by Pratt, Lulu
“Now, that will be a hard one,” I giggled.
“Maybe not as hard as I thought,” she snickered so low that I questioned if I’d even heard it. “Holly! You should come to our Christmas Eve party this year!” Mrs. Hatch clapped her hands together as she did when she got excited.
“Christmas Eve party?” I stalled, trying to think of a way to go without upsetting my mother.
“Oh, it’ll be so much fun. You’ll get to see Jessie, too! She’ll be so excited! Yes, say you’ll come! Please!” she badgered me, reaching across the coffee table to place her hand on my arm.
“Yes, of course! I’d love to. Hopefully my parents or Dylan can look after Chris,” I said the only thing I could say.
I’d work out the details later, but I wasn’t in the mood to opt out of spending time with Jude. Mrs. Hatch continued with her news and asking questions about Chris.
“Mom, we need to go,” Jude announced when he poked his head in the next time.
“Oh, okay, darling. Well, it was so good to see you, Holly. Please tell everyone we said hi and we love them, okay?” she requested, as she did every other time I ran into her.
When I was younger, I would make a point to deliver the messages to my mother, thinking that if only she knew how much her best friend still loved her, things could be different.
It was inconceivable that my mother could be so unforgiving when I was younger. But now, as an adult it made sense. Chris was my world, and if anything ever happened to him, you could bet that I would not be myself after. That was all that happened to my mom. She was depressed, and she pushed her friend away, but I was confident that one day they would drift back into each other’s lives. My mom just needed time.
“You drive safely, Jude!” she called out after us as we made our way down the pebbled driveway.
“Your mom is so sweet,” I smiled, climbing into the car. Jude shook his head with a smile as he walked around the car before settling into the driver’s seat.
“Phone, please?” I asked, extending my phone.
He smirked, digging into his pocket before handing me the smartphone. There was a fire burning between us that would smolder when necessary, but it never died. Whenever Jude looked directly into my eyes, I felt it burning, sending an urgent desire up my spine and down to my center.
“Carrie Underwood?” he asked, twisting his face as he processed my selection.
“Hey, it’s your collection,” I teased, having only picked it because I was shocked he included it.
“Let me see that,” he asked, scrolling through the phone before selecting a song, setting the phone down and reaching for my hand.
Lacing my fingers in his, I smiled listening to the Chainsmokers and Halsey as he pulled out of his parents’ estate. It was the end to a perfect night, and I felt more relaxed than I had in weeks, grateful I decided to take the evening off.
“Thank you for taking me out. I had a great time,” I smiled as he helped me out of the car. “You don’t have to walk me to the door, it’ll just be another reunion,” I warned him, knowing Dylan would invite him inside.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t expect it to take so long,” he apologized and I waved him off.
“No, it was fine. I’m only teasing,” I explained.
With one half step, he was directly in front of me, and all the emotions from the bar returned. The thick air, the pressing thighs, even the mental pleading. I wanted him so bad, despite knowing how wrong it was.
Jude was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, his eyes so blue they pierced into you. He was unbelievable.
“Holly, I…” he began. Without knowing, I knew what he was going to say. I knew he too was feeling the urge, the pull like a string tied between the two of us.
“Do it,” I breathed, my mouth so close to his he could feel the words, and I could feel his short breath before his lips crashed to mine.
I sighed into his mouth.
Jude was as greedy as I remembered, dominating my mouth with his tongue. He wasted no time, pressing his hard body to mine until the car was at my back. Roaming my body, his hand paused as my ass, gripping a handful as he pressed me to his erection.
It was the most erotic public moment of my life, right there in the middle of the street. If he would’ve tugged at my top, I wouldn’t have stopped him. Instead, he broke away, taking a deep breath as if he’d just come up from a dive in the ocean.
My chest heaved, my head falling back. Our bodies were still melted into one another, and I pressed my pelvis into the growing hardness, watching Jude bite his bottom lip in reaction before letting out a soft groan.
Shaking his head, he lowered his mouth to my ear, kissing softly, before whispering, “Babe…” and slowly planting another kiss on my neck. “Babe…” and then another, until I felt myself ready to explode in cries for a release I knew wasn’t coming.
He knew how much it meant to me when he said it earlier, because he could read me even when I didn’t tell him what I was thinking.
“Jude, please,” I begged, for what I wasn’t sure.
“Go inside,” he said flatly, pulling the plug on my fun.
“What?” I asked, shocked by the abrupt finish.
“If you don’t go inside now and get your son,” he started, gripping one hand on each of my hips as he pulled me closer before continuing, “you’re not going to go inside.”
I swallowed slowly before nodding, knowing he was right. In front of my brother’s house was no place for us to be doing what we were, but whenever I was with him, the world around us began to blur. Halfway to the front door, I glanced back over my shoulder and he was still in the same spot, watching me. Even in the night, I could see the dark blue of his eyes.
Chapter Ten
JUDE
A YEAR earlier…
“I want you,” her words dripped like honey, falling on my ears like a spell.
I’d rebooked my ticket back to New York so I could spend one more evening in Holly’s company. I incurred a hefty penalty, but it was worth it to be in the company of the woman I’d been thinking of for years. She was everything I wanted in a woman. Strong, smart, sexy.
She was also soft and sensitive. Every touch resulted in a moan, a ballad to my cock. Everything about Holly had turned me on since she returned from her first year of college as a woman. Now, the night before I had to return to New York, with my hands full of her reddening flesh, I was greedy living out my fantasies, devouring her.
I could tell she was usually in charge in the bedroom, but she submitted to me like she was offering her body, whispering in my ear, begging me to take her. It was wrong. I knew it.
Her brother was only a few feet away on the porch. Glancing at the door, I told myself I should leave, do the respectable thing and get a hotel room for us. Holly deserved rose petals and expensive linen, I needed control.
“Babe, please,” she moaned into my ear, tugging at my hair as she pulled me to the bed.
Fuck. I couldn’t fight her. She was straddling me before I could stop her, tugging at my belt.
“Holly, slow down,” I chuckled, unable to believe her eagerness. After all this time, to know she felt the same feelings, all I could do was laugh.
Our hands wrestled, struggling to fit me in her tight opening, but the second I slid into her warmth, we sighed in unison as our bodies melted together. She was incredible, even better than I imagined. After a long pause, I lifted out, and then back into her, groaning loudly, like a starved man eating his first plate of food.
“Jude!” Holly’s cry was as erotic as her body, her nails digging into my back as I screwed my pelvis, drilling her as I lifted her hips.
I found her g-spot in three strokes, watching the reservation fall from her lips. She was free, all inhibitions deserting her when I tapped her most sensitive spot. Her eyes shut and I clenched my teeth, flexing my abdomen as I fought back the urge to explode inside her. I wanted her to climax first, and I had to feel her insides vibr
ate around me.
Gripping her hips, I rammed into her hard and fast before sliding out, pulling her body on and off my cock in rhythm with my thrusts. When her back arched I knew she was close, but nothing prepared me for how beautiful she’d look when she reached her climax.
Her cheeks red and her eyes watery, Holly whispered my name repeatedly until she rode the waves of her orgasm, one single tear falling down her cheek. I came long and hard, doubling over as I gripped her body so tightly I could hear her struggle for air.
“Oh my God,” I heard her whisper as my hips rocked forward, my erection still holding, my hunger unsatisfied.
She was on her knees before she knew what was happening, her ass high in the air, slick with my semen before I slid back inside her, groaning loudly. I didn’t care who heard me, Holly was worth any repercussions.
Gasping for air, I woke up with a raging erection, recalling my night with Holly as I did more than I cared to admit. My hips were grinding into the bed, desperate for a release, but there wasn’t one in sight.
Must have been that kiss, I thought to myself, still upset with how I’d left things with Holly the night before.
Control evaded me whenever she was around. I just wanted her, and I didn’t care what it cost. But I was seconds from taking her in the middle of the street outside her brother’s home. I couldn’t be so careless in such a small town.
Shaking my head, I walked into the large glassed-in shower, inhaling sharply as the cold water fell from the waterfall shower head, shocking my hot skin. I needed to cool off, but even the icy water couldn’t dim my arousal.
As the temperature of the water rose, I wrapped my hand around my length, gripping until a deep groan left my chest. Imagining Holly’s soft breasts, my tongue circling her nipples, I pressed the pad of my thumb over the head of my cock.
“Fuck,” I growled, feeling my release building too fast in my stomach.
My hips rocked forward like I was sliding in her tight pussy, the warm water reminiscent of her soft flesh. With my need rising, I lost all sense of control, abandoning my ego as I envisioned Holly’s face.
I moaned, squeezing my shaft gently as the hot semen shot against the wall of the shower. My chest rose and fell, my abdomen still tight from such an intense release.
In my mind, I’d replayed my night with Holly so many times, and it was always her pleading those two words that pushed me over the edge, and even the memory could still bring me to climax.
“Babe, please.”
It was the reason I called her ‘babe’, and I could tell it set her off just as much. Washing the morning off, I took a deep breath, wondering if I was getting too wrapped up in my fantasy.
She could never leave Savannah, and I felt I could never return. In a way, continuing down the path we were on felt cruel, but I knew there was no way I could reject my desire. It was too strong, and she was too close. I had to act, and because time was limited, I had to act fast.
“Jude, darling! Breakfast is ready!” My mom called from downstairs.
It was a major perk of being home, and I rushed through the rest of my grooming before making my way to the dining table. As always, my mother had outdone herself. The table was filled with platters with everything – fresh biscuits, raspberry jam I knew she’d made from her garden, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit cut into squares, tea, coffee and a pitcher of milk.
“Mom, is this just for me?” I asked, looking around for the football team I’d need to help finish all the food.
“Well, how often do I get to make my firstborn breakfast?” She smiled, placing her hands on her hips.
Dressed in a bright red festive top, my mother looked a little too into the holiday spirit. Since I was a child, she’d always gone above and beyond, and glancing around my family home, you could see not much had changed.
Each room featured garland draped from the crown molding with the occasional red velvet bow for emphasis above every entrance. And because one just wasn’t enough, my mother continued her tradition of having two Christmas trees. One smaller tree sat in the front window visible from the front of the house, while the main Christmas tree, standing over seven feet tall, sat in the great room surrounded by immaculately wrapped presents.
“You really should consider coming back twice a year,” she carried on, starting the day with her onslaught of guilt she layered on every holiday season.
“We’ve talked about this,” I began as I washed my hands. “You can have one long Christmas break or two shorter breaks throughout the year,” I explained, pulling a paper towel from the thick roll before drying my hands and discarding the wrinkled paper on my way to the table.
“I don’t understand why it has to be one or the other?” she argued, crossing her arms across her chest defiantly. She was so sweet, my constant support system, always hopeful for my return.
“I do have a job, you know,” I teased as I reached for a few slices of bacon.
“Do you know Denise Matheson? Her son took a position with the local school board in Atlanta, and he comes back at least six times a year — for long visits too!” she continued, speaking quickly as if she’d rehearsed the argument.
“Mom, Atlanta is a lot closer than New York.” I tried not to laugh, never wanting to offend her.
I knew she was only making a case to have me around more regularly. As a stay-at-home mom, she seemed to lose her purpose when Jessie and I went off to college and she was left to annoy us with pleas to return home.
“Jessie is coming back permanently in a few months, you know?” she said, although I was certain she knew my answer since just a few weeks ago my mom had called me, overwhelmed with joy to share the news.
“Yes, I know.” I swallowed the chuckle at the back of my throat. Jessie had actually called me the night before she told our parents to tell me first and we’d chatted for an hour going over what she planned to do once she would return home.
My mom was so predictable, but I’d accepted her badgering as a part of the trip long ago. When she settled into the chair beside me, scooting as close as possible, I didn’t even budge, knowing exactly where she was going.
I focused on pouring the warm syrup over the three pancakes I’d stacked on my plate.
“I get you going out to the world to see what there is to offer, sweetie, I really do,” she started. “It’s just… at some point, all that matters is family.”
“I agree,” I said with a mouthful of pancakes, nodding along.
“You’ve got to think of your legacy, son, and what it is you want to pass down,” she said softly, rubbing my shoulder as if she were breaking bad news.
“Mm-hmm…” I mumbled through a bite of eggs.
“What do you mean ‘mmm-hmm’? Who are you going to pass anything down to, Jude? You don’t have any children!”
I had to take a sip of the coffee to stop myself from laughing. She was so dramatic with her approach, but I’d learned it was best to just play along.
“I know. I haven’t found the right girl yet,” I shrugged, taking another bite of breakfast.
“How can you when you’re just up there with all those city girls?” she snapped.
“Mom, there are nice girls in New York,” I reasoned, to which she huffed loudly before turning her head away from me.
“Holly gave her mom a grandbaby,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to watch my reaction. Clenching my jaw, I tried to look as unfazed as possible as I nodded.
“Yes, I knew that.”
“She’s a nice girl, Jude. I can’t believe how much she’s grown up,” she sighed, watching me too closely.
“Mom, I don’t think there’s anything serious happening between Holly and me.” I forced the words, hoping my mother didn’t detect the uncertainty in my tone. Even I didn’t believe myself after how I’d behaved this morning over the memory of her. But the last thing I wanted was my mother getting her hopes up for something that was as unlikely a union as I could think of.
&
nbsp; Things between Holly and I had been growing faster than I was actually prepared to handle or had hoped for. She was more than I ever wanted from a woman, and I didn’t exactly know how to handle everything I was feeling.
“Just be open to the possibilities of life,” she urged, rubbing my shoulder before beginning to make herself a plate.
The satisfaction was evident on her face as she spread the homemade jam over the steaming biscuit. She had planted her seed, and would watch it blossom for the remainder of my trip. I smiled, and silently enjoyed breakfast with my mother.
“This is delicious, Mom,” I smiled, watching her bounce her shoulders with excitement as she beamed her proud smile.
Experience had taught me to allow her to enjoy her dreams during my trip home. When she saw me off at the airport, returning back to my life in New York, reality would hit her hard enough.
Chapter Eleven
HOLLY
“NO. TAKE the garland and run it along the crown molding,” I pointed to the ceiling as the maintenance crew nodded their understanding.
We’d been redecorating the event space for half an hour, making sure it was up to my standards. As our first holiday gala, I wanted everything perfect.
“Now where were we with the menu options? I think we covered everything, right?” I said to a young woman beside me.
“I’ll get it finalized immediately, Ms. Foster,” Samantha smiled.
She was a seasonal intern I’d hired to help me around the hotel and spa over the next couple of months. Returning to work with a newborn, I knew I was in for a bunch of new challenges, and an extra pair of hands seemed like the perfect remedy.
Samantha was my second set of eyes and ears, completing all the simple tasks that overwhelmed my schedule. Following my vision, the hotel had opened its doors to host more corporate events and social galas. Transforming what used to be a dreary dining hall into an elegantly decorated conference hall had opened a new door of opportunity and I was excited and nervous to see everything through to fruition.