Chapter 62
chapter sixty-two
Jude
Today's vocabulary word: sneaky
I pressed a finger to Audrey's lips as I backed her up against the door. "Quiet," I whispered.
She smiled, a hungry, devious grin lighting her face.
I wasn't sure how I was supposed to endure that on top of everything else.
She came here for me and Percy, offered me the whole world, and now she was looking at me like there was nothing more she wanted than to be fucked straight through that door. When did I get so lucky?
The only thing I could do was seal my lips to hers. "Fuck," I murmured, sighing as I tasted her. "It's been too fucking long."
"It's been two days," she replied, pulling at my clothes and running her hands over my skin.
"As I said, too fucking long." I pushed my shorts to the floor, careful to keep my belt from clanking against the tile. "Get rid of those panties, princess. I want them out of my way."
She smothered a laugh as she stepped out of her underwear. I kissed her again, and this time, it was hard enough to pull a quiet purr from the back of her throat. "Happy now?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," I said. "Turn around. Hands on the door."
She ran her fingers through my hair, that smile still filling up the whole room. "In a minute." When her nails reached the nape of my neck, I dropped my forehead to her shoulder with a growl. "I'm not ready to let go of you yet."
"That's okay, baby," I said to her shoulder. "I have the rest of my life to fuck you from behind."
I boosted her up, and her legs went around my waist. The countertop was only two blessed steps away. Somehow, I managed to grab a towel on the way. This wouldn't end well for either of us if I put her bare ass down on cold granite.
"Hold onto me," I said, pressing at her entrance. "Don't let go."
She held my gaze as she said, "I won't."
I waited until Audrey's arms were locked around my neck to slide into her, and I couldn't tear myself away from the reactions washing over her face.
She raked her teeth over her bottom lip and dropped her head back as she whispered yes and fuck and please and Jude until it braided together like a chant, like a prayer.
"You're going to kill me with all these little whispers," I said, digging my fingertips into her hips as I thrust into her. "Do you feel this? Do you see what you're doing to me?"
She rested her head on my shoulder, staring down at where I moved in her.
She tightened around me, a raw, wild clench that seemed to steal the breath from my lungs and send stars behind my eyes.
She came like a deep, rolling current that seemed to beg me to empty myself into her.
An old, primal instinct told me to circle her clit, to suck her nipples, to keep this going until neither of us could stand it any longer.
My entire existence seemed to condense down to that single place where we met—but then it stretched out like long, coiling fingers that took hold of my muscles and bones, branding them with the heat growing between us.
"I love you," she said. "That's what I'm doing to you."
I didn't get a chance to fully hear those words before I came with a full-body spasm that had me knocking things off the counter and turning on a faucet, all while groaning like I was fighting for my life.
Quiet, I was not.
"Warn me the next time you want to love me that hard," I said, my voice raspy.
"No, I don't think I will," she said, stroking a hand through my hair, down my neck and shoulders.
"I fucking love you," I said. "I need you to know that if you leave me again, I'll just go and steal you back.
Some people might call it kidnapping, but I don't care.
It doesn't matter what your parents say.
I don't care if they disinherit you or whatever the fuck else they come up with.
You're mine—and nothing's going to change that. "
"I'm not going to leave you." She laughed as she said this, and since I was still buried inside her, the force of it nearly split my spine. "I'm not going anywhere. We've waited too long and lost too much. I came here because I didn't want to give up even a day with my boys."
I brought my hands to her face, pressed a slow kiss to her lips.
"Our family can be anything we want it to be," I said.
"Marriage, adoption—those are legal issues.
We don't have to bother ourselves with them.
You can be a mother to Percy without a court saying so.
I'll be your husband right now or in twenty years when you feel ready to hear that word again.
It's up to us. We decide. We make our own rules. "
She touched her forehead to mine, nodding just a bit. "I'd like that."
"Me too. Like you wouldn't believe." I leaned to the side—no easy feat in this position—and hooked a finger inside my travel case.
"This belongs to you," I said, popping her not-fake engagement ring from the box.
"It doesn't mean we're engaged. I'm not trying to push you into anything.
It just means that I hold your heart in my heart, and you hold mine. Is that okay?"
"I think I'd like that very much." She held out her hand and I slipped it on her ring finger. "I still can't believe you remembered all the exact little details."
"I've been waiting a long time to be yours again. It gave me something to do."
She started to respond, but a knock sounded—and then the door opened. "Oh shit," she gasped. "What do we do? Jude! What do we do?"
I yanked a towel from the shower door handle and did an adequate job of wrapping it around my waist. That was the best option available. "I'm just having a conversation in here with Audrey," I called over my shoulder. "Could you give us a minute, buddy? We'll be right out unless it's an emergency."
I held my breath until he pulled the door shut. When we were alone again, I sagged into her. "Holy fuck. That was close."
"That was really close," she said, rubbing my shoulders.
"We're going to have to work on this," I said.
"We have time," Audrey said.