She was mine now.
I’d bind her to me in every way possible.
Chapter 21
Ellianna
My alarm going off had me slitting my eyes open. I needed to get up and start work. Since I was back, I couldn’t just lie around and let my mom down, no matter how tired I was.
Reaching for my phone to turn off the alarm, I was startled when an arm tightened around my waist and a deep groan vibrated against my back. Heat infused every inch of my body as the man behind me molded me back against him. It was difficult to miss how hard his cock was as it poked into my hip.
“Turn it off and go back to sleep,” Judge grumbled. “I can be late for court today.”
It took a minute for me to remember why I wasn’t alone in my own bed. Mainly because this wasn’t my room. When we’d gotten home in the early hours of the morning, I’d been so tired, I’d stumbled through the door, Judge right behind me with my cases. But when I’d gone into my bedroom, he’d followed.
I’d thought he was just going to drop my stuff in my closet and leave, so I’d face-planted into my bed, not even bothering to put my head on a pillow before closing my eyes, already half asleep.
But before I could drift off into an exhausted slumber, Judge scooped me up.
“What are you—”
“Not sleeping without you,” he’d muttered as he carried me out of my room and into his.
Too tired to argue—and not even sure I wanted to anyway—I let him set me on his bed and strip me. The next thing I knew, he was crawling in behind me. I’d rolled over, cuddling his warm, deliciously naked body while letting sleep fully consume me. Sometime in the few hours I’d slept, I must have shifted away from him. I could guess why. His body heat would have made me sweat, and I hated being too hot when I was sleeping.
But the way he was pressed up against me, it didn’t seem he’d let me get far. He hadn’t had to move much to pull me back to him when I’d tried to get up.
I was still half asleep, but my mind didn’t let me relax. After the events of the past two days, I needed to figure out what I was going to do about this whole thing between us. And from the way his cock kept twitching against me, I needed to do it quickly.
Everything had happened so fast, I was a bit dizzy from it all. My emotions had gone through the equivalent of multiple natural disasters in less than forty-eight hours. From humiliation and rage, to ecstasy and heartbreak. First, thinking I wouldn’t ever return to my childhood home and flying across the country, only to find my apartment wrecked and then having to spend over an hour speaking to the cops. I’d been hanging on to what was left of my sanity by a thread when Judge had shown up out of nowhere and basically kidnapped me.
Not wanting to face all the things we’d done on the plane ride back to Virginia wasn’t an option. I had to deal with everything now, figure out what was going to happen from here forward.
Yes, Judge had broken me the last few days. I was still hurting and angry up until he’d confessed to me about his father’s death. But I knew this man. He wouldn’t have confided something like that to me just to get into my pants. We both knew he didn’t have to do anything except crook his finger, and I’d have willingly done all those things with him on the plane.
But he had told me about his dad. I had the feeling that I was the only one he’d ever spoken to about the events surrounding Mr. Bennet’s death. The burden was too great, and I’d felt a sense of relief from him after his confession. It wasn’t that he would have been worried I might use that information against him. He was Judge Bennet, for fuck’s sake. Whether people believed me didn’t matter. No one would touch him even if I had proof.
He had to know I wouldn’t use anything he said against him. As much as I wanted to deny it or tell myself the feelings I had for him died when he’d told me to leave Saturday night, I knew nothing would ever kill how much I loved him.
Loving him was one thing. Trusting him was another.
And trusting him with my heart?
Yeah, I wasn’t there yet.
Maybe I never would be.
There was no way this was going to last. Judge didn’t do long-term. He’d never had an actual girlfriend, just fuck buddies, and I didn’t flatter myself that I was anything more than that.
For now.
It was only a matter of time before he got tired of me like every other woman who had kept his dick wet. Logic told me to put a stop to whatever this was here and now. No way this ended any other way except for my heart shattered.
But I was a masochist when it came to him.
I wanted it all. From the mind-blowing orgasms to the gut-wrenching heartbreak that was sure to follow sooner or later. I’d soak it all up so I’d have it to live on for the rest of my life once we ended whatever this was.
Of course, there was only one problem with that.
“I have to get up before my mom comes looking for me,” I reasoned as I attempted to lift his arm off my stomach.
He buried his face in my neck, making me sigh with contentment as his hand traveled down my stomach and cupped my bare pussy. He spread my lips with his fingers and began to stroke his thumb over my clit. We were completely alone now. No one was around to hear my moans and cries of pleasure. Even if they were, I wasn’t sure I could have held back my needy whimper when he began to play with me.
“If you’re not going to sleep, then give me another reason to be late,” he breathed against my ear.
I was already wet, a point he proved by stuffing two fingers into my core with ease. Arching back into him, I tried to be the voice of reason. “A-are you ready to explain to Mom what’s going on between us.”
His fingers didn’t even pause as he kept stroking me higher. “Yes.”
Whining, I squirmed against him, loving the feel of his cock digging into me. The tip was already leaking, which made trying to remember why I couldn’t stay in bed with him even more difficult. “But I’m not ready.”
If I had my way, we wouldn’t ever tell my mom. Whatever happened when this was over, I didn’t want the messiness to include her. I didn’t want her to have to choose sides.
Because if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t confident she would pick me.
Groaning, he rolled us so that I was on my back and he was cradled between my open legs. “Fine, we won’t tell Mabel. For now.” He kissed me hard before pulling back. I thought he was going to climb out of bed, but all he did was slide down the mattress until his mouth latched on to my clit.
I grabbed on to his hair, unsure if I was going to push him away or hold him in place. “Zachary!” I hissed.
“Neither one of us is leaving this bed until I’m coated in your taste and scent, Elli,” he growled, licking up and down my lower lips. “So if you don’t want your mom to find us like this, I suggest you focus on creaming on my face.”
Chapter 22
Ellianna
I rushed downstairs in my black dress pants and white button-down, my hair pulled into a knot at the back of my head. After a quick glance in the mirror, I knew I was presentable by my mom’s standards, but I felt like anyone who looked at me would guess what I’d just been doing in Judge’s bed.