Chapter Twelve
By the time they reached the sheriff’s office, Jake started to sober up. Which meant he was pretty damn resistant when Judd tried to get him out of the SUV.
“You’re not taking me to jail! You’ve got nothing on me! I didn’t do anything!” He tried to rip the cuffs off himself. Blood welled on his wrists, and Judd threw a look at Cecily.
“Go on inside. Troyer’s in there.”
She blinked at him but didn’t speak. Judd felt that silence to the marrow of his bones. The entire ride to the office, the ring in his pocket had been blazing hot, a reminder that he was in love with her and how bad he’d messed up. Giving her a reason not to trust him was the stupidest thing he’d ever done, and he had no excuses.
Except he was a bossy fucker, and he liked being in charge. But that just sounded worse.
The handcuffs were locked to a bar bolted to the floor, and Jake seemed determined to rip it out. With just enough alcohol in his system to give him the Superman complex, he was doing real damage to himself.
“Stop! Don’t move again or I’ll have to knock you out for your own good.” Judd registered that Cecily had walked into the building. At least she was safe.
A minute later, Troyer came out and peeked into the truck. “Hey, I know this ugly face. Drunk again, are ya, Jake, good buddy?”
Jake let out a guttural growl.
“Somethin’ like that plus a question about a little B&E. Help me get him out. The stupid fuck’s determined to rip his hands off at the wrists.” Blood trickled down his forearms and wet the cuffs of his jacket.
Between him and Troyer, they wrestled the big guy out of the SUV and forced him to walk inside. When they entered, Judd spotted Cecily in the corner, doing something he couldn’t see. At that minute, Jake tried to round on him, and he squeezed a pressure point on his shoulder that made the guy howl.
Cecily looked up and she and Judd locked gazes. Across the room, he could see she was upset. Her lips were swollen from working her teeth over them. His cock reacted with a brief jerk behind his fly before Jake forced his attention again when he tried to sit down on the floor.
“Dammit, get up.” Judd wanted to kick the shit out of him for keeping him from Cecily.
A second later, Wes entered with Audrey.
“What the hell’re you looking at, bitch?” Audrey spat at Cecily.
“Don’t speak to her or I’ll have you gagged,” Judd ordered the woman. Damn, this whole night was turning into a fucking mess. If only he’d drawn Cecily into his arms, untied those apron strings… He could have caught these two criminals at any time—they’d been hiding in plain sight, too cocky to believe they’d be found out. But Judd had only seen red once he discovered who was breaking in to the spa.
He propelled Jake forward again. “Get your ass in the room.”
After half an hour of fingerprints and mug shots—“It’s time for your photo shoot, Miss Howard”—Judd had both of them secured in cells. Troyer stood to the side, a toothpick twitching in the corner of his lips.
“I’ll give them the instructions on using the toilets inside their cells, boss. You go on.”
Judd grunted and turned to Wes. They bro-hugged. “Thanks for your help, man. I’ll be in touch.”
“You know I’m always here for backup.” Wes turned and left through the fire exit door.
Judd went into the front room where he’d left Cecily. When he entered, he expected to find her gone, having walked the few blocks to her apartment. Instead, she was carrying a small potted tree across the room.
He stopped and glanced around. She had furniture moved and objects scattered. The clock was off the wall and lay on Birdie’s desk.
Judd scratched his head. “What the hell’re you doin’?”
Cecily turned her back on him and set the tree along one wall a few feet from a window. “Feng Shui. This place has terrible energy.”
“Christ, woman. You believe in that hocus pocus about placement of objects?”
She straightened, eyes flashing his way. “I do. It helped me improve my business. Right after my sister suggested I try it in my shop, I rearranged and people started pouring in.”
The corner of his lips quirked. “Let’s go get a pizza. Take it back to my place.”
“No thanks. I had a shake earlier while I was waiting for you to come home.” The snapping tone of her voice told him she wasn’t quite over his dismissal of her earlier. Who could blame her?
“One of those gluten-free wheat shakes?”
“That doesn’t make any sense at all. Do you hear yourself? If it’s gluten-free, it can’t have wheat, Judd. Besides, I don’t do gluten-free—well, not all the time. The shake was wheat germ.”
“So, bird food. Suet.”
“It’s called fiber. You could use a little.” She muttered something about being uptight.
He shook his head and started wending his way around the shifted furniture—chairs sticking out in the middle of nowhere next to filing cabinets a woman of her size shouldn’t have even been able to budge. Birdie was going to flip out when she came in for her shift.
Cecily plastered herself against a desk and threw him a look. “What are you doing?”
“Coming after you. Don’t resist arrest, baby doll.”
Was it his imagination or had her eyelids lowered at his words?
Bolstered by the possibility, he continued toward her. A tendril of dark hair tumbled into her eye and she shook it back. The move shouldn’t give him a total hard-on, but he was aching. Each step he took toward her cramped his swollen dick.
“Judd.”
“Come home with me, Cecily. We have things to say to each other.”
Her mouth popped open on a sigh.
“You know, I’ll never get over seeing you shove a man who’s twice your weight. Thought I’d have a stroke there and then.”
“You don’t think I’m capable of handling myself?”
He reached for her, curling his fingers lightly around her upper arms and pulling her closer to look down into her eyes. “I can’t explain it fully, Cecily, but I want to wrap you up and put you in a safe place. Protect you, keep you happy always.”
She searched his eyes. “That’s crazy.”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “That’s love.”
Her mouth worked for a second before words emitted. “You… love me?”
He gave a single nod. “I do. In fact, I’m so in love with you, that I’ve thrown out all my beliefs about relationships and what they mean for me.”
“I don’t understand.” Her voice was a whispered rasp.
“After my ex cheated and swindled everything I had, I figured love wasn’t for me. I’d never find a good woman, a genuine one. And I definitely could never, ever show her that side of me that you’ve seen.” He lowered his voice until he was whispering too.
Yeah, her eyelids definitely lowered that time, her lashes sweeping her rosy cheeks. When she opened her eyes again, she met his stare. A breathless heartbeat passed between them. “Judd…”
“This space’s a little cramped with you moving everything around, but…” He dropped to one knee and put his fingers on that ring box. When he pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened his palm, her eyes widened. She rested her fingers over the box as if holding it shut.
“Judd, what are you doing?”
“Telling you how much I love you, Cecily. I never thought I’d be doing this again, but well, you’re it for me. The one I should have been with from the beginning, and I’m damn glad you walked into my life. Will you be my wife?”
She hit her knees too, her boot thudding against the side of the metal desk. He tried to shift and give her room, but he kicked over the potted tree. Dirt tipped over the floor and the leg of his jeans, but he didn’t care about anything but the woman in front of him.
“This Feng Shui stuff really works, baby doll. What do ya say?”
A tear leaked from the corner of her eye. “Oh Judd. Yes.” She threw her arms around his neck, knocking off his hat.
With a soaring heart and a groan of happiness, he crushed her to him and found her lips.
* * * * *
Judd sank his tongue into her mouth and flipped it against hers, stroking her into a frenzy in less than a second. Her heart throbbed hard with excitement, and she hadn’t even set eyes on the ring yet.
He wrapped her hair around his fist and angled her head back to receive his long, deep, thorough kisses. When they ratcheted up ten notches in intensity, her aching nipples told her they needed to stop.
“Judd,” she whispered between his plundering strokes.
“Hmm?” He wasn’t releasing her anytime soon.
“It’s not a good idea to have sex here in the office. Isn’t Troyer still here?”
He slowed the kiss to a stop and leaned his forehead against hers, panting hard. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
“But I left things in such a mess.”
He waved a hand. “Let Birdie deal with it tomorrow.” He stood and drew her to her feet. He still gripped the ring box and displayed it on his palm, unopened. “Want to take a look before you accept?”
She cast a look at the half-arranged room. “Not here.”
“You’re right—too much negative energy. We need the best start for our new life together. C’mon.” He grabbed her around the waist and swept her up into his arms, picking his way to the door.
She giggled. “Your hat.”
“I won’t need it tonight. Unless you want a cowboy dominating you in bed.” He brushed his lips over hers as they reached the front door. The kiss was so sweet, it brought tears to her eyes all over again.
She buried her face against his throat as he stepped out into the falling snow. He set her on her feet and stared down into her eyes. A bubble of elation filled her chest, and she felt suddenly jittery, like a can of soda shaken up.
“Okay, let me see the ring,” she said quietly.
The street lights didn’t offer much light, but when he popped the lid of the box, the stones reflected light and seemed to become part of the falling snow. A larger diamond with two smaller ones on either side, the setting platinum.
Her throat clogged off. “Judd, when did you get this? When did you know?”
“Known a while, Cecily. Before I even took you to Eagle Crest. I guess when I wanted to put you in bubble wrap and lock you in my house to keep you from being hurt, even by the pain of seeing your shop wrecked, I realized.”
She shook her head, a hiccup of a laugh/sob escaping. She held out her shaking hand and Judd pulled the ring free of the velvet to slip on her finger.
Snowflakes fell on her warm skin and vanished, but the ring was still there even after she blinked back her tears.
“I love you, Judd Roshannon.”
“Can’t see why, but I’m glad, because I love you. Now will you come home with me? Your place is closer, and damn do I want to get you naked underneath me.”
“But you have a real bed. And plenty of rope.”
A grin spread over his rugged features. “Damn straight. What are we standing here for?” He picked her up and ran with her to the SUV. She tossed her head back, the sound of her pure joy trailing after them.
* * * * *
When Judd secured the handkerchief over her eyes and knotted it behind her head, a calm trickled through Cecily’s system. He guided her to lie back on the pillows, and she stretched her arms overhead, twisting her wrists together even though she wasn’t bound.
He cupped her face with all the gentleness of a man in love, and her stomach fluttered. How she’d ended up with the love of her life when she’d only set out to make a fresh start in Bracken, she had no clue. She wasn’t going to take the time to analyze it either, because his sweet kiss distracted her.
She responded to the brush of his lips, but in a split second, he moved away, depriving her of what she wanted.
He moved his warm touch from her cheek and down to trail over her collarbones. Back and forth, warming the skin with a single fingertip. She focused on that caress, nerve endings electrified.
As he moved down to work at her shirt buttons, she sucked in a hitching breath. Uneven, rasping, breathless with need. She wanted him in a way that was almost frightening—giving herself body, mind and soul to another person wasn’t something she took lightly.
Yet the metal of his ring warmed her finger, and she toyed with the band with her thumb as he bared her breasts. Not having her sense of sight only heightened her desire.
“Can I touch you?” she asked.
“No.” His breath washed over the curve of her breast. Goosebumps broke out on her skin.
“Judd, please.”
“What do you want, baby doll? This?” He closed his teeth around her nipple. Through her bra cup, the sensation wasn’t nearly enough and yet it made her float in a haze of sexual pleasure. She pinched her eyes shut behind the blindfold.
A throaty noise burst from her, and he rumbled in answer. “And this?” He bit into her other nipple, grinding it gently back and forth between his teeth. Her pussy flooded, and she clamped her thighs together.
He stroked his hands over her skin, her shirt completely open now, and her breaths came faster. His warm, callused touch undid her in so many ways—made her his.
Suddenly, he withdrew his hands, leaving her anticipating his next move.
The ice hitting her skin shocked her. She gasped at the chill moving over her belly, down to her pussy. When had he brought ice into the room? Maybe when she’d slipped into the bathroom, he’d gotten a glass and hidden it from her view.
No matter how he’d done it, the ice was fucking genius.
And such a turn-on.
The cool moving over her hot flesh made her arch. As he moved it across her lower belly and drew a line down to the seam of her pussy, she cried out.
“So fucking beautiful. You should see how hot this is, wetting your panties this way.” He let the ice melt on the cloth, which molded it to her pussy lips. He ran it around and around her clit until she felt the cloth dampening. Somehow, the chill didn’t make her clit less swollen and aching. In fact, it throbbed harder.
“Oh my God, Judd. You’re driving me crazy.”
He brushed his lips—and in turn his beard stubble—over her stomach. She sucked in sharply. Then he hooked his fingers in her panties and tugged them down. The ice cube nestled between her slick folds for a brief moment, but she jerked her hips off the bed with a cry.
Seconds later, her panties were off, her blouse was gone, and she lay in only her bra. He continued to draw lines with the melting ice all over her body, and having her nipples untouched only frustrated her more.
She moved her arms.
“Hands over your head,” he ordered.
She shivered. “I want to take off my bra. I need…” She couldn’t voice her desires, only look at the pictures playing through her head—of Judd moving that ice cube over her hard nipples and then sucking them into his hot mouth, driving her nuts with the temperature change.
“Hmmm.” He eased a hand under her and up her spine. When he pinched her bra clasp with total expertise, the cloth loosened around her ribcage. He swept a palm over her skin, dragging the bra with it. Her nipples pinched tighter.
“Fucking beautiful.” He traced the circle around her areola until her nipple ached for his touch.
When he lowered his mouth and drew her between his lips, she stopped breathing. Heat pulsed between her thighs, and she bucked upward, hoping to meet his fingers, or better yet, his cock.
“Let me take control.” His voice soothed over her senses but did nothing to calm her. Actually, she was in a frenzy, squirming under his touch.
He sucked her nipples one at a time, taking what seemed like hours. When he finally let one pop from his mouth, she threw her head back on a shudder.
“Take me, Judd. I need you.”
“Need this?”
The ice was back, moving over her pussy. Slipping inside. He teased her opening with it, and when he moved down her body and placed his tongue over the chilled spot, she screamed in pleasure.
He parted her thighs with cold fingers and dived between her legs. Licking her, tasting every inch, teasing until she couldn’t take another second. On a cry, she spasmed and came. Pulsations against his tongue sent her mind spinning out of control, and she only felt.
* * * * *
Hell, he wasn’t going to last. His cock throbbed in rhythm to the short bursts of her cries leaving her lips. When he brought her down slowly, strumming his fingertip over her quivering folds and skimming the knot of nerves he’d just sucked so thoroughly, he could barely hold back another moment.
He surged upward and kissed her. Plunging his tongue in a mimicry of what he wanted to do to her pussy. She sucked on his tongue, and he growled.
He loved her beyond anything he’d ever imagined. Cassie was a distant memory, a shadow of what he felt right now for Cecily. How he’d ever believed that was love was beyond him. He wasn’t ever going to think on it again. He had everything he wanted right here in this bed under him.
Staring down at Cecily’s beautiful face, he took a mental snapshot of the blindfold over her eyes. Then he caught her hands in one of his and pinned her. The condom felt impossibly tight, strangling his cock, and as soon as possible, he was going to talk to her about leaving the precaution behind.
With his cock gripped at the base, he stroked the swollen head over her hot folds. Back and forth until she was soaking for him. Ready.
When he poised at her entrance, he pulled off the blindfold. She opened her eyes slowly, the green depths burning with love for him. His chest tightened.
“I want you to look at me when I take you. Don’t look away.”
“Never,” she breathed.
In one thrust, he joined them. Plunged balls-deep, scorching warmth enveloping him from root to tip. He released a primal cry and couldn’t stop his hips from moving. He churned inside her.
“Judd, you feel so damn good. Don’t stop doing that.”
He grinned, but it died on his face as she angled her body to accept him deeper.
Passion was like a fucking firework in the sky, and he couldn’t stop himself from moving if he wanted. He took her faster, she wrapped her thighs around him, riding him as he drove in again.
Her pussy gripped him so damn tight, he couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
“I’m coming,” she cried, head tossed back.
He groaned and flattened himself on top of her, wanting every inch of his skin in contact with hers as she clenched and released around his cock.
Need blasted up from his spine, and he lost his mind for a long, hip-grinding minute. When he came back to himself, the sound of Echo’s howl in his ears finally registered in his brain.
Cecily was giggling.
“Naughty wench.” He swatted her hip lightly. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Your dog. Oh God. Get off, I don’t have enough air to laugh.”
He rolled to the side and laughed with her. After a minute, Echo quieted down and collapsed somewhere on the floor near their discarded clothes to sleep.
“We’re going to have to start kicking him out of the room,” Judd rumbled against her shoulder.
“Or you’ll have to gag me.” She turned a smile on him, her eyes glowing.
“The blindfold doubles as a gag.”
“Maybe I want to blindfold you next.”
He’d like to see what she’d do with that sort of power, but not tonight. He was too primed for more, and he had some plans for his paddle and her ass.
She raised her hand in front of her face. The ring glinted in the low light coming from the bathroom. “I can’t believe you turned me away when I was wearing that apron.”
He smacked the heel of his hand off his forehead. “Is this one o’ those things you’ll be telling our children on our fiftieth wedding anniversary?” He affected a voice. “You know, the night your father proposed, I offered myself up like a pretty little dessert and he—”
She cut off his words with a kiss. Leaning over him, her soft breasts brushing his chest and her hair falling like a curtain around them. He lost himself to her. Everything about her was beyond perfect.
When she broke the kiss, she smiled down at him. “And you’re going to tell them about that Vegan pizza, aren’t you?”
“Nah. They’ll know their momma’s against eating anything that doesn’t taste like crap. Dang, what are we gonna do about wedding food?”
She slapped him in the arm. “You planning a big wedding, with family and such?”
The idea of his momma not being present and what she’d do to him later made his blood run cold. He nodded. “Why? Don’t you want a big weddin’?”
She screwed up her face as if in thought. “Actually, I had my heart set on this little chapel I know in Vegas.”
“Oh, now you’re in for it. I’m getting my whips and paddles.”
She giggled as he wrestled her down to the bed. As he stared into her eyes, they shared a smile. “You know, Vegas doesn’t sound half bad. As long as you realize it’s official,” he said.
“Babe, we could be married in a helicopter over an erupting volcano and I’d be fine with it. As long as you’re by my side.”
“I’ll Google that later and set the date.”
She giggled and then sobered as he walked his fingers down her belly, making a beeline for her pussy. “One thing’s for sure—we won’t be taking Echo on the honeymoon with us.”
He chuckled as he lowered his mouth to hers. “Let him howl. I want you screaming all night long.”
She pulled him down, arms around his neck and legs around his waist. They didn’t come up for a long time.
THE END