by Kate Johnson
“Not anymore.” He appeared unmoved by my sarcasm. “The only thing I have to do today is you. You’re it. You are all that’s on my calendar.”
Those words, coming a little to close to the place my straying thoughts were wandering, had me embarrassed enough to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the way to wherever it was he was taking me.
Unfortunately, the farther away from the city we went, the more I started to worry. Where exactly were we going? Surely not…
“Tell me where we’re going, Jude?”
Jude smiled at me. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me?”
At the reemergence of his smile, I shut my mouth. It was best this way, really. I was furious with him and needed to stay that way. Jude’s smile made it hard to remember my anger.
I sat quietly watching the light activity taking place along the road leading to the Hamptons.
I kept silent when Jude turned off the shady, tree-lined street onto a deserted cul-de-sac, and then to a private drive leading to an enormous two-story house.
Somehow, I managed to keep from showing Jude how impressed I was with the place. At least, right until the moment we entered the house and I looked around completely captivated by it.
At this point, I tried to counteract my small town girl wonder with some more anger. I stood rigidly in front of him as he closed the door and turned to face me.
“Come. Sit. I’ll make you breakfast?”
Jude watched me a little too closely as I made my decision. I decided it was time to put an end to this mess I’d gotten myself into once and for all.
“Don’t bother. I’m not staying.” I started for the door but Jude was too fast for me. He reached me before I made it to the door. I knew the second he touched me the fight was over. I wasn’t going to refuse this guy anything. I didn’t want to. I was crazy about him.
Before either of us fully realized what we were doing, we were in his bedroom, touching each other as if it was the very first time.
Afterward, as we lay in each other’s arms, exhausted once more, I finally became aware of a few things.
One, I’d just broken my promise to myself. I’d given in to Jude Martin again. I’d let him take me off without as much as a fight and I had virtually no idea where I was. And two, I still wasn’t able to define what was happening between us. I didn’t know what I wanted from him or from this relationship. I didn’t even know if I wanted a relationship with him.
“Come downstairs, Paige. Let me make you breakfast, and we’ll talk about all those things that are troubling you right now.”
Jude didn’t wait for me to consider what he’d said. He simply left me alone.
When I managed to actually get out of bed, I took my time before facing him again. I looked around the room which was decidedly masculine and tried to decide what this meant. I knew Jude had been married and divorced. But that was about all that I knew about my boss-slash-lover, except the fact that he was over ten years younger than me.
Was this house a new acquisition? Or had he shared it with his wife?
Outside the bedroom, a whitewashed deck overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. The view beyond the deck was breathtaking.
I found Jude in the kitchen actually making me breakfast.
The second I walked into the room Jude’s full attention was on me. The look in his eyes told me he was remembering the passion we’d shared with each other just moment before. This man was very dangerous to my self-control.
“Come sit down,” he told me quietly. And me, being at a loss for what to do, did exactly as he asked of me.
I looked through the wall of windows that faced the ocean and thought how lucky Jude was to be living in a house like this with such a spectacular view to look at each day.
Jude handed me coffee and set a plate of French toast in front of me before sliding into the chair next to me. Far too close for comfort.
“Aren’t you eating?” I asked nervously.
He watched me for a minute longer before answering. “No, I ate earlier. And I happen to know you don’t normally eat breakfast, which is a shame since it’s the most important meal of the day.”
“How did you know that?” I asked to cover my embarrassment at him actually knowing this much about me.
Jude gave me a look that told me how foolish he considered my question.
“Paige, I’ve been to your apartment more times than I can remember, and there’s never anything to eat there. Believe me, after… Well, let’s just say, I know.”
Ugley Business
Kate Johnson
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
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Ugley Business
Copyright © 2007 by Kate Johnson
Cover by Scott Carpenter
ISBN: 1-59998-470-9
www.samhainpublishing.com
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2007
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