by Anne Conley
Jude moaned into her, his lips still latched onto her clit sucking greedily, clearly with a singular purpose in mind. Her hips were writhing on his face, and she couldn’t stop them if she wanted to. When he let go of her clit and speared her with his tongue, it was almost a relief as he licked her folds, lapping up everything. Then he went back to her clit while his fingers let go of her tit and went inside her pussy.
She was lost. Jude curled his finger inside her, rubbing the little rough spot inside her, and she fell apart, seeing stars and lights and hearing a foreign, animalistic noise come from her throat.
Annette leaned against the wall, trying to recover her breath, when she felt Jude tugging on her thigh.
Carefully, she moved down his body, kissing him when she got herself straddled above his twitching girth. Her essence on his tongue was an erotic mixture of the two of them, and she moaned her appreciation.
His hand pressed on her hip, urging her to lower herself onto his cock, and she didn’t deny him. As he filled her, the stretch and give of her insides made her let out another hiss of pleasure.
Annette loved Jude. When she saw his golden eyes looking at her with the same mix of wonder as he’d had earlier, she knew she was a goner. There was no way she’d ever tell him no again. She was so whipped it wasn’t even funny. She would do anything for this man.
Moving on top of him, her legs still weak from the earth-shattering orgasm he’d just given her, she knew she was all in with him. Forever.
As she raised and lowered herself on him, she felt every ridge and bump of him as her tender and slick flesh impaled his length to the echoes of their mutual sounds of pleasure. His moans spurred her on, even as his hand found her clit and began working it.
She tried to still him. “It’s too much.”
He just grinned at her wickedly and resumed his ministrations. Her movements became more instinct than anything else, and she started gyrating, feeling his cock stroke that spot.
“Lean down.”
She did, covering his body with hers, and he started pumping into her furiously, hitting that spot over and over again.
“Oh God, Jude. Harder.” She’d never been so desperate before, and as she clutched his good shoulder with one arm, she bit into it as he pistoned his hips into her hard and fast.
She came again, bucking on top of him, and he hissed.
“Oh shit … That feels so good …” Jude pulled out of her and tapped her ass with his hand. “Get on all fours, princess. I’m about to own that pussy.”
His dirty words were a balm to her soul. Annette wanted nothing more than to make him come, over and over again, just like he was doing to her.
“Are you sure you won’t hurt yourself?” She looked at his arm.
“Sweetness, I’ve been planning all the ways I’m going to make you come with one arm, and we haven’t even hit a fraction of them. Now get on all fucking fours.”
She did, and as he slid inside her from behind, she clenched around him at the invasion. His hisses turned more vocal as he lost control and started pounding into her. Annette’s breasts rubbed against the sheets, tender and pebbled. Jude gripped her ass with his good hand, spreading it wide as he pounded into her, stretching her. From this angle, she felt every inch of his hard length and wondered if it was possible she could come again.
When he pinched her clit between two fingers and tugged on it, twisting it slightly, she knew it wasn’t a possibility, it was an eventuality.
This time, when she came, he roared his release right behind her, and they both collapsed together in a tangled mess of limbs.
Epilogue
Annette looked amazing, and Jude could only hope the monkey suit he’d rented from her friend Vivian made him look good next to her. Judging by her reaction, she at least liked it. Tonight was her big night, and he was excited for her. They drove up to Everly’s gallery in his beat-to-hell Land Rover, and he let her out, then went to park the car around back so it wouldn’t sit out front looking ugly. He wanted tonight to be perfect for Annette.
There weren’t many lights outside the gallery, but the inside was lit up, so he made his way inside amid smells of expensive hors d’oeuvres and strains of some funky music. But when he got inside, he froze, a gasp forming on his lips as his stomach dropped.
Annette had been very careful to not let him see any of her work until tonight. He’d assumed she was nervous about his reaction to it, but when he saw her paintings on the walls, he was undone.
Completely. Fucking. Undone.
At first glance, they were stunning landscapes of the surrounding mountains, but when he looked closer, he was in them. Not all of him, just pieces of him. His eyes peeking out from behind trees, his hair in wild flames of a few, his hands in the snow of another, his torso in the mountainside, and what he could only assume was his back in another. It sounded weird inside his head, but he was fully expecting them to be regular aspects of the natural landscape of Pamona Gulch.
He took a few steps forward and looked closely at one piece, a landscape he recognized as inspired by the view from his cabin window. The mountainside rose up on the right side of the canvas, pulling focus from the trees to the left. A fire raged behind the trees, the smoke eerily rising into the sky. The strokes she had made on his body were all over the painting. If he hadn’t been there, he never would have known that’s what it was.
It was amazing.
“What do you think?” Her voice curled into his consciousness, bringing him back to the reality of her show, her night.
“It’s amazing,” he breathed, trying to fit his voice into the somber mood of the classy event but wanting to take her in his arms and spin her around, screaming her art’s beauty to the world. He settled for wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing.
“I’m always afraid people would think they’re corny or find my technique transparent and juvenile.” Her voice was a rare self-deprecation, and it made him look at her.
“It’s phenomenal. I’ve never seen landscapes done this way.”
“Let’s go get some champagne. Everly’s gone all out.”
They walked around to where a bartender was set up in the corner next to a three-piece band, if you could call it that. The funky music was complements of a slide bass guitar, a saxophone, and a small trap set—very jazzy, very bluesy, but not quite jazz or blues. It fit her artwork—not quite portraits, not quite landscapes—and Jude saw Everly’s genius at work. She really was good at what she did.
Speak of the devil, Everly appeared, looking sophisticated as usual, bright smile in place. “Hi, you guys! Do you love it?”
Jude nodded, still dumbstruck, while Annette gushed her appreciation.
“Well, get ready. I’ve got a friend bringing in a busload of collectors from Santa Fe, and my Denver friend has sent invites out to her mailing list.” Turning conspiratorially to Annette, she whispered, “As soon as she found out about Drake, she got busy. It turns out that Nona, from Denver, knows him and did what she could to counteract the bullshit, and Claudette, from Santa Fe, knows him even better, hence the bus.” She giggled, then narrowed her eyes at Annette. “But we’re curious why he’s so bitter toward you. He never tried so hard with any of us.” Annette didn’t talk about Drake at all, but he’d heard around town that Drake had smeared her name everywhere he could before taking off to Austin to run an art gallery there. Good riddance, as far as Jude was concerned.
Annette shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know him that well.”
Everly leaned back her hand going to her chest. “You didn’t sleep with him? At all?”
Annette shook her head, and Everly’s head fell back in a loud laugh. “That explains it. He’s so mad at you because he never got to sleep with you. You wounded him deeply, my dear. Oh, this is too good. I can’t wait to tell th
e girls.” She leaned closer again. “We sort of have a club. I was beginning to believe you had a magic vagina.”
Jude pulled her closer, but Annette just laughed. “Anyway, when people start showing up, I’ll have to take you around and introduce you. Get your elevator pitch ready, dear.” Everly patted her shoulder before spinning on her heel and walking away.
They continued to walk around and look at the individual pieces while they could, and Jude couldn’t put into words how looking at them made him feel.
“Amazing,” he told her, spreading his hands on her hip possessively while they stood in front of one. It was overwhelming to think she’d been thinking about their time together enough to paint him into her pictures. She hadn’t been as unaffected as he’d initially thought.
It wasn’t pride he primarily felt, although there was a measure of that. It wasn’t reciprocating lust, although there was that too. He’d see his hand and try to imagine what she’d been imagining his hand doing while she painted it. And that turned him on. No. It was more of a sense of belonging, as if she had marked him for ownership by painting him into all these pieces she’s put up for sale to go into other houses.
The general tone of the pieces was sexy. A wild, unadulterated landscape met him with every canvas, and he truly felt a part of Pamona Gulch every time he looked at one. Sure, he’d grown up here, but seeing it from her point of view, the same yet fundamentally different, was absolutely stunning.
Soon enough, Everly came and got Annette to introduce her around, and Jude found a spot to stand where he could watch her mingle, offering her support from afar. She didn’t need him glued to her the entire time.
He watched the two women, and since it was late March and spring was coming soon, he couldn’t help but reflect on what the past year had brought him. He’d begun last year trying to get into Everly’s panties, looking for a distraction from the stresses of his life, but when she’d taken it too far, he’d left her, finding Annette in the process. Annette had given him what Everly couldn’t. Everything. And the miraculous thing—as he watched them walking around the gallery arm in arm—was they were actually friends.
Jude was so damn proud of Annette and her sweet soul. She’d done it. This was her dream. As she talked and laughed with the patrons of the gallery and the friends of Everly’s friends, she was schmoozing. While that wasn’t Annette’s regularity, it was the perfect extension of her. She was playing her part well.
“I guess she really did it, huh?” Jude was surprised by a voice off his shoulder, and he spun around.
A man about his height looked at him quizzically. With blond hair, blue eyes, and a sun-worn face, he couldn’t be any older than Annette. He wore pressed jeans and a blazer over a dress shirt. Jude suddenly knew this was her ex, and he stiffened, expecting the guy to make trouble. He wouldn’t have anything else go wrong on Annette’s big day.
“Yeah, she’s a sensation here.” Jude gestured to the people coming in the doorway in clumps, alluding to the fact he didn’t want to make a scene but would if it was necessary.
“We just came up for support.” The man held his hands out in an innocent gesture. Then, looking pointedly at one of the pictures on the wall, he said, “I knew she was lying when she said there wasn’t anybody else. I’m guessing you’re him. I’m Luke.”
The guy’s eyes were sad, as well as his voice, and Jude felt a mixture of triumph and culpability. This poor sap had had Annette and lost her, and he almost knew what that meant. He shook Luke’s hand.
“Jude.”
“I brought her parents. This is Barbara and Ed.” An older couple stood behind him, dressed in their Sunday best, and stepped forward to meet him.
When he said his name, their eyes widened in recognition, and her mother started gushing.
“It’s really nice to meet you. Annette’s talked about you in her calls home. It’s great to put a face with the name.” Barbara’s face told him she knew they were more than friends, but she wasn’t going to talk about it in front of Luke.
Jude looked over at Annette, who was in the middle of a large group of people who were oohing and aahing over one of her paintings, and got a little lost in the image before turning back to her parents.
“I’m really proud of her. She’s done a lot in the short time she’s been here, and I see nothing but good things for her future.” With me. But he left the last part unspoken, choosing tact over possessiveness for Annette. Besides, he didn’t want to piss all over her when he met her parents, unless Luke made him. So far, Luke seemed like he was bowing out of the race gracefully, if not like a beaten puppy dog. “Would y’all like a guided tour? I can’t tell you about her inspiration and technique for each piece, but I know where most of them were painted,” he offered helpfully. They were her people, after all, and they’d come all this way to support her, or out of nosiness. Whichever. The least he could do was be helpful.
Annette was lost in a whirlwind of emotion. At any given moment, she was on the verge of tears of joy or about to have a panic attack. She’d switched from champagne to sparkling juice in an effort to keep her throat from drying out while she struggled not to get drunk from nerves.
When she looked over at Jude and saw him talking to her parents and Luke, of all people, a polite smile on his face, she very nearly passed out.
Her heart started pounding out of her chest, wondering what Luke was saying to Jude, or vice versa, while her dad looked on with a look on his face Annette knew well. He was taking Jude’s measure, and he hadn’t passed … yet.
But when Jude looked up at her, and everyone else’s eyes followed, all she saw was pride. Jude’s smile was first, bright and brilliant, then her parents’ smiles followed, proud and accepting. Luke’s smile followed, sad and regretful but understanding. The smile she’d had pasted on all evening became one of relief before she turned back to the group of people from Santa Fe, one of the biggest art markets in the Southwest.
It was insanity. She was actually doing what she’d come out here to do. With her family in the background, Annette spoke with alacrity to people who were actually eager to learn about her, her process, her techniques, and her thoughts behind each piece. People cared about her and based on the gleeful joy on Everly’s assistant’s face at her desk, she was selling some.
Which was the point.
She was floating. Seriously. All her hard work was paying off. This year had been insane. Leaving her home and starting off somewhere fresh where her art would take focus was doing what it was supposed to. She may not be rich or famous or a household name after this, but this was what she had wanted.
People came and went, each one smiling and supportive of her, all of them strangers. Of course, her friends had shown up as well. Vivian had brought her daughter for a bit, and Katie had come for a while, but neither of them had monopolized her time, knowing how important it was for her to mingle. But they had come.
Her parents coming had been a huge surprise. During a lull in patrons taking her arm and dragging her to another piece, her mom and dad came fluttering over, her mother practically giddy.
“Oh, I am so excited for you, dear. This is amazing!” she gushed as her dad harrumphed behind her. “Those boys came in to talk to Jude, so we left them alone.” Her eyes widened as she mouthed the word wow at her, and Annette knew her mother had been taken with the hunky firefighters that were Jude’s friends.
“Look at all these fancy dresses. You’ve hit the big time,” her dad acknowledged begrudgingly. Luke just stood behind them looking sheepish. She hoped now he could move on. He’d seen her here, with Jude, and he could go back home and find a nice girl who wanted to work in the feed store and have babies.
A familiar arm came around her waist, fingers spreading possessively over hip. A tender kiss fell on her temple. “My girl’s been working so hard for all this. It didn’t just land i
n her lap. Annette’s really done a lot these past few months.”
Luke stiffened and turned away, walking to the bar. She watched curiously as she saw Everly walk up to him and put a hand on his arm.
“I can see why you didn’t come home for Christmas or spring break,” her mother beamed at her, and Annette heaved a sigh of relief. She had been afraid they’d come to chastise her for that.
“Mom, adults don’t really get a spring break after college,” Annette couldn’t help but point out.
“When will we get to see you next?” her dad asked gruffly but with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I’m not sure, Dad. I need to see what pops up from this show and make plans from there. I honestly don’t anticipate coming down again before summer.” She wanted to be honest and not get their hopes up. She couldn’t fly down every weekend like they’d hoped she would when she moved here.
She looked back to the bar and saw Luke and Everly, heads close in conversation. Everly’s arm was on Luke’s impressive bicep as his hand rested on the stool close to her waist.
Thank God for Everly. If Annette didn’t see Luke ever leaving Texas, and Everly doing so well here, she would think the two would make a great match.
Turning back to her family, they visited some more before Beatrice from the BeeStro came up and interrupted them.
“I’m so sorry, Annette. I was just speaking with Everly’s girl about putting some of your smaller pieces up in the restaurant if they don’t sell here, and you know what? There aren’t any!”
Annette’s knees went out at the news, and she leaned on Jude, whose hand went around her waist, holding her up.
“Really?”
“Not any small ones.” She’d worked extra hard on those after Everly told her they sold best to people just coming through town.
“Holy shit,” she whispered to herself.
“Annie,” her father warned brusquely, but when she looked at him, he was smiling warmly. “Congratulations.”