Jude’s eyes aren’t melty—they’re on fire and he lowers his beer to his thigh. Bringing his other hand up, he points his finger down and makes a little circle with it. “Turn around again.”
Grinning, I turn again but slower this time and when I come full circle, I lift one eyebrow at him giving my head a little shake and say with more emphasis, “Well?”
Jude’s eyes narrow on me and he slowly leans forward, putting his beer on the old ugly coffee table as he says low and deep, “Baby, watch out. You prance your sweet ass out here in that little thing, I’m comin’ after you.”
The look on his face makes my eyes go big and he unfolds from the sofa. Something in the way he is moving makes me squeal and I turn and skip back toward Jude’s room. Feeling a hand on my arm, he yanks me around catching me behind my back, swings me up, my legs flying every which way before they are swung up over his arm. I yelp out of surprise, as he strides purposefully into his room where he puts me down in front of him beside his bed.
My heart is beating from the chase, but I grin up at him and he takes a step back holding my hand. He takes another good look before he pulls his hand up and across our bodies doing a semi dance move, flipping me underneath and pulling my back to his front. His hand comes up and across to my breast at the same time his lips hit my bare shoulder. Cupping my breast, his thumb runs across my nipple over the lace and the feeling of the two make me shiver. His other hand comes up to my stomach, dipping up under my nighty and he pulls me in tight to his chest.
"Gabby, you're beautiful," Jude rasps against my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. His hand at my stomach goes south straight into my panties at the same time his other hand gently pulls my nighty down to expose my breast.
"Jude," I whisper as my head falls back against his shoulder.
“Beautiful,” he repeats. “I didn’t know you could be more beautiful, but you are sugar, here, in my cabin and my bed.”
His fingers keep working between my legs lightly, but I’m still able to mutter, “It’s not a cabin.”
I feel him smile against my temple and I lose his hands on my body and the next thing I know he’s whipping my nighty up and over my head. Turning me, he pushes me down on the bed and I scoot to the middle at the same time he grabs my panties pulling them down my legs. Then he pushes my knees apart and crawls up in between my legs. I see his head descend, his lips hitting the inside of my thigh and I feel his tongue dart out. My head collapses to the bed and my hands fist the covers below me. He works his way up, licking, kissing, biting. Then I get to experience Jude’s three-day shadow on my sensitive parts. It’s scratchy like I thought it would be, but scratchy in a defy-gravity, off-the-charts amazing way.
Thirty minutes later, Jude rasps, “Gabby, you undo me. Just when I think we can’t get any better we do. And I don’t mean just this,” he says, pressing into me one more time where he’s planted deep. “I mean everything.”
I answer him by tightening all my limbs around him, wrapping him up as best I can. He’s right. As the days go by, everything with Jude gets better. Especially now, since I’ve given up being scared and let myself enjoy all things Jude. I’m overflowing in a whole new way.
Letting my fingers run up his back and into his hair. “So you like my nighty?”
“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say, I like your nighty.” He pulls up looking at me with a grin.
The look on his face makes my warm fuzzies get even warmer and start to settle in my belly with everything else in my life that seems to be settling with Jude. As that happy starts to overflow and seep into my bones, I can’t help but think about what’s to come. For the first time in a long time, I let these thoughts fill me up in a way I never had the courage to allow. And this makes me smile.
“Come on, let’s go in here.” Jude pulls me into a local artisan’s shop.
Today is my twenty-eighth birthday. Jude woke me this morning, making love to me soft and sweet. Seriously, the day could end now and it would still be the best birthday ever. But it was only nine in the morning, so after we showered and had breakfast, Jude told me he was taking me to Estes Park to show me around. The sun is bright but there’s still a nip in the air. We ate at a local deli with delicious sandwiches, eating outside on the patio under the heaters.
Now we’re strolling up and down the sidewalks of Estes Park, Jude is even letting me shop a little bit. But now he’s pulling me into a store filled with Indian art, rugs, pottery, and jewelry. I’m looking around, admiring the pottery when I feel a hand on my arm and turn around. Jude is looking down at my hand as he slips a cool as hell extra wide, hammered silver cuff on my wrist. It’s simple but makes a statement and can easily stand on its own, worn dressy or causal. Holding out my hand and he looks back up to me he says, “Do you like it?”
Speechless at the sight of Jude slipping a kick ass piece of jewelry on me, I look up him and barely find the words. “It’s stunning.”
Jude leans in putting his lips to my forehead. “Happy birthday, sugar.”
“But, you’ve already done so much for my birthday. My shoes, the puffy vest, bringing me here. This is too much.”
“Babe, even though I know how much you love your new shoes, you need something pretty on your birthday. Besides, your shoes will stay at the cabin.”
“Thank you.” I look down at my latest birthday present and flooded with the emotion that he wants me to leave my shoes in his mountain home. Feeling overwhelmed, yet again, I look at my new cuff, heavy, thick and feeling perfect on my wrist. Looking back up at Jude, I get up on tippy toes, and with meaning I respond, “Thank you, for everything.”
“You’re welcome. But I’m done shopping,” he goes on, now grinning at me.
“Yeah, I bet you’ve timed out.” I smile back. “I saw a chocolatier next door. I think I might need a piece of fudge.”
“I think I can handle shopping for chocolate,” he says as he pays for my kickass cuff.
Walking next door hand in hand, I decide against fudge because they had the biggest chocolate covered strawberries I’d ever seen so I order two. Jude gets a huge brownie covered with chocolate fudge icing. I didn’t think Jude could be more perfect until he tells the chocolate lady to wrap up a dog treat to go. I smile up at him, thinking he really likes Mia and someday he’ll admit it.
He just sighs at the look on my face and shakes his head. “I’ll give it to her when she starts clawing at me so she’ll leave me alone.”
“You buy her fancy-schmancy treats, she’ll love you even more, Jude. This is not the way to get her to leave you alone.”
“Whatever,” he mumbles.
With that, he takes my hand pulling me down the street to the car.
Chapter Eighteen
One More Surprise
The buzzer goes off on the oven. Yes, an actual buzzer since the oven is probably older than me. I pull out the cake, even though we already had sweets today, we bought it and I was going to make it. It’s later in the evening, I know we won’t be able to eat the whole thing but we can have leftovers for breakfast with coffee and toss the rest. Jude is on the sofa again, this time watching Sunday night football. He told me he’s faring pretty well in the Carpino Clan Fantasy Football League, not that I care who wins, but it’s always fun to be a winner, so good for him.