Today he’d apparently planned a picnic and told her to dress accordingly. Without any idea of what one wore to a picnic these days, she’d opted for a pair of flat navy leather shoes with a peep toe and clear-colored beads embroidered on top, and teamed them up with a pair of three-quarter-length jeans with the cuffs rolled up and a fine-knit pale pink sweater.
Charles came through the lobby.
“Heading out again?” he asked.
“A picnic today, apparently.”
He chuckled. “Have to hand it to the boy. He’s not only picked up the business quickly but he hasn’t wasted time with you, either. I knew sending you to get him would be a good idea.”
A frisson of discomfort spread through her at his words. Had he meant all along for her and Judd to become close? She didn’t like the sensation of being manipulated, not even by Charles, who had probably had the greater hand in guiding her life than anyone she knew—even herself. Before she could respond, Judd came down the stairs.
Dressed in jeans and a silver-gray long-sleeved turtleneck, he looked good enough to eat. Anna blinked and turned her head away. She shouldn’t be thinking about him along those lines. He’d adhered to her dictates about their dating to the letter. It was contrary of her to wish now that he hadn’t.
“All ready, that’s good.”
Judd flung her a smile that lent his eyes a wicked gleam. He was up to something, she just knew it. Every cell in her body responded to him as he drew closer and put an arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll probably be out for most of the day. Will you be okay?” he asked his father.
“Sure, I’m fine. There’s always someone around here if I need something.” Charles waved his inquiry away.
Anna looked at the older man sharply. His color wasn’t good today and there was an air of frailty about him that sent a ripple of concern through her.
“Are you feeling all right today?” she asked. “We can postpone our outing, it’s no bother.”
“Anna, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Stop your fussing. I’m big enough and old enough to look after myself. Now off you go and have a great day. Don’t you worry about me.”
“You heard the man,” Judd said, steering her toward the front doors. “Besides,” he reminded her when they were out of Charles’s earshot, “the household staff has our cell numbers. I’ve already talked to them about calling me if he seems like he needs help.”
“So you agree with me, then. He’s not looking so good this week, is he?”
“I’ve noticed. At the beginning of the week I tried to talk to him about cutting his hours down, but he’s nothing if not stubborn.”
“A family trait, no doubt,” Anna commented.
Judd’s lips quirked in response. “No doubt,” he agreed.
They went out the front doors of the house and down the stairs to the driveway. Anna looked around but there was no sign of a car.
“Are we walking? Maybe I should change my shoes.”
“No, don’t change a thing. You’re perfect as you are. We need to go to the tennis courts.”
“Tennis? Then I definitely need to change my shoes.”
“No, we won’t be playing tennis,” Judd answered.
Totally puzzled, Anna walked alongside him. As she did, she became aware of the air-beating sound of rotors coming toward them. A helicopter? Sure enough, a sleek black chopper was coming toward them, stirring up the air and the early-falling leaves as it lowered onto the tennis courts at the end of the property.
Anna turned and looked at Judd. “You said we were going for a picnic.”
“And we are. Just not locally.”
He shepherded her to the helicopter and opened the rear door, handing her up into one of the seats and passing a headset to her before following her up and settling in next to her. Anna felt her stomach lurch as the chopper slowly lifted off and circled the property before heading out toward the harbor.
“Did I mention that I don’t like small aircraft to you?” she asked, her knuckles white as she gripped the edges of her seat.
Judd’s hand pried one of hers free from its hold. “I remember, but I was hoping that perhaps I could distract you on this trip.”
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. The instant his lips touched her she felt the familiar tug of desire swell through her body. Oh, yes, he could distract her that way, all right. She hazarded a look out the window as Judd stroked the soft inner skin of her wrist, then dragged her eyes back to him again. His clear gaze met hers.
“Trust me, Anna. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
She nodded and swallowed, his voice soft and gentle as it filled her ears from within the cups of her headphones. He kept up a steady stream of soothing words, and she’d lost track of how long they’d been in the air when the helicopter began to descend and her stomach lurched again. Judd’s fingers closed around hers reassuringly.
“You’re doing great,” he said. “Anyone would think you’re an old hand at this.”
“I doubt that, but thanks,” she managed, feeling a surge of relief as the skids touched down on terra firma. Judd opened his door and hopped down before turning to help Anna out.
“Keep your head and arms down,” he warned.
No problem, she thought as the wind whipped her hair around her face. She ducked down and let Judd lead her toward a glass-fronted building not far from where they’d landed. Behind them, the helicopter took off and wheeled away back over the water.
“He is coming back for us, right?” she asked.
Judd laughed, the sound curling around her heart and squeezing it tight. She felt a momentary panic. When did he start meaning so much to her?
“Of course, all in good time.”
“Where are we?” Anna asked, looking around her. As far as she could tell, the dwelling ahead of them was the only one to be seen and there were no boats moored at the small bay in front of them.
“Near Kawau Island. I heard about this place and thought we’d enjoy the solitude. Come on, let’s go and see what’s on the menu.”
Anna followed him up to the building and inside, where a spacious lounge/dining area flowed into a well-equipped kitchen. As Anna walked around to get the lay of the land, a small but luxurious bathroom with floor-length clear-glass windows facing back into native bush behind the building surprised her, while another room, a bedroom, saw her closing the door on it quickly. She didn’t want to think about that. Not when they were just starting to get to know one another.
In the kitchen, Judd had removed a bottle of chilled champagne from the refrigerator as well as a platter of antipasto.
“Let’s take this outside,” he suggested. “Grab the glasses, will you?”
Anna reached for a pair of champagne flutes from a shelf over the kitchen sink and followed Judd out onto the wide deck that faced the bay.
“This is beautiful,” she said, sitting down next to Judd on the simple wooden steps that led down off the deck and onto a well-kept lawn. “It’s like a world within a world.”
Judd reached up and smoothed a strand of hair from her cheeks. “It’s a great place to get to know one another better, without everything else intruding.”
He deftly dealt with the foil and the cage on the bottle before pouring them each a foaming glass of the golden sparkling liquid.
“Mmm, French,” Anna commented, sighting the label and then taking a sip. “Oh, yes, there’s nothing quite like it.”
Judd didn’t comment, and her eyes flew to his in the silence that stretched out between them. He was watching her, his gaze intent, the pupils dilated, his lips parted as if he’d been about to say something but the words had fled before they could be uttered. He blinked, breaking the spell tha
t had locked them together all too briefly, and lifted his glass to his lips.
“I agree,” he said, putting his glass down and reaching for a stuffed olive on the platter. “The French definitely have a knack for it.”
They fell silent for a while, enjoying the wine, the food, the setting, but then Anna turned to Judd to ask, “Do you remember much of your time with your father, before you went to Australia?”
He sighed and for a moment she wondered if she’d trod on some very sensitive memories.
“I remember quite a bit. I was six when we left. I remember him always being larger than life. Always busy, always entertaining, always booming with noise. I couldn’t wait for the moment he stepped in the door at the end of a day, and when he was away on business I’d mark every day off on the calendar until he returned. Despite the fact he was constantly busy with work and clients, he always made time for me.”
“It must have been hard when you left.”
“Hard?” He laughed but the sound held no joy to it. “I was devastated. My mother was angry and hurt, and no one in Australia had a good word to say about him. It was like my life had turned upside down overnight. I had quite a few issues with his abandonment of me—of both of us.”
“No wonder you weren’t keen to reestablish a relationship with him.”
“No, I wasn’t. Despite the fact that I know there are two sides to every story, I find it very hard to understand, or forgive, the way he just cut me from his life like that.”
Judd’s dark brows drew together, lending a fierce cast to his features.
“But he’s reached out to you now. You’re here, you’re working with him. You must have forgiven him.”
The expression on Judd’s face cleared. “Yes, I am working with him now.”
There was something in the tone of his voice that struck a chord of concern deep inside. It occurred to her that he hadn’t agreed that he had forgiven his father. Before she could say anything more, he flashed a smile at her and rose to his feet, putting out a hand.
“Come on, let’s go for a wander along the shoreline.”
Anna put her hand in his and pushed her worries aside. She was probably being oversensitive, a state she was becoming used to around Judd Wilson.
When they returned from the beach, they went inside to gather together the rest of the lunch fixings that had been left in the fridge for them. Judd poured them each another glass of champagne outside on the deck, while Anna made up plates of slices of fresh-baked ciabatta together with ripe wedges of Camembert and slivers of prosciutto. She added a few slices of sun-dried tomato from the leftover antipasto to the open sandwich she’d put together on her plate and lifted it to her mouth to take a bite.
“Oh, my, that’s good,” she said after she’d chewed and swallowed the mouthful.
“It looks delicious,” Judd agreed. “Mind if I have a taste?”
“Sure,” she said, offering him her sandwich.
He ignored the offering in her hand, instead leaning over their dishes, and licked the lower edge of her bottom lip. She saw a tiny piece of cheese on the tip of his tongue before he swallowed it.
“Oh, yes, just how I like it. Ripe and soft. Warm and ready to eat.”
A heated flush spread through her, a flush that made every nerve ending stand on end. It had been her call to keep the physical side of their discovery of one another out of the equation. A call he’d respected to a degree that had slowly begun to drive her crazy. Crazy for him.
“Would you like some more?” she managed to say, not taking her eyes from his.
“Sure,” he answered.
She picked up a small wedge of the cheese between a thumb and forefinger and held it up to his mouth. His lips closed around the morsel, his tongue abrading her fingers as he did so and sending a shudder of longing straight to the pit of her belly. A familiar tingling started low down in her body and spread out to her extremities.
“More?” she asked.
Instead of answering, he reached out to cup one hand behind her head and gently drew her to him.
“More of you,” he said simply before his mouth took hers.
His lips were gentle, coaxing, and she felt herself melt into him. She heard the clatter of dishes as he swept them to one side before hooking his arm around her waist and sliding her closer to him. Suddenly she couldn’t be close enough. Her arms lifted and hooked around his neck, her breasts pressed up against his chest—and still she wasn’t close enough.
She pulled her lips away.
“Um, Judd? About that condition I made? About us not…”
“Uh-huh,” he said, nuzzling her neck.
“I was reacting under duress. I—”
“Anna?”
“Mmm?”
“Shut up and kiss me again.”
So she did. Judd lifted her up and guided her to straddle his lap, shoving his hands up under her top and across her back. His hands were hot against her skin and she wanted to feel more of him. She reached for the hem of his sweater, pulling it up and exposing his belly and chest before grazing her nails across his muscled torso. Beneath her fingertips she felt the disks of his nipples grow firm and rigid and she gently pushed him back down onto the wooden deck. As she did so, Judd eased the turtleneck off, leaving his upper body completely bare to her touch.
She bent down and placed a kiss in the hollow at the base of his throat before tracing her tongue across his collarbone. Every now and then she paused to nip at his skin. He felt so fine, tasted so good, she wanted to savor every second she had with him at her mercy. Her fingers traced the muscles that corded his rib cage, feeling his skin react under her feather-fine touch, and she smiled against his skin as she traced ever-decreasing circles with her tongue around his nipples.
Her hands worked their way lower, slowly unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his jeans before easing inside the now-constricted fabric. She rubbed one hand along the length of his powerful erection, back and forth through the fabric of his briefs, her lips slowly following the path of her hands until her breath warmed his skin at his waistband. She tugged at his jeans and he lifted his hips slightly, allowing her to slide the fabric down to his thighs and tug down the elasticized band of his briefs, exposing the tip of his arousal to her gaze. A tiny bead of moisture gathered at the swollen dark tip of him and she bent her head, tasting it with the very tip of her tongue.
Oh, yes, he tasted so very good. She closed her lips around him, rasping her tongue around his tender flesh again and again before she drew him deeper into her mouth. Judd’s fingers pushed through her hair, cupping her head and holding her against him. Not so firmly that she couldn’t withdraw if she wanted to, but encouraging her to continue her assault on that most sensitive and responsive part of him.
Anna curled the fingers of one hand around the base of his shaft and moved them firmly up, then down again, all the time taking him deeper into her mouth while stroking her tongue along him with ever-increasing pressure. She felt him begin to shake beneath her and increased the speed of her movements, one hand still stroking him, the other clutching at the bunched fabric of his jeans. A groan tore from his throat as he began to come, and she took it all with a sense of power that vied with her own arousal to see him so undone beneath her ministrations. She might be helpless in the face of her desire for him, but he was equally so for her, she realized, and the knowledge gave her a sense of control and power she’d never known before.
Spent, Judd relaxed back on the deck, his fingers still tangled in her hair as she slowly released him, first with her hand, then with her mouth. She slid up his body, peppering the surface with tiny kisses all the way, swirling her tongue inside the indent of his belly button—the action making his penis twitch in response against her.
She rolled to his side, le
tting the fingers of one hand stroke softly over his belly and chest as his breathing slowly returned to normal.
“When you change your mind, you really change your mind, don’t you?” he said.
“I like to do things thoroughly, or not at all,” she replied in kind.
“Then you won’t object if we go inside, where we can thoroughly explore the aspects available to us?”
In reply, Anna rose to her feet and held out a hand to Judd’s supine form. He took her hand and levered himself up, straightening his briefs and yanking his jeans up to his hips, but leaving them undone. She had never seen anything so sexy before as the man standing in front of her. His hair was mussed, his eyes still glowing with the residual pleasure she’d given him. And his body—he was muscled but not heavily, strong but not overpowering. And he was looking at her like she was the only woman in the world. He was everything she’d ever dreamed of, and more. Judd lifted up the champagne bottle and their glasses, and together they walked back into the cottage.
He hadn’t been kidding about being thorough. By the time the helicopter returned for them, it was dark and Anna had never felt more sated on every level. Together they’d made love, eaten, bathed, made love and eaten again. If she could ever repeat a day in her life over and again, it would be this one and it was with this thought that Anna acknowledged the truth of her feelings. She was in love with Judd Wilson.
Twelve
Judd woke to a Monday morning heralded by rain and gusting winds. The flip side of autumn had arrived, and with it Anna had capitulated. Last night she’d come to him, breaking what she had insisted was her hard-and-fast rule about respecting Charles and refusing to sleep with Judd under his father’s roof. Strangely, he hadn’t felt the smug satisfaction he’d expected when he’d felt her slip naked in between the sheets of his bed.
Something had changed during the day while they’d been alone together. Something that made her body curving around his, within the expanse of his bed, the most natural thing in the world. Something he didn’t want to deal with. Later would be soon enough, he decided, as he rolled out of the covers and padded on bare feet across the thick carpet toward his en suite bathroom.
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