A Carpino Series Collection, Books 1-3

by Brynne Asher

  Sometime after as we lay here tangled, he turns his head and with his lips to my ear he rasps in a whisper, “It seems like an eternity since I’ve felt settled like I do right now. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but it feels right. It feels perfect. You do that for me, Gabby. You.”

  “Jude,” I turn, tucking my face into him. I feel his lips below my ear and his tongue dart out, tracing my neck.

  His breath comes to my ear again and I hear the simple but profound word. “You.”

  I bring my hand up to the side of his face. He presses close while kissing the side of my head, cocooning me in.

  We lay intertwined and quiet for what seems like a long time. Something weighty has happened. I don’t know what it is but I know it’s good. No—amazing. Almost as if Jude has moved us to a new level—a significant level with his few words. But now he’s quiet, almost reflective. Finally, he whispers, “I don’t want you to get cold. We should get up. I need to go put the rest of the groceries away and you can get settled.”

  He tries to pull away, but I tighten my arms and he stops, looking down at me. Pulling him close to me again and sucking in a breath for courage, I say quietly while looking into his melty but reflective eyes, “You. It’s you for me, too. You know that, right?”

  Jude takes a beat to look into my eyes and then crushes me into him once more. I hold him just as close, needing him as close as I can get. He finally leans back, kisses me soft and with our foreheads tipped to one another. “Thank you, sugar. You don’t know what that means to me. It means everything.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fill Me Up

  My legs ache. Seriously. I’m a runner, I thought I would fare better. I lean back farther into Jude with his arms and legs around me and let the hot water of his big Jacuzzi tub in his master bathroom relax my muscles. His arms come around me to pull me in close.

  “Babe, you need to drink more water in the mountains, especially during a hike,” Jude informs me for about the ten millionth time today.

  “That’s what I hear,” I mutter with my eyes closed. Immediately I feel Jude’s arms tense around me as his legs, knees hitched up with his feet to the bottom of the tub, squeeze me tight.

  This makes me giggle as he mutters, “Smartass.”

  Today was great. We slept in a little later than usual, drank coffee on the deck while gazing at the amazing views. I did this wearing Jude’s big sweats and wrapped in a blanket because the air was cool, thinking that next time—and I really hope there’s a next time—I’m bringing a winter robe to Jude’s mountain home. He said it wasn’t unusual to have major snowfalls in October but it could also be warm. This time of year is unpredictable in the Rocky Mountains.

  After coffee and breakfast, we packed some sandwiches, snacks and water in preparation for our big hike. Jude informed me I could handle a moderate trail and I wasn’t about to argue. I was feeling pretty optimistic, thinking I could hike the Continental Divide in my new pink trimmed clunky shoes. I was gung ho.

  He took me to a trail near Grand Lake named Little Yellowstone. With Jude wearing a small daypack carrying our lunches and a lot of water, we were all set. The almost ten-mile round trip hike was breathtaking. The aspens had just turned a bright yellow with the season change and from different vistas we spotted deer and elk. Once we got to the top, we ate our late lunch, rested, and took in the views.

  Watching Jude in his environment is different. Different in a wonderful, I-can’t-fathom-how-wonderful-it-can-be, kind of way. Not that Jude doesn’t seem settled in Omaha, but he seems content here, more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. While we were making dinner last night, getting ready for our day today, or even just looking at him look at the mountains, this is his place in the world. He’s relaxed here. I find myself warm and fuzzy watching him look so happy. I can’t remember ever feeling so happy just by seeing someone else happy.

  We were on our way back down the mountain and Jude was a step or two in front of me but still to the side. Jude was telling me about how his family used to come up to camp in the summers. He shared how he and his brother got lost one time when they were both pretty young. It scared both of them, but it turned out they were barely around the bend from their campsite and they only thought they were lost but their parents could hear them the whole time. There were stories about how he and his friends would come up on their own in high school and mountain bike on trails, doing crazy shit—it was a miracle no one went off the side of a mountain. He talked more about himself than I’ve ever heard and I took it in, asked questions, all the while loving every minute of it.

  As Jude’s childhood stories continued, I let my brain wander. And my brain starts thinking about how lucky I am that my high school friend married a big-time gun trafficker and I was lucky enough to be at her house finishing her OTT laundry room on the day Federal Agents decided to raid her home. Then my crazy brain thinks that I’m lucky I was patted down, cuffed, interrogated, and then mentioned in not great ways on a wiretap so that I get to be here today with Jude. I mean, how did this happen? I’ve avoided relationships for years, yet somehow God put me in a myriad of crazy circumstances and by some means that can only be Divine, I’m hiking on the side of a mountain with Jude Ortiz. And I have never been happier.

  “Gabby?” Jude calls out to me rather impatiently and I stop, almost running into him. Looking up to him, his brows are furrowed and he goes on, “What the hell? You look like you’re in another world, sugar.”

  “What?” I ask.

  He barely chuckles when he says, “Babe, where’s your head? Or am I boring you to death?”

  “No,” I say giving my head a little shake.

  And then because I can’t help it, I let my eyes rake over him. He hasn’t shaved since Thursday morning and has almost three days of growth on his face. It looks amazing with his dark chocolate eyes, long lashes, and uber dark hair. He’s wearing an old grey faded Air Force Academy sweatshirt with track pants and his own clunky shoes, but his have seen some major miles unlike my new ones. With his big frame and the height difference that separate us, he’s towering over me wondering what in the hell is wrong me.

  “No,” I repeat, taking in a big breath. I wave my hand around a bit and keep on, “It’s just you. I can’t believe I’m really here with you. Who meets someone during a Federal Raid looking for guns? How does that happen?” I ask. He’s now looking at me like I have horns growing out the top of my head, so of course I go on. “I mean, look at you. I’m learning so much about you, watching you in your mountain home and how much you love it here. And you chose me, to share this with me, on my birthday, no less? It’s all very overwhelming, but in a good way, you know? I’m really happy and I don’t remember that last time I was this happy. It makes me happier to watch you. You say you don’t have a home, Jude, but you’re not paying attention. This is very much your home. Thank you sharing it with me.”

  As I finish my mini-rant and explanation for zoning out on a mountain, I miss the change in Jude’s face. He’s not looking at me like I’ve grown horns anymore, but rather soft, yet significantly, straight into my eyes. He brings his hand up to cup my cheek and slides it under my ear and into my ponytail.

  “It means everything to me that you’re here, Gabby.”

  Then, because I can’t help it and because he has to know, I inform him, “Honestly, Jude, I thought you were hot in your police getup the first day I met you and you can sure rock the cowboy look, too. But, I think you’re really a mountain man disguised as an FBI Agent. None of it compares to you in the mountains with your three-day shadow. I know it’s going to be scratchy on my sensitive parts later, but you can seriously work it in the mountains.”

  His hand flexes on my scalp and his mouth barely turns up and he mutters, “Shit.”

  All of a sudden, his hands are under my arms lifting me, giving me no choice but to wrap my legs around him and hold on. I let out a small scream of surprise. I feel us moving and find my back up agains
t a pine tree trunk with his tongue is my mouth. Wrapping my arms around his neck to hold on and keep up with him, I kiss him back as his hips press me hard into the tree. We go at this awhile before he finally slows down, touching his forehead to mine, pushing my head into the tree trunk.

  He looks into my eyes and says, “Sugar, you think you’re overwhelmed, there are days I can’t believe this is real and today is one of those days.”

  I assume he means this in a positive way because I can see his eyes smiling—content and happy. Plus, he’s pressing his hips between my legs in a good way that is easy to feel through my leggings and I can’t help but feel the tingles. But instead of anything of this, I say, “Jude, I’m going to get sap in my hair from this tree.”

  “I’ll wash it out,” he says into my neck and I feel his tongue dart out under my ear.

  “But, you’re going to snag my new pink puffy vest. It’s my birthday present and it was expensive. I was there when you bought it.”

  He chuckles into my neck, pressing his groin into me one more time for good measure before he steps back and puts me down on my clunky shoes. He leans down, kisses me again and then taking my hand, he leads me back to the trail we veered off of for our up against a tree make out session.

  “Let’s go home, Gabby.” Then looking back at me with a devilish grin he says, “I need to wash your hair and you have sensitive parts I need to see to.”

  My eyes get big and I feel myself shiver from the thought of him seeing to my sensitive parts. I skip to catch up with him, still holding his hand as my other hand goes to my hair feeling for sap, or worse, bugs! Not feeling anything in my hair but feeling all kinds of good about everything else right now, we double time it down the mountain to get home so Jude can wash my hair and hopefully see to other things, as well.

  Standing in front of the mirror, I can’t believe I’m just going to waltz out there like this. I barely dried my hair, Jude seems to like it wavy and a little crazy. After our bath, where Jude did wash my hair as promised, we ate dinner sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. The fire warmed the room, taking the evening chill out of the air and making Jude’s mountain home cozy, although he can really use some area rugs. I’ve had three glasses of wine and feeling courageous. I’ve decided now is the time to break out my new nightie. It’s flowy, sexy, and I know Jude went out of his way for me on my weekend full of surprises so I wanted him to have one as well. Even though he already saw it since he was digging through my suitcase, damn it. But, whatever.

  “It’s not like he hasn’t seen every inch of you. Suck it up, girlie,” I whisper to my reflection. With that, I let my liquid courage take over, turn, walk my barely clad body through Jude’s bathroom, bedroom, and into his great room. The fire is crackling, the lights are dim, just one lamp is shining and the TV is playing a college football game with the volume set low. I barely see the back of Jude’s head over the back of the sofa where he’s lounging, feet to the coffee table, drinking a beer.

  Quietly on my bare feet, I tippy toe around the side of the sofa and sensing movement, Jude’s eyes instinctively come to me as he’s lifting his beer to his lips. The bottle suspended midway to his mouth, his head turns to follow his eyes and he takes me in from tip to toe. Feeling even more courageous, I spin, pull out the hem of my little nighty. “Well?”

  Jude’s eyes aren’t melty—they’re on fire and he lowers his beer to his thigh. Bringing his other hand up, he points his finger down and makes a little circle with it. “Turn around again.”

  Grinning, I turn again but slower this time and when I come full circle, I lift one eyebrow at him giving my head a little shake and say with more emphasis, “Well?”

  Jude’s eyes narrow on me and he slowly leans forward, putting his beer on the old ugly coffee table as he says low and deep, “Baby, watch out. You prance your sweet ass out here in that little thing, I’m comin’ after you.”

  The look on his face makes my eyes go big and he unfolds from the sofa. Something in the way he is moving makes me squeal and I turn and skip back toward Jude’s room. Feeling a hand on my arm, he yanks me around catching me behind my back, swings me up, my legs flying every which way before they are swung up over his arm. I yelp out of surprise, as he strides purposefully into his room where he puts me down in front of him beside his bed.

  My heart is beating from the chase, but I grin up at him and he takes a step back holding my hand. He takes another good look before he pulls his hand up and across our bodies doing a semi dance move, flipping me underneath and pulling my back to his front. His hand comes up and across to my breast at the same time his lips hit my bare shoulder. Cupping my breast, his thumb runs across my nipple over the lace and the feeling of the two make me shiver. His other hand comes up to my stomach, dipping up under my nighty and he pulls me in tight to his chest.

  "Gabby, you're beautiful," Jude rasps against my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. His hand at my stomach goes south straight into my panties at the same time his other hand gently pulls my nighty down to expose my breast.

  "Jude," I whisper as my head falls back against his shoulder.

  “Beautiful,” he repeats. “I didn’t know you could be more beautiful, but you are sugar, here, in my cabin and my bed.”

  His fingers keep working between my legs lightly, but I’m still able to mutter, “It’s not a cabin.”

  I feel him smile against my temple and I lose his hands on my body and the next thing I know he’s whipping my nighty up and over my head. Turning me, he pushes me down on the bed and I scoot to the middle at the same time he grabs my panties pulling them down my legs. Then he pushes my knees apart and crawls up in between my legs. I see his head descend, his lips hitting the inside of my thigh and I feel his tongue dart out. My head collapses to the bed and my hands fist the covers below me. He works his way up, licking, kissing, biting. Then I get to experience Jude’s three-day shadow on my sensitive parts. It’s scratchy like I thought it would be, but scratchy in a defy-gravity, off-the-charts amazing way.

  Thirty minutes later, Jude rasps, “Gabby, you undo me. Just when I think we can’t get any better we do. And I don’t mean just this,” he says, pressing into me one more time where he’s planted deep. “I mean everything.”

  I answer him by tightening all my limbs around him, wrapping him up as best I can. He’s right. As the days go by, everything with Jude gets better. Especially now, since I’ve given up being scared and let myself enjoy all things Jude. I’m overflowing in a whole new way.

  Letting my fingers run up his back and into his hair. “So you like my nighty?”

  “Yeah, I think it’s safe to say, I like your nighty.” He pulls up looking at me with a grin.

  The look on his face makes my warm fuzzies get even warmer and start to settle in my belly with everything else in my life that seems to be settling with Jude. As that happy starts to overflow and seep into my bones, I can’t help but think about what’s to come. For the first time in a long time, I let these thoughts fill me up in a way I never had the courage to allow. And this makes me smile.

  “Come on, let’s go in here.” Jude pulls me into a local artisan’s shop.

  Today is my twenty-eighth birthday. Jude woke me this morning, making love to me soft and sweet. Seriously, the day could end now and it would still be the best birthday ever. But it was only nine in the morning, so after we showered and had breakfast, Jude told me he was taking me to Estes Park to show me around. The sun is bright but there’s still a nip in the air. We ate at a local deli with delicious sandwiches, eating outside on the patio under the heaters.

  Now we’re strolling up and down the sidewalks of Estes Park, Jude is even letting me shop a little bit. But now he’s pulling me into a store filled with Indian art, rugs, pottery, and jewelry. I’m looking around, admiring the pottery when I feel a hand on my arm and turn around. Jude is looking down at my hand as he slips a cool as hell extra wide, hammered silver cuff on my wrist. It’s simple but makes a s
tatement and can easily stand on its own, worn dressy or causal. Holding out my hand and he looks back up to me he says, “Do you like it?”

  Speechless at the sight of Jude slipping a kick ass piece of jewelry on me, I look up him and barely find the words. “It’s stunning.”

  Jude leans in putting his lips to my forehead. “Happy birthday, sugar.”

  “But, you’ve already done so much for my birthday. My shoes, the puffy vest, bringing me here. This is too much.”

  “Babe, even though I know how much you love your new shoes, you need something pretty on your birthday. Besides, your shoes will stay at the cabin.”

  “Thank you.” I look down at my latest birthday present and flooded with the emotion that he wants me to leave my shoes in his mountain home. Feeling overwhelmed, yet again, I look at my new cuff, heavy, thick and feeling perfect on my wrist. Looking back up at Jude, I get up on tippy toes, and with meaning I respond, “Thank you, for everything.”

  “You’re welcome. But I’m done shopping,” he goes on, now grinning at me.

  “Yeah, I bet you’ve timed out.” I smile back. “I saw a chocolatier next door. I think I might need a piece of fudge.”

  “I think I can handle shopping for chocolate,” he says as he pays for my kickass cuff.

  Walking next door hand in hand, I decide against fudge because they had the biggest chocolate covered strawberries I’d ever seen so I order two. Jude gets a huge brownie covered with chocolate fudge icing. I didn’t think Jude could be more perfect until he tells the chocolate lady to wrap up a dog treat to go. I smile up at him, thinking he really likes Mia and someday he’ll admit it.