28. Jude
Jude
I banged my fist against her door. “Harlow, are you all right?”
My jaw ticked when I didn’t get an immediate reply. What had happened while I was gone? I’d heard a fucking bang and a scream. If she didn’t answer in the next thirty seconds I was going to break this door down.
“Are you okay?” I called out again.
This time I heard soft footsteps, so I waited, impatiently. My heart was almost beating out of my chest.
Then the door swung open and my jaw dropped.
Harlow was wearing the same sweater that she had on all night.
But it looked more haphazard now, hanging off her shoulder and exposing a lacy strap against her skin.
Instead of jeans that I’d seen her in earlier, she was wearing shorts—if you could even call them that.
The sweater almost covered the end of the silky black fabric they were made of.
“Jude.” She sighed and slumped against the doorframe. “You scared me.”
I stepped closer, brows furrowed, as I reached out to lift her face. “Sweetheart. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I thought I heard…” My words trailed off as I moved closer.
She looked disheveled in the most tempting way. Her skin was flushed and her long dark hair was tousled around her shoulders. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, and the sweet heady aroma of the room hit me—vanilla, pumpkin, and sex.
My eyes met hers and her pupils were wide. Completely dilated as her gaze returned from wandering down my body.
“I-I just dropped something. Don’t worry,” she replied with a smooth smile, but her lips looked bitten. Just like they’d been after I’d kissed her.
My jaw ticked again. Does she have someone in here? My fingers curled around the door frame. Did she bring someone home?
Was that why Kasey had sent me a text saying I didn’t need to bring Harlow back with me? Was he in there right now?
In my house.
Oh shit.
I averted my eyes, looking toward the starry sky beyond the porch.
I couldn’t bear to see it. Of course, she could do whatever she wanted.
I knew she was just a temporary slice of heaven that drifted into my life for a moment, but fuck, I didn’t think I’d have to face thinking about someone else having her so soon.
“Ah, well…” She rocked back on her heels. “I was just going to sleep.”
I nodded, leaning to turn away, until I heard another sound coming from the studio apartment. Harlow stepped forward and tried to cover the doorframe, but my eyes snapped back.
The buzzing was incessant.
“Do you want to get that?”
She gulped. “No.”
I narrowed my gaze and easily looked past her. Fortunately for me, I didn’t catch some other guy on the bed, but her phone wasn’t laying out either. It was something else entirely that made my breath catch in my throat.
I immediately felt blood rush below my belt. There was some pink thing rumbling around the floor, just by the end of her bed.
I reached down, caressing her jaw, drawing her eyes back to mine. She tried to shy away, hiding her crimson face.
“Did I interrupt something, sweetheart?”
“No.”
I waited for her to add an explanation but nothing came out. So I cocked my head in question.
“I—I…fuck, this is so embarrassing.”
“Do you want my help?” I smirked at the same phrasing I’d used to ask her at the farm.
“No, no.” She held her hands against my chest and her desperate eyes met mine. “We can’t. That kiss was a mistake. You want serious, Jude, and I’m not that.”
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. Seeing her like this, knowing how she felt in my hands, there was no way I could leave her. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not.”
I inhaled deeply, breathing in her intoxicating scent. “Okay,” I replied slowly. “Maybe you’re right about how I shouldn’t want you.”
“I am.” She crossed her arms, and the action pulled up the hem of her sweater, exposing more of those shorts that barely covered anything.
“You still don’t look satisfied, I shouldn’t leave you like this.” My darkened gaze trailed over her body. I watched as about a million emotions passed through her chocolate eyes, before she settled on a decision.
Without a word, she dropped a hand from the doorframe and let me in.
“So you can’t leave me,” she said, and I drew my lip between my teeth. “Then I’m calling in another favour. You owe me one more for being such a dick when I arrived.” I almost let out a laugh. But she could ask me to run a marathon right now and I would. “You can stay. But no touching.”
I raised a brow in consideration and sat back in a chair opposite her bed. “If that’s what you want, sweetheart.” My words felt like honey as my gaze stuck to her.
She scoffed, but quickly turned off the buzzing toy and crawled onto the bed. Her dark eyes pinned me in my place.
“Why don’t you show me how you like to be touched, Harlow?”
“You don’t need to know that. Not if you can’t touch me.”
I leaned back farther into the upholstered chair, letting my legs spread as I tried to ignore the way my cock was pressing firmly against my jeans.
“Just because I can’t touch you doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking about you every night. Even if you leave.”
She swallowed and I watched her throat bob. My line of sight followed the movement as it slipped beneath the neck of her sweater.
“Don’t let me interrupt you. Give me something to think about.”
Absentmindedly, I reached down and readjusted myself, and her heated gaze dipped to my jeans. I smirked, seeing how she was fighting her feelings, but was just as desperate for me as I was for her.
Then she raised her chin and countered, “You too then. Just this once.”
Just this once.
I unbuckled my belt and unzipped my jeans, then lifted my hips slightly to push them down, letting my cock spring free. Harlow’s lips parted for a moment before her tongue darted out, swiping over her lower lip.
“Surely…” Her voice was hushed. She wasn’t even pretending not to stare right now. “That must get in the way.”
A gravelly chuckle left my lips and I gripped the base firmly, stroking just once before placing my hands back on the arms of the chair. “Your turn.”
Her chest rose and fell, and then she reached for her sweater—just like she had in the truck—and threw it off, but this time it only left a sheer bra barely covering her luscious tits. I couldn’t help but grip myself again at the sight of her.
She was so beautiful. Creamy skin and curves, left only in a scrap of fabric and those fucking shorts.
“Take those off, too.”
I watched her eyes widen and then go slightly hazy, right before she followed my command. Fuck, I almost came then and there, because as she dragged those loose shorts down her thighs, there was nothing underneath them.
She’d answered the door like this. I could have bent her over and fucked her without removing a single piece of clothing if she’d let me.
I gave my dick another stroke.
She began moving again as my eyes were locked onto her. Facing me, she unclasped her bra and sat on her knees, letting her legs spread. The soft lighting snaked gently over her curvy body, and her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders.
Breathtaking.
Her hand trailed down her chest, pausing to swipe over her dusty pink nipples. My hand started moving in a slow rhythm as she continued lower. Her fingers met the apex of her thighs and she bit back a moan.
I growled, unwillingly. “Don’t hold back. It’s only you and me here.”
She nodded, leaning back against one hand and rubbing circles with the other.
“How close were you, Harlow?”
She let out a soft moan but still had the energy to quip back at me. “You barged in just as I was about to come, and ruined my orgasm, Jude.”
A smile crossed my lips. “And have I got you close now?”
Her half-lidded eyes fluttered and she nodded with a whimper.
“Good.” I could feel my own climax building as I watched her. “I could put my head between those pretty thighs, if you’d let me. I bet I could make you feel real good.”
“No touching,” she said breathlessly.
“Fine. But you could lie down and think of me.”
She paused, mulling over the idea and then dropped down into the soft blankets. I could see the curve of her breasts and soft thighs perfectly from this angle.
She immediately went back to circling her clit with a desperate touch. But I couldn’t let her go just yet. “Slow down, sweetheart. When I say so.”
She let out a moan that filled the room, and I threw my head back, locking that angelic sound away in my mind.
“Slip a finger in. Pretend it’s me.”
“I think you’re much bigger.” She laughed softly before it transformed into a gasp.
“You’ve been thinking about me?”
This time she didn’t even bother taunting me, she just replied, “Uh huh.” And then she threw her head back.
I pressed back farther into the chair and watched as she burned with desire.
“Jude.” My name left her lips in a sob as her back arched.
My left hand gripped at the arm of the chair as I tried to keep composure, until I found something laying there. I tore my gaze away from Harlow for a painful second, just to see black lace underwear that matched her bra.
I guess that’s why she was bare for me beneath those shorts.
Because as I looked back, it was undeniable that my girl must have been thinking about me. The way she’d looked at me in the doorway had confirmed it, and knowing that filled my chest with pride. But somehow, at the same time, almost tore my heart in two.
I curled my fingers around the fabric and even just that brought me closer. “Harlow,” I groaned. “Faster for me now. I want to watch you come undone.”
Her hand slipped back to her clit and the other reached out above her, gripping the bedsheets. Then her dark eyes fluttered open and focused on me.
I was right there, torturing myself by staring back at her.
Her hips ground against her hand and her lips parted into a moan. I watched as her thighs started to shake before I let myself get to the edge.
Then she cried out, shattering in front of me.
I toppled over.
“Fuck, Harlow.” Shockwaves racked through me and I crushed the lace in my other hand. Hot liquid spurted over where I’d lifted my shirt as I watched Harlow collapse back into the blanket.
Holy shit.
I took two deep breaths before grabbing some paper towel from the kitchen. I could reach it without moving much in this small space, so I quickly cleaned myself up. Then I dampened a sheet, and walked over to her bed.
Harlow looked boneless, head thrown to the side and hair spread out around her. I leaned closer, but she murmured, “No touching, remember?”
Still stubborn, even like this.
“Really?” I wasn’t the kind of guy to just up and leave after that, I wanted to take care of her.
“Really,” she replied firmly. “And this is the last time this happens.”
I ran a hand through my hair and placed the damp cloth beside her. “Sure.” I made my way toward her washroom and flicked on the light. I turned her shower to hot, but shit, my hands turned to fists. It was still cold.
“Harlow,” I called out. “Come shower at mine. It’ll be warm.”
“Nuh-uh, Jude. Good night.”
I rolled my eyes at her reluctance to be helped, and stalked over to the door. I was going to get that fixed tomorrow.
I wanted to press a kiss against her lips. I wanted to brush the hair off her neck and carry her into a warm shower with me. I wanted to take that lacy underwear just to have a memento of her. But I didn’t do any of that.
Instead, I just said, “Sleep well, sweetheart.”