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She let out one long, slow breath as she looked into my eyes. No fear there, no disgust. Only anticipation. “Yes, Jude.”

I stood, lifting her with me. My need to get her upstairs had already been teetering on the edge. Now I had a yes? There was no more time to lose.

Chapter 15

Lena

Butterflies were whirling in my stomach as Jude carried me up the stairs like every main character in every romance I’d ever read. I hadn’t lied to him. I was curious, and I was nervous. But excitement tingled under my skin too. Above anything else, the idea of letting go and not having to think or make decisions—especially today, of all days—was incredibly appealing.

We reached my bedroom, and he set me gently on my feet. I wasn’t sure what happened now. He told me it was the last decision I was going to make—how deep did that go? I guessed I was about to find out.

He sat on the end of my bed, and all I could do was look at him. Dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. Darker jeans that looked dressy for the occasion we had today. And the look in his eyes that pinned me to the spot. The look had weight, and I startled, realizing this was the real Jude. Every inch of him exuded power, and he was comfortable owning it.

It was unbearably sexy. How could anyone look at him like this and tell him they didn’t want it? I wasn’t sure I was going to like all of this, but I was willing to try because it was him.

And there was a smaller, whispering part of me that was laughing, already suspecting I was going to fucking love it and I was just being stubborn.

“Take off your dress.”

My stomach dropped in a way that made my whole world swoop. Like the ground under my feet just dropped a foot. No room for argument, careless power behind the words. He would be obeyed because he expected it, and there was something so hot about that.

I slipped the other strap of my dress off my shoulder and shimmied it down so it dropped to the floor in a pile of fabric.

“The rest too.”

It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me entirely naked at this point, but I still blushed. The intensity of his gaze would have made me self-conscious if it weren’t for the fact that he looked like a man starving and I was about to be his next meal.

My bra joined the dress on the floor and then my underwear. Already, I saw what he meant about it being both easy and hard. The things he ordered weren’t hard to do. But standing there waiting for him to choose the next thing was far from easy.

He smiled. “Come here.”

I moved to stand in front of him, and he pulled me between his knees. “You are so fucking beautiful. You know that?”

Jude kissed the place where my neck met my shoulder, and I melted. I loved that spot. He seemed to find it without even trying, and every time, it turned me into a mess. “Am I allowed to talk?”

He laughed low. “Until I tell you not to.”

“Then I could stand to hear it a little more.”

“Noted.” Another chuckle.

I swallowed. “What now?”

“Now…” He moved his mouth again, sliding down my chest until he could reach my breasts. He covered my nipple with his mouth, swirling his tongue and making me gasp. “I’m going to enjoy you.”

The words barely interrupted him, and by the time he switched to my other breast, I was wet. I reached for him, wanting to sink my hands into his hair, and he caught my wrists. “No.”

“But—” Surely that wasn’t a bad thing? I blinked.

Jude took my hands and wrapped them behind my back before encasing them in one of his big ones. The way he had my wrists, I couldn’t move them. I tried.

Heat curled under my skin, sinking lower down to my core. And again, I had the sensation of dropping.

“I didn’t say you could do anything but stand here. I’m not finished.”

“I just like your hair,” I said by way of explanation.

He smirked. “I’ll let you play with it again. But not tonight. Tonight, I want you to feel all of it. Without any lenience, so you understand. When I say control, this is what it means.” The hand holding my wrists squeezed them for emphasis.