Page 29

Jude

“Here. Drink this.”

Jude placed a glass of water on the coffee table in front of Kat.

After the photographer, the streets had felt too exposed, so Jude had hurried them back to her apartment, messaging the Next Chatter group text that they’d had to leave.

Kat was on the couch, alternating between texting her manager and staring into space.

“Are you sure you won’t eat something? It might help with the shock. ”

Kat shook her head. Jude hovered for a moment, battling the urge to fetch more things, then sat down. She waited to see if Kat would say anything, but Kat just stared at the glass of water as if it were some peculiar regional delicacy.

“I’m so sorry that happened,” Jude said. “I should have been more careful.”

“What?” Kat looked up, seeming startled.

Jude shook her head. “We started kissing and I just lost track of where we were. I should have been aware that we were on the street. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”

“No!” Kat’s voice was loud. She shook her head rapidly. “No, I kissed you. This is on me. This is not your fault. Not at all, okay?” She sounded desperate.

“But you’re the one who has to deal with the consequences,” Jude said. “With public scrutiny and people examining your personal life and making assumptions. I can’t imagine how hard that is.” She reached out and took Kat’s hand. “I want to protect you from that kind of stress, not make it worse.”

Kat stared at Jude. She looked mildly horrified. Jude dropped her hand. She was being too much. Too serious, too intimate, too needy. They’d only known each other for a few weeks.

But Kat reached out and caught Jude’s hand before she could pull it away. She swallowed a few times. When she finally spoke, her voice was choked. “You’re too good for me.”

Jude felt her pulse leaden, beating heavily against her skin. Was Kat about to break up with her? Give her some sort of It’s not you, it’s me speech and send Jude packing?

But Kat hung her head, studying the water glass again. “I’m sorry I’m making your life complicated.”

“Life is always complicated,” Jude said.

“Yeah, but these photos…People will keep bothering you.”

Jude shrugged. “People bother you all the time. I can deal with experiencing a little piece of that. It will help me understand your life more. Besides.” Jude reached out and tilted Kat’s chin up so they could look at each other. “You’re worth it.”

Kat’s eyes softened, some of the tense lines that had been hovering around them finally melting away.

Her expression was so vulnerable it made Jude’s chest ache.

She wanted to wrap her arms around Kat and protect her from all of Hollywood, all of America, all of the world.

She wanted to tell Kat how incredible she was over and over again, until Kat started to believe it.

She leaned in and kissed Kat. Just a peck, to show her she meant what she said.

But when she went to lean back, Kat’s hands caught her, pulling her closer.

Their lips met again. Jude could feel warmth spreading through her body as they kissed, an urgent tide sweeping away her insecurities and worries, until she could only think about the here and now, the feeling of Kat’s lips against her own, the sparks that trembled through her when their tongues brushed together.

Kat swung one leg over Jude’s lap and straddled her, settling her hips over Jude’s. She leaned forward, shifting her weight in a way that made Jude’s brain briefly black out, and pressed their mouths together with a more urgent pressure.

Jude managed to restrain herself from grabbing Kat’s ass and pushing their hips closer together. Barely.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “After what just happened, maybe it’s not—”

“I don’t want to think about it.” Kat lowered her mouth to Jude’s neck, kissing lightly along her jawline. Jude groaned. “I don’t want to think about anything. I just want to focus on being here with you.”

“Well, if it starts to feel like too much, just say so and we’ll—”

Kat bit down on the delicate skin under Jude’s ear. “Stop being so fucking nice,” she said.

The jolt from the bite ran through Jude’s body, lighting up her nervous system, making desire flood through her. Jude reached out, took Kat’s ass in both hands, and stopped being so fucking nice.

She sat up, putting Kat off-balance, so only Jude’s arms kept her from falling.

She dug one hand into the denim of Kat’s back pocket, squeezing to feel the shape underneath as she pressed Kat’s hips back down against hers, grinding up until the friction sent a shock of sparks through her.

Kat gasped, tilting her head back, and Jude took the opportunity to fist her hair and tug backward until Kat’s neck arced in front of her, exposed.

Kat’s chest rose and fell as Jude took her time leaning in, letting her lips just barely skim the pale, soft surface beneath them.

She started with Kat’s shoulder, pushing aside the fabric of Kat’s shirt to kiss the skin underneath as lightly as she could. She felt Kat shiver as she kissed her way up. She kept her touch featherlight at first, soft enough to raise goosebumps, until she couldn’t resist the urge to taste.

Kat started to squirm, thrusting her hips forward each time Jude’s tongue flickered across her neck.

Jude pressed their bodies together so that each reaction from Kat sent her grinding up between Jude’s legs.

She continued until tiny moans grated out of Kat’s throat, each sound only making Jude hungrier.

She pulled off Kat’s shirt, then couldn’t help herself and unclasped Kat’s bra, too. She could feel her clit aching and her stomach clenching as she stared at the pale triangles of skin over those smooth, small breasts.

She put her hands under Kat’s ass and lifted, turning her until she was flat on the couch cushions.

Jude settled over her and lowered her head to lick one of those hard, delicious nipples.

Kat gasped, and the sound urged Jude on.

She sucked lightly, making Kat arch underneath her, pushing herself deeper into Jude’s mouth.

“Oh my God,” Kat whimpered. She clenched Jude’s shoulders so hard her nails dug in, then she scratched downward, leaving burning lines along Jude’s back.

Jude let out a low, deep groan. Kat tugged at Jude’s shirt and sports bra, and then Kat’s hands were on her, cupping and teasing, eyes hungry with desire.

“You are so fucking hot,” Kat said in Jude’s ear.

The words made Jude flush with longing. She pressed her mouth back onto Kat’s hungrily, desperately. As they kissed, Kat reached her hand down and traced the zipper of Jude’s jeans.

Jude couldn’t take it anymore. She stood, pulling Kat with her, meaning to take her into the bedroom.

But Kat’s hands caressed Jude’s sides, distracting her, and suddenly the bedroom seemed too far to travel.

Instead, Jude pressed her up against one of the living room walls.

They kissed fervently while Kat undid the button of Jude’s pants, then slid her hand inside, cupping Jude through her underwear.

She started to trace light patterns on the fabric, letting her pressure slowly increase until Jude could feel the cloth turning damp. Jude pressed forward into her hand.

She undid Kat’s pants and pulled them to the ground. Kat stepped out of the legs, and Jude threw them to the side, running her hand over the thin fabric of Kat’s lacy black underwear. Then, unable to wait any longer, she dropped to her knees.

Kat let out a tremulous “ Oh ” and pressed herself back against the wall as Jude pulled her underwear down a fraction of an inch and kissed the sensitive skin underneath it.

She kissed from hip bone to hip bone before she lowered the fabric just the tiniest bit more and kissed that skin, too.

She did it again, then again, kissing her way down, then to the sides, coming close but never actually touching her lips to Kat’s most sensitive parts.

She had almost worked the underwear all the way down when Kat started to tremble.

Jude looked up at her. Kat had her hands braced on the wall on either side of her.

“I—I can’t,” Kat panted. “I can’t take it anymore. Please. Please touch me. Please.”

The need in her voice pushed Jude over the edge.

She pulled Kat’s underwear off and let her tongue run over Kat from top to bottom.

Then she switched to small, light licks up and down the sides, enjoying the high-pitched whimpers coming from above her.

She circled the hole to Kat’s cunt, her tongue lapping up the thick, salty wetness there.

Then finally, finally, she let her tongue glide over Kat’s clit until she reached the top and started to circle, increasing the pressure just a little, keeping up a consistent rhythm.

Kat’s legs started to shake harder, and she heard a desperate “ Don’t stop ” from above as a hand dug into her hair, pressing her closer.

Jude moaned in pleasure, cupping her lips around Kat’s clit so Kat could feel the vibration, could get off to how much she was turning Jude on.

“Talk to me,” Jude said, breaking away, her throat thick with lust and Kat’s wetness. “Tell me how you like it.”

Kat’s back arched off the wall, pressing her clit further into Jude’s mouth. “I like that,” she panted.

“Like this?” Jude pressed her tongue against the hood of her clit, moving it up and down slowly with her tongue.

“Uh-huh.” Kat’s voice was high-pitched and breathy.

“What about like this?” She let her tongue approach Kat’s clit from the side, rubbing up against it with quick, light strides.

“Yup.” Kat’s voice sounded strangled now, like speaking at all was effortful.

“Or maybe like this?” She went back to licking circles right above the most sensitive part of Kat’s clit—not directly on it, but very close, moving her tongue fast, keeping the pressure firm but not hard.

Kat screamed softly, then balled her free hand into a fist and pounded it on the wall beside her.

Jude took that as a yes. She kept going, keeping her rhythm consistent, letting her hands roam up and down Kat’s sides as she buried herself deeper and deeper between her legs.

She could feel her own wetness soaking her underwear, could feel the uncomfortable hardness of the floor beneath her knees, but she didn’t care.

All she cared about was the thrusting of Kat’s hips as they pressed themselves closer and closer to each other, as Jude picked up the pace slightly, fighting desperately to keep her tiring tongue in the right rhythm.

Then Kat screamed a real, loud scream that would surely frighten the neighbors, but Jude didn’t care, because she was keeping her tongue going to help Kat ride this wave as long as possible, squeezing Kat’s ass and letting herself luxuriate in the wetness that covered her face as Kat came into Jude’s mouth, her hips thrusting forward again and again until they finally slowed and she slid down the wall, landing on the floor and pulling Jude’s forehead against her own.

“Oh my fucking God, Jude,” she said.

Jude opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Kat covered it with her own, kissing Jude’s wet lips desperately.

She pushed Jude back until they were both lying on the floor, then hooked her hands into the waist of Jude’s pants and tugged.

Jude lifted her hips obligingly, and then Kat’s naked body pressed down against her own, making her gasp.

Jude gripped the back of Kat’s head as they kissed, moaning when Kat’s fingers moved down and dipped into her wetness.

Kat broke away and kissed a path down Jude’s body until she settled between her legs.

Jude moaned again as Kat’s tongue ran along the seam between her lips, then parted them and moved inside.

“Will you talk to me?” Kat said, pulling back a little. “Tell me what you like?”

“Of course,” Jude said, then groaned as Kat’s tongue started moving over her body again.

“That feels amazing. I love it when you tease me like that. What you’re doing right now, just licking around my clit?

That feels incredible. Except—Oh my God, I can’t take it anymore.

Please lick my clit. Please. Yes. Like that.

Right there. Oh my God. A little to the left.

No, a little less. Yes. There. Right there, Kat.

Please don’t stop. I need you, Kat.” Saying Kat’s name felt incredible, each repetition driving her closer to the edge.

“Now a little harder. Yes, yes, yes, Kat. Like that. Please don’t slow down.

Please keep going. Oh my God, Kat, you feel incredible. Yes, yes, yes. ”

Jude lifted her head, and Kat looked up, her eyes sparking as they met Jude’s.

The sight of Kat, with her hair messy and her tongue working over the swollen redness of Jude’s clit, was more than Jude could bear.

She came, tossing her head back as waves of pleasure made her thrust forward again and again until she finally gasped and tugged Kat back up to collapse on top of her.

She put her arms around Kat and pulled her so close that Jude could feel both of their heartbeats, shuddering irregularly against each other. When she could breathe again, she kissed Kat, deep and slow.

“Whoa,” Kat said.

“Whoa,” Jude agreed. “That was—Wow.”

Kat snuggled her head into Jude’s chest, almost shyly. “Did I do an okay job?” she asked, her voice muffled.

“You did an incredible job,” Jude said. Kat laughed, and Jude squeezed her a little tighter. She felt like her heart had expanded inside her body and was now pushing painfully at her chest. She wanted to pull Kat as close as possible and never let go.

But she was also lying on the floor with Kat on top of her, driving her elbows into the hard floor and making her neck ache.

“What if we moved to the bed?” Jude said, and Kat laughed.

“I guess,” she said, pretending to be reluctant. Jude kissed her again before they got up, then kissed her in the hallway, then kissed her again once they settled in bed. She never wanted to stop kissing Kat. It made her feel full and desperately empty at the same time.

“I don’t want to stop kissing you,” Jude admitted as she pulled the covers around their naked bodies.

Kat rolled off her side and onto Jude, settling her weight on top of her once again and grinding her hips forward until Jude gasped. She leaned down and ran her tongue over the curve of Jude’s ear.

“Then don’t,” she whispered.