Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Take care of yourself, Henry.” I pulled money from my wallet for the food I wouldn’t eat, and set it on the table. He didn’t try to stop me as I walked out.
My body was jittery. It was a little hard to breathe, but I didn’t know why I was responding that way.
I climbed into my truck, and before I realized what I was doing, I was pulling up in front of Jude’s condo instead of my house. I didn’t want to be alone, but there was no one else I wanted to be with either. Even if Jude didn’t know what happened, he would be there for me. Just being with him would help.
I knocked on the door, my bones feeling too heavy to hold up. My hands gripped the doorframe. He opened the door and smiled, and damned if that didn’t ease some of the ache inside me.
“This is a surprise—hey, what’s wrong?”
“I missed you, Beautiful. I’m allowed to miss my boyfriend, right?” I grinned, trying to shove all that other shit to the background.
“Yeah, but you’re also a liar. At least, you’re lying right now.” Jude put his hand on my hip, dipped his finger under my shirt and rubbed his thumb across the bone there. I loved that he felt comfortable touching me whenever he wanted now. Fucking loved that he wanted to touch me at all.
He pulled me forward, and I came willingly, eagerly. He closed the door behind me just before my forehead dropped to his. “This is already better,” I admitted. There was no sense in trying to deny it. I was so fucking gone for him, probably had been for months, even before our game of boyfriend charades.
“What’s wrong, Cam?”
“I met Henry for dinner tonight.”
Jude tensed against me, his body almost turning cold suddenly. Like my words had somehow sucked the heat out of him.
I walked over to the couch, and Jude followed me, his eyes distant and leery. “He wanted to hire me,” I tried to reassure him. “To do a remodel on his house, to add another room for his child.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said no, that I didn’t think it was a good idea. He asked if I still thought about us. It was just…fuck, I don’t know.” I rubbed a hand over my face, not sure what else to do.
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
That got my attention real quick. I dropped my hand and looked at Jude. “Huh?”
“Are you still in love with him? I know it’s been a long time, but…” He looked away, but it was too late. I saw it, the fear that I would choose someone else over him, that I would love someone else more than him. It was crazy to think about, that someone as beautiful, both inside and out, could doubt himself. That someone who came off so confident on the surface could feel so alone. Like somehow his father had chosen his sadness over Jude, and that it meant he was less worthy, when that wasn’t how any of it worked.
“No, I’m not in love with him. I feel sad for him. I hate that he’s lived his life in denial. That he has so much self-loathing inside. I feel bad for his wife and the whole situation, but I don’t have feelings for him. Don’t you know I’m fucking crazy about you? Ever since you and those goddamned lips of yours came to town, I don’t see anyone else.”
“All because of my lips?” The corners of said mouth curled up in a smile. It felt intentional, both of us attempting to keep this light.
“Well…not just your lips. Those fucking eyes too. So blue…and your hair. I like it even better now that it’s your natural color.”
“What…what else?” Jude asked, sucking in a deep breath, then moving toward me, straddling me on the couch.
“Oh, I see what this has turned into. You just want me to compliment you.” My hands made a journey up and down his arms. “Your skin. The way it always looks like you’ve been kissed by the sun.” Wrapping my arms around him, I tugged him closer, buried my face in his neck, licked the skin there. “This spot right here.”
“That one spot, huh?” he asked breathlessly.
“Well, all the spots.” I pushed his shirt up, tugged it off him, splayed my hands over his chest. “I like all these spots too. I like all of you…and I know how much you get off on my hands. Want me to rub you all over with them? It’s the least I can do since you let me crash your night.”
“The least you can do?” Jude chuckled.
“Or I can just hold them up in front of you if you want. Tease you with them…let you look but I don’t touch? I never thought I’d be used for my hands.”