Page 33

Chapter 12

Jude

Lena was a whirlwind Thanksgiving morning. A veritable tornado of sunshine and glitter. It was almost enough to make us late for dinner; the craving to carry her back upstairs to her bedroom and ravish her was so strong. But not yet.

We needed to have the conversation about control, and with everything she had on her shoulders to prepare for this day, I didn’t want to bother her or distress her. Or worse…

I cringed when I thought of the worst. I truly didn’t believe it would happen now, but there was always the possibility. Tonight, after we’d spent time with friends and were both in the happy glow of companionship and excellent food, I planned to talk to her about it and then thoroughly sweep her off her feet.

She came down the stairs, fixing one of the shimmering, dangly earrings she was wearing. Her dress made my mouth water. Though, there wasn’t anything she could wear that would make me want her less. The fifties-style dress was sneakily sexy and was driving me wild. It showed just enough to tease me, and all I could think about was lifting her and her skirt, bracing her against the wall and making her scream. Exactly like the morning after I’d pushed her away and she’d tried to distract me on purpose.

“I know I’m forgetting something. I swear I’m all over the place today.”

I picked up the bag she’d put together last night. “You’ve got it all here. And if you do forget something, I’ll come back for it.”

The little drop in her shoulders in relief, the gratefulness in her eyes—those were the things I lived for. It was the part of dominance I enjoyed most outside the bedroom, the ability to lift the burden off someone’s shoulders and ease their worry. The fact that it was Lena made it so much sweeter.

“Okay,” she said. “Thank you. Pie time?”

“Pie time,” I confirmed.

We were picking up everything she’d baked for dinner. All the desserts came from Deja Brew. Hell, a lot of the desserts in the town came from Lena. They all looked beautiful too. As we loaded them into boxes and I carried them in stacks to the truck, I was struck by the little details she’d put on some of them. Woven patterns or decorative leaves. Vents that swirled and made lovely designs, exposing the filling. “These are going to be the star of the show,” I told her when she hopped up into the cab, her skirt showing more of her legs than she realized.

She went pink at the compliment.

I looked forward to turning her an even deeper shade of pink later tonight.

“I hope so.”

The ride to the ranch was quick with everyone home for the holiday, and soon I was arranging the truck between all of ours. Even at family dinners, there were rarely so many cars and trucks outside the lodge.

This year, we had even more to be thankful for—that we had a lodge still standing for us to have Thanksgiving dinner. That the fire had only damaged the outside back porch.

We each grabbed a pie, but I caught her before we went up the stairs. “Are you ready?”

“You mean am I going to be able to survive all the jokes about to happen? I will. As long as you’re with me.”

I smiled. “You’ll be lucky if I leave your side.”

Together, we walked inside, and there was nothing but cheering. For a couple of seconds, it was a little like being a rock star. They were already going to tease us. Might as well go all the way. I scooped an arm around Lena’s waist and, careful of the pie she held, pulled her to me for a kiss.

It was so fucking tempting to ruin the delicious berry-colored lipstick she’d chosen, but I kept it chaste. As chaste as was possible for me. Everything was still so new and so real, I couldn’t stop myself from coaxing her lips open and trying to make her dizzy.

I heard more cheers as we kissed, and it didn’t matter. All that existed was the two of us. It showed in her eyes when I pulled away, and she was looking at me like I held the moon.

I wanted to see that look in her eyes forever.

“Finally,” Lucas called, and everyone laughed.

Lena looked at all of them, holding back her smile just enough. “Help us with the pies, please. If you want to eat them?”

The men, myself included, retreated to the truck to grab the pies. Daniel clapped me on the shoulder. “I see you thought about it.”

“I did.”

“And?”

“And I owe you for forcing me out of my own fucking head.”