Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Jude
I loved the mundane details of being more than just Kendall’s best friend.
Although I’d given her rides here and there hundreds of times over the years, it felt different when I knew she was mine.
I savored the feel of her knee under my palm as I drove through the darkness back to town, and she told me small things about her day.
Today’s details included coordinating a plan with a program to reintroduce the rescue moose back to the wild, the never-ending antics of the goats, and a new rescue—a pig someone had gotten as a pet, thinking it would stay small. Now, she was decidedly not small.
“She’s totally a sweetheart, but she’s three hundred pounds now,” Kendall said. “I need a house big enough that I can have a pig that lives with me in it.”
“A three-hundred-pound pig?” I slid my gaze to her briefly before flicking my eyes back to the road.
“Yes! Pigs make great pets. They’re so sweet and smart.”
“Well, since I love you, I’m going to have to plan a house big enough for that.”
“You’d do that for me?” Her voice lilted up in surprise.
I flicked my gaze to hers again, and the look in her eyes sent my heart spinning. “Of course I would.”
She leaned over with a little squeal and pressed a kiss to my cheek. I wanted to capture it and hold it in my heart. This feeling was just so good.
“I know you, Kendall, and I know you won’t be happy if you don’t have plenty of animals around you. But you have to promise me we’re not going to have a menagerie in our bedroom.”
“Oh, no. It’s not like the pigs would be there all the time. We’d just make it so they could come in if they wanted. Cows also make great pets.”
“Cows?” I yelped, and she giggled, squeezing my hand where it rested on her knee.
“They’re kind of large, and their hooves aren’t great for flooring, but they are sweet.”
I let out a disbelieving sputter. “Their hooves aren’t great for flooring,” I muttered. “Life’s going to be an adventure with you, Kendall.”
By the time we got back to Kendall’s apartment, I was burning up for her.
That was the crazy thing. All these years, I’d worried that maybe my emotions for her wouldn’t translate to chemistry, even though I felt the chemistry.
But damn if the emotions didn’t make that chemistry burn hotter and hotter. They were like fuel poured on a bonfire.
Once we got inside and Travis conked out on his bed, I all but shoved her into the shower.
“Sheesh, Jude,” Kendall teased. “You’re in a hurry.”
“I am.” Once we were bare naked, I took her from behind in the shower, her skin pink from the steam.
I loved how her fingers flexed against the wall as she cried out when I reached around and teased my fingers over her plump clit.
I savored the sound of my name when her pussy clenched around my cock, drawing my own release to a piercing tension before it snapped.
Electricity sizzled like fiery bolts through me as I poured myself into her.
I dipped my head against her neck. We rinsed off together, and I dried her with a towel before we lounged in bed.
I loved how she liked to talk about anything and nothing before she drifted into sleep. We fell into a rhythm, and the days blurred into the nights.
Meanwhile, Lincoln slipped back into being here with us. Although so much had changed since he’d been away, it just felt right to have him home.
For the first time since we’d all been crammed in the apartment above the barn after the wildfire, even our mom fell quiet about Bree.
She had taken the approach before of being open about her grief, which had helped all of us.
Except now, we didn’t want to shatter the peace of Lincoln being home. We didn’t want to chase him away.
I was coming up on a stretch where I’d be gone for five days for a multi-night winter camping trip with another group of college students. Lincoln was going with me. I actually loved these trips. Except, for the first time, I was going to miss being away. Because I was going to miss Kendall.