His tank top clung to him like a second skin, beads of sweat glistening in the sun and trailing down his muscular arms. I’d only gotten a glimpse here and there of his torso, and even when I’d been panicking about getting pulled over, it had been the first thing I’d noticed. But seeing him basically shirtless and soaking wet was a shock to my system I wasn’t prepared for. When he turned back around, I let my eyes drift lower, to his perfect round ass supported by strong, muscular thighs.
“Not really. I’ve been just Davis to most people since high school.” He held my gaze for a long minute before tearing it away. “You’re the first one to bring up the Beatles in a while.”
“Why don’t you like people calling you by your real first name? Jude is nice. Better than Sergeant.”
“I suppose.” He shrugged. I had to blink to tear my eyes away from his perfect shoulder muscle.
“The pressure to make sad songs better can be a little tough.” He flicked his icy-blue eyes to mine, his lips twisting as if he were stifling a smile.
“I won’t tell anyone you cracked a joke just now. I’ll keep your broody rep intact, Davis,” I said, loving the chuckle slipping out of him as he shook his head at me.
“Here you go,” Jake said, handing Jude a bottle of beer. “Thanks again. Renovations go a shit-ton faster when I have you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, grabbing the bottle and taking a long pull. My eyes followed the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. He even swallowed sexy.
The ice had melted a bit between us, but he still didn’t seem like a talker, even with Peyton and Jake. But me being me, I couldn’t help trying.
“How’s your dad?” I asked.
Jude shrugged. “Happy I’m out of the house, I suppose. He seemed to like you.”
It might have been the glare of the sun, but I swore I spotted a smirk tilting those perfect lips.
“Well, he didn’t have to pull me over when he first met me, so maybe I started on a better foot than I did with you.”
“Don’t let it get around that I let you go,” he said, the smile or smirk or whatever I thought I’d seen gone so fast, I wasn’t sure if the heat was making my mind play tricks on me.
“I’m only passing through,” I said, holding up my hands. “I won’t let it get around if you think it’s going to ruin your image.”
A burning need to know exactly what his image was in Kelly Lakes simmered in my gut, along with jealousy of the neck of the beer bottle as he took another swig.
“I don’t have much of an image. I just don’t feel like hearing any shit that I’m a soft touch for a beaut—for anyone speeding.”
When I’d told Peyton that men were mostly just there to me, I meant it. But Jude stopping himself from calling me beautiful sent a wave of goose bumps over my neck even as the relentless rays of the sun beat down on my skin.
“I am sure no one in this town thinks of you as asofttouch, Sergeant.”
I scooted to the edge of the chair, holding in a hiss when my ass hit the hot metal between the strips of vinyl. Poking at Jude’s resolve was the most I’d felt like myself since I’d jumped in my car and headed here, and my fingertips tingled in exhilaration.
Keely’s gurgling over the monitor halted the sparring between us—or the sparring I was trying to instigate.
“I’ll get her,” Jake said. “I’m mostly dried off, and I haven’t seen her all day.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” Peyton told Jake with a glint in her eyes. “After she gets changed and has a bottle, I’ll put her swimsuit on.” Peyton had enough heat in her eyes to make me almost cringe. I was thrilled for my best friend, but while staying at her house over an extended period, I spotted the foreplay between them a little too easily.
“I’m going to head home,” Jude said when Jake disappeared into the house. “As much as it will disappoint my father.”
“Tell him I said hello,” I said, cracking a wide grin. Usually, men smiled back at me when I did that, but Jude only nodded.
“I will.” He nodded a goodbye to both of us and jetted back inside.
“So, Davis is just…there?” Peyton asked, raising a brow.
“Shut up,” I said, wrapping the towel around me as I stood.
“I think you’d be good for him. He hasn’t had it easy. Between his parents and his divorce.”
“Divorce?”
