Clash(22)

“Your shot’s getting warm,” Adriana said into the microphone, giving her bust a little shake. This time, a splash of liquid spilled out, running down her cleavage.

Shoving the last hulk of a man standing between me and Jude, I brushed past Jude, curling my pinky over his, waiting for his hand to open. As soon as it did, I slipped the lacy thong into his hands, arched a brow at him, and kept walking.

Walking away from Jude, standing there beside with Adriana, all but being peer pressured by his entire team to upend a shot of alcohol from Tits R Us, brought me near to hyperventilation. But I couldn’t turn back because what was I going to say? What was I going to do? I had to trust that Holly, in all her man-eater wisdom, knew what she was doing.

The crowd started thinning out by the time I made it to the hall, and there wasn’t a sign of anyone when I walked into the bathroom at the end of the hall. Closing the door behind me, I braced my hands over the sink and focused on breathing.

Before I’d completed one full breath, the door whispered open. Looking up in the mirror, my smile pulled so tight it almost hurt when I saw Jude’s face, wound into a hungry expression, staring back at me.

“I think you lost something,” he said in a low voice, lifting his hand where my underwear dangled from his finger.

My smile stretched farther. Now it was hurting. “Looks like the right person found them.”

Stepping inside, Jude shut the door behind him. The bathroom was small, and small was a generous term for it. For the two of us to fit in here, my butt was rammed into the sink counter and Jude’s back was pressed up against the shower wall.

“So does this mean…?” he said, gazing down my body, ending at the center of it. I felt every muscle inside of me contract, right before it went soft under the weight of his stare.

“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” I whispered, my breath already coming in short bursts.

His gaze stayed fixed on that point south of my navel as a slow smile crept into place. “Happily,” he said, his voice husky and deep.

Then, before the flash of heat had a chance to spread, Jude threw himself against me, lifting me onto the counter. His mouth crushed against mine, forcing his tongue inside and running it over every plane it could reach. Overwhelmed, my head fell back against the mirror, trying to keep pace with him.

Right in the middle of our kiss, Jude pulled back suddenly, appraising me where I sat sprawled over the counter, breathing like I’d run a two minute mile. Looking down at the space between my legs, his forehead lined, like he was tortured, right before a tilted smile ironed it out. Grabbing my waist, he shifted me down to the very edge of the counter. Resting his hand on the inside of one knee, he pushed it open. Repeating the same with the other, he stepped between my legs, looking down at me like he couldn’t handle the emotions he was feeling right now.

Gripping the hem of my dress with both hands, Jude rolled it up one revolution, his thumbs trailing along the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. My heart was racing and everything was quickening in that way.

And he hadn’t even touched me there yet.

His fingers rolled the dress higher, and then higher still. The entire journey up, Jude’s eyes stayed fixed on mine. Like he wanted to watch every reaction that played out on my face from the way he touched me.

One more roll and there was nothing left to slide higher. My body was aching for some release, pulsing like it had its own heartbeat.

Jude’s thumb skimmed up the rest of my inner thigh. When he pulled it away, I almost whimpered out loud. And then, when he lowered it back into the place that was throbbing the worst, I did cry out. Grabbing the edges of the counter, I forced myself to keep looking into those eyes of his that were darkening with their want.

“I’ll be damned,” he breathed, the words all throaty and rough.

I couldn’t acknowledge him with words‌—‌I was one thumb stroke past words.

Closing the space between us, he kissed the corner of my mouth. “I love you,” he whispered outside my ear, right before his thumb started moving in slow circles over me.

My head fell back, smashing into the mirror, but the dull pain felt good paired with the acute throb spreading its way through my body from Jude’s skilled thumb.

My breath came in shorter gasps as everything tightened into a ball. I was so close.

“I love you so damn much, Luce,” Jude said as his mouth explored my throat.

And that was all I needed. My fingers dug into his back as my body quaked against his.

As my muscles went limp, I let myself curl into him. I managed to sigh through my staggered breathing. I could feel his smile against my skin.