Chapter 12

Ava

I had no idea what I was I thinking when I followed Jude off the tour bus to walk across the quiet parking lot in the direction of the hotel lobby. This wouldn’t lead to anything good. I knew that, deep down, as we crossed through the lavish hotel lobby. The staff seated at the front counter didn’t even bat an eyelash as we walked by them to the elevators.

They were paid to keep quiet. I was confident about that as they all twisted away to give us privacy when Jude hit the elevator button. His shoulder brushed against mine as he leaned in to whisper, “Don’t worry about them. They aren’t going to risk their jobs by talking about us in the paper.”

“I’m not worried about that,” I replied, watching the lights above the elevator doors. “You were the one who said rumors are rumors.”

“Most of the time, they are.”

“And the rest of the time?”

The doors slid open. Jude stepped inside to push the fourth-floor button. The doors closed shut but he didn’t bother replying to the question. I didn’t push it any further, either. There were things that I didn’t need to know about. Everything about Jude was harsh truths. He never sugarcoated anything, and while I admired that honesty, there were times it was too much to take.

The fourth floor, I realized quickly, was only for the wealthy. A big, burly man stood in front of a doorway. Jude led me past him and down the hallway to a door on the very end.

“Is there a celebrity in there?” I whispered, glancing at the man who kept his gaze focused on the elevator doors. “I feel a little out of place up here.”

“Money talks to anyone,” Jude said and punched his hotel card in the slot on the door. “It doesn’t matter who you are. If you can afford to pay for a suite, everyone treats you like royalty.”

He pushed the door open, reached inside, and clicked the lights on. I stepped past him when he motioned for me to come inside first. My breath caught in my throat as I took in the lavish living room with nice furniture and decorations throughout. There were a few vases of roses on various tables. Large windows overlooked the entire city of Charleston. I slowly slid the strap of my purse down to set it on the couch while Jude shut the door behind us and locked it.

“Wow,” I said. “I mean, wow. I never expected—”

“Someone like me to have this type of money?” Jude finished with a smirk. He glanced around the living room with a small frown. “It’s strange for me, too, sometimes. I think back to that shitty living room in my parents’ house that had cigarette burns in the carpet. It used to smell of mold and rotten milk.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “Major upgrade.”

“Agreed,” Jude said. “I don’t have a spare room in this suite, but you can stay in the bedroom.”

“I can’t do that,” I protested, turning back to look at him.

My heart thrummed anxiously in my chest at the sight of him unbuttoning the top of his pressed, white shirt. I didn’t dare tell him that I liked this version of Jude—the tall and tatted man with black silk hair, dressed sharply in casual trousers and a white button-up. Elegant but masculine and dangerous, all combined in one.

Jude cocked his head to the side with a frown. “Why not? It’s my hotel suite. I paid for it.”

“I know,” I said, clearing my throat. “That’s what I’m telling you. You deserve to sleep in the bedroom. I can stay out here.”

“Don’t be so damn stubborn,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to sleep on the couch tonight. I invited you to have a place to stay, so follow me to the room.”

His tone left no room for argument. I followed him reluctantly through a pair of white doors to the master bedroom. A king-sized bed faced the large windows, while a couch and table faced a large screen television on the opposite wall. I glanced through the cracked bathroom door to see a deep tub and fresh towels folded neatly along the rim.

I eyed the couch near the television nervously as Jude grabbed one of his bags from the foot of the bed. He slung it over his shoulder and nodded curtly at me.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” he said. “I’m going to turn in. It’s been a long day. Tomorrow is even longer, so I suggest you get some sleep.”

The tension in the room was thick. I could barely breathe through it as Jude turned on his heel to march out of the room. The doors closed shut behind him but my suspicions lingered about what sort of game Jude was playing. He had kissed me, hot and hard, back at the restaurant. I doubted that he was acting like a chivalrous gentleman out of the kindness of his heart. This had to do with something else entirely.

After slipping into a sleeping shirt, it occurred to me that he might be biding his time. He was waiting for something to happen or some sort of sign.

Fuck him. I clenched my thighs together, and I rolled over to stare out at Charleston’s city lights. It was working, too. Every inch of me felt taut and ready for him. My stomach knotted into a million knots when I tried to concentrate on anything besides that kiss in the restaurant, or how it had felt to have Jude’s mouth sucking feverishly on my breasts. Too good. It had felt too good.

Sleep took me, but even then, I didn’t get an escape from him.

He tormented my dreams. Jude’s bare body pressed up against mine. I could feel his hands sliding along the inside of my thighs. Those deft fingers were calloused over from gripping the handlebars of his motorbike. Pleasure bubbled in me as those fingers brushed over my center again and again. I moaned his name and writhed on the mattress.

It felt so real…

I turned and buried my face into the side of the pillow.

The threat of orgasm overtaking my body dragged me out of my dreams.

Still half-asleep, I curled up onto my elbows to gaze down at the broad, naked shoulders between my legs. The dark head buried against my pussy. The panties he’d pulled to the side.

It wasn’t a dream.

My heart slammed into my ribcage. I took in every inch of Jude’s muscular body covered in tattoos. His erection gleamed in the moonlight as he knelt back on his knees to give me a wicked grin that instantly made my stomach feel like Jell-O.

Jude’s hands slid down my inner thighs in sensual strokes, and he reached up to grab the elastic band of my underwear. I reached down to grab his wrists while I stared up at him, sucking in harsh breaths. I was on the verge of giving in, but I also knew what would happen if I did. We could never be together. It wasn’t possible. Not after everything. My parents would never accept Jude into our family.

All those thoughts disappeared when Jude hooked his fingers in my underwear and tugged them down past my hips and thighs. He tossed the garment to the side of the bed. I swallowed thickly when a wave of heat crashed over me. Sweat was already beginning to pool in the palm of my hands as I felt my fingers finally let go.

Wordlessly, Jude slid down to lay between my bent legs. His hands reached beneath me to grasp my ass cheeks firmly before nudging me with his nose. The tip of his tongue traced the outline of my clitoris teasingly until I was squirming helplessly beneath him, ready to be sucked. This was fucking new, and I loved it.

“Tell me that you want it,” Jude whispered hotly against me. “Tell me, Ava. Tell me that you want it.”

I clenched the bedsheets with my fingers when his tongue teased the bundle of nerves that were straining for his touch. I was utterly helpless against the power of him. His fingers gave a hard squeeze on my ass cheeks. There would be marks there tomorrow.

“Jude…”

He kissed my right inner thigh before looking up at me. “I like the way my name sounds on your lips. Say it again.”

His tongue flicked against me. I let out a ragged gasp while my hips rocked forward in yearning for it to continue.

“Jude,” I whimpered, trying desperately to keep control of my fraying nerves. “Please. Please.”

“Say that you want it,” he commanded roughly. “Just fucking say it, Ava.”

“I want it!” I cried out desperately. “I want it! I want you! Just fucking do it, please.”

“That’s my girl,” Jude growled. “Hang on, sweetheart. This isn’t going to be a slow and sweet lovemaking session. We’ve got plenty of time for that shit later.”

None of those words processed fully in my brain. His lips sucked me. Hard. I was a hot mess, thrashing beneath that sinfully skilled tongue and lips as he stuck true to his word. Higher and higher, he took me without pause. There was nothing slow about it. Nothing sweet. This was carnal and unadulterated pleasure.

My peak came crashing over me in a suffocating wave that left my body twitching. A scream tore past my lips while Jude’s fingers tightened on me to keep control over my bucking hips. The tips of my fingers and toes tingled as Jude sat up quickly between my legs to reach for something alongside the bed. I heard the foil of a condom wrapper being torn open, followed by the smell of latex.

“Much better than years ago, huh?” he asked.

I forced my eyes open to take in his smug grin. His hair was everywhere and flattened from my fingers running through it. His eyes were dark and wild while he rolled a condom down onto his straining erection.

“Much better,” I managed to say. A whole new apprehension spiraled through me when Jude settled between my legs.

He smoothed a hand along the outside of my thigh. Goosebumps covered my skin when the tip of his cock pushed up against me intimately. My fingers dug into Jude’s shoulders as he pushed into me in one deep thrust.

The sting of it brought tears into my eyes, but all of that faded away quickly as he rammed himself hard into me. He set a brutal pace while gripping the back of my right thigh, propping my knee up on his shoulder to go deeper.

I was pinned to the mattress beneath his rock-hard body in all the right ways. Our skin smacked against one another’s. Pleasure spiraled through me. I wanted to push him away because it felt fucking amazing. I wanted to pull him even closer because it felt fucking amazing. He panted harshly against the side of my neck, too lost in his own pleasure to see that I was being swept away with him.

The pace and intensity of it stole the breath right out of my lungs. It was like being on the world’s most thrilling ride. We clicked higher and higher up to the peak while our hearts beat wildly in our chests, waiting for the steep fall that would come, no matter how hard we tried to slow down. Bright lights flashed behind my eyelids. I distantly heard a grunt catch in Jude’s throat before I was freefalling back down to earth in a shattered abyss of bliss.