by R. C. Martin
“Hey. You okay?”
The answer was no. Not entirely. But as I leaned into him, I felt like I would be, and that felt good. So I held onto him and offered him a nod.
“Dinner should be here any minute.” He paused long enough to kiss me. “I ordered pizza.”
He kissed me again, and I raised my eyebrows at him when he pulled away. “You eat pizza?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Well—I don’t know. Who doesn’t own jeans?”
A smirk pulled at the side of his mouth as he teased, “Smart ass. Keep it up and I won’t share my ice cream with you.”
“You brought ice cream?”
He handed me the grocery bag just as I heard someone making their way up the stairs. Judah winked at me as he reached for his wallet, and I turned and padded my way to the kitchen. While he paid for the pizza, I stowed the ice cream. One pint of cookies and cream, and another of coffee. After closing the freezer, I noticed the bag wasn’t yet empty. What I found inside made my heart swell as my eyes filled with tears.
It was a brand-new DVD copy of Fight Club.
“I hope you like a little bit of everything on your pie, because that’s what I got,” announced Judah as he entered the kitchen.
He barely had a chance to set the pizza down before I was wrapped around him. I buried my face in his chest, in a failed attempt to hide my tears. I fooled neither of us, and I could feel him hesitate before he wrapped his arms around me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I insisted, holding him tighter.
“Teddy?”
I forced myself to take a breath and then pulled away from him enough to look him in the eye. With a shake of my head, I assured him, “I’m just really glad you’re here.”
“Where else would I be?”
“I don’t know,” I replied with a shrug. “Anywhere. I’m not exactly fun to be around right now. I imagine you saw your weekend going a lot differently.”
“Yeah,” he said, the word coming out in the form of a short laugh. “As a matter of fact, I did. But you don’t have to apologize for life, Teddy. It’s fine.”
There wasn’t a particular answer I expected to hear him say. Nevertheless, his response reminded me of all the reasons why I wanted him. Before I could call to mind every reason why I couldn’t have him that night, I pressed myself up onto my tiptoes and kissed him. I opened my mouth around his as I moved my arms until they were circled around his neck, and that was all the invitation he needed.
He took over the kiss then, sweeping his tongue through my mouth for a taste. I dropped the movie the same moment he took hold of my hips and lifted me up onto the countertop. He made space for himself between my legs and kissed me deeper. I felt everything in his kiss. His desire. His restraint. I knew it because I harbored the same feelings. It was maddening; but so long as he was touching me, I forgot how untouchable I felt twenty-four hours before.
“Fuck,” he muttered, breaking our kiss but still holding me close. His lips grazed mine as he said, “We need to eat. And we might need to start with that ice cream.”
“What?” I asked, still a little foggy from his affection.
“I can’t kiss you like that if I can’t touch you after.”
“Oh,” I breathed.
Regardless of how I felt mentally or emotionally, I wasn’t free to have sex until I finished the bottle of pills Dr. Murphy prescribed. And while I knew we both understood I wasn’t ready that night, this would be our reality for more than just a night.
“Sorry.”
Judah dipped his head until his lips were pressed against my ear. He then whispered, “Never apologize for how sexy you are, sweetheart.”
Before I could say a word in reply, he was in front of the freezer. When he pulled out the ice cream, proving to be serious about our treat before dinner, I couldn’t help but smile. It was the first time I felt like doing so the whole day. And as I basked in the feeling, watching as he searched for spoons, something told me there would likely be a fair share of ice cream in our future. That thought, all on its own, made me love him all the more.
Epilogue
“Let’s play a game,” I blurted from where I sat in the passenger side seat of his Porsche.
It had been three weeks. Three weeks since my world fell apart—again—and I was forced to put it back together. Only, this time, I hadn’t done it alone. This time, there was a man—a man so incredibly unexpected—to hold my hand along the way. Now, I wanted to give him everything, just as he had given me.
“A game?” he asked, quirking a dubious eyebrow.
I clutched my purse in my lap and glanced toward the door in his garage that would lead us inside. I’d walked through it plenty of times before, but this night was different. This night would change everything. I was ready, but I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.
“Mmhmm,” I hummed with a nod.
“Theodora, I don’t want to play a game.”
“Well, what if—what if, at the end of this game, I’m naked?”
He chuckled, and the smile that crossed his face made my insides tingle.
“I’m listening,” he conceded.
I hesitated. Honestly, I was thinking on the fly. All I really wanted was a head start; a chance to collect myself before we crossed into uncharted territory.
“Okay. Give me two minutes,” I instructed. “You stay here, and I’ll go inside. Then, when you find me, you can…have me.”
I watched as he wetted his lips while I waited for him to respond. When he reached for my chin and planted a solid kiss against my mouth, I sucked in a breath, startled by the height of my excitement.
The instant he pulled away, he muttered, “The clock starts now.”
Giggling anxiously, I was quick to scurry out of the car. I raced inside and made it as far as the hallway outside of his mudroom. Pausing, I had to take a second to think.
I abandoned my purse first. Then, slipping out of my shoes, I hurried down the hallway. I discarded one and then raced toward the stairs, where I discarded another. As I ascended to the landing, I unzipped my dress and shimmied out of it before I tossed it on his sofa. I was in nothing but my bra and my underwear when I ran back down the stairs and toward his bedroom.
Following the light of the moon, I made my way to the opposite side of his bed and dropped my bra in a spot he would only see if he walked all the way around the bed. I then took a breath and stepped out of my panties. I carried them around the back of his wall partition and discarded them at the mouth of his bathroom. Then I proceeded to make my way to one of my favorite spots in his whole house.
The light flickered on upon my entrance, but I was quick to manually shut it off. Slowly, I made my way to the cushioned bench he kept in the center of the closet. I sat in the middle—my legs astride it, and my back to the door.
I was very aware that Judah had never seen me completely naked before. He’d seen so many of my scars—the invisible ones and the inked ones—but my back was a piece of me I kept to myself. It was a part of me no one ever saw the way I did. It was all of me, and I was ready for him to have it. I was ready for him to see me. I was no longer beholden only to myself, for I was in love. Ardently. Completely. I was a fool for him. With all my heart, I belonged to him.
I gathered my hair and brought it around to my right shoulder, leaving my back entirely uncovered.
This is me, fully on display for his eyes only, I thought as I heard him enter the house.
And I am his.
Judah and Teddy’s story continues in Fool for Her – book two of the Foolish at Heart Series – live August 19, 2020.
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Also by R.C. Martin
The Savior Series
Guarded
Tethered
Severed
Mounta
ins & Men
Encore Worthy
Worthy of the Harmony
Worthy of the Dissonance
Worthy of the Melody
Tennessee Grace Series
Background Noise
Backwoods Belle
Rock-N-Roll Christmas
Made for Love Series
The Promises We Keep
Reckless Surrender
So Much More
Chasing After Me
Standalone Novels
Heartless
The Bridgewater Case
Foolish at Heart
Fool for Her (August 2020)
Fools in Love (October 2020)
About the Author
R.C.'s journey into the world of publishing began like so many of her peers – with a big dream and a basket full of rejection. Confident she’d one day pen a book someone would say yes to, she spent years crafting stories which became the foundation of her craft. When she’d finally written “the one,” she just knew – and there was no rejection strong enough to stop her from sharing her novel with the world. In 2015 she published her debut, and the rest, as they say, is history – only far more romantic.
In a voice all her own, she strives to capture the magic of a kiss, the passion in a lovers’ embrace, and even sometimes the breathtaking ache of a broken heart. A true believer in the power of love and the grace found in redemption, you can trust this hopeless romantic to take you on an emotional ride that leaves you forever changed.
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