by Calista Fox
“Denny will be—”
“Knocked right off his feet,” Mirabeth concurred in an equally breathy voice.
“As will everyone else,” McCarthy said.
With a nod, Charlotte confirmed, “Decisions made.” She inhaled deeply. “Wow, what a weight off my shoulders. And, holy cow, Kate… You just… Solved it all that quick.” She snapped her fingers.
Kate grinned. “I understand you want everything to be perfect today, Charlotte. But at the end of this day…what will be sheer perfection is you and Denny. And your life together.”
“Yes.” More tears crested Charlotte’s eyes. “You are so right, Kate.”
There were faint gasps all the way around, and as Kate’s gaze swept the suite, she discovered there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
“How do you know exactly what to say and do, Kate?” Mirabeth asked with astonishment in her tone.
Kate gave a small shrug. “I’m in love, too, remember? And perfection is about what we achieve together, in the exact way we choose to achieve it.”
“So wise,” Tulia murmured.
“I’m Insta-ing that,” Mirabeth said.
“Someone inscribe that on a cocktail napkin for Charlotte’s bridal suite memories,” McCarthy urged.
And Charlotte…? Well, she just smiled at Kate and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Kate fought the prickle of tears at the backs of her own eyes. It was next to impossible not to reveal her secret, but Kate reminded herself this moment wasn’t hers—it was Charlotte’s.
She swooped in and sat on the stool next to her soon-to-be-sister-in-law and said, “This is going to be the most sensational wedding ever. No bride will dazzle so brilliantly—and I’m not just talking about the diamonds you’ll be wearing.”
“Oh, Kate.” She squeezed Kate’s hand. “You just saved my whole day.”
“Then we should break out the bubbly now.”
“Indeed, we should!” Charlotte turned to Mirabeth. “Cristal for all—and keep it flowing!”
“Well…only one or two glasses for you,” Kate said with a wink. “Your father might have trouble getting you down the aisle if we get you tipsy.”
Charlotte laughed, all anxiety falling by the wayside. “He’d be so pleased—it’ll allow him to believe I’ll pass out as soon as Denison gets me back up here—and can’t take advantage of Daddy’s little girl on her wedding night!”
“Charlotte… You and Denny have… You know…?” Kate conspiratorially whispered. And crooked a brow.
“Well, of course.” Charlotte beamed. “I’m not going to marry a man who can’t satisfy me in bed, Kate Stockman.”
Kate snickered. Despite wanting like hell to hear Kate McMillan again, she found Charlotte too amusing to dwell on the inadvertent/unwitting slight.
“I knew from the start you were going to make an excellent sister,” Kate quipped.
Charlotte gave her a quick hug, then said, “We’ll be the ones the other wives gossip about, whispering behind our backs and rolling their eyes at us—while secretly wishing they were as happy as we are.”
“I am happy,” Kate suddenly averred. “Like…deliriously, I can’t believe how amazing it feels, happy.”
“I know, Kate. I can see it in your eyes. In your smile. It’s so fantastic. And I know it’s because you followed your heart—with your career and with Jude.”
“There’s so much more, Charlotte,” Kate quietly told her. “We’ll talk about it when you’re back from your honeymoon.”
“Promise?” Charlotte asked, vibrantly hopeful. “Because I want to know everything, Kate.”
“I promise. We’ll make an afternoon of it.”
“Or a full weekend. I’ll have plenty to share, too.” She winked.
Kate mock-groaned. “Don’t forget it’s my brother you’re marrying. I don’t need all the details.”
Charlotte giggled in her delicate way. “I’ll try to keep that in mind. Now…let’s toast to this fabulous day!”
“I am all for that,” Kate said, thrilled to have something herself to celebrate.
And actually finding it a bit sexy and titillating that only Nikki and Jude knew how incredible this day really was—how significant it was—for Kate.
She’d play Cinderella for Jude, with a glitzy wedding, if it was what he truly wanted.
But something told her it was the piece of paper that meant the most to him—the evidence that she was willingly and everlastingly his.
Jude’s life was grounded in facts, after all. He liked everything in writing, everything documented in the most legal and specific way. And that was precisely what Kate had provided him today.
Hell, she’d frame their marriage license in solid gold to prove it was a permanent testament to their love.
Whatever made Jude happy.
Whatever demonstrated her eternal and unwavering devotion to him…
30
“That was such a beautiful ceremony,” Kate mused as she sank deeper into the scented suds that filled the bathtub in Jude’s master suite of his Tribeca apartment.
Her back was pressed to his chest and one of his strong arms was draped across her breasts as she sipped a glass of merlot, then held it steady for him to take a drink.
Candles lined the ledge of the marble-encased Jacuzzi tub and rose petals had been scattered all over the place.
Despite her declaration on the plane earlier that morning, he’d had his housekeeper prep the bath prior to their arrival. Sexy jazz music added to the romantic ambience and it made Kate even more ecstatic that Jude had read between the lines and had turned their wedding night into this sensual bliss.
His warm lips grazed her temple as he said, “I will admit that Charlotte and Denny professing their never-ending love to each other in front of friends and family who mean so much to them has a certain compelling quality to it.”
Kate smiled. “We can have a wedding at the Plaza, Jude. I’m okay with that.”
“On the other hand,” he quickly added, “how many of those guests did they truly know? Personally, intimately?”
Kate had considered this as well. She said, “Both of their parents have a vast network of acquaintances.”
“And, ultimately, Kate, that’s how it felt. As though we were all swimming in a sea of acquaintances.”
She shifted slightly, so she could glance at him over her shoulder.
“What are you saying?” she asked, needing absolute clarity on this subject.
“I’m saying that what we did this morning works for us. And if we choose to be more public, then let’s do a small ceremony and reception somewhere. Surrounded only by people who truly know us.”
Kate’s eyes searched his, looking for any sign that Jude might actually want more than that, but didn’t know whether he should verbalize it. She saw nothing but conviction in his gaze.
“Sooo, like a Maui beach at sunset?” she ventured. “Or a Paris balcony with a glittery Eiffel Tower in the backdrop? Or a Tuscan courtyard in the springtime, smelling of lilacs and Italian food?”
He chuckled, “Italian food?”
“We both prefer it…”
“True.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Just my family and our closest friends? Nikki and, well, I suppose that circle now encompasses Mirabeth Presley, Tulia Evers and McCarthy Andrews.”
“Who would have thunk it?” Jude teased.
“Sure as hell not me. I remember the day I sat with them at the Champagne Bar and they tried so desperately to get me to commit to an escort for Charlotte’s wedding. And only one name sprang to mind.”
He grinned. “How reluctant you were to invite me along for the ride.”
“A therapist shouldn’t fall for her patient,” Kate reminded him.
“I’m not your patient, baby,” he reminded her.
“Mm, well…anyway… I guess a slip of the tongue was all we really needed to get the ball rolling.”
He fell silent for a moment.
Then he pinned her with an intent look and said, “Kate, we have something very special. And we have to be careful with it. When you went over that railing at the hotel…” His dark eyes clouded.
With a small nod, Kate said, “You were terrified.”
“I can’t lose you,” he told her, his eyes still locked with hers.
“You’re not going to lose me, Jude. We belong together. Every single sign in the universe is confirming that. The only dangling thread is Sophie.”
His jaw clenched briefly.
“You do want her to be a part of our family, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, Kate,” he said without hesitation. “She has no one else. And she’s…so hooked on you. She trusts you. She finds comfort in you. She needs you, Kate. And I’m going to find a way to keep her in our lives. It’s just going to take a little more time.”
“I know. I’m trying to be patient. But above all else, Jude… I believe you’ll find a way to make this happen. And I want to believe that Isabelle knew it, too. Before she passed.”
He eased her back against him and wrapped both arms around her.
“Kate,” he murmured against her skin. “I’d give you anything in the world.”
“But it’s not just about me.”
He chuckled again, low and resonantly. “I want Sophie safe and protected and loved, too. I want her to be our first adopted child.”
Kate smiled. “I knew it.”
“Because you know me. You know everything about me.”
“We’ll see what happens down the line with us having children together or us fostering or us adopting,” she said, “but for now…this is the right first step. The right course of action.”
“So is this,” he said as his lips trailed along her neck.
Kate shivered with delight. “Think we’ve soaked up enough relaxation?”
“Is that a hint, Mrs. McMillan?”
“Make love to me, Mr. McMillan.”
“Ah…more like a demand. I like it.”
“And I love how quickly you catch on…”
They rinsed off and left the tub. Jude carried her into the bedroom and they nestled under the covers. His hands glided over her body and Kate felt a different sense of exhilaration this evening. An added titillation because she was Jude’s.
Her fingertips skated over his chest and the ripped muscles of his abs. Lower still until she encircled his hard cock and she stroked him slowly, eliciting a low groan from him that spurred her on. So that she released him, pressed her palms to his chest and pushed him onto his back.
Jude grinned. He clasped his hands behind his head, his biceps bulging. He wagged his brows at her.
Kate’s pulse hitched several notches as she took in every magnificent, naked bit of him. She leaned in and her lips skimmed over his hot skin, along his ribs to his waist.
She shifted, settling on her knees between his parted thighs. Her fingers twined once more around the base of his cock and her head dipped. Her tongue slid over his tip and his hips jerked in response.
She took him deep in her mouth, wetting his skin. Then she pumped his shaft with her hand. His teeth ground and fire lit his eyes more fiercely than the flames flickering in the hearth.
The window treatments were drawn back and a light snow fell on the city. The shimmering skyline twinkled in the distance and Kate believed she’d found her romantic wedding night without her or Jude even trying to create it.
That was magic, in her book.
She rubbed her palm over the head of his cock and he unclasped his hands and instead gently gripped her upper arms.
“As much as I want everything you’re about to do to me,” he said in a gruff tone, “I want you even more.” He coaxed her forward, until she straddled his lap. He released her biceps and instead cupped her ass cheeks as his cock nudged the opening of her pussy.
Kate flattened her palms against his chest and slowly lowered herself onto him, taking in his thick shaft inch by glorious inch.
He filled and stretched her and she reveled in every electric sensation zinging through her.
“Fuck, yes,” he muttered as he thrust up into her. “You feel so damn good.”
Kate’s hips rocked and their eyes locked. Her nails dipped into his hard muscles and her breath caught with every insistent pump into her body.
He held her waist and worked them into a quicker, steadier rhythm that made her gasp. His hands moved upward to massage her breasts and Kate’s excitement mounted.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” Jude said.
“And I’m all yours.”
“Keep telling me that.”
“Keep fucking me.”
He pumped more vigorously and Kate’s eyelids drifted closed. She absorbed his determined thrusts and sighed over the way his cock hit that perfect spot deep within her, rubbing it with force and pushing her closer and closer to an explosive orgasm.
Her hips rolled and her fingertips bit further into his pecs.
“Yes,” she said on a throaty moan. “Like that, Jude. Just like that.”
His hips bucked and he thrust deeper into her.
Kate’s head fell back. His fingers toyed with her nipples, tightening them. Sending ribbons of anticipation through her as he inched her toward a release she was both desperate to feel and which she conversely held onto—because it felt so incredibly delicious to have him pulsating inside her, aggressively pushing them higher.
“Jude,” she gasped. “Oh, God.”
The erotic sensations swelled within her. He didn’t let up.
Kate whimpered and moaned as she moved with him.
“Ah, fuck, Kate…”
She felt the ripples of excitement within him as acutely as her own.
“You are everything I could ever want,” he told her. And he pumped more enthusiastically into her. Until Kate could barely breathe. Until all the sensations escalated and erupted and she cried his name.
Jude came with her, his hot seed flooding her pussy, searing her, branding her.
And making Kate wonder if she was ready to flush her birth control pills down the toilet…
She collapsed on top of Jude, her face burrowed in the crook of his neck, hiding her euphoric smile.
He wrapped his arms around her and said exactly what she’d been thinking: “Maybe it’s time to stop practicing, Kate. And actually get you pregnant.”
31
“Jesus, Kate.” Jude groaned. “I’m so sorry. That was the absolute worst thing to say.”
What the fuck had he been thinking?
As his breathing remained labored and Kate still laid on top of him, wisps of air blowing between her parted lips and teasing his skin as sensuously as an intimate caress, he wondered how the hell he’d made such a monumental mistake.
Maybe it’s time to stop practicing, Kate. And actually get you pregnant.
For God’s sake, they’d just gotten married and were trying to adopt a five-year-old victim of tragedy! And here he was, heaping one more thing on her, pushing her in the direction he wanted to go in, when he knew perfectly well Kate needed to take all these major steps in stride, in a manageable progression.
“I’m not pressing,” he hastily added. “I got swept away by the moment and—”
“You are thinking about it, though,” she murmured against his neck, where her face was buried.
“Of course, I’m thinking about it.” He’d never lie to her. “But I sure as hell wasn’t planning on saying it tonight. We have more than enough to contend with and our forward movement has been incredible, Kate. We’re working and traveling together. We’re married. And we will end up with Sophie…” He stroked a hand along her hair and down her spine. “I have more than I ever dreamed of, Kate. And it’s okay to not—”
“Wait.” She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. She inhaled deeply, intriguing him with her sudden intensity. “I’m not opposed to having your baby, Jude. In fact, I was even contemplating—” She gave a slight shak
e of her head, further piquing his interest. And sending a rush of adrenaline through his veins. “It’s not out of the question, by any stretch.”
His gaze narrowed on her. “You’re being serious?”
“One-hundred percent,” she insisted. “We just need to plan a little better. Yes, I’ve been uncharacteristically spontaneous. I don’t regret any decisions I’ve made or the direction in which we’re going,” she pointedly said. “In the future, however, it might behoove us to plot our course a bit more systemically.”
He grinned. Kissed her. And said, “I hear you, and I concur.”
“I don’t want to be so swept away by wedded bliss—ours or Denny and Charlotte’s— that we act illogically or insensibly or—”
“Kate.” He rolled to the side, so she was on her back. As Jude gazed down at her, he whisked away strands of hair from her temple. “I’m happy with all of this. So damn happy. And as soon as we can escape tomorrow’s brunch, we’ll be on a plane back to Mexico City. Back to Sophie. And you can be damn certain I will do whatever it takes for us to become her legal guardians.”
“I know,” she said with a smile. “I trust in you, Jude. I believe in you. And we’ll continue to do really great work in whatever capacity we can. All the adjustments we have to make in order to accommodate having Sophie in our lives will be worth it. I believe in that, too.”
“As do I,” he asserted. “And she can travel with us, with tutors when the time comes.”
“You’d make that concession?” Kate asked, eyeing him curiously. “Over a traditional school environment? Or…private school?”
“It ultimately depends on what’s in Sophie’s best interests. And I’m not saying I wouldn’t want us to pop back here at decent intervals and consider my apartment our home base. But let’s face it. We put a hell of a lot of effort into our training, Kate. And there’s a tremendous amount of good we can do with our skills. I’m not ready to end it all just yet. Though…I do want you to be really, really careful from here on out.” He gave her a firm look.
“I promise.” She gnawed her lip a moment, then added, “I don’t want Sophie to be in any danger, either. In fact, I hadn’t thought of this before, but our current operational model might be a disadvantage in this scenario…a judicial consideration that works against us when it comes to gaining custody.”