"There's obviously a lot of heat between you." Irena's tone made it clear she'd noticed my nipples. Hell, the neighbors two streets over could see them at this point. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's an exact matchup in energies there."
We shared another glance. His gaze shifted from my eyes to my lips and then fell down to my chest. A muscle in his jaw pulsed but that was the only reaction he offered. I moved my hand from where it'd rested on his waist to between his shoulder blades, saying, "You won't hear any bedroom complaints from me."
I didn't know what'd compelled me to say that. I could've nodded along and let it go but I'd tapped into my sexually confident side. I didn'thavea sexually confident side, not without psychoactive drugs, but now I had to live with that comment. Just the same way I had to live with my antics from last night.
Jude's fingers flexed on my hip. "That's right, princess."
Irena murmured to herself like we'd opened up another layer of spiritual color theory for her. Jude asked her about her work leading Jeep tours and I let myself focus on the way his muscles moved under my fingers.
I kept telling myself this was part of our strategy—to win over his mother, charm the townsfolk, whatever. But if that was the objective, why did it feel likeIwas being won over? I didn'thave an answer for that. And I wasn't sure I wanted to find one because I didn't want to break my own heart.
As the night wore on, we seemed to migrate closer together. He'd stroke my arm while I slipped a hand into his back pocket. I'd lean in close and he'd feed me a strawberry filled with cheesecake. He'd gently release my hair when it got trapped under the arm he curled around my shoulder. I'd grab his beer bottle out of his hand and take a sip. He'd kiss my temple and I'd thumb a nonexistent smudge of guacamole from the corner of his mouth. I'd perch on the arm of his chair and he'd tug me right into his lap.
And when it was dark and late, and some of the guests had said their good-byes, he pulled me into his arms, my back to his chest, and held me close. His chin perched on my shoulder, he asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Better," I said with some hesitation. The shaky emptiness that followed a flare was no fun but the worst was behind me now. "Tired, though."
He settled a hand over my abdomen and rubbed slow, lazy circles into my belly. It was amazing. "Ready to go?"
I glanced around the patio, eventually finding Janet carrying on an animated conversation with a few women while Gary stood nearby, holding her drink. She caught my eye and waved like we hadn't seen each other in years.
"Do you think we put the suspicions to rest?" he asked.
I layered a hand over his. "I think she's trying to decide whether this is your way of telling her we're giving her another grandchild."
He hummed against my neck as if the idea did nice things for him. Too bad they weren't so nice for me. That, and we probably wouldn't see each other again after tomorrow.
"Let's get back to our room." There was something thick and low in his words, and all I could do was murmur in agreement. "I want to get you alone."
"Too bad your mother wasn't around to hear that."
"I don't want her to hear it," he replied.
I turned my head just enough to catch his eye. He held my gaze as if to sayYeah.That's exactly how I meant it.
"I want to take you back to the room, lock the door, and kiss every inch of your body. I don't want to stop for a very, very long time."
He wasn't even finished speaking when I said, "Okay."
Blinking, startled, he asked, "Okay?"
"Yeah. Okay."
Jude stared at me for a long, painful moment that kicked the first fizzes of panic into gear. But then he grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the door.
chapter thirty-five
Audrey
Today's vocabulary word: anticipate
The driveback to the hotel took hours. Or at least it felt that way. It was probably closer to fifteen minutes but every one of those minutes seemed to contain an entire Civil War documentary. To make matters worse, we'd stumbled into the most intense quiet game ever played.
The last words we'd exchanged were when Jude watched while I fastened my seat belt outside of Janet's house and asked, "All good?"
I nodded and offered an appalling response of "Yeah, you too." Amazing how I didn't drop dead from the embarrassment alone. I had to believe the gods kept me living only so I could amuse them a little longer by making it so much worse.
Jude reached over, his palm upturned and waiting. It was an obvious request for me to hold his hand but my brain said,Nah, girl, that's a low-five.
