Boarded by Love

by Toni Aleo

  I roll my eyes as I wrap my arms around his neck. “You’re impossible.”

  “True, but really, I like the way you look. Jeans, booty shorts, sweats, naked, I’m not picky as long as it’s you, looking at me with those eyes and grinning at me with those lips. All I need is you.”

  Biting into my lip, I lean into him, pressing my lips to his. His arms come around me tightly, squeezing me as I deepen the kiss, our tongues playing in a slow, teasing way. When we part, I dust his jaw with small kisses, the hair on his jawline tickling my lips and tongue. When I reach his lips again, his fingers bite into my back before he takes over the kiss. With his body enveloping mine, his mouth is dangerous, and I am a willing victim to his assault. I can’t get enough.

  Pulling away slowly, his mouth follows mine, causing me to smile as I stop, his own smile crashing against mine, leaving me breathless. I love this. I love how playful but sexy we are together. I’ve never ever been so turned on in my life but at the same time so happy. It’s crazy and ridiculous, but Jude Sinclair makes me giddy.

  As we part, his hands come up to my face, holding me tenderly as his green eyes bore into mine. “Told ya I’d kiss ya hard,” he says and I smile.

  “Best kiss ever.”

  “Oh, you just wait, I have way more in my arsenal.”

  I giggle as I hug his chest, resting my chin on it as I look up at him. “Promise?”

  “Swear.”

  We share a smile, and he lowers his head to kiss my nose before asking, “Are you still mad at me?”

  “I was never mad, more annoyed.”

  “Okay,” he says, giving me a look. “Are you annoyed?”

  My mouth turns up at the side as I slowly shake my head. “I can’t be annoyed when I’m looking at you.”

  He smiles before leaning down to kiss me softly. As he pulls away, his arms tighten around me as he asks, “What do you have next?”

  “Nothing, I’m going home and sleeping.”

  “Want some company?”

  “If we sleep, yes. If you want more, you know the answer.”

  He gives me his best innocent look, and it does nothing but make me laugh out loud. “I promise to be on my best behavior,” he vows, and for some reason, I believe him. Or maybe I hope he won’t so I can get another delicious piece of Jude pie. Either way, I lace my fingers with his and we head toward my dorm.

  “Is Skylar there?”

  “Nope, she has classes the rest of the day. I’m supposed to meet her at practice.”

  “Okay,” he says, flashing me a grin, but when I set him with a glare, he holds his two fingers up. “Scout’s honor, I’ll be good.”

  “Were you even a Boy Scout?”

  He laughs and then winks at me. “Nope.”

  I shake my head laughing and he pulls me in against his chest as we head toward my dorm. My conversation with Tessi comes to mind, but I can’t bring myself to ask him. It will bring us to a whole other level, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to share that kind of stuff with him yet. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to share that with him. It was such a dark time in my life; only certain people know about it – only because they have to love me – but Jude doesn’t. He could run the other way and never look back. That scares me, and I think I’ll leave both our issues to rest for a bit.

  Reaching my dorm, we climb the stairs and then drop our bags by the door before Jude shuts it.

  “I have good memories in this room,” he says as he leans against the door, looking all long and lean and sexy.

  “Yes, but no repeats. I’m so tired. I stayed up way too late studying.”

  “Me too, I texted you at two.”

  Smiling, I say, “I know, thank you, it was sweet.”

  “I guess you can say I missed ya,” he says, coming toward me, and guilt eats at my chest.

  “I missed you too. I must have fallen asleep before that,” I say, wrapping my arms around him before he captures my mouth with his. Holding me tight to him, he lowers us to the bed, lying on top of me as we kiss and tease each other. When his hand cups my breast, I pull away, setting him with a look. “What happen to Scout’s honor?”

  He pauses, breathing hard while his eyes shine with lust. “I wasn’t ever a Scout?”

  I laugh as I push him off me. He falls willingly to my side and smiles at me. I smile back before standing and removing my sweatpants and sweatshirt, leaving me in panties and a sports bra. When I go to get back in bed, I notice that Jude’s eyes are wide and his lips are parted.

  “What?” I ask, climbing under the blankets.

  “You want me to sleep by you when you’re wearing only that?”

  I shrug. “Yes, I sleep like this. I hate clothes. You’re the one who wanted to sleep with me.”

  His eyes blazing with lust, he nods slowly. “I still do.”

  Sitting up, he rips off his shirt and throws it on the floor before coming under the blankets with me. As he hugs me close to his strong, warm chest, I nuzzle into him, closing my eyes and settling in, but his pants are rough on my skin.

  “Take your pants off,” I whisper against his chest.

  He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then he says roughly, “If I take them off, I can’t be responsible for what happens.”

  I giggle. “Nothing is gonna happen. Take ’em off.”

  He complies then comes back to me, wrapping me up in his arms. I feel so warm, so safe in his thick, toned arms. My body molds to his, and I’m so comfortable that sleep is not far away. Before I can fall though, he asks, “What are you doing tonight?”

  Opening my eyes, I look up to find him watching me. He moves his hand up to move a piece of my hair out of my face and then kisses my nose. Flashing him a grin, I say, “I have practice, I have to go teach my eight-year-olds, and then I’m free.”

  “Cool. Do you like to sing karaoke?”

  My smile widens as I nod. “I’m a girl, of course I do.”

  He returns the grin and then says, “Me and the guys go out every Thursday for karaoke night. They have dollar drafts and it’s a good time. Wanna come?”

  I eye him. “Won’t I interfere with your guy time?”

  He runs his nose along mine, his eyes locked on mine as we share the same air. “No, everyone brings their girls. It’s fun.”

  “So I’m your girl?”

  Giving me a look that tells me that was a dumb question, he says, “Of course you are.”

  That makes me giddy as I slowly nod my head. “Then yes, I’d love to come.”

  “Good,” he says then kisses my nose before closing his eyes.

  “Just to let you know, though, I’m gonna kick your ass at karaoke.”

  A smile comes across his lips as his eyes close and he says, “I accept that challenge.”

  Grinning, I lay my head on his chest and then close my eyes. Within his warmth, it doesn’t take long until I’m out like a light.

  Walking with Jude Sinclair across the quad with our hands locked has people stopping and whispering. It’s bothersome as hell, but then I glance up at him and think, who the hell cares? Not only do I get to hold his hand, I just had the most unbelievable nap wrapped in the warmth of his gorgeous arms. I feel so refreshed, and I have him to thank for that. Usually it takes me a while to fall asleep in the middle of the day, but with Jude, it was instant. I’m not sure what that means, but it has to be good.

  “So, what are you doing next Saturday night? I hope you don’t have to work.”

  “Why, what’s going on?”

  “We have our annual Latin night at the frat house. Cesar’s mom makes rice, beans, and tacos, and we drink margaritas. It’s a blast,” he says then he smacks himself in the head. “What am I doing? Of course you’ll be there. We hire you guys to come and do a cute little Latin dance.”

  “What? We dance for y’all?”

  “Yeah, for the whole party. It’s fun. You’ll have a blast.”

  Okay, first, I need to make sure I have that off. Ms. Prissy
will probably murder me, but oh well. And second, there is no way in hell I’m doing one of those 1999 videos for the Bellevue hockey team party. No fucking way. “I’m not dancing. I’ll come, but I’m not dancing if we’re doing those crappy-ass dances. I bet they’ll do the Macarena. No way in hell.”

  He laughs. “They did that last year.”

  “Of course they did. Fucking hell, no way. I’m saying something.”

  “Good, get it done, baby. Do something supersexy. Shake that ass for me.”

  He winks and I laugh as he wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulling me in close. He then asks, “So you’ll be my date, right?”

  “Date? Hmm, let’s see if my schedule is clear.”

  He stops, glaring at me, and I can’t hold in my laughter, especially when he starts tickling me relentlessly. When I fall to the ground, he falls on top of me, tickling and kissing me as I shriek and giggle. Settling between my thighs, his eyes meet mine and something inside me shifts.

  I superlike this guy.

  “Be my date,” he demands, moving his hand up my cheek and into my hair.

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” I say back and he smiles.

  “Please be my date?”

  As I wrap my leg around his hip, his eyes fall shut from how close I allowed him to get. Moving my thumb along his bottom lip, I whisper, “You know by then our fourteen days will be up.”

  He nips at my thumb as his eyes lock with mine. “So you’ll be my girlfriend?”

  My heart completely comes out of my chest at that point, and it takes everything out of me to hold in my smile as I shrug. “If you ask nicely, maybe.”

  He nods, and then hops up, and I miss his warmth immediately as he reaches down to help me up. “Good, then you’ll have to go since boyfriends and girlfriends do everything together.”

  I don’t move when he starts to walk. Mulling his words over, I ask, “So what you’re saying is that you’re not going to be all romantic and ask me sweetly to be your date to Latin night?”

  He flashes me a grin and says, “Of course I am, when I’m good and ready. Don’t rush me, woman.”

  He wraps his arm across my shoulder, and we continue toward the rink. When we’re almost there, I look up at him and ask, “So you think at the end of our fourteen days, you’ll want to be my boyfriend?”

  He glances at me and says, “If I could ask you now to be my girlfriend and know you’d say yes without question, I would.”

  His eyes are so tender and full of admiration for me. I’ve never felt so gorgeous in my life than I do now under his gaze in a ratty pair of sweats and a tank. My hair looks like a bird’s nest, but it doesn’t matter with his eyes on me. As much as I want to enjoy what he just said, something bothers me about his statement.

  “What makes you think I wouldn’t say yes?”

  His mouth pulls up at the side as he shrugs. “I think you need the reassurance that I don’t only want you for sex, that I’m in this for the long haul, so I’m gonna wait it out. Make sure you’re happy with us before I ask to make you mine.”

  My eyes are locked with his because he hit that nail right on the head. “You’re completely right.”

  “I know. I usually am,” he says with a goofy grin, his seriousness long gone and replaced with a grin. He then leans toward me, pressing his lips to my cheek before hugging me tight to his side, and I know right then that it’s gonna be completely easy to fall for this guy.

  When we reach the rink, he kisses me long and sweetly before making me promise to text him once I’m done. As I watch him walk away, my heart feels like it’s coming out of my chest, and everything inside me is so warm and fuzzy. I don’t want to go anywhere; I want to stay here and watch him walk away. Knowing that can’t happen, I turn and head inside. Once inside the gym, I drop my bag against the wall and throw off my sweats and tank, watching as some girls stretch and others talk. When Rachael sees me, she gives me a look – not a welcoming one – before turning back to talk with her minions.

  Rolling my eyes, I head to where Skylar is stretching and grin as I drop down. “Saw you had a visitor this afternoon. In your bed. With no clothes on.”

  I smile as I nod. “Yeah, we took a nap. We had underwear on.”

  She waggles her eyebrows at me, and I giggle as she asks, “Did ya get some action?”

  Shaking my head, I smack her thigh as I stand to stretch my quads. “No, I told you we’re waiting two weeks before doing that again.”

  “And I told you, you are completely insane. If I had Jude Sinclair naked and willing in my bed, I’d be on that like a fat kid on cake.”

  “You’re nuts,” I say, laughing as I pull my leg up by my head. She rolls her eyes and continues to stretch until Rachael comes to the middle of the group.

  “All right, so glad to see everyone. We’re gonna go over the video some more for our main dances and then learn a new dance that we’ll be doing for the Bullies’ Latin night that’s next Saturday. Old team, it’s the same from last year. New girls, it’s not hard, so you’ll catch on easily.”

  “’Cause a five-year-old could do it,” I say under my breath, and Skylar smacks my arm.

  “Shh,” she mouths and I roll my eyes.

  “Everyone good?” Rachael asks.

  Her eyes settle on me, almost challenging me, and I decide that I can’t do this anymore.

  “Nope, not at all,” I say, and I hear Skylar groan beside me.

  Everyone turns to look at me and Rachael’s hand comes on her hip, her eyes sharp as razors. “Problem, Claire?”

  “Just a small one,” I say, holding my finger and thumb a tad bit apart.

  “Shut up, Claire,” Skylar whispers, but I ignore her. She agrees with me; she thinks these dances are dumb! Why is she trying to stop me?

  “And that is?” Rachael asks.

  “That the dances are whack. I swear they were made in 1999, and I refuse to look stupid in front of our campus and peers doing something so easy that the seven-year-olds at my studio could master it in a day’s time.”

  Puckering her lips, she says, “I don’t see anything wrong with our dances, and I refuse to use our money to pay for a choreographer just to make you happy. I don’t know how things are done for you at your studio, but you aren’t going to be spoiled here.”

  I take a step forward, my blood pressure rising a bit. Oh, the desire to flip the girl the bird and start my own dance team is so tempting, but I’m going to keep my cool. I’m going to make this team better. For what? I have no clue. I don’t even know why I care, but I feel like I need to do this. “For one, I’m not asking to be spoiled, and two, no one said anything about hiring anyone. I am an award-winning choreographer. I can come up with kick-ass dances that will make us look spectacular. We’re all so beautiful, with amazing bodies and talent that is being wasted on crap-ass video dances. This dance team can be more.”

  I can see on everyone’s faces that they are all for it, but Rachael’s is twisted in disgust. “So you want to take over my team.”

  I shake my head. “No, that’s not what I want. I’m too busy with work and school to do your job, but coming up with dances is second nature to me. I can do it.”

  “How surprising since it seems all your time is spent on your boyfriend?”

  I glare as everyone looks down at the ground. “I have no clue what that has to do with anything. I want to help make the team better, not talk about my personal life.”

  I don’t even think she heard me, because she says, “Do you know how stupid you look with him? We all know it’s a joke. He’s a player. He’s slept with all of us, and he’s probably screwing some dumb freshman behind your back while you stand here right now.”

  Taking in a deep breath, I try to count to three as I hear Skylar say, “I told you to shut up.”

  Looking back at Rachael, I let out the breath and ask, “Is this the part where I get mad and break up with Jude ’cause of what you’ve said? Because apparently I look so stupid to be
with such a player, when in reality, he has been the sweetest, most amazing person I’ve even met. He changed his phone number so people like you can’t get ahold of him. When he looks at me, he’s looking at me and only me. So I should throw that away because you said so? Have you slept with him in the last week? Have any of you?”

  No one will meet my quizzical gaze; even Rachael looks away.

  “No? Okay, now let’s get one thing straight,” I say as her gaze meets mine. “When we’re in this room, don’t come at me with anything but dance. My personal life is my business, not yours. If Jude hurts me then it’s my fault ’cause everyone told me over and over again what a player he is, but it’s not your concern.” Rachael doesn’t say anything and I continue, “Now, as I was saying, can I please choreograph us some kick-ass dances because I do not want to look like an idiot in front of my man and the whole campus, not to mention my family. So are there any objections to that?”

  Chapter 19

  Jude

  Littler Bro: I think something’s up with Mom.

  Instead of replying back to Jace’s text, I decide to call him. He answers on the second ring.

  “The whole reason I texted it was ’cause I didn’t want to say it out loud, asshole.”

  “Shut up, go outside. What’s going on?”

  I hear him shuffling through the house and then my mom yell, “Stop shuffling your ever-loving feet, Jace Ryan!”

  I smile as he apologizes before I hear the door shut. “Okay, so I heard her crying, like, all morning.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, Jude, or I would be telling you why she was crying.”

  Duh. As my heart speeds up in my chest, I ask, “Did you ask her?”

  “No, as soon as I came in, she dried her face and left the kitchen. I asked Lucy and she doesn’t know either. She said she would ask her, but when she did, Mom started fussing over Angie and completely ignored her.”

  Something inside me twists. My mom only cries when she’s stressed or if my dad has done something to her. I know that Lucy, Angie, and Jace are good; Jayden and I are golden, so I know she isn’t stressed about us. I talked to her yesterday too, and she said everything was fine, so I don’t know what’s going on. Spinning my chair around, I think as I spin and then ask, “Was Dad supposed to come home?”