Page 140 of Jude

‘This man bothering you, Sofia?’

I whirled around to see a gruff, muscled woman in ripped black denim standing in the foyer, arms crossed over her chest.

Her frame radiated a martial arts background from her short-cropped blonde hair to her fighting stance.

‘Hey, Linda,’ Sofia said, as she shot me a cold, warning look.

‘No, he’s-.’

She hesitated, drawing a slow breath. ‘He’s an acquaintance.’

A shard of agony sliced through my chest.

An acquaintance?

I clenched my jaw and cursed under my breath.

Linda studied my ink and my solid build, recognizing the volatile energy in the room.

She grunted, backing toward the glass exit.

‘I’m in the security hut. He gives you any trouble, I’ll be out there in seconds to kick his ass.’

The door clicked behind her.

I turned back to Sofia, my hands dropping to her waist.

A lesser soul would have dropped to his knees, but I wasn’t a beggar; I was a man willing to burn the world down to fix his mistakes.

‘Look at me, babe,’ I rasped. ‘Punish me. Make me pay back every single second of pain I caused you, but do not close the door on us. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if I have to. I’m a dead man without you.’

Sofia’s expression remained unyielding, though a tiny muscle twitched in her jaw.

‘No one else can fill the silence you left behind, and no one can match your energy. You’re locked into my heart, and I can’t let you go. You belong in my bed, not hiding in a dump like this. I’m in love with you, and I’m not leaving without you.’

With a cold calmness, she reached down, peeled my fingers off her waist, and walked past me.

She stepped around me, pushing through the security door into the residential wing.

The latch clicked shut behind her.

I stood in the dead silence of the empty lobby, my fists clenched at my sides.

Fuck.

I’d need to do a whole lot more than confess my love to undo the ruin of my own making.

Chapter 29

SOFIA

The security door of the shelter clicked shut behind me, but the visual of Jude telling me he loved me stayed with me.

I leaned my back against the wall of the hallway, my chest heaving, picturing him.

He hadn’t slept or shaved in days.

His shirt hung off his broad shoulders in wrinkled folds.