Hey Jude (Lennox Valley Chronicles #1)

“After work?” He rubs my shoulders.

“Yeah.”

“Uh… You?” He grins down at me with a devilish expression, chuckling.

I smack his ass hard and he flinches, still smiling. “No, come on, for real.” I give him a rueful smile.

“Nothing planned. Why?” He’s still smirking at me.

“Would you like to meet my parents?”

His expression gets more serious for a moment.

When he doesn’t answer right away, I continue. “They have this big dinner every year on March 25th. We call it Marchmas.” I look down. “It’s silly, but we’ve been doing it since I was a kid. Wyatt and Sam and Nat and Graham all come and it’s a lot of fun; I just thought if you wanted to come, too, it could—”

He lifts my chin with a finger. His kiss is soft and slow, his arms around my shoulders. Our lips part and he kisses the tip of my nose, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug.

“Is that a yes or…?” I pull back, looking up at him with a hopeful expression.

“That’s an absolutely, yes.” He holds my face in his hands and kisses me again.

36

JUDE

I trim my beard in the bathroom mirror while Olena gets dressed in my room. I just got out of the shower, having taken extra care to wash off the work grime so I look presentable for her parents.

“So, where’d Marchmas come from, anyway? Christmas in March, right?” I call out to her over the buzzing sound of my clippers.

She appears in the doorway to my right wearing only a bra and thong, running a wide-toothed comb through her wet hair.

I shut off the clippers, taking in her beautiful figure in the mirror. My eyes linger on her breasts.

“Yeah, kind of. Winter is so cold and wet here, plus there aren’t any good holidays this time of year. So we made one up. Well, I did,” she explains, throwing her hair over one shoulder as she looks in the mirror. “It’s sort of like a Christmas in July thing, but earlier. I came up with the idea when I was little and we just… kept doing it.” She shrugs, putting down the comb. “It kind of turned into a whole thing.”

I turn to her, unable to stop my eyes from roving over her body. “You’re going to…” I trail off, exhaling, then force myself to shake it off and meet her eyes. I clear my throat. “You’re going to have to put some clothes on or I’m not going to be able to hear a thing you say.” I arch my eyebrow and tilt my chin at the door.

“Um, the same goes for you.” She quirks an eyebrow at me, looking for a long moment at my bare chest. She catches herself and wags a finger at me, making a throaty noise and shaking her head like she’s trying to shake off temptation.

I know the feeling.

She turns to leave and I smile, returning to look in the mirror. I’m about to start the clippers again when she reappears, wearing a short black dress.

Christ. My willpower is fading fast.

She turns her back to me and lifts her damp hair away from her neck. “Zip me up?”

I put the clippers down and shake my head ruefully. I slide my hands around her waist, dipping down to kiss her neck. “See, now you’ve got me touching you again. Very dangerous.” I pull her between me and the sink, meeting her eyes in the mirror. She leans back against my chest and her eyelids flutter slightly as she sucks in a breath.

“We’re going to be late,” she chastises me gently, arching an eyebrow. With visible effort, she pulls away from my chest. My hands slide down to her hips. “Come on, zip me up.” She leans forward slightly over the sink, eyeing me suggestively in the mirror.

I curse softly to myself. “You should know you are making this very difficult for me.” I pull up the zipper, snugging the dress tight against her chest, then run a hand up the back of her thigh, under her skirt, as I watch her reflection.

She lets her hair fall, bracing both hands against the edge of the counter as she exhales.

I slide my fingers up between her legs, grazing the tip of my middle finger over that small triangle of fabric separating us and hear her breath hitch. Her eyes close and she arches her back, lifting her hips. The feeling of her, warm and damp, through the fabric of her thong, almost has me taking her right then and there.

But I stop myself. I blow out a breath as I pull my hand away, finding willpower in some distant recess of my mind.