew me in, mesmerized and hypnotised me from the get-go. She wanted casual only, she put that out there from the beginning and I agreed readily only because I did not want any other man to have her but me. Her determination to have a one night stand did not sit well with me but I went along with it anyway. I thought after being together I could change her mind. Even before our first kiss I knew she was my one. She came to the same bar in the same city as if it was fate, that did not happen all the time.
I knew from the sadness in her stunning blue eyes that she had a story, the stipulation for first names only and one night had a story. I had enough drama in my life with my little brother’s deafness, plus we were both still coping with the death of our parents, but none of that mattered to me. I wanted Elle, I wanted to help her, to take away the sadness and replace it with nothing but joy. I thought the one night thing would have started that process but finding her gone the next morning, no note, not even a forgotten piece of clothing left in the room to give any indication who she was.
It played on my mind every day since, mind fucked me to the point I became angry at her. I thought for sure she felt the same feelings towards me as I did her, it was more than casual sex between strangers in my opinion. It had been the start of something brand new and perfect.
At least that’s how I saw it.
Her disappearance told me otherwise.
All my focus went to shit after that morning. My boss wanted to have me drawn and quartered my mood shifting so drastically. So, when Jury came to me about a possible transfer to a small town called Blessings, I jumped on it. I could not take driving the streets in the ambulance looking for the distinctive blonde hair that felt like silk when I ran my fingers through it. I looked at every blonde woman waiting to find those stunning blue eyes, but I never did. I dreamt about them, fantasised, pulled myself off in the shower every night with them in my head as I my cock exploded.
Every single fucking time.
Now here she was, the sister of Jury’s woman, the same Elle he talked about to me, told me stories about her ex-husband and what a douchebag he was to her. The stories he told about the three sisters that made me laugh, secretly wishing I knew them was her.
Elle Blessing.
The woman of my dreams.
My one.
She looks at me like she hates me. Why?
Our night together had been nothing short of amazing. Every step of the way she was with me, begging me as much as I begged her. Matching my moans, reaching the same sensual heights as me. No one could pretend what we felt that night, it was so much more than a hook up, it sickened me to even use that phrase. I refused to believe Elle believed that no way on this fucking planet did she fake one minute of our time together. That I believed right down to the soles of my fucking size eleven boots.
“Judd is Claudia going to be okay, the baby too?” Josh asked from his position on the couch next to his wife, his arm around her protectively his face washed with worry.
Shaking my foggy head, I forced myself to stay in the present to concentrate on my patient before her caveman of a husband bashed the daylights out of me. It had not escaped me the way Josh growled dangerously when I removed Claudia’s shoe to examine her ankle, and the cursing and clenched fists gave away his displeasure when I lifted her top so I could feel her belly for any soreness, which there was not any, thank goodness.
“Mate the baby’s heartbeat sounds right on track, there is no tenderness other than her ankle which is sprained pretty bad. She is going to need an x-ray to see if there is any tendon damage and I strongly suggest an ultrasound for no other reason than to make you feel better. And the sting is under control thanks to the Epi, the swelling has already subsided enough to see out of her eye now.” Getting up from my knees, I looked down at Claudia Blessing and marvelled at the astonishing similarity she had not only with Elle but with Gisele and their mother. Even Miracle looked like a little clone of them.
Remarkable.
“The ultrasound is simply a precaution and peace of mind,” I rushed to explain to Josh, cutting off any disagreement off before he could voice it. One thing I discovered about Josh Gallow no one messed with his wife, and his protective streak was a mile long when it came to her. Not that I blamed him, even with just the small amount of time I spend with Elle, I had much the same inclination. For weeks I have done nothing but worry about her wellbeing, then jealousy would kick in not knowing if she was with a man doing the same things we did that night. My teeth clenched every time my head went there, a combination of pain and rage flooded me, sending me almost loopy.
“So, Aunty Claude is going to be alright?” a soft little voice asked me from behind me. Miracle Blessing was just that a blessing, not just to her family but to my little brother Hudson also. His main concern about moving was going to a new school, worried about not only being the new kid but the deaf kid. When I found out that not only Miracle was fluent with ASL but her entire family and some of the teachers at the school Huddy got so excited he moved faster to pack up his room than a tick on a dog.
The two kids were really forming a great friendship giving me one less thing to worry about. Turning around to look at Miracle my eyes connected with Elle’s who was standing with her niece in front of the fire. Her colour was returning after hours in the freezing cold, but she still looked like a deer in the headlights. Her hands suddenly moved to her belly, lacing them together pressing them there. The gesture made me concerned that she was feeling nauseous maybe from mild hypothermia. Elle saw me looking at her hands and quickly she removed them, then turned around giving me her back.
“Yes sweetheart, your Aunty Claude is going to be fine and so is her baby,” I assured the little girl, but my mind was on Elle.
What the hell did I do wrong to warrant such this behaviour from her? I knew one thing for sure, I was going to find out. Elle and I had a connection that night, and I will be fucked if she was going to think she can ignore me without the courtesy of an explanation.
Elle was mine; she just didn’t know it yet.