Page 36 of The Surrender (Arlington Hall #2)

“Amelia.” His tone is low. Pacifying. I don’t appreciate it.

“Don’t Amelia me,” I warn, circling around the island, keeping myself on the other side from him. “She vandalised my car, Jude. She’s making me not want to come here.”

His eyes slightly narrow. I don’t appreciate that either. “I’ll talk to her,” he says, calm, rounding the island towards me.

I instinctively move too, away from him. “I don’t want you to talk to her.”

“How the hell can I fix this if I can’t talk to her?”

“First, you don’t talk to her, you tell her, and you fix it by telling her to fuck off and never come back.

” Am I being unreasonable? Bratty? God, I don’t even know.

But I do know I shouldn’t have to ask him to do this.

I’d love to see him invite my ex into his hotel and cause a daily shitstorm.

My head in my hands, I breathe into them, hating this version of myself.

I’m a big girl. I can take Katherine’s digs and deflect her claws.

But every day? I’m already exhausted by her.

And, besides that, I shouldn’t bloody have to.

My wrists are suddenly wrapped in Jude’s palms, and he pulls my hands away, making me face him. “I will fix this,” he says, sincere. “I promise.”

Have I ever been so needy? It’s an odd sense of vulnerability and very significant. I love him enough to care. He means enough for me to feel this way. “Okay,” I murmur, standing before him, heavy and tired.

“I’m going to make everything better.” He strokes his hands up my bare arms, shivers following his touch over my shoulders.

“How?” I whisper, pulling my shoulder blades in to sustain the torture of his breath in my ear.

“First,” he says quietly, licking the sensitive spot below my lobe as he tugs my workout top up over my head, thrusting his hips into me, “I’m going to take off all these sweaty clothes and lay you on the kitchen floor.

” My eyes close, my brain empties, leaving room for only Jude.

“Then,” he breathes, biting down on my lobe and dragging it through his teeth. My hand flies up and fists his T-shirt.

“Then what?” I ask, my head rolling on my neck as he kisses my throat.

“Then I’m going to pour champagne all over your tits and pussy and lap it all up until you’re begging for penetration.”

“Hmmm.” A hard, distinct bang lands between my legs, making my feet tread on the spot. “Do it.”

“Oh, baby, how you burn for me.” His hand slips past the seam of my leggings and knickers, his fingers stroking through my soaked flesh. “Fuck,” he hisses, as my torso folds and I use his T-shirt to yank his mouth onto mine, kissing all my frustration away.

“You’re irresistible, Jude Harrison,” I garble around his lips, pushing him back against the island.

He turns us, bending me back on the counter, bringing his chest down to mine. “You’re quite irresistible yourself.”

“I am?”

“And coy.” He fists my hair and holds my head as he slams his lips onto mine, grinding his groin into me before reaching for my trainers and pulling them off.

They hit the floor with a thud. My leggings are next, peeled down my legs, taking my knickers with them.

“Let’s make love, baby,” he says, easing one cup of my sports bra down, his mouth encasing my nipple, sucking it to a bullet.

The hard length of him past his jeans rubs into my lower stomach, sending me out of my mind, my hearing becoming distorted, along with my vision.

Ring, ring, ring.

“Ignore it,” I order, as he moves to my other boob, splitting his worshipping tongue across both breasts.

“I had every intention of ignoring it.”

I arch my back as he skates a palm over my hip, and as soon as his mobile rings off, it rings again.

And again.

And again.

By the fifth time, Jude slams his fist into the wood on a curse and surfaces, looking dazed, his lips swollen and wet.

“Who the fuck is that?” he grumbles, leaving me on the counter and adjusting himself as he dips into his back pocket.

Breathless, I peel myself up from the counter, feeling a little dizzy. And pissy.

I brush my hair off my damp cheeks, trying to catch some air and at the same time curb the powerful throb between my thighs.

“What?” Jude answers, clipped. Then he frowns. And when he looks at me, I one hundred percent do not like his frown. “Yeah, thanks for letting me know.”

“What is it?” I ask when he’s hung up, spinning his mobile in his grasp, thoughtful. “Jude?”

“It was the kitchen.” He starts walking up and down. “There are no nuts in the Eton Mess.”

“Huh?”

He stops and looks at me. “What else did you eat that evening?”

I try to cast my mind back, scratching through my mind for the answer he wants. “Nothing. I only had a few bites of the Eton Mess.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” He places his phone down. “Your food got contaminated, and that’s not acceptable.”

“Oh,” I whisper, watching Jude fall into thought. “So what are you going to do?”

“Take everything off the menu that contains nuts.”

I laugh. “You can’t do that.”

“Watch me.” He crowds me, popping a kiss on the end of my nose. “Arlington Hall is now a nut-free zone.”

My fingers claw into his arse and pull him closer between my thighs. “What are you doing here, then?”

“Ha. Ha.” Rolling his mouth onto mine, he kisses me back down to the counter and slips his touch through my wetness. “Hmmm,” he hums, pushing his fingers into me.

I moan in answer, tightening every muscle, drawing him deeper.

Ring, ring, ring.

“Ignore it,” he says, as my mobile yells from my bag by the door.

“I had every intention of ignoring it.” My arms slip onto the back of his head as his mouth drifts south.

Ring, ring, ring.

He removes his fingers and replaces them with his mouth. “Oh God.” My back bows, and my eyes fall to the mirrored fridge doors. I can see his head buried between my bent legs.

Ring, ring, ring.

I hum, purr, writhe, savouring his hot, wet tongue slipping easily through me, hearing him undo the fly of his jeans. “I want you.” I grab his hair and pull his face up. “I want you now.” My insides are screaming for him to sate the burn building.

“How badly?” he whispers, placing a hand on my chest and dragging it down my body, his eyes following as he frees his raging erection.

“ So badly.”

Ring, ring, ring.

“Fuck!” he hisses, gazing up at me with a look somewhere between frustration and desire. “Who the hell is that?”

“Ignore it.” I grab him and haul him down onto my mouth, shifting my hips to help him fall into place between my legs.

Ring, ring, ring.

“Jesus Christ.” He pushes himself up and gasps for air, looking around the room. “Where the fuck is your phone?”

Wilting in disappointment, I throw my arms over my head. “In my bag by the door.”

Jude stalks off, pulling his jeans up over his arse as he goes.

“It’s your mum,” he says when he’s back, holding up my phone. “Ten missed calls.”

My wanton state is forgotten in a heartbeat, my heart racing for an entirely different reason.

I feel like the blood has just drained out of my face, and Jude suddenly looks as anxious as I feel.

Bringing my phone to me, he stands between my open legs, as if worried I might fall off the counter.

I try to dial Mum back, but my hands are shaking too badly, adrenaline of the unknown ruling me.

She calls again before I manage to convince my fingers to work.

“Mum?” I say, my voice audibly shaky. Jude rests his hands on my bare thighs and starts to stroke, waiting. Patient.

“I don’t want you to be upset, Amelia,” she says.

Of course that has the reverse effect. “Why would I be upset?” I ask, my eyes on Jude’s as he waits.

“It’s your father.”

My heart beats double time. “Oh my God, what’s happened?” My throat is suddenly tight, forcing me to reach for it.

“He wanted to go for a drive, you see.”

All kinds of scenarios run rampant through my head, and my eyes start to well with building tears. “Mum, please, tell me what’s happened to him.”

“Nothing’s happened to him, darling.”

“What?”

Jude frowns, withdrawing, his hands slowing in their strokes across my thighs.

“Your father’s fine. Oh dear, I realise how that all sounded now.”

I exhale in a rush of urgent breath, and Jude visibly relaxes too, shaking his head in exasperation. “Mum, you had me so worried.”

“Oh, silly me.”

“So why would I be upset if Dad went for a drive?”

“Because he went for a drive to Oxfordshire. And he brought me along too.”

I jerk so hard, I could have been electrocuted. “What?”

“What?” Jude mouths.

“I said don’t be mad!” Mum cries, and it all falls into place.

Oh. My. God. “You’re here?” I screech.

“Oh, Amelia, it’s rather fancy, isn’t it?”

“Wait,” I say, abrupt, as Jude moves back, obviously concluding I’m not a risk to myself anymore. His face. Christ, he looks like he’s seen a ghost. “Where, Mum? Where exactly are you?”

“In the lobby.”

“They’re in the lobby,” I say, despite knowing he heard because his eyes widen slightly. “Don’t move.” I hang up. “They’re in the lobby. My parents are in the lobby.” I’m going to kill them.

Jude’s cheeks expand, and his eyes fall to his open jeans, where his dick is shrinking before my eyes. “Jesus,” he mumbles, fixing himself. “I thought I’d have a little more time to prepare for this.” He takes my arm and helps me off the counter.

“I’ll go,” I say, while Jude swipes up my top and slips it over my head. I feed my arms through and grab my leggings, hopping on one leg as I feed my other foot through. “I’ll tell them you’re out on business.”

He turns his eyes onto me, not impressed. “I’m a grown man, Amelia. I’m not hiding from your parents.” Leaning in, he reaches for my elbow and steadies me so I can get my other foot in and pull my leggings up. “It’s not ideal, but here we are.”

“Jude, please, I beg you.” I bunch his T-shirt in my fists and immediately regret it. “Fuck.”