Chapter 24

Frankie

The first thingI do when I wake up, after using the bathroom, is rush outside in search of Jack to give me a ride back to the Sanctuary.

Except when I open the door to my room, I find Jude sleeping across the hall.

The sound of my door opening startles him awake, and he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

“Sleeping.” He swipes the back of his hand over the corner of his mouth and gazes up at me from the floor. His gray eyes glint with determination.

“I can see that. Why are you sleeping here?”

“Because I can’t stand the thought of not waking up where you are.”

“Jude—”

“I said you were mine, Frankie, and I said that meant I got to sleep next to you. Last night you needed space, so I gave you space, and if you need more, I’ll give you that too, but I’m going to do it beneath the same roof.”

“Couldn’t you have at least asked Jack for your own room?”

“And miss you sneaking out of here in the morning?” He gives me a lopsided grin, and even with a sleep-rumpled shirt and disheveled hair, he’s still so ruggedly beautiful.

“I wasn’t sneaking out.”

“Then where were you going?”

“Well, I was going to find you, but you found me first.”

“Damn right, and I always will.”

Crossing my arms, I lean against the doorjamb.

“Did you sleep good?” he asks softly. The sound wraps around me and soothes yesterday’s wounds.

“I missed you.”

“Missed you too, baby.”

I hike my thumb behind me. “You want to come in?”

“Been waiting all night for you to say that.”

Annoyance pinches my eyebrows. “You could have text me, you know.”

“Texting you to tell you I was here wouldn’t have given you what you needed.”

“Maybe I was wrong.” I sniff and look away from his piercing eyes. “Maybe what I really needed was you.”

Jude rises from the floor and pockets his phone. “Then you should have text me. I would have come. I would have come running if I wasn’t already here.”

“I know.”

His thumb and index finger grasp my chin, tilting my face for his inspection. That simple point of his touch warms me to my bones. “You good?”

I nod in his grip. “Are you?”

Jude dips and presses his lips against mine. “Now I am.”

My heart fucking melts.

Walking backward, I drag him through the door. He kicks it closed behind him.

“It’s a little early to be slamming doors.”

“Jack can bitch at me about it later.”

He pulls me into his chest, kissing me quiet again.

“Can’t get enough, Frankie, your lips are my addiction.”

My fingers skate down his shirt, toying with the bronze button on his jeans. His stomach is warm against the back of my knuckles. “These look like the jeans you wore yesterday.”

“They are.”

“You probably shouldn’t wear dirty clothes in my bed.”

“This the shirt you had on yesterday?” He twists the hem in a single fist, holding the back of my head with the other. Cool air sends goose bumps across my skin.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Then you should take this off too.”

I lift my arms and allow him to strip me bare.

Jude situates himself against the headboard and drags me until I’m lying against his chest. The rough pads of his fingertips skate over my naked back, tracing patterns as his tongue swirls in my mouth.

I gasp as he glides over my ass, palming the right cheek before continuing his decent into the crevasse between my thighs.

His thick finger toys with the wetness pooling there from his kiss.

“Are you still sore?”

I shake my head and rub my lips against his neck. The stubble pricks against the sensitive skin. “I’m getting used to you.”

The intrusion of his finger has my thighs parting wider in accommodation. My back arches as pleasure sparks nerve endings to life.

“I want you on my cock, Frankie,” he says, his voice gruff as his finger slowly fucks into me.

“I want that too.”

Jude grips the back of my head, kissing me until we’re both breathless. “Wrap your hand around me.”

Between us, his thick erection lies against his stomach, hard and ready. With a tentative grip, I slide him into my palm.

“Tighter. That’s a good girl,” he moans as I follow his direction.

For a moment, I stroke him. I feel the way his skin moves over the unyielding shaft. The warmth and weight of him in my palm. I soak in his guttural groan, and the power suffuses me as I twist my hand around the head and stroke back down.

“Whenever you’re ready, slide yourself over me.”

Jude tips his head back and closes his eyes, pleasure etched across his face. A flick of my wrist has him bucking into my fist, his hands flying to my hips. “Fuck. That’s so fucking hot.”

Wetness leaks between my thighs, and my nipples pebble in the cool air.

“Put me in you, Frankie.”

“I’m not ready yet.” Each stroke is my education, an exploration of the sounds I can wring from his parted lips. He pants as a flush colors his cheeks red.

“Frankie, please.”

His hoarse plea send a quiver to my pussy. He clenches my hips so tight, each finger might leave its own bruise.

“I’m begging, baby. Put. Me. In. You.”

“Oh, all right.”

I rise on my knees over him and slide his tip against my soaked entrance. My pulse jumps into my throat as I begin to slide down.

“Ah!” I whine, the first inch stretching me in a way I’m not used to.

“Easy, baby.”

The endearment startles me down another inch. “Oh my god.”

“You can take me. Just a little more,” he coaxes. For some reason, it felt much easier when he drove into me. Now that I’m in control, I want to feel him slowly sink inside.

Our groans fill the room when I’m seated fully on his cock.

He releases me then, only to use his finger to tip my chin and plant a soft kiss on my lips. “You feel so good wrapped around me.”

“What—what do I do now? Do I move?”

“Hold on a sec. Just sit.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I just want you to sit right there.”

A shudder races through me, and Jude flexes his hips in response.

Something about the intimacy of the moment gets to me. All of a sudden, a cascade of big emotions overcomes me. The events of the day before. The sweetness of Jude sleeping in the hall. The feel of his body beneath me, inside me, holding me.

It feels like my chest cracks open, my heart spills out, and I’m unable to hold back.

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Jude asks softly. Soothing fingertips trail from my shoulder to my hip.

“I’m sorry for overreacting yesterday. And I’m sorry for them showing up like that and embarrassing you in front of your customers and your family. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you in front of them too.”

Jude rocks my hips over him, just enough for my breath to hitch, and then he lets go. “You don’t need to apologize for a single thing that asshole did, and anything you did because of it. Your feelings are understandable.”

“I think I got a little overwhelmed.”

“I know, baby. But I need you to understand something, and it’s really important.”

I slide my hands over the rigid muscles of his chest, and ground myself with his warm skin beneath my palms. His cock twitches between my legs as I shift my torso over his. Liquid heat threatens to drag my attention away from Jude, but I bite my lip and focus.

“I’m listening.”

He brushes the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, dragging it from between my teeth. “Not one single person who saw what happened yesterday, and I include my entire family in that, thinks you have any reason to be embarrassed or ashamed. So I’m going to need you to forgive whatever you’ve concocted in that head of yours. Nobody is mad, and nobody thinks any less of you.”

“Does that include you?” I struggle to articulate. The sensation of Jude planted inside me is driving me mad.

“Of course it includes me. You’ve heard my story. My siblings all have one. If you don’t think any of us have a past that could cause a scene, then you haven’t been paying attention.”

He drops his hands to my thighs and lightly traces patterns across my skin.

“Oh, I’m paying attention.” My nostrils flare, and my legs begin to shake. “Is this meant to be a form of torture?” I gasp.

“Why, does it feel like one?” A cocky smirk resides in his voice.

“I just don’t understand why we’re not moving.”

“Well…” Jude wraps his big hands back around my hips and coaxes me into a gentle forward glide. “Because…”

I squeak as his thumb brushes against my needy clit.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about being inside you. And I wanted to get you hot”—he rocks me faster—“and wet.”

My shuddering breath fills the air.

“And when you’re ready, I want you to ride me until you come.”

“I think I’m ready now.”

Jude surges forward. He grabs me around the small of my back and dips his head. Finding my nipple, he sucks greedily, and my fingers tangle in his hair. “Then let go, baby, and ride me.”

“Oh god.”

I do as he says and let my instincts take over. I chase the pleasure sparking between my thighs. Shedding the inhibitions, I throw my head back and fuck him, riding him with a feral quality he matches despite being below.

“That’s my girl. Take my cock, and make yourself come.”

My hips surge, bucking against him, both of us content to sport the bruises tomorrow. I hold his head to my chest where he laves my breasts, switching from one nipple to the next.

“I need your help,” I plead, grabbing his face in my hands and bringing his mouth to my lips.

“What do you need?” he murmurs there.

“I need your fingers. Your thumb.”

I pant against his mouth as he brushes against my clit, dragging the wetness from where we’re joined over the top of it. His fingers span my thigh, anchoring us together, while his thumb strums right where I need him.

“Ohhh. Jude!” I shudder, my legs spasming against his thighs as he swallows my cries.

“That’s it. Right there. Don’t stop riding me.”

I scream into his mouth as my orgasm hits, wringing the tension from my muscles. I sag against him, resting against his chest, but keep moving my hips as the aftershocks spark through me.

“I’m going to come,” Jude grunts, yanking me down flush as his cock throbs deep inside. A guttural groan vibrates his chest against my cheek.

“Holy crap. That was…” I pause to catch my breath.

“You’re so beautiful.” Jude brushes the wayward strands from my cheek. “As long as I have you, I’ll never need to see another sunset. I’ll never need to stand on my front porch and gaze up at the breathtaking night sky.”

The air gets trapped in my lungs, and a lump rises in my throat. “Jude…”

“I just wanted you to know that.”

“Jude.” I try again, failing to find the words.

“Roll off me so I can clean you,” he says gently and tilts us to our sides.

As he leaves the bed, I watch his glutes flex, those powerful legs taking him from the room.

Finally, the words come to me, alone lying in bed after the most intimate experience of my life as the mess we made leaks from between my thighs.

I’m falling in love with him.

And I think he might have been trying to say he’s falling in love with me too.

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