Page 20 of The Surrender (Arlington Hall #2)

Feathery touches down my arm wake me, and I wince as Jude lifts his hips and slides out of me, rolling onto his back with a huff and pulling me into his side.

I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but I can still hear his heart beating hard when my head comes to rest on his chest. I sigh, settled, both in body and mind, feeling like we’ve finally reached a common place.

“You’re staying the night,” he says sleepily, breathing into my hair as he plays with a strand.

I smile. “Really taking this slowly, aren’t we?”

“I never agreed. You didn’t want to. So here we are. Where we should be.”

I scrunch my nose and turn my lips onto his chest, kissing it.

“Are you hungry?”

“No, that pasta will keep me full until lunchtime tomorrow.”

“Well, I didn’t get to try it, so I’m going to get room service.

” Easing me off his chest, he gets up and fishes his mobile out of his trouser pocket.

I roll to my back on an appreciative exhale and admire his naked form as he wanders over to the window.

“Hey, Audrey, can you get a chicken club sandwich sent up to my apartment?” he says.

“With fries. And mayo. And extra pickles.” He looks back at me, laughing under his breath. “Yeah, gotta keep up my energy.”

My eyebrows lift, and I stretch out on the bed, my back arching, and it feels glorious. “I feel like something sweet.” My smile is demure and really bloody teasing, and Jude’s eyes instantly mist, his chest swelling from a deep inhale.

“Add the Eton Mess for Amelia,” he says quietly. “And a bottle of champagne. And can you have her bags brought up from the Library Bar?” He bites his lip. “Thanks.”

I brace myself when he stalks back to the bed, tossing his phone aside and crawling up to me, pinning me down by my wrists.

My delighted eyes take him in as he gazes down at me.

“Flirt,” he whispers, swooping in and eating me alive.

With ownership. It’s the longest kiss. The deepest. Full of meaning, conviction and passion.

He rolls us carefully, not breaking our mouths, humming, moaning, and rolling us again, back to the middle of the bed.

“Oh?” I whisper, feeling him hardening up against me. My legs open, inviting him.

“You want me again?”

“Please,” I murmur, flexing my hips up, helping him fall into place.

He pulls back, observing me for a few moments, running his tongue across his bottom lip.

“Flirt.” I reach for his hair and fist it, moving my mouth up his cheek to his ear as he swivels and enters me. “God, yes,” I breathe, feeling him so deeply.

Jude groans, stilling, panting rapidly. “How the hell do you do this to me?”

I shut him up, claiming his mouth again, as he starts to thrust smoothly, in and out.

I’m sure I could kiss him all night long, but he breaks away and pulls out, starting to kiss his way down my body.

My spine bends, my eyes close, my skin soaking up the pressure of his mouth, my muscles tightening the farther down my body he gets.

Cool air brushes across my opening, before his teeth nibble at the insides of my thighs.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I whisper, every bit of me undulating in anticipation of his hot mouth on me.

“Hmm.” His tongue flicks the tip of my clit, and I cry out, reaching for his hair and pulling. “Violence will get you nowhere,” he rasps, flicking again.

My legs spread wider, my hand on his head applying pressure. I look up at the ceiling, groaning as he licks gently up my core, circling slowly, before plunging his tongue deep. My hips lift off the bed, but Jude soon forces me back down, holding me in place with one forearm across my stomach.

“Jesus,” I whisper, feeling the pleasure rushing forward as he sucks, laps, kisses, moaning his way through, making a feast of me.

My mouth open, I look down my front, seeing his head bob and turn, his hair in disarray.

He peeks up, his eyes misty, his mouth never faltering in driving me wild.

I don’t need to tell him I’m about to detonate.

He must see it in my eyes, feel it in the stiffening of my body, because he tightens his hold of me, licks faster, kisses harder, sucks deeper.

“Oh God!” I force myself to keep his eyes, the sight taking me to the brink faster.

It hits me between my legs like a freight train, lifts me off the bed, racks my body, shakes me violently.

“Fucking hell.” The sensitivity is too much.

“Softer,” I order, making him ease off, every piece of me sinking into the bed, twitching, as Jude laps gently, letting me ride the waves of my release.

I’m sweating. Breathless. Burning up. “Oh my God,” I gasp, feeling him crawl up the bed, the tip of his erection dragging across my thigh. “I need a moment.”

“Tough.” He rolls me onto my front and pushes a leg out, giving him room, and eases inside on a sigh, breathing in. “Jesus, you’re still throbbing.”

I close my eyes and absorb his pounds, clenching at the pillow, wincing at how hard and deep he’s going.

But I sustain it. Take it. Relish it. It doesn’t take him long, and I’m grateful, not because of the power, but because I’m completely shattered.

Literally, fucked to death. He collapses on my back, his hips thrusting slowly as he bites at my ear, making me shudder.

“Hmm, this is nice,” he whispers, his arms coming up and framing my head. He licks the shell of my ear, nibbling the lobe.

“Stop or I’ll want to go again.”

“Not a problem with me.”

“I need to recover.”

“Then hurry up and recover.”

I smile into the darkness, the weight of him covering me lush, and let myself drift off, warm, cosy, safe, and more in love with every minute that passes.

My eyes spring open when I feel Jude peel off my back. “Food’s here,” he whispers, sliding out of me. “To be continued.” He gets up and goes to a chair, tugging on some boxers.

“Come back,” I grumble, rolling onto my side, arms stretched out. “I’m cold.”

“Here.” Jude throws me a T-shirt and heads out, and I pull it on, mumbling my displeasure as I tie up my hair.

“Two desserts? Lucky me.” I smile when I hear him laughing, retrieving my knickers from the floor and getting them on.

Jude’s already got his mouth wrapped around one half of his club sandwich when I make it to the kitchen, humming his pleasure. A blob of mayonnaise sits on the corner of his lip.

“That good?” I ask, rounding the island to him. Jesus, he must have been starving; he’s not even sat himself down to eat.

“The best club sandwich you’ll ever try,” he garbles, stilling when I lift on my tippy-toes and move in on his mouth.

“You have something here,” I whisper, licking the mayonnaise away.

“Thanks.” He swallows. “If I wasn’t ravenous, you’d be on that counter now taking another pounding.” He sinks his teeth back into his sandwich around a cheeky smile as I laugh my way round the island and hop on a stool, reaching for the metal dome on the tray and lifting it off.

“Oh, yum.” My mouth waters as I sink a spoon into the meringue and scoop up some strawberries and cream. “I’ve had a better offer.” I pop it in my mouth on a hum. My God, the cream is rich, the strawberries succulent and sweet, the meringue crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.

“Is it gooey inside?” he asks, craning his head to see.

“Perfectly.”

“Steady on,” he mumbles around his mouthful as I go in for another spoonful.

“You want me to save you some?”

“Looks like I’m hoping.” He picks up his plate and joins me, dunking a french fry in the pot of mayo and popping it in his mouth. The lack of creases on his tummy when he’s sitting is sickening. “I’ve been thinking,” he says, a definite edge of caution lacing his words. “About your friends.”

“What about them?”

“About me meeting them.”

I inhale and push some strawberries around the dish, watching them. I’m not looking forward to that. “Let me talk to them.”

“Do they hate me that much?”

“No,” I rush to assure him. “They’re just being protective.

” I drop the spoon, losing my appetite for the delicious Eton Mess.

I wish I had somehow avoided the girls the night I left Arlington Hall an emotional wreck.

“They’ll be fine.” I have to hand it to Jude.

At least he’s committed and not avoiding them.

I hear my phone ringing in the distance and get down from the stool. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” He takes another huge bite of his sandwich as I leave him, following the sound to the front door, where I find my bag.

I dip in and get my mobile, laughing at the irony when I see who’s calling. I hold up my screen to Jude as I walk back into the kitchen so he can see.

“No time like the present,” he says, taking another huge bite, filling his mouth.

I don’t want Jude to hear this conversation. “I’ll take it in the lounge.”

He nods, unable to speak, and I leave him happily devouring his club sandwich, answering to Abbie as I go.

The moment she sees my face, she checks the background, and I wait, flapping my T-shirt as I lower to one of the snuggle chairs.

I’m feeling a little hot. Stifled. “Do you want to have dinner?” I ask, hitting things off.

She blinks. “Dinner?”

“You, me, Charley, Lloyd.” I pause a beat. “Jude.”

Her eyes narrow, suspicious. “So he can make us like him again?”

“Do you hate him?”

“ Hate is a strong word. I wouldn’t say hate .”

“Good, because I love him.” This is old news, and Abbie knows it. “And he loves me too, so here we are, Jude and I, in love, and it would be kinda nice if my best friends, whom I also love, got on with the man I love.”

“He’s told you that he loves you?” she asks. I nod, and Abbie blows out her cheeks. “Well, he got more than he bargained for in that bet, didn’t he?”

My shoulders drop. “Can we forget about the bet? Besides, you got a luxury spa day for next to nothing as a result of that bet.” God, I really don’t want to tell them that Katherine is actually Jude’s ex-fiancée.