Chapter 13
JUDE
I sat upright, naked, the way I preferred to sleep, as my brain booted out of slumber.
A noise came from Sofia’s bedroom down the hall, and it was far from normal.
Another scream followed, and I kicked my sheets loose and found a pair of shorts.
Tugging them on, I moved to the corridor, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floorboards.
Another ragged gasp echoed from behind her door.
I pushed the unlocked oak frame open, as my gaze locked onto the bed.
Sofia was thrashing under the covers, her head whipping from side to side on the pillow, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat.
She let out a choked sob, her fingers clawing at the sheets like she was trying to pull herself out of quicksand.
She mumbled in Italian, then screamed again.
With an inhale, I crossed the carpet in three strides and, with a knee on the mattress, pulled the duvet back.
I slid in behind her and encircled her, my arm pulling her to me as I shushed her to calm her down.
The second my skin touched hers, she bucked like a wild horse, her heels kicking out in pure panic.
‘Sofia, chill,’ I muttered as I tightened my arm around her waist, anchoring her to my chest. ‘Get a grip, babe. I’ve got you.’
She fought me hard for ten seconds, her elbows catching my chin as she tried to escape whatever nightmare she was seeing in her mind.
I took the hits, tightening my grasp, absorbing the impact.
I rubbed my hands up and down her spine, trying to ground her in the real world.
‘Breathe, Sofia,’ I said near her ear. ‘It’s me, Jude, you’re in my house, honey. In bed with me.’
At my words, her eyes snapped open, dilated and glossy with terror.
She stared at the ceiling, her chest heaving.
She didn’t see me yet; she was still under the water with the ghosts of her past.
‘Jude?’ she gasped.
The utterance, so desperate and broken, tore at my gut.
‘Right here, babe,’ I whispered, shifting so she could see me. ‘You’re safe.’
The dread faded from her amber eyes, replaced by relief.
She let out a long, shuddering sigh, her muscles relaxing as she collapsed into my chest.
She dragged her face into the crook of my neck, her nose pressing right to my pulse point as she snuggled into my nape.
I tightened my clasp around her, locking her to me.
Holding her like this, listening to her breathing even out, sent tendrils of feeling through me.
It’d been that long since I held a woman in my arms and in bed.
Damn, in only a nightshirt, she felt so lush, skin so supple and warm, as I breathed in her alluring perfume and natural scent.
Another thought hit me: what would it be like to sleep next to her every single night?
As her soft breath warmed my nape, I closed my eyes as sleep took over, holding her in my embrace.
SOFIA
Jude drifted into slumber beside me, his breathing rhythmic.
I was still shaken from the nightmare, and grateful he’d come to my bed when my terrifying dream engulfed me.
My mind was blown by his tender comfort and how safe he made me feel.
This man.
I dozed in and out of sleep, luxuriating in the heat and hold of his arms.
I nestled into him, loving the way his body molded into mine, how my limbs fit in with his hard, sinewed ones, how his leg hair teased my skin.
At some point, he stirred and nuzzled my nape.
I gasped as his hand slid under my tee and cupped my left breast, a calloused finger flicking my nipple.
It went rock hard as my clit pulsed.
‘Babe, you’re so sexy,’ he murmured, his voice thick with desire. ‘Abby, you’re so hot.’
Abby?
The utterance sliced through my soul.
I never factored in the presence of another woman in his heart, not in the slightest.
The sudden realization brought an unexpected pang to my chest.
My husband, the man who married me to keep a ruthless Syndicate from ending my life, was sharing a bed with me.
He was also whispering a name that belonged to someone else.
He shifted, sliding closer until, with no warning, his mouth slid over mine, firm, hot, freakin’ demanding.
My body burst into flames, desire licking me, as his hands went over my tits, teasing my taut nipple even more.
I widened my thighs on instinct, wanting, desperate for more, and he moved between them.
It was dark; I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not, and part of me didn’t care.
I gave another gasp as the blazing length of him thudded into my tummy.
His hand squeezed my tits, rolling my swollen tips between two fingers.
It turned me on so much that my brain short-circuited.
His firm lips found the line of my jaw, sending a spark straight down my spine as his hands glided over my waist.
‘So beautiful, Abby,’ he whispered into my neck. ‘I want to tear you up, babe.’
Most women by now would have shoved him away and demanded answers on who he was speaking of, but I was not your typical girl.
I was his wife, and I was also touch-starved.
After so many years of living in strife, of existing unloved, and in the desert of life, this was like coming to a river to drink.
His caress kept building, igniting more undeniable flames in me.
I was so heated that all doubts evaporated.
He was not with her right now; he was with me.
Pulling away from him, I tugged my sleep shirt over my head, kicking off my panties, throwing caution to the wind.
He groaned when I fell on him and chuckled when I returned as his mouth found my lips.
His kiss glided over mine, so soft yet so firm, driving me wild.
I lost count of how many times I’d obsessed over his lips these last few days, wondering how they’d feel on me.
They were heaven.
My spine arched as his hands stroked my ass.
When his mouth went to my nape, he drew a deep breath before freezing mid-inhale.
He shot upright.
One sinewed hand went to the bedside table and turned on the lamp.
His jade eyes locked with mine.
We stared at each other as time seemed to slow to a standstill.
‘Sofia?’ his ragged whisper cut the silence. ‘The hell?’
Shame hit hard then.
I’d let it get this far; I allowed him to think, half asleep, that he was with someone else.
I scrambled away from him, face flushed, eyes down, holding the sheets up over my exposed breasts.
‘I’m so sorry, I. -’
‘Wait,’ he rasped. ‘Look at me.’
I did, slowly, shaking, waiting for his judgment.
I found his gaze on me, heated, scorching, yet also amused.
‘Did you like it?’
I blinked in shock.
‘So far, yes.’
‘You want more?’
I jolted at his seductive drawl, then realized we were way past reason.
My tits were heaving; I was so wet for him.
As for Jude, his muscled chest was undulating, the ridge of his shaft evident under the sheet.
He was so beautiful, and I convulsed as I stared at his rippling deltoids, sinewed upper body, his ink, the tiny hairs above his crotch.
‘I do, Jude,’ I whispered, despite the pounding in my ribs.
He reached for me and pushed me back onto the mattress and hovered over me, his hips rocking into me, his turgid, hard heat pressing against my stomach.
‘You sure?’ he asked with a groan, his jaw tight as I shifted my hips to bring him closer.
‘You want me, and I want you, so yes, please,’ I urged.
‘Don’t get shirty with me in the morning,’ he muttered, his focus locking on me even as he pulled away to shuck his shorts.
‘I won’t,’ I promised, my mouth going dry at the sight of his shaft, thick, pulsing, and like most of him, shaped and tapered, sculpted with beauty.
Damn.
‘Protection?’ he growled.
‘I’m on the pill,’ I whispered.
He returned to me, his lips descending on mine.
We almost caught fire; that’s how wild and scorching we were together.
His palms parted my thighs, hooked then around his waist as he first caressed my slit.
I was sopping, and as his hand rubbed my clit, I bucked, so amped for him.
He bent his head and took my nipple into his mouth, lashing it.
My hands sank into his long locks as I widened my legs even more.
He lifted off my tit and fixed his blazing gaze on me.
My legs went around his waist. Canting his head down, he gazed at the aperture of my thighs to grip his cock and guide it in.
He rubbed it once, twice over my slit.
‘So slick for me,’ he murmured.
‘You ready?’ he growled.
I nodded, unable to speak, as he eased inside me, and I moaned.
His thickness eased in, and I almost screamed at the exquisite sensation of his girth filling me.
I grabbed his upper arms, arching my back, hair falling to the pillow as I lifted my ass to take more of him in.
Jude groaned as I swirled my hips.
‘Fuck woman, so tight.’
I canted my pelvis and worked it, my knees crossing over his back as I lost myself in passion.
He was my love fantasy, and I never wanted to let him go.
My hands went into his long hair, pulling at it as my need ratcheted.
‘Harder, tesoro,’ I found myself moaning.
He chuckled. ‘Can you handle it?’
‘Try me.’
With a grunt, he drove hard, deep and fast into me.
‘Bellissimo,’ I breathed as my wet sleekness pulsated around him.
Our bodies locked into a rhythm that made the rest of the world vanish.
Jude’s touch glided over my hips, his fingers leaving tracks of fire on my skin as he pounded into me.
Each timbred groan from his chest triggered a soft moan in my throat, our breaths, lips, and hands tangling.
We rode a wave of heat that built until bliss broke over us, shattering every defense left in me.
Jude pushed his nose into my nape, suckling my ear as I shattered beneath him.
Then he sunk deep into me, thighs quaking, bucking as his bliss hit hard.
‘Fucckk,’ Jude groaned into me, ‘So good, so fuckin’ good.’
The shock in his growl at how blissful we were together only lit me up more as I shook beneath him, cresting the highest orgasm I’d ever experienced.
When I surfaced from the haze of pleasure, his face remained buried in my neck, his rib cage heaving over mine, my ankles crossed behind his back.
Nothing in my life had ever reached that peak of ecstasy.
I shuddered under him for what seemed like ages.
My skin tingled all over as his lips glided over me, his hands stroking me, sending mini orgasms arcing through me.
Finally, he lifted his head, his eyes searching my depths.
‘You doing OK?’ he asked, his timbre a rough rumble. ‘Did I hurt you?’
I shook my head, my throat tight. ‘Not at all.’
I was past OK; I was flying, my head spinning.
A flood of feelings rushed into my heart, and I blinked to hold back the tears.
He stared down at me, his jaw tightening before he cursed under his breath.
His face iced over, the warmth evaporating as he pulled off me.
I trembled at the loss of his heat and scorching, hard cock.
He sat on the edge of the mattress, his chest heaving as if dealing with an intense rush of wild emotion.
He turned to me, chest heaving.
‘ I’m not sure we should have -.’
I spoke over him.
‘I should have stopped it.’
But I was helpless to.
He gave me a wry quirk of his lips.
‘Not sure if it’s wise -.’
‘No, we won’t do it again.’
Our words tumbled over each other.
With a huff, he rose and retreated into the ensuite bathroom.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, shivering in the sudden cold.
I jolted when he tracked back into the room, naked and unbothered by his lack of clothes.
He held a steaming, hot cloth in his hand.
My face burned as he cleaned me between the thighs, his touch clinical now, devoid of his previous fire.
He tossed the towel aside and jerked his chin toward the washroom.
‘Get a shower, Sofia. I’ll go back to my room.’
My eyes followed him as he pulled his shorts on, his muscled, power-driven body moving to the door.
He paused at the jamb, keeping his back to me.
‘Let’s not discuss this again, alright?’ he rasped, his timbre reverberating through the silence.
‘Sí,’ I said, reverting to Italian in my distress, in hot embarrassment at how wild I’d been.
With a jerk of his sculpted chin, he prowled away.
His sudden coldness made no sense.
Unless, of course, he was thinking of the woman whose name he called out when half asleep.
Abby.
Now that he’d found his release, he was switching off, retreating behind a wall because of another woman.
Heck, what had I expected?
I begged for his touch, and this rejection was the tax I had to pay for crossing the line.
I locked myself in the bathroom and turned the shower dial, stepping under the spray.
I let the water beat over my hair and body, unable even to summon tears because the pain ran too deep for crying.
I had just experienced the most incredible bliss of my life, and right after, my heart shattered into pieces.
JUDE
I strode down the hallway toward my bedroom, guilt clawing at my chest.
The feeling hit me from two sides.
It was as if I was cheating on Abby with my wife, and second, I never planned to cross that line with Sofia.
My soul, fractured as it was, belonged to another; at least it had for years.
Was this poetic justice?
Lately, Sofia had been a slow burn in my blood, but I never expected the woman to hit me like a damn explosion.
A wildfire. An incandescent, scorching blaze.
Hell, I’d just ripped through the best fucking sex of my life with Sofia, the kind of raw release that threatened to shatter every wall I had left.
I cursed at the thought as I prowled into my primary.
Marching to the sliding bifold doors, I stepped out onto the terrace to drag the cold night air into my lungs.
Guilt hit hard, yet every muscle in my body craved turning right back around, throwing her down, and making her scream my name until sunrise.
What about Abby?
She was the woman I was supposed to want. The one who held my past.
Truth was, I hadn’t touched a woman in months.
I’d locked that part of myself away in dry dock, but having Sofia in my space tore the doors right off the hinges.
The worst part? My sex life before tonight, even with Abby, didn’t come close to this absolute firestorm.
With other women, fucking was routine.
A mutual exchange, a checklist, a quiet turn to opposite sides of the mattress when it was over.
Sofia brought zero masks to the sheets. She tore through my armor with a raw, electric confidence that left me completely exposed.
When I looked down at her face right after the high dropped, her eyes said it all.
Pure shock and raw emotion.
She hadn’t seen that tidal wave coming any more than I had.
So why was my stomach in knots?
What the hell was wrong with me?
She was my legal wife. She begged for it. She met me blow for blow, line for line, surrendered to the heat.
I couldn’t even lie to myself and pretend she hadn’t turned me into an inferno with her sound, her heat, the way she took every inch of me.
She put a fever in my blood that made me feel fucking invincible, and that kind of power terrified me.
She had the keys to my control, and I was in deep shit.
I gritted my teeth, making a cold, binding vow to myself right then and there: tonight was a one-time only.
She wasn’t my future. She was a vulnerable woman under my protection.
That was all I would allow her to be.