Rori laughed. “This time away is about building something that is Rori and Jude. He deserves that and I want it too. It feels like I’ve loved Jude since I was a bitty girl, you know? But that’s different from this thing we have now.”
“Well, you have grown-up love. Complete with in-laws and all that politics stuff that comes with it. Relationships are different than crushes or even dating. You know that.”
“I know. I do and I totally agree. I see this trip as a big foundational wall in our relationship. We need to build it, to put the work into it. Hell, I need to do it so he knows he’s first and foremost. I don’t want to phone it in.”
Kelly burst out laughing. “Rori, the way the two of you look at each other is so hot it makes me want to shove my husband into a closet and violate him that very moment. You two are connected in a big way. He absolutely adores you. I had my doubts. I can’t lie. But he’s been good to you. Always put you first. He’d do anything to make you smile and how can I not love him for that too?”
Rori blushed, the heat on her cheeks also due in part to how hot it was that he looked at her the way he did.
“I love him. More than I ever thought possible. He makes me happy. Fills me up and makes me feel beautiful. I want to put him first. I want him to be as happy as he makes me. I want him to know without a doubt that what we have isn’t a rebound thing, or me settling.”
Kelly squeezed her hand. “That’s the key to a successful marriage. Well, that and good sex. Though—” she lifted a shoulder, “—combining those things is always a plus.”
“I just never want him to feel second best. But it’s hard to find a way to say it without bringing Zach up and I don’t want to make him think I’m hiding it either. It’s a careful walk right now.”
“Course it is, baby. You both love each other. You care about the other’s feelings. That’s why it’s so hard. And frankly, I think that’s why it works. You both understand you had a second chance at love. It’s rare enough to find it once, the way you and Zach had it. But you and Jude have it too. In your own way. It’s not the same, and I think it’s better that way. Imagine if it was very similar. You’d be wondering, deep down, if it was just that you saw parts of Zach in him and that’s why you were with him. And he’d wonder the same thing.”
Rori took a deep breath and sipped her coffee. It was good to be understood the way she and her sister shared.
“Thanks for listening.”
Kelly narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Anytime. Now, you’ll be back in time for New Year’s Eve though, right?”
Rori snorted, nodding. “Of course.”
“All right, then I love you and I’m always here for you.”
* * *
Across town, Jude was at the diner eating breakfast with a friend of theirs who’d dropped in while in the area for his job. Cole was someone he’d originally worked with on some cross training between local and federal law enforcement. Shortly after the assignment had ended, they’d run into each other at a club. A D/s-themed club in Nashville.
Cole had been very much in the closet about his sexual preferences. He worried about people finding out he liked BDSM and kept his activities to states farther away from where he currently lived.
Jude had, at that time, lied to himself about what he was and what he liked. Maybe the two men had seen that need to pretend in the other and left it alone. But Jude didn’t have to be that anymore and finally, Cole had come to trust Jude enough to share his own details and perhaps come to grips with the things he liked without feeling guilty or wrong for it.
Jude had had a confidante in Zach. Another sexually dominant man he could discuss things with. A good friend, even though they’d both loved the same woman. When Zach had died, Jude lost that. Fortuitously, he’d bumped into Cole some months before and they’d reconnected their friendship.
“You said she took it well. That she sounded excited and happy. Let it be. Stop feeling guilty about it. You all live close to each other. You’ll be back for New Year’s. She’s yours too, man.” Cole mopped up his eggs with a piece of toast.
“I know. I just feel sort of selfish for wanting her all to myself.”
Cole snorted. “Why the hell would you feel that? Your woman is incredible. It’s clear you love her. It’s more than clear she loves you. It’s not selfish to want to be creating memories and traditions that will be the foundation for the rest of your life. She lived in Europe for years anyway, it’s not like she spent every single Christmas here with her family.”
“Go on and be rational.”
“You have something special, Jude. Something I look at and pretend I don’t need, but in reality, everyone yearns for. You should feel selfish over it.”
“And five hours from home means I don’t have to worry about anyone coming over when I’ve got her bound. I can play for hours with her and no one is going to interrupt.” Damn did that appeal to him in a major way.
Cole’s eyes lit. “That too. I imagine living so close to your family and the fact that you two share so much family in common must mean a lot of interruptions.”
Yes. He didn’t regret living in such close quarters with their family. He loved it and it was a value he and Rori shared. He knew their children would have that closeness of kin they did and knew it would serve them all their days.
Family was, in the end, the most important thing a man could do. Not just marriage or partnership with another person, but children, home and hearth. Building a life for not only your generation, but touching those beyond it. Being with Rori, being loved by her, had made him into a family man on a whole new level.
At the same time, when your brother lived a few streets away, it meant a lot of drop-in visits. It meant there were times when he didn’t have the opportunity to go as deep with her as he’d wanted.
He’d have days to lure her, seduce her over and over again at his pace. However loud she wanted to be, whatever and wherever. A flush worked over his chest thinking about it and the new toys he’d picked up in preparation for this trip.
Cole’s left eyebrow rose slowly. “Must be some plans in your head right about now.”
“We need a place where the world falls away.” There was the boat. The boat Rori loved to sail. The boat that had a lovely bedroom chock full of toys. A boat Zach had built and turned into their getaway.
Jude paused. And there was Zach again. Impossibly far away, and yet always so close. “I feel like a total asshole, but I want to move into a place of our own.” He’d blurted it, needing to just say it so fast he couldn’t change his mind.
Again, Cole took his measure. “Can’t say as I blame you. It’d be hard…to live where they lived. To try to make memories where hers and his were first. Will always be first.”
“I can’t expect her to pretend he never existed. I think of him all the time too.”
“I don’t think I’d agree that wanting a house of your own with her is you asking her to pretend he never existed. Have you talked to her about it?”
“When we first got together earlier this year, we decided to stay in the house but move bedrooms. I thought I could deal with it and the economy sucks and all so it would be better to wait.”
“How’s that working out for you?” Cole snorted and sipped his coffee.
Smartass.
“She’s had a lot to deal with in the last nearly two years. Can I ask her to marry me and move out of her own home because I can’t deal with her dead husband’s memories? What kind of dick does that?”
Cole waved lazily, leaning back into the booth’s squeaky upholstery. “You’re not even giving her a chance. You haven’t brought it up. It’s a reasonable thing to want your own home. A reasonable thing to bring up these concerns to the woman you plan to marry. Rori is a smart, together woman and she loves you.”
“I just… He was my friend too. I miss him. Which sounds so fucked up given that I’m with his wife now and I loved her before. But it’s true. He was like a brother to m
e. They were good together. I admired that. Admired how he was with her. Envied it too, I suppose.” Jude had learned a lot about dominating a woman, about how to bring it into a relationship and keep an eye on the balance of power, from Zach.
He took a bite, chewed as he thought. “But she’s mine now and I’m not going backward.”
“This is going to sound harsh, but take it in the sprit I deliver it. She’s not his wife anymore. He is dead. She is yours. You said it yourself.” Cole looked around as he leaned in. “He’d be the first guy to tell you to own her fully. To thank your ass and little green apples that you’ve got a woman like her giving herself to you.”
Jude smiled. “Yeah.”
Chapter Four
The drive was nice. Long, but not too long. Just the two of them in the truck, Rori humming and commenting on the scenery, feeding him snacks here and there. Each mile they passed between Oakley and Highlands, NC relaxed Jude more and more.
The roads were in good shape, though as they rose in elevation, they hit a few scattered snow flurries. He loved the light in her eyes, the wonder she didn’t hide as they traveled.
“I’m glad it’s cold. This way you’ll be in sweaters the whole time.”
“I brought the tight, thin ones so you can see my nipple rings.” Her murmured response sent a shiver up his spine.
Oh yes, that too.
That she put thought into ways to please him the way she did never ceased to amaze him. Fill him with a dizzying lust even as his love for her grew. She was that to him. Softness with an edge. Refuge and incitement. Everything he never knew he needed but would be lost without now that he had it.
The resort loomed ahead, at the top of the mountain, looking very much like a scene from a postcard. Even better, she leaned forward in her seat, eyes widened, hands clasped at her heart, smile as wide as Texas on her face.
“It’s perfect. Oh, Jude, thank you.” She turned to him as he keyed off the ignition once they’d parked. Because there was simply nothing else he could do, he leaned in and took her mouth, his palm sliding around the back of her neck to hold her to him.
Her sweetness burst through his system. “I love you.” He pressed one last kiss to her brow and headed to get her door and get them checked in.
* * *
Their cabin was indeed isolated, though they all were. The windows faced the valley below. Nothing but sky and trees. The last bit of any stress he’d had fell away as he dropped their bags and turned to take the place in.
Naked beams. He smiled and slid his gaze to her, finding her looking at them too, a flush on her cheeks.
In two steps he was pressing himself to her body, leaning to speak in a hoarse whisper, his mouth against the sensitive shell of her ear. “Does that make you wet?” He circled her, noting her shiver and the hitch of her breath. “I’m going to have you right there. Arms above your head, bound up for my pleasure.”
She swallowed hard and met his gaze. “Yes.”
He hummed, the electricity between them licking his skin, igniting the need never far from the surface.
“Please.”
It was a whisper but every cell in his body stood at attention, ready to serve her, to bring her anything she wanted.
“Baby, I promise I’ve got lots in store for you. First things first. Out of your traveling clothes. You know what I like. I’m going to build a fire to get the room warmed up.”
She tiptoed up to brush her lips along his before she moved away to change.
Rori’s hands trembled just a bit, as she pulled her boots off, followed by her jeans and the hoodie she’d worn to keep warm on the drive up. He liked her breasts free. So that’s how she kept them at home and that’s definitely how she’d be high up in the mountains, far away from intrusions and interruptions.
Anticipation raised gooseflesh as she changed into the thin, pale sweater that hugged her boobs just right. The deep vee exposed the curves of each breast and when she leaned just right, he’d get a glimpse of her nipple and the ring.
Knowing she’d be on display just for him always made her hot. She changed into a loose, thigh length skirt, another thing he liked because it gave him access to her pussy at all times. She left on the panties, his favorite kind. Barely there, sheer with side ties.
She tied her hair up and back and headed into the main room to watch and objectify him while he built the fire.
There he was, on his knees in a pair of faded blue jeans, T-shirt riding up a bit in the back, enough to see a slice of golden-brown skin she knew would be warm and taut, muscled.
His shoulders rippled as he moved the logs and she leaned back against the chair, just taking him in. So masculine. Handsome to the point of nearly being pretty. His wheat-blond hair always just a bit too long. But long enough to drag her fingers through. Thick and soft. Enough to grab to haul him closer when they kissed, or to urge him higher as he kissed the back of her knees.
He moved with a predator’s grace. Strong and sure. Watching him build that fire was the very definition of masculine. She exhaled slowly, letting the desire to take a big bite out of him wash through her system.
He turned and locked his gaze on her. The light from the flames cast him even sexier than usual as shadows played over his features. “Darlin’, when you look at me like that it gets me all tangled up inside.”
She hummed her pleasure as she moved to him, reveling in the way his gaze ate her up as she did. His lids dropped halfway and he got to his knees, facing her.
His hands on her calves were warm, pausing to knead or to leave the ghost of a caress as he moved them upward, under the skirt. He tipped his head back to look up into her face. So handsome and sexy her breath hitched and her hips jutted forward.
“Good.” Her breath caught again as he dragged his short, blunt-tipped nails up her thighs. “I’d hate to be alone.”
A smile from him and then he bent his head, pushing the hem of her sweater up with his nose to expose her skin. His mouth, hot and open against the flesh of her belly brought a groan from deep.
She grabbed his shoulders as her knees buckled slightly when he nipped at her navel and laved the sting.
His fingertips brushed over the material of her panties, a breath of a touch.
Her scent hung in the air and he didn’t bother resisting the urge to bend a little and press his face against her pussy. His groan was an echo of hers as he held her to him.
Perfect.
He breathed over her, knowing the air would stimulate her but not enough. And then he stood.
Her pupils were large, dark against the color, lids at half-mast and the way she held her mouth told him she was letting herself fall into her submission.
He kissed her neck and the sound she made ricocheted through him. The hollow below her ear. The corner of her jaw and then that mouth.
“I want you to undress and then get me the toy bag.” He stepped back to get his head together, dragging his fingers over his cock through the denim.
She let the skirt fall to her feet and then peeled her sweater off. Letting him see her in nothing but the panties she knew were his favorite. A few heartbeats later she shimmied from them too and bent, her breasts swaying, the stones in the nipple rings she wore catching the firelight.
She put her things on a nearby chair and then brought him the bag.
In her view, as she stood with her hands at the small of her back, he brought out the new crop he’d picked up on his trip to Dallas. She made a sound then, a soft, yearning plea and he looked up to her, loving the raw desire on her face. Knowing she wanted the things he did, that she got off on this as much as he did. This path was not just his or not only hers, but theirs.
“I can’t wait to see what your ass looks like with the marks this will give you on it.” In fact… He walked to the foot of the bed and sat. Perfect height.
She watched him, her nipples dark and hard, her breath ragged.
“You know what I want you to do.”
Sh
e lay over his lap, placing herself just so, right so that her ass pitched up enough to give the perfect vibrations up to her cunt. Her hands lay flat on the floor.
He dragged the tip of the crop over her ass, back and forth. Softly caressing her until she relaxed. The creak of the leather handle and then the sound of the whick of air being split as the crop swung brought a gasp from her lips at the same time he tasted his own.
His cock throbbed as she squirmed in his lap.
The first strike, it was the sound that brought her moan. The burn was dull, barely even a sting. That would come, though, she knew. Anticipated that stew of chemicals he’d wring from her as he played her body like a master.
At the second crack of leather against flesh, the dull burn was replaced by a bloom of heat. A sharp sting that brought her intake of breath.
Her skin was hyper-sensitive to each touch. Each time he brought the crop down against her skin she fell deeper into the velvet of subspace. He shifted, abrading her nipples with denim. She swallowed hard, letting her body take over as he built her climax up.
She knew he’d be looking at her skin, pink with her flush of desire, darker pink where he’d brought the crop down. Hard. Not too hard to really harm, but hard enough to bring a sting and some heat. Stripes on her skin, the contrast with her normal skin tone would incite him.
Knowing that, feeling the steel-hard ridge of his cock against her hip, only made her wetter, hotter, nearly mindless with need.
He shifted again to blow across her inflamed skin.
“So beautiful. Your skin is so pretty and pink. I’m going to fuck you from behind. Just so I can look at your ass while my cock is deep inside your cunt. Just so I can see the new tattoo. Because I like how deep I can get that way.”
She nodded against him. Wordless.
“Up on the bed. I want your hands on the headboard. Don’t let go.“
Her movements were less than perfectly graceful as she got up on the bed. He looked imposing there, his face in hard lines, desire taut. The air was warm. She knew he’d made it that way on purpose. So she’d be comfortable naked.
Naughty and Nice Page 24
