6. Soren #3
“What is it?” he asked.
“Before you tell me what you want to, can I sit on your lap and hug you the way we did that night?”
His eyes widened briefly, as though taken aback by the request. He patted his lap. “Of course. My lap is yours whenever you want it, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart.
My stomach cramped, but not in a bad way.
This man called to me in ways I didn’t understand.
Without a word, I scooted over and slowly lowered myself onto his lap with both my legs to the side.
I sat stiffly at first, my hands resting on my thighs, not knowing what to do with them…
until he gently picked them up and draped them around his shoulders.
He cupped the back of my head, guiding my face to rest in the crook of his neck.
The overwhelming urge to cry returned when one hand came around me and the other rubbed soothing circles along my back. His embrace reminded me of Belvaria—familiar and like home. He smelled like a stable with freshly baled hay, his scent earthy and comforting.
I lost track of how much time I spent in his lap. I was no dainty flower. My weight could no doubt be felt in his knees, but he was a huge man and didn’t seem to mind it at all.
“Why do you feel so familiar?” I whispered, meaning for the words to be for me only, but he must have heard them.
Had he?
He didn’t say anything, so he might not have.
Someone cleared their throat, intruding on the private moment, but I was too comfortable to acknowledge anyone else. I kept my face buried in Jude’s neck, not ready to let him go yet. This was the safest I’d felt since landing in California.
“Yes?” I heard Jude ask.
“Dean wanted to know if he should set an extra plate for you for dinner,” Phoenix asked.
“Not this time,” Jude replied. “We’re almost finished here. I’ll send him off to you when we’re done.”
“Of course. Take your time.”
In the same way I didn’t hear Phoenix come, I didn’t hear him go either. He was so lithe and graceful that he might not have walked at all. With those flowing pants he usually wore, half the time he looked as if he were levitating.
“There, there, little prince,” he said. “It’s time for dinner, and I shouldn’t keep you much longer.”
Little prince? Shock radiated through me, and I jerked back.
Did he know who I was? So far, no one I’d encountered in the United States had recognized me, except for the airport worker who had checked my passport when I’d entered the country on my diplomatic passport, which would expire at the end of the year, as I hadn’t bothered to cancel it before I left Belvaria.
After landing at Halo House, I’d decided it was better if no one knew who I really was. If I screwed up, it wouldn’t be linked to Belvaria at all. The media back home would have a field day with a deposed prince sitting on a man’s lap and contemplating calling him Daddy.
“You know?” I gasped.
“Know what?” Jude asked. “Did I offend you with that nickname? I can call you something else. I just think it suits you so well.”
So he didn’t know. Relief washed through me, and with it the certainty that this could be no coincidence. What further proof did I need that I was meant to meet this man?
“No, I’m not offended.” I smiled shyly at him. “In fact, I quite like it.”
“Good.” He picked me up with ease and set me down on the seat beside him. For the first time since I walked into the conservatory and saw him, his eyebrows furrowed, and he looked disturbed. “Listen, there’s something I must be honest about before you make your decision.”
“Okay,” I said as if I hadn’t already decided to say yes, even if he didn’t want to be intimate with me.
I would be disappointed if it didn’t happen, though, because the chemistry between us was unbelievable.
And yeah, I was horny too. But I wouldn’t let it stop me from learning all I could about surviving from this kind, capable man.
“I’m an ex-con,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “Before carpentry, I worked as a stockbroker. I was really good at my job before I was convicted of securities fraud. I spent five years behind bars and three on parole.”
Jude rose to his feet, leaving me stunned into silence. He seemed like such an upstanding man. I would never have thought him to be involved in fraud. Even if I hadn’t known him for long, everyone spoke so highly of him.
“That’s it,” he said slowly. “That’s my dirty little secret that you should know before you get involved with me. And if you still want to be my boy, be at my house tomorrow at six.”
He’d committed fraud and I, treason. We’d both paid dearly for it. How could I hold it against him since he’d done his time and genuinely seemed to have changed for the better?
“Jude, I—”
“Not yet.” He cupped my cheek and stroked a calloused thumb over my skin.
“I want you to spend the night thinking about it before you make your decision. Have a good evening, little prince. I hope you show up tomorrow. I’d love for the opportunity to help you become the boy I can see you were meant to be. ”