Chapter Thirteen
Judd Mathews
LEIGHTON DIDN’T BELIEVE ME. I couldn’t see it in her eyes because she hid her face after the incident with Laura, but I could hear it in her voice.
I’m not Brad, and I can’t have her believing that I’m like that asshole.
Thirty-two days.
More than a month away from my baby girl. Leighton has gone to great measures to make sure that I’ve seen Scarlett every day via FaceTime, but it isn’t the same as being there with them.
She’s growing so fast, and I’m missing it.
She’s reaching milestones, and I’m missing them.
She’s forming bonds, and I’m not one of them.
But Leighton is.
Scarlett and Leighton are becoming deeply attached to one another . . . like mother and daughter. I don’t mind. Scarlett needs strong connections, but as her daddy, she and I should share the most special relationship.
I ended my FaceTime with Scarlett and Leighton last night and booked the first flight I could get home. That’s how important it is to me that Leighton understands about the incident on the bus.
I left my band and the bus outside of Atlanta to move on to the next city without me. I told Doug that I’d be back for the show in Memphis on Saturday night, and I will be, but he’s still pissed off.
I just don’t give a damn. I have to see Leighton and Scarlett.
I miss the fuck out of them.
I didn’t tell Leighton that I was coming home. She believes I’m on a tour bus departing from Atlanta to Memphis. I want to surprise her, but I also don’t want to give her a heart attack because she hears me and thinks that I’m an intruder in the house.
Judd: Where are you?
Leighton: Nursery. Rocking Scarlett to sleep for her nap.
Judd: Don’t be scared.
Leighton: Don’t be scared of what?
Judd: I’m in the house.
Leighton is looking at her phone, her brow wrinkled, when I stop in the doorway of Scarlett’s nursery. “I’m home.”
She looks up, her mouth agape. “Judd . . .”
I walk across the room and look down at Scarlett, already asleep in her arms. “I had hoped that she’d be awake.”
“I would have kept her up if I’d known you were coming home.”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you succeeded.” Leighton scoots forward and holds Scarlett out for me to take. “Here. I know that you’re dying to get your hands on her.”
I take Scarlett from Leighton and cradle her in my arms. She squirms for a moment before settling. It’s impossible to not notice how her body stretches across my arm more than it did the last time I held her. “I can’t believe how much bigger she is.”
“She’s had a big growth spurt while you’ve been away.”
I see that.
A whole month. It isn’t right that I’ve been away from my daughter for that long. “I thought I could do it, but not seeing her has been killing me.”
“I knew it was going to be hard on you.”
“I expected to miss her, but I didn’t know that being apart was going to be this hard.”
Leighton gets up from the glider. “Sit. You need to hold her in your arms.”
It’s true. I need to feel her baby-soft touch. But I also need to hold Leighton.
I sit in the chair and cradle my daughter in my arms. I drag the back of my fingers down her soft cheek and chuckle aloud when I realize how much fuller her face has gotten.
“You need time with her. I’ll be in my room, but call out if you need anything.”
I’m disappointed that Leighton is leaving; I want to be with her too. But there’s time for that after I’ve held Scarlett for a while.
I spend the next half hour doing nothing but simply holding my sleeping daughter in my arms: watching her chest rise and fall as she breathes, listening to the air move in and out of her lungs, and feeling her occasionally squirm in my arms.
After I’ve gotten my fix, I kiss the top of Scarlett’s head and place my girl in her crib. The transition from my arms to the mattress stirs a light fret from her, but she quickly settles again and slips back into a deep sleep. “I love you.”
I’m still standing over her when Leighton returns to the nursery to check on us. She places her hands on the crib’s railing and leans over to look at Scarlett. “She has started sleeping through the night since you left. And sleeping late. She won’t wake in the mornings for her bottle until seven-thirty. Sometimes even eight.”
“I can’t believe how much I’ve missed her while I’ve been away.” It’s like she isn’t the same baby she was when I left.
“Babies change by leaps and bounds, and I’m sure that it must seem multiplied because you haven’t been here to watch it happening daily.”
“I don’t like not being here.”
“I don’t like your not being here either.”
I step closer and take her hand from the crib railing. I place our palms and outstretched fingers against one another and then lace our fingers together, forming a tight clasp. “Scarlett isn’t the only one that I’ve missed.”
The sound of an oh-so-soft gasp leaves her perfect pink lips. The sound emits a sweet, wholesome tenderness while simultaneously oozing a seductive allure that sends a rush of blood to my cock. Makes me want to glide my wet tongue over every curve of her smooth skin, deep and shallow, until my mouth has tasted all of her peaks and valleys.
“Did you miss me, Leighton?”
“More than you can possibly imagine.” Her voice is so soft, barely more than a whisper.
Standing here with our fingers weaved together and our eyes connected like this . . . every feeling I’ve had for her these last few months suddenly makes sense.
Her breath was intended to be stolen by me. Her lips were intended to be kissed by mine. My body was intended to fit perfectly inside hers.
“I haven’t touched another woman while I’ve been gone. You’re the only one I’ve even looked at since the first of the year. The only one that I’ve thought about. And trust me, I’ve thought about you a lot.” I squeeze her hand. “Tell me that you believe me.”
“I believe you.”
Leighton Mitchell was made to be mine. And the sweet sigh I hear when I move my hands to her waist and pull her body against me tells me that I’m not wrong.
“I’m going to kiss you . . . unless you tell me not to.”
Her lips part, and her tongue darts out to wet them. “I want you to kiss me.”
She watches my eyes as though she’s waiting to see if I’ll actually do it or not. She has no idea that I’ve been wanting to kiss her for months. Fantasized about it night and day.
Her eyes are locked on mine when I cup her jaw with my hands. I lick my lips and lean forward to press them to hers. Just the surface of lips on lips until we simultaneously open and our tongues taste each another.
Our first real kiss is slow. Seductive. Sultry.
And holy fucking hell. My body is instantly on fire. I cradle the back of her head and pull her closer, deepening our kiss, making me want her more than I dared to dream possible.
I release her face and wrap my arms around her body, pulling her against me. Hard. I grasp the nape of her neck and pull so she’s held in place, offering her delicate throat to my mouth. With her back arched, she bows against me and moans when my mouth nibbles the soft skin of her neck. “Judd . . .”
Hearing my name on her lips, said with so much passion, is my undoing.
With my fingers still fisted in her nape, I again pull her face to mine for my lips to find hers. Her mouth instantly opens, and our tongues meet again. Together, they roll against one another in soft, wet waves.
My hands leave the back of her head and glide down her sides until they find her ass, and I dig the tips of my fingers into her flesh. “I want you so fucking bad, Leighton.”
She nods, never breaking the contact between our mouths. “I want you too.”
I lower my hands until they find the backs of her thighs and lift, wrapping her legs around my body. She holds my shoulders tightly as I carry her to her bedroom next door.
We tumble onto her bed with me on top. She immediately bends her knees and brings them up so that my body is pressed between her legs. In response to this woman who belongs to me, my cock hardens more as her body writhes against mine.
I pull away from our kiss, and the way her eyes connect with mine in this moment enchants me. “I’ve thought about being with you this way I don’t know how many times.”
“I’ve thought about it too, more than I can count.”
I slide my hand beneath her top and with her help, we push it up and over her head. She isn’t wearing a bra, only a tank top beneath her shirt, but it goes too. I stop and take a moment to admire God’s handiwork when he created this woman. “You’re beautiful, Leighton.”
I palm one of her tits from the underside and rub my thumb over her nipple before lowering my face and sucking the opposite one into my mouth. Her fingers lace through my hair, and she arches against me.
She clutches at the back of my shirt, and I reach overhead, pulling it off in one fluid motion. She presses her palms to my chest and circles my pecs, briefly rubbing the muscle, before moving her hands to the button and zipper on my jeans. “Help me get you out of these.”
It’s annoying as fuck, but I must move off of her to remove my boots before I can get out of my jeans.
I’m completely naked when I climb onto the bed and crawl up her body. I waste no time going after her shorts and panties since they’re the only remaining clothing keeping our bodies apart. I drag both pieces down her legs, tossing them onto the floor with the rest of our clothes.
And now nothing separates us.