All they knew, or suspected rather, was that she was fucking a guy they liked to take pictures of and gossip about. It was ridiculous that her hard work was being overshadowed by who she entered into a relationship with.
Before I could voice my thoughts about the unfairness of it all, Rose shook her head and sniffled, bringing me back to the present. “It’s not that. I’m not ready to leave you, Jude. I’m going to go back to campus and I’m going to finish my PhD and I’m going to set my professor straight. But I… I wanted more time together. You know? To figure out what this was.”
My heart missed a beat or two. I exhaled a quiet breath, trying to keep my own feelings at bay. The last thing she needed to know was how pissed off I was.
“So did I,” I murmured softly.
She released me suddenly and took a step back, folding her arms over her chest and licking her lips. “Did you see this lasting longer than just the six months of my internship?”
I nodded without a moment’s hesitation. “Yes. Definitely.”
“Me too.” She sank onto the bed beside her suitcase, slamming it closed and pushing it onto the floor with a dull thud. “And it all got ruined because of some asshole with a camera.”
“Hey, look at me,” I said when she glared at the suitcase so hard it was like she was hoping it might burst into flames and she wouldn’t be able to leave. I crossed to the bed in two strides and went to stand in front of her, sinking down to my knees and capturing her cheeks between my hands. “Look at me, Roselyn.”
Slowly, she lifted her misty gaze to mine. The pain and disappointment in the brown depths of her eyes made me want to rip the dick off of whoever was responsible for this.
“I don’t want to leave yet,” she repeated, her voice shaky. “There was still so much I wanted to see and do with you by my side. I was looking forward to every minute of the next three months that we’d have together, and I thought we’d have time to figure out what our next step would be.”
“We still have time,” I said.
She shook her head again, a fresh round of tears welling on her lower lids. “Not enough. I have to be at the airport in sixteen hours.”
“Sixteen hours is better than nothing.”
She was right. It wasn’t nearly enough, but three months wouldn’t have been, either.
But if sixteen hours was all we had, I was determined to make the most of them. I stroked my thumbs across her cheeks, gathering up the wetness tracking along her skin.
“Don’t cry, Roselyn,” I whispered, pleading with her even though I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that. “I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere.”
She looped her arms around my neck and lowered her head, biting her lip as she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead to mine. “I know you’re not, but I am. We have sixteen hours left, Jude. That’s it.”
“For now,” I said. “That’s it for now.”
There were about a hundred things we needed to discuss, but instead of bringing up any of it, I slid my index finger under her thumb and lifted her head.
When her eyes were level with mine, small droplets still dangling from her long lashes, I kissed the corner of each one. Her tears were salty on my lips, but I needed them to go away. I would have taken every ounce of pain away from her if I could.
I also needed to be close to her. Just one last time.
Chapter 35
ROSE
Jude tugged me into his strong chest, devouring my tear-stained lips as if he could kiss away the pain inside me. I wished he could, but I also wished I could have done the same for him.
He was doing a much better job than I was at hiding it, but I could tell he wasn’t exactly thrilled about our imminent separation either. The difference was that I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side, whereas at least he had a job and a home to go back to.
A bittersweet feeling spread through me as we kissed like breathing was optional. On the one hand, it felt like we were both saying goodbye. On the other, I wasn’t sure if I would ever really be able to say goodbye to him.
That same electricity we’d always had crackled through my entire body and worked its way underneath my skin. Despite our shitty circumstances, desire flowed like a living thing between us, taking hold of every rational thought until it shut out all the hurt and uncertainty and even the dull ache in my heart.
I grabbed hold of the respite with both hands as I shut out all the bad and focused only on the good. Because no matter what anyone said, what Jude and I had was good.
He kissed me like he knew it too, like he just couldn’t stop. Without breaking the kiss or taking our hands off of each other, we lay back on the bed and his kisses turned gentle. He kissed me as if he was committing my mouth to memory, roaming and exploring as he dipped his tongue possessively into my mouth.
His hands skated up and down my sides and across my stomach, his hips resting on the bed beside mine. I felt his erection growing, but he didn’t seem to be in any rush to do anything about it.
While he wasn’t always as controlling in the bedroom as he had been our first time together, this was definitely different from any other time before it. It was tender and soft and almost loving.
I couldn’t think that way, though. Not now. Not unless I wanted to start crying again, and I really didn’t. I’d done enough crying in the last day to keep me going for a while.
I didn’t want to ruin our night by dissolving into a puddle of pitiful emotion in his arms. If we were saying goodbye, which I knew we were even if I wasn’t sure how long it would be for, I wanted to give him something to remember me by.
Body and soul, I belonged to him tonight. And I wanted him to belong to me.
I moaned when he ran his thumb just underneath my nipple, arching my back to try to press my breast into his palm on his next pass. He lifted his head away from mine, his lips brushing against mine as he spoke.
“I didn’t come here for this tonight, Rose. If you want me to help you pack and hold you until you fall asleep, I’d be happy to.”
“No, I want this,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes because whether it was sweet or dirty, Jude always seemed to know just what to say. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
He brought his hand to my face, stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Me too, but we still have sixteen hours, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” I forced a smile to my lips, snaking my hand down between us to stroke the rock-hard length of his cock. “I hope you didn’t have any other plans for this guy tonight.”
“Nope, both of us are all yours.” Jude groaned, screwing his eyes shut and grinding his jaw, his pulse beating in his neck.
“Good, because I plan on giving you a proper sendoff.” I gently extricated myself from our tangled limbs and stood up beside the bed. His eyes followed me hungrily, but there was a still a gleam in them I didn’t like.
I guess we’re both going to be struggling with our emotions while we’re doing this.
Slowly, I began to unbutton my shirt. I couldn’t change what had happened, but I could distract him and have him do the same for me. “Let’s not think about anything but each other for the rest of the night, okay? Just you and me. Jude and Rose.”
His jaw tightened. “I’m trying.”
“So am I.” I met his emerald gaze dead on. “The outside world has already stolen the next three months from us. Let’s not allow it to steal our last hours, too.”
“Doing my best here.” His eyes tracked my hands as I finished with my buttons and shrugged out of the shirt, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. “Fuck, I love that bra.”
“You should,” I teased as I glanced down at the white lace covering my breasts. “You picked it out.”
“I’m keeping it,” he proclaimed suddenly, looking up to wink at me. I appreciated that he was trying to lighten the mood, too.
The atmosphere in the air was still heavy with a unique blend of reg
ret, guilt, lust, and sadness, but lust was definitely winning out. I reached behind my back and unhooked the metal clips, then flung the scrap of fabric at his face.
“Sure, you can have it, but I’m not sure it will fit you.”
He let out a bark of surprised laughter before catching it in his powerful fist. “I wasn’t planning on wearing it. I’ll just keep it in my nightstand with my lube.”
“Always so charming,” I said, unzipping my pants after popping open the button. “Next thing, you’re going to tell me you want my panties, too.”
His pupils dilated as I stepped out of my clothes. “I wouldn’t say no if you’re offering. That’s for sure.”
Standing before him in nothing but my birthday suit, the way he looked at me made me feel like I was wearing the finest ball gown. His gaze caressed every inch of my exposed skin, his demeanor changing as it lingered on my breasts before traveling lower.
When he looked up into my eyes again, it seemed the lust had finally properly done its thing. He’d managed to shake any hint of turmoil, and all I saw now was burning heat and raw need.
A job well done. Now all I had to do was shove my own feelings all the way down.
Thankfully, it wasn’t all that difficult to do when he looked at me like that. Wetness pooled in my core under that gaze and my clit began to throb.
“Come here, beautiful,” he rasped out, sitting up on the bed and holding out his hands.
I took them, climbing into his lap to straddle him. He kissed a path from my bare shoulder, along my collarbone until he nipped at the soft skin in the crook of my neck.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” he said.
I put my finger over his lips and started moving my hips, moaning when I felt the swell of his cock against me. “We’re going to stay in touch, right?”
“Right.” Our eyes met, locked. He grabbed my hips and rolled us over so my back hit the mattress and he was on top of me. “Can we agree that neither of us will fuck anyone else for the time being?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even need to think about it. “I’m yours, Jude. No matter where in the world I am.”
Every last inhibition I had was gone, it seemed. “Are you mine?”
“I have been all along.” He littered my jaw with kisses, giving my nose, eyes, and even my forehead the same treatment. “So we agree?”
“We agree,” I whispered, not trusting my voice enough to try to use it.
We were walking such a tightrope of emotion tonight, but Jude pushed me back to the right side of it when he moved down to my chest and sucked a pebbled nipple into his hot mouth, groaning when I hummed a pleasured sound at the back of my throat.
His hand moved to my mound, his long fingers painfully close to where I wanted them. “No other man is going to touch this pussy. You understand that?”
“I do,” I whimpered, rocking against his hand on my mound. “But you know our agreement means no one else is touching your cock either, right?”
“Right,” he bit out. “You better get ready for a lot of late-night fucking phone calls.”
“Fucking phone calls, huh?”
He groaned at my pun, burying his head in my chest. “I’m going to need video calls, too.”
“You got it,” I muttered as his fingers dipped even lower. At the same time, he pressed down on my clit and circled it until I let out a low moan.
“Jude, please.”
He licked a path between my breasts and back up to my mouth, kissing me senseless as he wordlessly gave in to what I’d begged him for. One of his thick fingers slid into me while he continued those tight, maddening circles.
Exquisite bursts of pleasure shot from my core, curling my toes and reducing me to a shivering, mewling lunatic in need of one thing and one thing only. Jude.
My hips bucked, and I was pretty sure my kisses grew sloppy, but his strong body and hands kept me right where he needed me. No matter how much I thrashed around, he didn’t break his rhythm until I saw fireworks exploding behind my eyelids.
My first orgasm hit me hard and fast, but despite how powerful it was, I still needed him more than ever as soon as I came down. “I want you, Jude. Now. Please.”
He groaned against my mouth. “I thought we’d already covered that. You have me, baby. Unless you mean that you need me inside you already?”
“Yeah, that.” I’d never felt quite so empty before. It was like I needed him to complete me. But I’d gotten enough of my wits back to know better than to tell him that.
He practically ripped the clothes he was still wearing from his body, pulling a condom from his wallet before he dropped it to the floor. He stood in front of the bed, letting me look at him like he had done with me earlier.
Jude’s was perfection, all the way from the hard ridges on his abdomen, to the narrow hips that tapered down to a thick, long erection that saluted me like it would never go down again, and the colorful ink that ran down his arm.
He ran out of patience when my gaze jerked back to his cock and he crawled back onto the bed, positioning himself at my entrance. The broad head nudged me open, and he looked deeply into my eyes as he paused before sinking in.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Oxford. Don’t forget it.”
I caught his handsome face between my hands. “Right back at you, boss man.”
He let out a low growl, pressing his lips to my neck. His hard cock pushed harder at my seam as he buried himself slowly, deliberately, watching my every facial expression as he did.
“Fuck,” he breathed as he edged in, his eyes never leaving mine.
I ran my hands through his hair and down the ropes of muscle in his back, tilting my pelvis and winding my legs around his. When he was all the way in, his eyes blazed with the need to move. “Are you okay with slow tonight?”
“Perfect,” I whispered against his lips.
He finally started moving with sure, steady strokes. Slowly but with purpose like I’d never felt before.
Pleasure filled my body again almost instantly, wiping away any lingering doubts about the whispered promises we’d made to each other or worries that he wouldn’t fulfill them. Jude rocking into me was all that mattered, his muscular body pushing me into the mattress and his soft moans in the ears.
His breathing soon became as ragged as mine, but he was still gentle, still doing something to me we hadn’t done together before. The perfect pace he kept drove me closer and closer to another climax until, with one final thrust, my world shattered into a thousand pieces as the knot of tension he’d been winding tighter released in yet another mind-blowing orgasm.
Jude kept going, stroking me through it with reassuring murmurs. When I finally surfaced again, he was staring at me with heavily lidded eyes. “I want to see you come one more time. Think you can do that for me?”
“Yes,” I breathed because there was nothing I wouldn’t give him. Plus, no one would complain about a gorgeous guy asking them to have one more orgasm.
He flipped us over so I was on top, allowing me to take control. Anchoring my knees on either side of his hips, I started riding him and soon got lost in the pleasure of it again.
The muscles in his thighs started to quiver and his hands went to my hips, fingers flexing hard as he drove into me more forcefully. He was nearly there, and just knowing it put me on the same path.
Jude slid one of his hands in behind my neck and brought my lips back to his, nipping at my mouth as he started shaking, loudly moaning my name. His orgasm poured into me with a twitch of his cock deep inside, and that was all I needed before the fireworks exploded all over again.
I collapsed onto his chest and he stroked my back, but neither of us moved any more than that for a long time. Our situation would come crashing back down around us, and I wanted to avoid it for as long as I could.
When we were both breathing normally again, he pulled me into a long, deep kiss. Then he fixed me with c
oncerned eyes. “Do you mind if I stay the night? I really don’t want to go just yet.”
Chapter 36
JUDE
Rose was silent on our way to the airport. Her hand was in mine, but her head was turned, and her eyes were glued to the landscape rushing by.
“You okay?” I asked, giving her hand a light squeeze.
She sniffed softly, sighing as she shook her head. “Not really, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to buck up and face the music.”
“I wish I was going with you,” I murmured.
A sad smile only just lifted the corners of her lips. “We talked about this earlier, Jude. I need to do this by myself. It’ll look worse if you show up with me.”
“I know. I’m just…” I trailed off, speechless for once in my miserable fucking life.
Rose ran her thumb along the length of my finger, shifting in her seat to look at me. “I feel the same way.”
“I know.” Neither of us had the words, but I didn’t doubt she knew exactly how I felt and really did feel the same way.
She swiped a finger under her eye, sniffling again before letting out a laugh. “I’m so much sadder than I thought I’d be.”
“Same.” There was an ache in my chest that just seemed to be getting worse the closer we got to the airport. “But we’re going to figure this out, baby. The most important thing is you getting your degree. Once that’s done, we’ll take it from there.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, but her voice trembled and so did her lower lip. She sucked it into her mouth and cleared her throat, giving herself a visible little shake before attempting a smile. “I promised myself I would keep it together when you dropped me off, but maybe we should’ve just said goodbye at the hotel.”
“Bullshit.” I wanted every last minute I could get with her. “There’s no way I would send you off in the hotel shuttle.”
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