Chapter Twenty
His entire body hummed, and his brain attempted to process the words she had spoken. She loved him. Him. He had earned the love of the one woman in the entire world whom he wasn’t sure if he could fathom living a life without.
He pulled her against him and kissed her with abandon in the middle of her drawing room. Scooping her into his arms, he didn’t break the kiss until he reached the stairs. He carried her up each step with her arms wrapped around his neck, her eyelids heavy from desire.
Once they reached her chamber, he kicked the door closed behind them and set her on the bed. He ventured back and locked the door, not taking any chances that they’d be interrupted.
“Can you help me with the buttons on this dress?” Juliana asked. She had shifted to stand, positioning her back to him and glancing at him over her shoulder.
She was a temptress. His temptress. He rushed back to her and worked at the blasted buttons that stood in the way of him and her naked form. His cock fought harder against his breeches with each button he unfastened.
He pushed the dress off of her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. He sent silent thanks that she wasn’t wearing stays. Spinning her to face him, he kissed her fervently. Their tongues danced with a passion unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Breaking their kiss for only a moment, he pulled her chemise over her head and tossed it to the floor before taking her lips again.
He plunged his fingers into her hair, and a few pins fell to the floor.
“Juliana,” he whispered against her lips.
She reached for her hair to remove the remaining pins, and he took the opportunity to rid himself of his jackets and shirt. She stepped out of her slippers, leaving them in the center of her dress on the floor.
“You are breathtaking,” he whispered, fighting back a rush of emotion.
Given it was still daylight outside, he could see the blush that reached her cheeks and neck, which only made him desire her more.
She stood before him wearing nothing but her stockings up over her knees, her long tresses hugging her shoulders, and biting her bottom lip.
He knew at that moment that he couldn’t live without her by his side for the rest of their lives.
Jude closed the distance between them and took her in his arms, kissing her with a hunger unlike anything he had ever experienced. He had needed nothing or no one more than he needed her at that moment.
He edged her back against a bedpost. Taking her hands in his, raised them over her head and held her wrists together against the post with a single hand so that he could explore her body with his free one.
He cupped her breast, running the tip of his thumb across her tight bud.
Breaking their kiss, he released her hands, and she gripped the bedpost while he dipped his head to take her nipple into his mouth.
“Oh, yes, Jude.”
“I have barely begun, my dear.”
He dropped to his knees and clasped the cheeks of her bottom with his hands, holding her in place as he teased her pearl with a single flick of his tongue.
“Please, more,” she begged.
He glanced up at her, still gripping the bedpost, her head flung back. Unable to deny her what he knew her body needed, he ran his tongue across the sensitive nub again and again. He relished the moans she released and the way she pushed herself against him, urging him to continue.
Slipping two fingers inside of her, she cried out and pushed against him.
He continued to lather her sensitive pearl with his tongue until she was undulating against his face and fingers, before shaking and rocking harder against him from her orgasm.
His cock throbbed and begged to be released from his breeches when he slid his tongue inside of her, tasting and drinking every drop of her release.
Coming to a stand, he picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She released a sweet giggle, and he hurriedly removed his boots and breeches while she watched him, licking her lips.
He crawled onto the bed and settled between her legs.
Slowly removing the stocking from her right leg, he kissed the inside of her thigh as he slid it off with agonizing slowness.
He did the same with the left leg, and she shivered from his touch.
He wanted her, needed her, but he wanted her to know that their coupling was different than before.
It was more than physical pleasure. He was making love to her, experiencing a closeness he never had with anyone else.
He was giving her all of him, the truest version of himself.
“Jude, please. I need you.”
He leaned over her and brushed his lips against hers.
“I need you, too,” he whispered hoarsely.
She wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him closer to her, and he slid his thick cock deep into her heated core.
“You feel so good, Juliana. I never knew I could need another person so much,” he said, slowly pulling out before thrusting himself in again.
She gripped him tighter each time he did so, and her core clenched around his shaft.
“Yes, Jude,” she moaned into his neck.
She wrapped her legs around him, and he pushed inside of her as deep as he could with each slow thrust.
He maintained a slow rhythm to his movements while he cupped one of her breasts in his hand.
When she gasped, he lowered his head to take a nipple into his mouth.
Giving equal attention to each breast, he suckled her tight buds one at a time.
Her hands shot to his hair, guiding his movements and holding him in place.
He smiled against her nipple, relishing how much she enjoyed what he was doing, and how her skin was the sweetest treat he’d ever tasted.
Thrusting into her again, he kissed along her shoulder and neck until he reached her ear. He nibbled her lobe before whispering in her ear, “Come for me, beautiful.”
She moaned and turned her head to face him, and he caught her gaze. She looked at him with more love and adoration than he had ever experienced in his entire life, and he fought the emotion building within himself. He took her lips with his, then massaged his tongue with her own.
Her body stilled, and her core constricted around his cock. She cried out his name, and he continued with slow, powerful thrusts until her moans slowed.
He pulled out of her just barely in time and spilled his seed on her stomach. He wanted nothing more than to experience the sensation of coming inside of her and truly making her his, but he needed to ask her first.
He had to ask her to marry him, and if she accepted him, it could not be because she feared the outcome of their coupling. More than anything, he wished for her to choose him, just as he had chosen her.
Juliana said she loved him, and he fought to keep from wearing a goofy schoolboy grin from the words.
If he were honest with himself, he would admit that all he had ever wished for was to have someone truly love him.
He’d questioned whether he had the capability for the emotion until Juliana.
He finally understood what his friends had experienced with their wives and how it drove them to distraction.
Climbing off of bed, he grabbed a cloth from her wash basin, dampened it, and used it to clean her stomach.
“You were right,” she said as he finished removing the evidence of their coupling.
He tilted his head, contemplating her words. “Well, I shan’t tire of hearing so, but what was I right about?”
He tossed the cloth to the side and climbed back beside her, pulling her into his arms.
“Making love is different.”
He kissed her brow.
“Different bad or different good?” he asked.
She looked up at him through her lashes, and his heart did a full flip inside his chest.
“Different good. Although, I have always enjoyed our time together. You just seem different somehow. More at ease,” she said, running her hand along his chest. Matt had said the very same. He wore his mask for far too long.
He held her tighter, wishing he could freeze time and never leave from that moment.
“I have never felt more like who I am, who I wish to be, than I do right now,” he said. “It is all because of you.”
A single tear fell from his right eye, and she wiped it away with her thumb. “You never have to be anyone but who you are. Promise me you will no longer face the pain of your past on your own. Always let me help you, Jude.”
He softly kissed her lips before deepening the kiss. For a man who never took part in kissing women before, he found he couldn’t get enough of the sensation of kissing the woman in his arms.
Breaking the kiss, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“I promise.”
Glancing at the window and assessing how light it was outside, he determined they still had more than a few hours until dinner. He had something he must do immediately so he could confirm their future together.
“We have scandalized your entire household, my lady,” he said.
She laughed. “You may be correct on that point.”
Sliding away from her, he planted his feet on the floor and collected his clothing scattered around the room.
“I must take my leave,” he said. “Would I be too forward if I invited myself to join you for dinner?”
Juliana laughed again. She was irresistible with the sheet laid across the middle of her body and her messy hair draped over her shoulder. He fought every urge within his body to keep from crawling back into the bed with her and spending the next several days there.
“Would you join me for dinner this evening, my lord?” She smirked at him. “There, you have now been invited.”
“I would be delighted to join you, my lady.” He made a show of a flashy, over-exaggerated bow before continuing with the buttons of his shirt.
She didn’t move from the bed and watched him dress. Her gaze focused on him and continued to test his resolve to leave, but he must if he wanted to put his plan in motion to make her his wife.
Once he was dressed and had donned his boots, he approached the bed and leaned down to kiss her once more.
“I shall return,” he promised.