Page 34 of Hidden Vows (Love in Ashford Falls #3)

twenty-five

JUDE

The moment her lips touch mine I finally give in to the urge to touch her. My arms wrap around her, pulling her close. I’ve craved the feel of her body pressed against mine since I lost it a week ago.

I’ve craved the feel of her since I left seventeen years ago, but I didn’t realize how much until I had her back in my arms.

Abbey already said it, things aren’t perfect between us. We aren’t picking up where we left off seventeen years ago, but we are moving forward—and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Not even the time we’ve lost.

“Mo ghrá,” I groan against her lips.

Part of me thinks I should be embarrassed by how quickly my body reacts to Abbey’s nearness, but I’m not, especially when she presses her body closer to mine. She’s just as needy for me as I am for her.

I let my hands trail from her back down over her ass to her thighs where I get enough leverage to lift her. Abbey doesn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around me, pressing her core against my aching cock.

“Jude,” she moans as she grinds her hips against me .

“I don’t want to rush this,” I breathe against her cheek. “I want to take my time. I want to cherish you.”

She pulls her face away from mine, just enough to look me in the eyes. “Cherish me later.”

My lips crash back onto hers, that desperation from last week is back as if it never left, and maybe it didn’t. Maybe it’s been just under the surface since she rushed out of my apartment.

I’m still going to cherish her—there’s no way I can’t—but I’ll give her a taste of what she wants.

I carry her to the bedroom, never letting my lips leave hers. Not until I feel the foot of her bed press against the front of my legs.

With her legs wrapped tight around me, I bend, bracing one hand on the bed and the other on her back as I lower her. She releases her legs from around me, but grips my shirt so tight I think she might rip it, and the heat in her eyes as she looks at me does something to my soul.

“I don’t know how I survived without you all these years,” I whisper in the quiet of her room.

I know I got this sight last week, but it wasn’t enough. I love the look of her sprawled across her bed, peering up at me with lust in her eyes.

“Let’s not worry about that right now.” Her hand cups my cheek as her eyes bounce between mine. “I know we still have a lot to figure out, but we have time, and that’s all that matters now.”

I let my eyes wander her face, studying every inch, trying to find some part of her that doesn’t believe what she’s saying, but I can’t. She’s in this for the long haul and a weight is lifted from my shoulders at that realization.

My head falls to her chest in disbelief. I can’t believe I’m this lucky to get a second chance with her .

“Babe,” she whispers as her fingers thread through my hair at the nape of my neck, and when I lift my eyes to meet hers again, I know she sees the tears I’m trying desperately to hold at bay.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make it up to you.”

I don’t let her respond before my lips are back on hers in a bruising kiss. I’m going to focus on this moment like Abbey asked, and worry about the rest later, but there’s no way I don’t at least start proving how much I’ve missed her now.

Abbey’s hands slip down my back, pulling at my shirt. “I need to feel you,” she moans.

I give her what she wants, pulling away enough to pull my shirt off, but then my lips are back on her skin, this time trailing a path down her neck and to the swell of her breast peeking out from the top of her tank top.

“Don’t tease.” She squirms beneath me, wanting more than the feather light touches I’m giving her.

“Hmm,” I hum, my hands lightly trailing across the bare skin above her shorts where her shirt has risen. “I’m not teasing, I’m savoring.”

“Savor later,” she pleads, and I can’t help but chuckle.

“Patience, love.” I lift my head, meeting her eye for eye as I slide a hand down her thigh, caressing the exposed skin before sliding up, pulling the hem of her loose shorts with me. “You know I’ll take care of you.”

“Jude,” she groans, her hips jerking when my fingers slide under her shorts and graze over the wet spot growing on her panties.

I keep my eyes on Abbey’s face as I pull her panties to the side, letting my knuckle brush against her soaked clit.

Her eyes flutter closed as her back arches and her hips roll, her body searching for more friction.

I don’t make her wait. My fingers find her clit and give her the pressure she wants.

“I need more,” she breathes out, her eyes landing on mine. “I need you inside me.” She reaches between us, fumbling with the button of my jeans.

“Not yet.” I shift my hips out of her reach, but give her a touch of what she’s looking for as I slide two fingers into her dripping pussy. “God, you’re soaked.”

“Yes,” she moans, her hips grinding down on my hand as I swipe my thumb across her clit.

God, how I’ve missed this. Being this close to her, knowing her better than I know myself, bringing her this kind of pleasure. I don’t care that she’s been with other people, not when I can make her feel like this. Not when I know I make her feel seen and cared for.

“Jude.” She bites her lip, her eyes trained on mine and I know she’s about to come.

“That’s right, fuck yourself on my hand.” I want to kiss her, to leave a mark on her skin, but I don’t want to stop watching her as she gives into her desires, her hips moving in rhythm with my touch.

“I’m close. Don’t stop,” she pleads.

“Do it, love. Let go.”

Her eyes fall closed as her body goes tight, her walls clenching around my fingers and I finally cave, bringing my lips back to her neck as she rides out the waves of her orgasm.

I should give her another minute or two, but I need her just as much as she needed me only moments ago. I need to feel her skin against mine.

“Mo ghrá,” I whisper against her neck as I slide my hand up her sides, pushing her top up and sucking a nipple into my mouth the moment it’s exposed to the air around us .

“How—how in the world…” She doesn’t finish her thought before another moan leaves her lips. “Jude, please.” Her thighs hug my waist and her hips shift, pressing her core against me as her hand reaches for my jeans once again. And this time I let her have her way.

I groan as I rise to my knees, looking down at her. She’s the picture of desire. Her shorts and panties still pulled to the side, exposing her beautiful pussy, her tank pushed up above her breasts, and her hair a mess as it falls from the messy knot that used to be on top of her head.

“What a gorgeous picture you make.” I ghost my fingers up her exposed legs, feeling the goose bumps pop along her skin. “I’ll never get tired of seeing you like this,” I murmur in the quiet of the room, reaching the band of her shorts and tugging them down her legs with her panties.

Abbey doesn’t let me take my time, and I don’t fight her. If I’m not inside her soon, I’m going to embarrass myself—I’m about to explode. She pulls her legs back and pushes to sit so she can remove her own top, before her hands are back at the button on my jeans.

“Jude, if you aren’t inside me in the next minute, I’m going to take matters into my own hands.” As if to prove her point, she slips her hand in the top of my boxers and slides her silky fingers across my steel cock, toying with the bead of liquid at the tip.

“Abbey,” I hiss, my hips jerking at her touch. I put one hand to her chest and gently push her back, forcing her to lie down. “If you keep touching me, this is going to be over way too soon.”

“I don’t really care, as long as you’re inside me when it does.” She reaches for me, her arms sliding around my neck before she pulls my lips to hers.

I get so lost in the feel of her lips on mine and her bare chest pressed against mine, I don’t notice her hands aren’t around my neck anymore until I feel her push my pants and boxers down just enough that my cock pops free.

“Abbey,” I moan.

“Jude,” she returns, brushing the head of my cock against her clit.

I drop my head to her shoulder, basking in the feel of being this close to her—of feeling her everywhere around me. I force myself away from her, only long enough to shed my pants and boxers.

As I crawl over Abbey on the bed, I let my hands travel up the outside of her legs, over her hips, and up her sides, ghosting my fingers over her pebbled nipples before trailing down her arms, taking her wrists in both of mine and moving them over her head.

“I don’t think I can trust you to keep these to yourself.” I thread my fingers through hers and grind my hips into her, my cock sliding over her soaked center, causing both of us to moan and shiver.

“I promise to behave if you stop teasing me.”

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s not teasing?” I cross her wrists over each other and grip them in one hand, letting my other trail down the side of her body in a feather light touch. “Okay, maybe I’m teasing a little bit,” I breathe in her ear, nibbling at her earlobe.

“Jude,” she whines. “Please.”

“Okay.” I line myself up at her entrance. “I’ll stop teasing.” My lips land on hers and I press forward, entering her in one hard thrust, giving her exactly what she wants. My breathing stops at the feel of her wrapped around me. How have I survived without her? Without this?

I study every facet of her face as I pull back slowly, wanting to drag out every second of this bliss between us.

Part of me wants to drive into her, give it to her hard like she’s begging for, but I need the slow connection more than anything else right now.

And I know that no matter what she says, she likes it slow too.

“Yesss,” she moans against my lips, dragging the word out. Her wrists strain against my hold and her body arches against me, her hips meeting mine as I sink into her.

I thought the feeling of our bodies pressed together was like coming home, but it’s this feeling here—the feeling of our bodies joining together and becoming one that feels like coming home. It’s the feeling of knowing nothing else—and no one else—has ever felt like this before.

“You feel so good. Like nothing else I’ve ever experienced before.” I tell her, my eyes boring into hers as I pull back and slowly thrust back in. It’s entirely possible she’ll have bruises on her hip from the grip I have.

“Let me touch you,” she begs. “I need to touch you.”

I release my hold on her wrists and her hands immediately move to my back, her nails digging in as I move my hand from her hip and press my thumb to her clit. I keep my rhythm slow, trying to draw the pleasure out as long as I can, but Abbey has other plans.

She pushes at me and I give her what she wants, rolling us so she straddles my waist, her hands pressed against my pecs.

“Thank you.” Her eyes are trained on mine as she rolls her hips against me. My thumb lands back on her clit, needing her to come. The feel of her around me, the sight of her pierced nipples and her lust filled eyes—even going slow I’m going to come faster than I want.

“Come for me, mo ghrá.”

She shakes her head but moves faster, and at the feel of her thigh twitching, I know she’s close.

“Yes, let it go.”

“Jude,” she moans, her head falling back as her hips move faster over me.

I surge forward, wrapping my arms around her and press our bodies together. Our lips meet and our tongues dance. The connection between us is more than it’s ever been before.

And just like that, both of us go over the edge, my balls drawing tight as I release everything I am into Abbey.