Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 105183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“I’m losing my patience, Amelia,” he grates, shaking his daze away and slamming his mouth onto mine.
“Fuck off.” I bite at his lip, shoving him back, my stinging hand on autopilot, swiping at him again. Slap. His head jerks to the side, and he holds it there, breathing through his rising anger as I breathe through my rising craving for him. I’m in fight-or-flight mode, and the anger is ruling which option to take.
Fight. Fight him with everything I have. Hurt him. Protect myself.
Jude licks his lip as he slowly lifts his eyes to mine. They’re so dark. So full of rage, but I see his desperation past the sheen of anger. I don’t think straight around this man. I lose all reason, shift from stable and sensible to senseless and irrational.
I heave against the wall, my brow dampening, my body calling for him. And as I drop my eyes to the fly of his jeans, I see he’s turned on past his anger too, the bulge prominent. I want it. I want him.
Praying for help in maintaining my diminishing resistance, I look up as Jude snarls, moving slowly in, bracing himself for my out-of-control hand to come at him again. But I’m out of fight. I’m done. He slips a hand onto my waist, tugging my hips into his, his eyes hooded, his breath spreading all over my face. My palms find his hips, my cheek rubbing against the harshness of his bristle when he nuzzles me.
His cock pulses against my lower tummy.
My nose is invaded by his scent, calming me further, his hands working at my strung muscles across my back until I’m boneless against him. Settled.
His mouth moves to my ear. “I want you, Amelia,” he whispers, stamping all over my willpower with his words as well as his touch. “I want you so fucking much.” He kisses the sensitive spot beneath my earlobe, and my knees wobble. “We’ve got to figure this out together.” Taking my chin, he directs my face to his. “We can have angry sex now, you can take everything out on me, or you can come with me and let me try to fix this.” His eyes pour with sincerity that I can’t ignore. I just can’t. “But walking away isn’t an option.”
I bite at my lip, scared to say the words bubbling in my throat. Scared to seal my fate.
“It’s not an option,” he whispers, reinforcing it as he holds my face. “Come with me.”
“I have work people out there,” I say, remembering where I am. Why I’m here. “The partners. I can’t just leave.” My phone starts ringing, and I look across to my purse by the sink.
“Don’t answer it,” Jude says. “Please.”
“I have to.” It could be Abbie or Charley. They’ll be worried. Jude reluctantly breaks away, letting me get to my phone. It’s my boss. Oh God, did he see me with Jude? “Gary?”
“Just checking you’re okay,” he says. “We’re heading back to the hotel.”
I wince. Am I okay? I look at Jude in the reflection past me. He’s waiting patiently, but I detect his wariness.
“I’m okay,” I say quietly. “You go. I have an Uber coming.”
Jude starts mildly shaking his head, refuting that.
“You sure?” Gary asks.
“Yes, I bumped into someone I know in the ladies’ and got talking.” I visibly wince. “Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t worry. Like I said, just checking you’re okay.”
“Have a great day on the course tomorrow, and thanks for tonight.”
“My pleasure, Amelia. See you Monday.”
I hang up and inhale when Jude’s front is quickly pushed up against my back. He reaches past me, takes my purse off the counter, and slips his hand around mine, leading me out of the bathroom and through Evelyn’s. I can feel my heart beating in my throat, my mind racing. Where’s my resolve gone? Where’s the disgust, the anger, the determination to avoid him?
The pull is too strong. I keep going back for more, and I’m terrified I always will.
We leave Evelyn’s, Jude leading me, his hold of my hand tight, and pass through the glass corridor back to the main hotel. I see Gary up ahead with the others.
“Jude,” I breathe, slowing, making our arms stretch between us. He looks back at me in question. “My bosses,” I say, and he checks, quickly diverting us down another corridor and up a different staircase.
When we make it to his apartment, he drops my phone on the couch, picks me up, and walks me to the kitchen space, sitting me on the counter and getting between my thighs.
Cupping my face, he pulls it down to his, but he doesn’t kiss me. I wrap my palms around his wrists. Wait for his words to make everything better. “I should have told you about Katherine.”
That doesn’t make everything better, but at least he’s owning his mistake. “Why didn’t you?”