22. Slade
SLADE
Time passes with Jude like it’s been set to double speed. The sunrises and sunsets rush past in a blur, bringing the day she’ll leave closer and closer.
I count every single one, the tight mass in my gut growing bigger.
We’ve spent entire afternoons wrapped up in each other when her friend Mel has been out on the scuba diving course she signed up for.
We’ve barely come up for air. If I haven’t been inside her for hours in her bungalow, then I’ve had her propped up on my workbench with her thighs wrapped around my head, or bent over it with my mouth at her ear, telling her all the filthy ways I want to ruin her.
I cannot fucking get enough of her.
“Good girl,” I groan, holding her eyes as she gazes up at me, her lips wrapped around my spasming cock.
She fists the base harder, squeezing out every drop of cum and sucking it down with breathy little moans. I stroke her loose hair from her face as I jerk, sending the last load from my balls down her throat.
“Your mouth is…” I blow out a breath. “… fucking incredible.”
She presses a kiss to the end of my twitching dick before standing and sliding her arms around my neck.
“What do you want to do this afternoon?”
I bring my mouth down over hers, gathering up my taste from her tongue with a rich groan.
“Anything that involves being with you,” I murmur, sliding a hand into her hair and angling her head so I can deepen our kiss.
She breaks away with a smile. “I only have a couple more days, and there’s something I haven’t done yet.”
I fight to keep my expression neutral instead of turning and punching the wall of her bungalow at the reminder.
She’s leaving in two days.
And I don’t want her to go.
Cliff jumping changed something between us. Seeing her drop off that ledge in front of me brought horrifying memories back to the surface. Ones where someone I loved got hurt. Ones where I couldn’t do a fucking thing about it because it was my fault.
I felt so helpless again seeing Jude beneath the surface of the water after I dived in after her.
That alone should be a great big warning siren that I should let her go already. But I can’t. I don’t want to. I want every second, minute, and hour of these final days. I don’t want to waste a moment.
Because like I promised her when we started this, I’ll put her on that plane myself if I have to. She has to go back to her life in New York. And I have to not think about her ever again once she does.
It’s the only outcome.
Anything else is inconceivable, dangerous, and just… impossible.
“What is it? Great white shark cage dive?” I ask.
Her eyes pop wide. “No, thanks.” She scoffs, making the corners of my lips twitch. “Why anyone would want to serve themselves up on a platter like that with just some steel between them, I’ve no idea.”
“What is it, then?” I slide my nose down the side of her face, breathing in her scent before I settle my lips beneath her ear and nuzzle kisses into her skin.
“I want to see where you live. Spend the night at your place.”
I freeze, and she pulls back to look at me.
“What is it? Why can’t I? Do you have housemates?”
“No. I live alone.”
“So?” Her eyes brighten and she looks at me eagerly.
I sigh, which she takes as agreement, before she presses her lips to mine in a smiling kiss.
“Tonight then. I’ll pack a bag and let Mel know.” She turns away, then thinks better of it, crushing her lips back to mine. “I can’t wait to spend a whole night together.”
The tension in my gut threatens to explode. We haven’t spent an entire night together and woken up together the next day. And I know without doubt that I can’t let it happen. Because if I do, then watching her leave me is going to be a billion times harder.