by Rie Warren
Jude
WHEN CADY APPEARED ON the patio in a hot hot hot little bikini, I lost my grip on Luke, and he plunked from my shoulders into the water. Hell, I nearly lost my grip on sanity, seeing Cady in the bikini that left little to the imagination. And what little it left, I had the memories to fill in.
“Mom, Mom, Mom!” Dane rose from the water, flapping his arms in the air. “I’m learning to dive!”
It was just about the first time I’d seen him act like an actual kid.
“I can’t wait to see it, sweetie.” Cady sauntered closer after dropping a towel on a sun lounger and her sunglasses on a table.
Mom, Mom, Mom looked fucking phenomenal. The shiny green bikini stretched across her tits, showing ample cleavage, and there were little gold dangling things that swayed with the motion of her hips. The color reminded me of her eyes when she was fully aroused, and I couldn’t wait to get a peek at her ass.
A giant hard-on and wet board shorts were a really bad combination. At this rate, I was gonna have to stay in the pool until dark. I couldn’t even form words, my voice stuck in my throat. Up to my waist in the middle of the pool, I stared, slack-jawed, as she daintily took the steps then submerged up to her shoulders, swimming toward Dane.
On cue, Luke—who’d clambered out after I’d dropped him—poised to jump then barreled right into the water, landing almost on top of her.
“You brat!” She laughed, fanning water at his face when he broke the surface.
“Your favorite brat though.” He kicked away from her, pulling through the water with strong strokes.
Dane clung to her back like a limpet, and Cady paddled closer to me.
Aiden whistled then shouted, “Hey, Daniac! C’mon, let’s practice more diving.”
Cady looked shocked as her eldest offered to help his annoying youngest brother perfect his technique. Meanwhile Luke zipped up and down the length of the pool like a miniature Aquaman while Cady drifted ever closer to me.
And in the pool, the visual she provided was even worse. Because when she set her feet down to stand in front of me, she was just glistening wet skin all over. I was tempted to flick the tiny gold tassels. I was tempted to flick the peaks of her nipples beneath the tight clinging green bikini.
“What have you done to my children?”
“I’m pretty sure they’re gonna revert to their normal behavior in”—I checked my watch and winked—“about five more minutes. But I think they’re just excited you’re home early.”
“Are they the only ones?”
“You are playing with fire, Miss Dalton.”
“Am I?” She batted her eyelashes in a purely feminine manner. “I thought I was playing with water?” She sprayed me in the face.
“Very funny, little lady lawyer.” Wiping my face, I narrowed my eyes. All the better to lust after her.
“Who are you calling little?” Raising her arms above her head—seemingly to adjust the hair piled up top—she threw her breasts into high, wet, luscious relief.
A loud groan rumbled from my chest.
The woman glanced at me with a smoky laugh.
Then her gaze followed the track of water coursing down my chest. “Besides, you’re ripped. You’re shredded. You’re—”
“Have you been reading Men’s Health?” It was my turn to laugh.
“So you can’t walk around all bare-chested and chiseled abs and looking like that and not expect me to retaliate.”
I leaned back against the edge of the pool. “Ah. So you’re not unaffected.”
“Don’t be smug. It doesn’t suit you,” she retaliated in a tart tone, which only made her sexier.
Under the water, I slid a hand from her hip to her waist, caressing her silky warm skin. “Well, I gotta admit, your suit suits you.”
“Mom, watch!” Dane’s holler drew our attention, and Cady gently removed my hand.
He crouched down at the deep end of the pool, mirroring Aiden’s stance with his back hunched, arms pointed out over his head.
“One, two, three.”
At Aiden’s countdown, Dane sliced into the water, maintaining a pretty clean form for a beginning diver.
“9.9 points!” Cady shouted, clapping, when he resurfaced.
Dane’s grin split his face, and Aiden reached down to tap his fist.
I heard a sniffle and turned to Cady. She discreetly wiped beneath her eyes, which made my heart surge.
“I need to get a picture of that. Do it again?” she called out in a wavering voice.
She lifted herself from the pool, padding to her phone, and I tried not to gawk at the glorious sight of her ass swinging from side to side in the scrap of the bikini.
As soon as she snapped the photo of Dane mid dive and placed the phone aside, I leaped out of the water. Gathering her in my arms, I took fast strides toward the pool.
“What are you doing?” Cady wriggled, laughing and squealing.
I launched us in, landing right next to Dane. When we came up, her arms were wrapped around my neck, her legs around my waist, but she quickly kicked away.
“You’re asking for trouble, Jude Raleigh.”
“Yup.”
Aiden knifed cleanly into the water, and Luke swam over.
“Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!” Luke started the chant the rest took up.
And before long, I had Cady on my shoulders, Luke on Aiden’s while Dane ref’d.
The hot frisson grew between us throughout an afternoon of horsing around in the pool, lounging around in the chairs, sharing meaningful looks that lingered a beat too long.
I was probably never gonna get over Cady Dalton.
I dried off in the sun, watching as she slathered another layer of sunscreen on her creamy skin. I wanted to offer my help, but I knew I’d just end up with another unbearable erection as soon as I touched her soft flesh.
In the end, I retreated to the kitchen, surveying the damage perpetrated earlier after I’d ordered pizza and the boys got their popsicles on.
I stacked the pizza boxes, flattened them, tossed them into the recycling bin. I swept the rest of the trash into the garbage, and was just wetting a sponge to wipe down the counters when Cady quietly entered and, just as quietly, shut the patio door.
My steps faltered, and I forgot what the fuck I was doing.
Having spent the afternoon outside, her nose was peppered with tiny dots of freckles, and her skin glowed.
All that bare skin.
I wasn’t sure I could unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth, especially when she strolled over to turn off the tap I’d forgotten I’d left running.
Her tits just begged to be released from the triangles of her bikini, and her hip brushed against me. The indent of her waist reminded me how small she was, how feminine. How much I always wanted her.
“Do you need help?” Her coy look shot straight to my groin, and I wrapped my hand in the sheer sarong thing tied around her waist.
I glanced through the kitchen windows to the pool and boys then back at her, drawing her up against me so our heat combined. “I can think of something I need a hand with, darlin’.”
“I told you to stop calling me that.” Her hand pressed against my chest, fingers lingering.
“And I told you you’re playing with fire.” My palm moved to her thigh, fingers stroking.
“Super Soaker!” One, two, three boys blasted inside from opposite directions, and Cady and I had barely any time to take cover before the trio took fire at us.
Little shits ambushed us until Cady—with a wild giggle and damp hair hanging in her face—grabbed the sprayer from the sink. “Turn it on, Jude!”
Oh yeah. I reached up to flip on the water, and it was an all-out water fight.
The floor became slick, the counters slippery, and there was so much laughing going on I couldn’t hear anything else. Until—Super Soakers depleted—Aiden and Dane dropped their weapons, and all the boys looked about ready to piss themselves because the kitchen looked worse than ever.<
br />
“We’re so grounded,” Dane whispered.
“Mom’s gonna freak.” Aiden cringed.
“I’m more scared of Jude?” Luke held up the water gun like he was a bank robber who’d been caught red-handed.
Water plip-plipped-plipped onto the floor.
The sprayer snaked back into the sink.
A thoroughly sodden roll of paper towels teetered, tottered, then tipped over with a muffled thump.
“Did we really need to pressure wash the kitchen? It wasn’t that messy.” I peered at Cady.
“Oh my God. What did we do?” She looked horrified by the disaster one second then the next . . . she lost it, laughing so hard she doubled over.
No choice but to join in, every one of us erupted.
When we were all weak from uncontrollable laughter, Cady clung to the sink. The boys piled against one another.
And I folded my arms over my chest. “We should be able to clean this up in an hour if we all pitch in.”
Luke, the smartass, saluted me.
The kitchen was way worse off than it had been before the water fight, but we tackled the disaster area together.
And for a freakin’ second I wished I could stop time. I imagined what life would be like if this was my family every day.
Cady caught me grinning while I rung out the mop, and her shy smile hit me in just the right spot.
I let myself hope for a moment she was thinking the same thing as me.
****
It happened sometime during the fifth week. Five weeks without Room 27. Without fucking Cady until she cried out my name. Without Thursday night and loving her so long and hard and hot she collapsed against me to twine her legs between mine.
But who was keeping count, right?
The a.m. chaos in the Dalton household now legendary, I watched Cady in another dress—this one made of some kind of soft stretchy material with a braided leather belt cinched at her waist—as she made her morning goodbye rounds. She kissed Dane on the forehead. He scrunched his nose. She kissed Luke on the cheek, and he swiped at the smear of lipstick she left behind. She tried to smooch Aiden on the top of his head, but he batted her away with both hands, giving her a silent thumbs-up instead.
I figured the lady deserved a kiss after that treatment.
I followed her out to the entryway where she paused to tie a silky scarf around her neck, check her hair, gather her briefcase, purse, and keys.
Then I strolled up to her, spun her into my arms, and pulled her up to my lips.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cady
JUDE STROLLED OVER AND kissed me like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His warm firm mouth on mine felt normal. The swift dart of his tongue between my lips thrilling. The pressure of his fingers cupping my bottom perfect. As though a morning kiss were completely part of the routine, and I held onto Jude, rising up on my toes and melting against his stronger, larger body.
I dropped everything on the floor to ring my arms around his neck.
How I’d missed his taste, his touch, his smell.
And, oh Lord, his lips.
His groin cushioned against my belly, hard and impatient.
My breasts swelled against his chest, soft and pliable.
Our tongues danced and lunged, sleek and hungry.
I only came to my senses when I heard a low whistle, definitely not from Jude as his lips were firmly locked to mine.
Jumping back, I cursed myself for being so damn stupid. The boys stood framed in the kitchen entryway, mouths agape—Dane once again with a half-eaten mouthful of Froot Loops—staring hard.
Until Luke uttered, “Duuuuude.”
“Moooooom!” Dane shouted.
“Jeeeesus.” Aiden shook his head at Jude and me.
Jude rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh. She had something in her eye.”
“Looked like something in her mouth,” Luke mumbled.
“Go finish your breakfast.” My voice held firm and stern, and the boys took one last gawking glance before ambling away.
“Look, Cady—” Jude held his hand toward me.
I hastily gathered my fallen items then backed toward the door. “Never again.”
Managing a less than graceful escape, I sat for several seconds in my car with the engine running before putting it into gear.
Work didn’t provide any relief from that fiasco of a kiss. I couldn’t concentrate. I spilled coffee on my dress. I spent the morning slamming things around, losing my temper with stubborn clients, and all the while remembering the kiss and how exciting yet familiar it felt.
The last straw came when Outlook needed updating in the middle of the day. With a frustrated screech, I stomped from my office into Joelle’s realm.
“Here we go.” Kicking her feet onto her desk and pulling a cut glass bowl of Gummy Bears toward her, Joelle settled in while I exploded.
“He kissed me this morning!”
“Jude?”
“Yes.” I stalked from one side of the room to the other. “Not only that, but I got lost in it.”
“Tsk tsk.”
“Until the boys caught us! I mean they looked at us like we were a couple of teens sneaking around on their parents. It was humiliating.”
“That bad, huh?” She smushed several Gummy Bears together then popped the bunch into her mouth.
“Oh, not the kiss. The kiss wasn’t bad at all . . . it was . . . Jude is . . .” I stuttered to a stop.
“Hot AF.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Sighing, I slipped into a free chair. “Luke is for sure never going to let this go.”
Joelle snorted. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but you’re the parent, Cady. You can basically do whatever you damn well please, and your kids don’t really have a say. Not that I’m condoning any crazy or illegal activities, but screw it. If you want to kiss Jude, go ahead and kiss that divine, divine man.”
“I do not want to kiss him.” I bit the words out then cradled my head in my hands. “What am I going to do?”
Joelle remained silent.
I blew out a deep breath. “I think it’s time I got back on the horse.”
“The Jude horse?”
“No.”
“Pity. But I can roll with that. I’ve already set your profile up on a very highly recommended hashtag gonnagityousome.”
“On what?” I shot upright.
“Dating sites on your spare phone.”
Frowning, I looked at her. “I don’t have a spare phone.”
“Yes, you do.” She opened her desk drawer and presented me with an iPhone I’d never seen in my life. “It’s your usual passcode.”
“How do you know my passcode?”
She merely arched an eyebrow at me.
“I can’t decide if you’re a genius or just evil.”
“That’s easy. I’m an evil genius of course.” She winked then gobbled a few more Gummy Bears.
Although I didn’t accept the top secret cell phone or buy into Joelle’s dating app plan, my afternoon improved.
I could probably get over Jude if I just made an effort to meet someone else—someone closer to my age—right? Preferably an older, stable, successful silver fox. Yes, a silver fox, Joelle at least would approve.
In the middle of my final meeting of the day, my busybody paralegal rapped on the conference room door then stuck her head inside.
She held out my phone, the real one.
“Who is it?”
“Jude.”
My disbelieving look meant seriously?
“You’re going to want to take this,” she insisted.
My heart leaped to my throat in an instant, fear skittering through me.
I’d barely held the phone to my ear, heard Jude say Luke, accident, and ER, before I hurried to my office to gather my purse.
I didn’t know if Joelle had rescheduled with my clients or what, but she met me at the door and pried my keys from my white-knuckled gr
ip.
“I’ll drive. Or else you’ll be in an accident next.”
By the time we reached the emergency room, I was thoroughly shaken up. And when I saw Jude anxiously watching the door, Dane and Aiden beside him, tears welled in my eyes.
I rushed to him, Joelle at my side. My worry only ceased for a moment when she stared up at Jude, almost tittering because she was so starstruck and this was the first time she’d met him.
“Kind of a serious situation here, Joelle,” I reminded her.
“Right. ’Course. Aiden, Dane, why don’t we go raid the vending machines? Let Jude talk to your mom?” Joelle began ushering them away, and I smiled weakly.
Until Aiden muttered, “Talking’s not all he wants to do to her.”
“Aiden Andrew Dalton. I am your mother, and that is enough.” I was one taunt or joke or crisis away from snapping completely.
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said meekly.
Turning to Jude, I was a shaken mess. “How is he? What happened? He’s okay, isn’t he?”
“Hush now, darlin’.” Jude opened his arms, and I went right into them.
I felt his soothing voice vibrate against my ear.
“It’s just a broken arm. Bad tackle at football practice.”
“Just a broken arm? Just a broken arm!” I pulled back, but he locked me in his embrace.
“That’s right. Happens to lots of kids. Do you know how many bones I’ve broken? Not to mention my knee.”
“And that cost you your career.”
He chuckled softly. “Well, we don’t have to worry about that with Luke just yet, do we?”
I shook my head against his chest, gathering strength from him.
Jude was calm.
Capable.
Secure.
He provided everything I needed in that moment.
An anchor.
I relaxed with a huge breath, willing all the tension to leave my body.
“There. That’s better, darlin’.” His large palms stroked up and down my back. “I took the liberty of calling one of the orthos who worked with me after I got back to Charleston. Just to make sure everything’s set right.”
“You did?”
“Of course I did.” Leaning back, he framed my face in his hands. “I’d do anything for you.”
