by Wendi Zwaduk
“You aren’t wearing socks.”
She thumped his arms. “You knew what I meant. You’d be fantastic.”
“I’ll leave fantastic to you.” He tossed the drawing pad on the nightstand. “Let me hold you.”
Jude stood. She wriggled out of the shirt, letting it slide down her arms.
“Stop.”
She froze. “Why?”
“You look too good in my shirt to strip you naked. Downright sexy.”
Jude wrapped the shirt around her body and climbed into bed next to him. “I have a question for you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Are you a cop?”
He clenched his teeth. “What?”
She rubbed her cheek against his collarbone. “Corey warned me while you danced with Miranda. He claims Tiny’s one step ahead of you.”
Ramon listened as she recalled the conversation. A dull ache grew behind his eyes. Damn it. Corey had to be a little deeper into the system than he’d assumed and evidently wasn’t as stupid as he acted. Probably not as high on coke as they’d assumed, too. Shit, shit, shit.
“I just want the truth, Ramon.”
He drew a deep breath, slow and low so she wouldn’t notice. “I’m a complicated man. I want what I can’t have and I’ve made mistakes in my life that I can’t correct.”
She swirled her fingers in his sprinkling of chest hair. “Like what? It can’t be worse than taking your clothes off for strangers. That’s mine.”
He chuckled. “That is your action to live down…or up to, depending on how you look at it. I think you’re doing fine.”
“So what do you want?”
“You. I want you, but, when you graduate, you’ll see I’m not worthy of you. You’ll move on. I can’t keep a free spirit chained because I can’t let go.”
She crawled onto his chest and kissed him hard. “I wasn’t kidding.”
He sipped her, tasting the evidence of their lovemaking on her tongue. “About what, sweet girl?”
“I love you. Even if you don’t love me, I feel that way about you. I don’t regret a second of our time together.”
* * * *
“Can you grab the sepia contes for me?” Jude sat hunched over her drawing board, working furiously to finish her drawing. “I want to capture this light before we have to head to the club. It’s brilliant.”
Ramon looked in her tackle box packed full of art supplies. He preferred the simplicity of pencil and pen, but in her hand any art tool looked sexy. He grabbed the first container that said ‘sepia’ and ‘conte’. They all looked the same to him, so he handed her the ruddy brown crayons. “Are these correct?”
“Yep.”
“You push me around now, but, babe, I’m going to get mine when you’re done.” Ramon hadn’t really wanted to come back from the farm, but if they’d spent too much time away from the apartment building, no doubt, Tiny would have noticed and probably sent his rat Corey to call.
“Paybacks?” She snickered. “Like…?”
“You’ll see, but I’d bet you can guess.”
Ramon dug his hands into his pockets and glanced around to soak in the view from the balcony. Carrington Falls wasn’t a teaming urban metropolis like other large cities. He could only wonder about what she found so brilliant. To him, the landscape was bleak and industrial. Then again, the last two weeks had made him see lots of things in a different light. Like wanting to indulge in his hobby more often…well, his favourite one other than making love to Jude.
“Look at the way the sunlight bounces off that building.” Jude pointed to the old Carlson apartment complex. “The orangey glow is beautiful.”
Ramon directed his gaze to the structure in question and then at her drawing. She’d caught the building and the play of light perfectly. “That’s amazing.”
“I know,” Jude replied with a sigh and brushed away a loose strand of hair. “Being on this side of the building, I bet all your sunsets are fantastic. I got to look at a brick wall.”
“I meant your drawing.” Ramon rubbed her shoulders. He smiled. While he thought about kissing her senseless, she worried about sunsets. For Jude, he’d happily learn to pay attention to simple things like the colours of the leaves and the way her skin broke out in gooseflesh under his caress.
Ramon couldn’t keep his hands off her, not that Jude minded. “I’ve never spent a sunset out here. I wouldn’t know what they looked like. When we roll in, it’s usually pitch black out.”
Jude blew the dust away from her paper, hummed a few bars of a recent country hit, and added a few more details. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, it’s pretty.”
He marvelled at her intensity and focus. Jude worked full-throttle on her drawings like he did on an investigation. Her inner beauty shone as she created. Jude’s skin flushed and her eyes became bright. The way she curled around the drawing board stirred his libido and made him love her all the more.
“Have you considered doing portraits for a living? I’d bet you’d be great at capturing inner essence.” He rested his chin on her shoulder. “That drawing of me was fantastic. I think the smears add to the drama and show I’ve changed.”
“You can be real deep when you want to.” Jude furrowed her brows and turned to look at him. “I drew that a couple of months ago for a design class. We needed ‘the perfect model’, so I chose you. At the time, you were an enigma to me—so I could transpose whatever I wanted on to your…visage.” She wrinkled her nose, then brushed loose hairs away from her face and inadvertently smeared brown conte dust across her cheek. “Do you think this is ‘A’ material?”
Ramon nibbled her neck. “You caught the light perfectly,” he said and indulged on her naked flesh. ‘I’d give everything you do an ‘A’, but, then again, I’m biased.”
Jude arched her body, improving his access. “That doesn’t help much, but it makes me feel good.” She sighed and curled into his touch. “Real good.”
“I never lie,” he said between searing kisses. “I’ll always tell you the truth.” When I can.
Jude sighed contentedly. “I have to put this away before I ruin it.”
Ramon reluctantly released her shoulder. He could chill out for homework.
She placed the drawing in her portfolio case and went back out to pick up her supplies. When she re-emerged from the balcony, Ramon closed the sliding door.
With the arch of one brow and a half-smile, Jude garnered his full attention. She put her hands on her hips, unintentionally arching her chest towards him. “What?”
The simple question goaded him into action. He smoothed Jude’s tank top over her head, allowing her breasts freedom. He knelt down in front of her partially nude body. Her nipples puckered in the cool air and his hot breath. She shivered as he tickled the tips with his tongue.
With a fresh conte crayon, he drew a heart over her left breast. Within the heart, he wrote his name. On her stomach, he drew a stick figure. It was supposed to be a baby, but he wasn’t the high-calibre artist she was.
Jude giggled. “What are you doing?”
“Claiming what’s mine and showing you my art.” Ramon grinned, pleased with his artistic rendering. He’d never known art products could be so kinky. Then again, it was probably that Jude was all the kink he needed. Jude sucked in a ragged breath and reached out for his body. Ramon loved that he could make her body react with genuine words of affection.
Jude slid the boxer shorts she’d commandeered from his top dresser drawer down to the floor. “What else do you want to create?”
Ramon licked his lips. “So much perfect skin and so many ideas.” He drew a sinewy line on the soft flesh of her inner thigh. “So little time to explore.” Instead of continuing the line to her other leg, he planted his face in her pussy. Jude puffed out a slow breath, letting him know she approved.
“Babe, you taste so sweet and hot,” he gasped.
Jude shifted her hips. “Your tongue should be insured,” she groaned and ran her
fingers through his hair.
Ramon sucked at her clit, rolling his tongue along her sensitive folds. His hands smeared the chalky conte on her skin, heightening her arousal. Damn, he could come just listening to her.
“Ramon,” she gasped and reached out for stability. His assault on her clit increased. The moan came from deep in her throat. “Oohh.”
He continued to flick her sensitive core. She tasted like wine. “Yes, babe—come for me. Come all over me.”
“Yes,” Jude hissed. Her nails dug into his shoulders. Her head lolled back as the orgasm swept over her body. “Oh, yeah.”
A sweet sigh escaped her lips and spurred him on. He needed to hold her, so he guided her to the floor to rest. Could love get any better than this? He brushed her hair away from her face. “Satisfied?”
The ability to speak escaped her. Jude nodded and buried her face in his neck.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He cradled her limp body against his.
Love and sex got better and better every time. Jude rocked him to the core and stabilised his life. He could be her safe harbour and soft place to land. And now they had the rest of their lives to revel in each other.
A knock on the door interrupted any further exploration. They exchanged confused looks. Jude slid off his lap to retreat to the bedroom. Ramon wiped the chalk off his hands onto his jeans and stood to go answer the door.
“Just a minute.” Ramon wondered who could be on the other side. His stomach roiled with apprehension. By some evil stroke, it could easily be Carlie. Please God, not Carlie. He peeked through the peephole. Nothing. “I could swear someone…”
Ice flowed through his veins. Someone had been out there. Someone wanting to send a message. He clicked the deadbolt and the chain into place. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“What’s wrong?” Jude called from the bedroom. “You’re talking to yourself again.”
“It’s nothing. Are you about ready?”
Jude locked the door. “I will be. Hold your horses.”
“I will torture you for this.” Ramon knocked on the bathroom door. “Long hours of torture with whatever I can find.”
“Yeah, right. I’m almost ready.”
“About time. You don’t have to doll yourself up a lot. I’d prefer naked,” he called and unbuttoned his shirt. In his mind, he pictured a myriad slinky negligees adorning Jude’s body. Blood rushed straight to his groin. “How about nothing but my hands covering your body? Or my dress shirt?”
“And ruin the surprise? One more minute.”
Ramon pressed his ear against the barrier. He could hear her humming an old Beatles song. Something about pleasing him… A smile curled his lips—he’d please her all night and all day too.
“Okay.”
The door clicked. Ramon ran his fingers through his hair to compose himself. He felt twice as nervous as he had back at the club. Jude muddled his brains with too much pleasure. He pushed open the barrier.
The soft glow of candlelight illuminated the room. Jude lay sprawled out on the bed, dressed in a red teddy with black lace covering her breasts. Dark curls cascaded down her shoulders and a single strand of pearls dipped into her cleavage. Black thigh-highs and stilettos complemented the look. “Come here.” She sat up. “I want to undress you.”
Ramon silently complied and stood before her. Jude could do whatever her heart desired.
Jude rose up on her knees. She smoothed the dress shirt away from his shoulders, letting it pool at his feet. Starting on his left nipple and working her way across, she sipped, feasted on his body. Jude hummed before tickling his pectoral muscles with her hot wet tongue. Heat and passion blazed through his veins.
Ramon ran his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp and basking in her skilled assault. Jude leant back out of his grasp and tossed her hair over her shoulders. The gesture drove him wild.
Jude smoothed her hands down his arms. He hardly noticed when she reached around his waist and handcuffed his wrists together. He was too busy feeling and experiencing to notice or care.
She unzipped his trousers, letting them join the shirt on the floor. Dropping to her knees, she brushed her lips on his engorged cock. He shuddered, totally in heaven. He wanted her in his world forever.
As Ramon attempted to grasp for her once more, he realised his immobility. His nostrils flared and his sex soared. “Babe?”
She wanted to be in charge? Hell, yeah. He could share control with Jude. Ramon didn’t care as long as they both came away sated. Jude playfully tugged on the waistband of his boxers and he obediently followed her to the edge of their bed.
“I want to dance for you,” Jude purred.
If Ramon wasn’t hard before, her words sent him into another galaxy. “Yes,” he gasped as she stood up.
Jude turned around and tilted her head back. Her hands roamed her body, grazing over her breasts and between her thighs. Everything was done just out of his line of vision. Sweet torment. This was just like his wildest fantasy. No—it was better.
“Babe, turn so I can see you,” he pleaded. “I want to join you.”
He’d go off like a cannon if she didn’t. The steel between his legs shouldn’t have been able to get any harder, but somehow it did. She made it hurt so good.
Jude peeked over her shoulder and slipped one thin, red silk strap down. Jude licked then pursed her lips. “Do this?” She turned so he could watch her remove the lace from her breasts. Jude ran the strand of pearls across her tongue, mimicking her intended assault on his cock. “Or this?” Her eyes flashed with smouldering sexuality.
Dear God, he wanted to feel her lips against his skin. He needed her more than air. “Oh, babe.” His mouth watered. “Do everything, Jude.” Ramon gulped air in ragged breaths. Emotion clouded his mind, making it hard to think straight.
Sensing his impatience, Jude stepped forward enough to prop one foot up on the bed. At that angle, he could easily see that there was no crotch to her teddy. “Do you like what you see?”
Ramon came forward to rub his face against her breasts. Jude smelt like heaven—sweet, soft heaven. She knew she had him teetering on the ragged edge, so she backed away slightly. “Do you want to taste what you see?”
From somewhere deep in his throat, came the guttural reply. “Yes, I’m dying for a taste of you…”
Jude nodded and kissed the tip of her finger before sinking it deep into her folds. Instead of touching his lips with her satiny offering, she licked it off her fingers. He strained against the cuffs. Fantasies didn’t get hotter than this. Ramon’s body vibrated with need for her.
He nearly came just watching her. “You are one sexy tease. Jude, I love you.”
Leisurely she unbuttoned the front of the teddy. “Me? You love me?” Jude’s sugary sweet smile became instantly fiery and her lips parted. “Because I love you too. I’ve wanted to hear those words from you since the moment I met you.”
He could hear that for the rest of his life. His voice was thick and hoarse. Ramon couldn’t hold back, especially when he couldn’t hold Jude. “Babe, I can’t wait any longer.”
She nodded and pushed him back onto the bed. His boxer shorts barely concealed his heat. Gleeful greed filled Jude’s eyes. What would she do next? As long as it concerned him, Ramon didn’t care. His self-control was officially gone. All he wanted was her.
“Cuffs?”
Jude scampered to the head of the bed. “I’ll take care of it…eventually,” she whispered in his ear. Ramon’s shaft stood rigid, waiting for her attention.
Jude straddled his face and lowered her labia to his lips. Ramon lapped at her clit, intermittently switching between teasing and tormenting her core. His tongue mimicked sex, plunging deep into her canal.
Jude moaned and fumbled with the cuffs. “More work like that and I won’t be able to set you free,” she gasped and slid the silk boxers past his hips.
Jude’s soft lips seared Ramon to the core. She tasted sweet and tangy, like a woman should.<
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Ramon worked the catch on the cuffs and shifted to pluck her nipples with his newly freed hand. He slapped her bottom with his other hand, making a loud crack. “Yeah,” Jude moaned and ground her slit against his lips. “God, yeah.”
Her mouth plunged down onto his shaft, matching his rhythm between her legs with her own. Ramon felt her shudder as the orgasm ripped through her body. She crushed their bodies together for a deeper connection. “Oh, yeah.” Her pleasure spurred his need and he slapped her rump once more. Ride the ragged edge. “Come for me, babe. Let it go.”
His climax peaked shortly after hers and she greedily suckled his salty offering. Bliss, pure bliss. Jude’s body became putty in his hands.
Ramon slid down to stroke her face. “I’m glad you never did that at the club. I don’t want to think of any other man seeing you like I did.”
Jude kissed his inner thigh, running her tongue along the soft hairless patch. Ramon arched against her, trailing his fingers against her spine.
“For your eyes and hands only,” she murmured and met his mouth with a kiss.
He shifted to sit up and coaxed her onto his lap. Her teddy fell away from her body, leaving only the stockings and heels. Ramon’s mouth watered and he visually fondled every inch of her being. “Damn, that’s a beautiful look for you,” he said in a husky voice.
“I prefer you naked,” she said parroting his early suggestion.
Ramon licked along her sternum, intentionally ignoring her breasts.
Jude writhed in order to redirect his attention. “Touch me where I need you.”
He tickled her tight nipples by blowing warm breath across them. “I want to take my time.”
She screamed his name.
Take his time? Not at this rate. Ramon already had another erection.
Jude clasped his head to her breast. “Please.”
Ramon suckled deep. He was there and she was close. “Ready to go again?”
Jude nodded then groaned as he slipped two fingers into her sheath. “Yeah.”
He grasped her hips and guided her onto his engorged shaft. She jumped slightly as he filled her, becoming one. Her breasts rubbed against his bare chest and her fingers worked through his hair.
