“So? He won’t mind, trust me. I can be quiet, and although you can’t seem to, he’s a pretty heavy sleeper.”
Her shoulders jerked with a chuckle.
“Still, doing the walk of shame in front of your dad in the morning…” She trailed off, cringing as she shook her head.
“It’s not a walk of shame. You’ll be back, at least until one of us gets an apartment with a lockable door.” I slid my hand over the damp nape of her neck. “I want to wake up with you in my arms, and I don’t want you to go. Please.”
She grabbed my face, brushing her lips against mine with a soft kiss and plopping her head back onto the pillow. A dazed grin broke out on her face as she cuddled into my chest.
“Yep,” she said, letting out a sweet sigh, “still full of surprises.”
22
CLAUDIA
“So,you never said. How did you meet?”
I held back a cringe and forced a smile at my mother’s innocent question. My parents had been waiting for us by the stoop of my apartment building this morning and seemed like they’d been camped out there for a while. I wasn’t sure if that was because they’d missed me that much or wanted to meet the man I’d kept mentioning on the last few phone calls. Other than the boys I’d introduced them to while I’d lived at home during high school and college, they hadn’t seen me with anyone in an official sense in…maybe ever.
I didn’t have to tell them that Jude was special, because the simple fact that I’d brought him with me today spoke volumes. As we packed, my parents would sneak a smile toward me every time Jude turned around.
When I’d mentioned him to my parents, I said we’d been together for a few weeks, but I hadn’t elaborated onhowwe got together.
While they’d both gotten a kick out of my antics as a teen—at least now when they’d reminisce about it—speeding into town and falling for the cop who’d pulled me over wasn’t a story they’d laugh off, and I’d hear a long lecture about how they’d told me not to drive upset.
It had been a nice day, and I didn’t want to ruin it with a “What were you thinking, Claudia?” conversation during my last dinner at the Palace for a while.
“I work with Jake sometimes. Peyton’s husband.” Jude turned to me, a sneaky smile on his lips as his baby blue eyes found mine. “She was at the park with Peyton and her daughter one afternoon, and…that’s all it took.”
I wanted to laugh at “that’s all it took,” but I was too busy melting into a puddle on the vinyl cushion.
“I think Claudia mentioned that you work on restorations on your days off,” my father said, grinning as he looked between us. “I had that kind of energy at your age.”
“Please,” my mother scoffed and rolled her eyes. “We still have to force you to take a day off. I had to block the door the last time you were sick and wanted to come in.”
I laughed, thinking of my tiny mother trying to be a barricade to anything.
The bar wasn’t mine in the official sense yet, but I finally understood why my father never wanted a day off. Even though I had a lot to learn, excitement ran through me at all the possibilities. I wasn’t arrogant enough not to ask for opinions, but at the end of the day, the final decision on everything belonged to me.
I wanted the same connection with my customers as Dad had with his, much different from the clients I’d taken care of during my career.
I had a lot of things to do, but now that they were for me and my business, they didn’t seem like menial tasks just to check off.
While I’d laughed at it over the years, I finally got Dad’s unwavering motivation and why the Palace was never just a job to him.
“Can we get you anything else, Jude?” Dad asked as he eyed Jude’s empty plate. “You’ve been nonstop since you arrived.”
“Um, I’ve been pretty busy too,” I teased, squeezing Jude’s bicep. “Even if someone else did most of the heavy lifting.”
“But you’re not too shy to ask for more,” Mom said, lifting a brow at me.
“I’m fine, Mr. Ng. This is delicious, thank you.”
Jude hadn’t said much all day, but Jude didn’t say much period. He was a to-the-point kind of guy with everyone except me. I loved being the only one who saw a looser side of him, the part that liked to laugh and tease me when we were alone. That part of Jude was only mine, along with the insanely hot, dirty side and how that respectful mouth could turn lethally filthy in seconds.
“There she is! My cousin from the country.”
I laughed at my cousin Eric’s voice and slid out of the booth to greet him.
