Believe (3 page)

The drive was nice. Long, but not too long. Just the two of them in the truck, Rori humming and commenting on the scenery, feeding him snacks here and there. Each mile they passed between Oakley and Highlands, NC relaxed Jude more and more.

The roads were in good shape, though as they rose in elevation, they hit a few scattered snow flurries. He loved the light in her eyes, the wonder she didn’t hide as they traveled.

“I’m glad it’s cold. This way you’ll be in sweaters the whole time.”

“I brought the tight, thin ones so you can see my nipple rings.” Her murmured response sent a shiver up his spine.

Oh yes, that too.

That she put thought into ways to please him the way she did never ceased to amaze him. Fill him with a dizzying lust even as his love for her grew. She was that to him. Softness with an edge. Refuge and incitement. Everything he never knew he needed but would be lost without now that he had it.

The resort loomed ahead, at the top of the mountain, looking very much like a scene from a postcard. Even better, she leaned forward in her seat, eyes widened, hands clasped at her heart, smile as wide as Texas on her face.

“It’s perfect. Oh, Jude, thank you.” She turned to him as he keyed off the ignition once they’d parked. Because there was simply nothing else he could do, he leaned in and took her mouth, his palm sliding around the back of her neck to hold her to him.

Her sweetness burst through his system. “I love you.” He pressed one last kiss to her brow and headed to get her door and get them checked in.

***

Their cabin was indeed isolated, though they all were. The windows faced the valley below. Nothing but sky and trees. The last bit of any stress he’d had fell away as he dropped their bags and turned to take the place in.

Naked beams. He smiled and slid his gaze to her, finding her looking at them too, a flush on her cheeks.

In two steps he was pressing himself to her body, leaning to speak in a hoarse whisper, his mouth against the sensitive shell of her ear. “Does that make you wet?” He circled her, noting her shiver and the hitch of her breath. “I’m going to have you right there. Arms above your head, bound up for my pleasure.”

She swallowed hard and met his gaze. “Yes.”

He hummed, the electricity between them licking his skin, igniting the need never far from the surface.

“Please.”

It was a whisper but every cell in his body stood at attention, ready to serve her, to bring her anything she wanted.

“Baby, I promise I’ve got lots in store for you. First things first. Out of your traveling clothes. You know what I like. I’m going to build a fire to get the room warmed up.”

She tiptoed up to brush her lips along his before she moved away to change.

Rori’s hands trembled just a bit, as she pulled her boots off, followed by her jeans and the hoodie she’d worn to keep warm on the drive up. He liked her breasts free. So that’s how she kept them at home and that’s definitely how she’d be high up in the mountains, far away from intrusions and interruptions.

Anticipation raised gooseflesh as she changed into the thin, pale sweater that hugged her boobs just right. The deep vee exposed the curves of each breast and when she leaned just right, he’d get a glimpse of her nipple and the ring.

Knowing she’d be on display just for him always made her hot. She changed into a loose, thigh length skirt, another thing he liked because it gave him access to her pussy at all times. She left on the panties, his favorite kind. Barely there, sheer with side ties.

She tied her hair up and back and headed into the main room to watch and objectify him while he built the fire.

There he was, on his knees in a pair of faded blue jeans, T-shirt riding up a bit in the back, enough to see a slice of golden-brown skin she knew would be warm and taut, muscled.

His shoulders rippled as he moved the logs and she leaned back against the chair, just taking him in. So masculine. Handsome to the point of nearly being pretty. His wheat-blond hair always just a bit too long. But long enough to drag her fingers through. Thick and soft. Enough to grab to haul him closer when they kissed, or to urge him higher as he kissed the back of her knees.

He moved with a predator’s grace. Strong and sure. Watching him build that fire was the very definition of masculine. She exhaled slowly, letting the desire to take a big bite out of him wash through her system.

He turned and locked his gaze on her. The light from the flames cast him even sexier than usual as shadows played over his features. “Darlin’, when you look at me like that it gets me all tangled up inside.”

She hummed her pleasure as she moved to him, reveling in the way his gaze ate her up as she did. His lids dropped halfway and he got to his knees, facing her.

His hands on her calves were warm, pausing to knead or to leave the ghost of a caress as he moved them upward, under the skirt. He tipped his head back to look up into her face. So handsome and sexy her breath hitched and her hips jutted forward.

“Good.” Her breath caught again as he dragged his short, blunt-tipped nails up her thighs. “I’d hate to be alone.”

A smile from him and then he bent his head, pushing the hem of her sweater up with his nose to expose her skin. His mouth, hot and open against the flesh of her belly brought a groan from deep.

She grabbed his shoulders as her knees buckled slightly when he nipped at her navel and laved the sting.

His fingertips brushed over the material of her panties, a breath of a touch.

Her scent hung in the air and he didn’t bother resisting the urge to bend a little and press his face against her pussy. His groan was an echo of hers as he held her to him.

Perfect.

He breathed over her, knowing the air would stimulate her but not enough. And then he stood.

Her pupils were large, dark against the color, lids at half-mast and the way she held her mouth told him she was letting herself fall into her submission.

He kissed her neck and the sound she made ricocheted through him. The hollow below her ear. The corner of her jaw and then that mouth.

“I want you to undress and then get me the toy bag.” He stepped back to get his head together, dragging his fingers over his cock through the denim.

She let the skirt fall to her feet and then peeled her sweater off. Letting him see her in nothing but the panties she knew were his favorite. A few heartbeats later she shimmied from them too and bent, her breasts swaying, the stones in the nipple rings she wore catching the firelight.

She put her things on a nearby chair and then brought him the bag.

In her view, as she stood with her hands at the small of her back, he brought out the new crop he’d picked up on his trip to Dallas. She made a sound then, a soft, yearning plea and he looked up to her, loving the raw desire on her face. Knowing she wanted the things he did, that she got off on this as much as he did. This path was not just his or not only hers, but
theirs.

“I can’t wait to see what your ass looks like with the marks this will give you on it.” In fact… He walked to the foot of the bed and sat. Perfect height.

She watched him, her nipples dark and hard, her breath ragged.

“You know what I want you to do.”

She lay over his lap, placing herself just so, right so that her ass pitched up enough to give the perfect vibrations up to her cunt. Her hands lay flat on the floor.

He dragged the tip of the crop over her ass, back and forth. Softly caressing her until she relaxed. The creak of the leather handle and then the sound of the
whick
of air being split as the crop swung brought a gasp from her lips at the same time he tasted his own.

His cock throbbed as she squirmed in his lap.

The first strike, it was the sound that brought her moan. The burn was dull, barely even a sting. That would come, though, she knew. Anticipated that stew of chemicals he’d wring from her as he played her body like a master.

At the second crack of leather against flesh, the dull burn was replaced by a bloom of heat. A sharp sting that brought her intake of breath.

Her skin was hyper-sensitive to each touch. Each time he brought the crop down against her skin she fell deeper into the velvet of subspace. He shifted, abrading her nipples with denim. She swallowed hard, letting her body take over as he built her climax up.

She knew he’d be looking at her skin, pink with her flush of desire, darker pink where he’d brought the crop down. Hard. Not too hard to really harm, but hard enough to bring a sting and some heat. Stripes on her skin, the contrast with her normal skin tone would incite him.

Knowing that, feeling the steel-hard ridge of his cock against her hip, only made her wetter, hotter, nearly mindless with need.

He shifted again to blow across her inflamed skin.

“So beautiful. Your skin is so pretty and pink. I’m going to fuck you from behind. Just so I can look at your ass while my cock is deep inside your cunt. Just so I can see the new tattoo. Because I like how deep I can get that way.”

She nodded against him. Wordless.

“Up on the bed. I want your hands on the headboard. Don’t let go. “

Her movements were less than perfectly graceful as she got up on the bed. He looked imposing there, his face in hard lines, desire taut. The air was warm. She knew he’d made it that way on purpose. So she’d be comfortable naked.

Right then all she could do was think about how he still had his clothes on. She wanted him inside her like he’d just described. Wanted to feel the bristle of the hair on his thighs against her skin where he’d used the crop.

His smile and the light in his eyes told he her had his own plans and he’d get to it when he was good and ready. Which only made her hotter for him.

Her fingers dug into the headboard as she watched the way he reached down and pulled his shirt up and over his head. Whoo boy.

“Before I fuck you, I’m going to eat your pussy. Take the edge off a little.”

Beyond words, her brain managed a
wheeee!

He got on the bed behind her. “I can see how wet you are.” His knuckles brushed against her clit, sending dizzying little waves of pleasure through her body.

“You’re slick and wet, shiny with your juices.” He said this with his lips against that crease where the cheek of her ass met her thigh. “Dark and swollen. Ready for my cock. Spread wider.”

Rori inched her knees wider and nearly screamed when he took a long lick from her asshole to her clit.

Over and over, he took long, wet licks through her cunt, over each fold and into each dip. He knew each and every spot, just how hard or soft she liked it. And he used it to ravish her. To devastate her with the build-up of so much pleasure she wasn’t sure she could withstand it.

She rocked forward and back to meet his mouth until he stilled her with a firm hold, his fingers spread wide over her thighs. Holding her open and just where he wanted.

There was no hiding from it, from the intensity of sensation drowning her. Instead, she embraced it, leapt into it and opened up to an orgasm that felt as if her entire body exploded apart and welded back together in his arms as he lowered her to the bed, careful to keep her on her belly.

“Wow,” she managed to mutter around a tongue that felt like a bag of sand.

He laughed, wrapping himself around her, trailing kisses along her shoulder. When she got the feeling in her legs again, she’d go for that belt buckle.

“I think we should take a walk. The room even came with two walking sticks.”

“I think we should have more sex.”

He nipped her shoulder, making her hiss and then shiver. “We will, greedy. When I’m ready. You’ll need to recover because I plan to fuck you so hard it makes that slapping sound you like so much.”

Ohgod, she loved when he thrust so hard her tits bounced and his skin meeting hers actually made a slap. Loved the raw edge of his control.

She smiled, her face buried in the blankets. The bed rustled as he rolled from it and she turned, enjoying the cool of the comforter against the heat on her ass.

Damn he was easy to look at.

A smile hinted at the corners of his mouth. “What you thinking about, darlin’? Should I be worried?”

Love filled her, blurring her vision for a brief moment. She moved to him and straight into his embrace. His heart beat steady against the ear she pressed to his chest.

“Just about how awesome this trip is. And about how much I love you.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“I suppose I can let you draw me out into the cold. A walk does sound good and maybe the cold will soothe my ass. Will it be all right to leave with a fire going?”

“I don’t plan a big long walk. There’s just a path here.” He pointed to the map of the resort. “Maybe ten minutes? We won’t even be totally out of sight. The wood isn’t popping or anything.”

He brought the rest of the bags in while she got dressed in warm clothing and surprised her by handing her a brightly wrapped package.

“I think this might come in handy.”

“You spoil me.” She grinned as the tore the pretty wrapping away and found a soft cashmere scarf, cap and pair of gloves.

“I was born to spoil you. It’s my job.” He put on his own gloves and a cowboy hat that only made her more reticent to leave the cabin, he looked so delicious.

The trail near their cabin was quiet but for the crunch of gravel beneath their feet. Snow fell on and off in delicate flurries. Enough to cling to Rori’s hair, spun gold with icy white.

Her cheeks were rosy, eyes bright as she took in the scenery. Her hand fit in his just right. It was just the two of them, far away from all responsibility. It felt damned good.

“We need to do this more often. Get away from Oakley and our friends and family.” That she said it first surprised him. “I think we need it. The time alone.”

They kept walking, occasionally halting for her to take a picture or two. The silence between them was easy.

“I think so too.”

They stopped at an overlook where he dusted the seat of the pretty bench for them to sit and take in the view. The light was fading and they’d need to go back soon.

She eased to sit and his cock stirred back to life as he remembered the sounds she’d made while he used the crop.

“You okay?”

She turned to him, smiling, head tilted. “You mean my ass?” She laughed. “Yes. The sting is gone. You never really hurt me, Jude.” The meat of her thumb slid over the scruff of his beard.

“I never mean to. I know I did once.”

She sighed. “You love me. Take care of me. That you were a giant dick once when we dated isn’t part of what we have now except that I know the sweetness in you I only suspected you had then.” She looked down at their hands, clasped and resting on her thigh. “You waited for me.”

He’d waited for her for years and now she was his. He wondered if there’d be a time when he simply took it for granted and hoped there never was. Hoped he never lost that sense of joy and
holy shit I’m a lucky man
in his step.

“I don’t deserve you, but I sure as hell don’t plan to give you back.” He kissed her, harder than he’d planned to, to underline that. “I’d have waited a lifetime for you,” he gasped when he broke away.

She looked up, eyes glossy with emotion, her swollen bottom lip trembling just a bit. It came naturally to kiss her again, and so he did.

She scrambled into his lap, facing him, wrapping herself around him. “Every day I wake up and you’re there. Your scent is on my skin. I have a moment when I am nearly overwhelmed by my blessings. You anchor me in a way I can’t really explain. It is unshakable and deep. Strong and it makes me feel not just loved and safe, but
cherished.
Adored.” She held him tighter. Neither of them speaking for several minutes.

“You look at me and make me feel like a queen. Most people live their entire lives without feeling that way more than a handful of times and I feel it every single day.”

He stood, holding her still. “It’s getting dark. Let’s go back.”

She took his hand as they headed back up the trail. “Thank you,” he said, softly, as they made their way to the cabin.

It was new to him, this sort of connection. Sure, they’d been friends most of their lives, and a brief romantic turn before he’d fucked up and lost her to the man she’d fallen for and married. But before Rori he’d not been totally out with his sexuality.

He took his responsibility…his role as the top in their relationship seriously. And not in an ALL CAPS I’M YOUR MASTER way, but because she
chose
to submit and he should always be worthy of it. Which meant putting her needs first and being aware of what she was thinking and feeling on a whole new level.

In truth, it made him a better man, though he wasn’t sure anyone but Zach would have understood it if he’d said it aloud.

But he wanted to do right by them both. What they had was special and he’d die before he’d fuck it up. At least on purpose.

“Dinner reservations in less than half an hour.” Not enough time to finish what he’d started earlier. “I did tell you they were bringing it here, didn’t I?”

Her delight was clear in her features.

“You didn’t.”

He shrugged. “Thought you might like it.”

“You spend a lot of time thinking about what I like.”

She dropped to her knees.

“Why don’t you let me think about what you like for a few minutes? We have enough time for me to suck your cock before they arrive. You know, just to take the edge off.”

He sifted her hair through his fingers before tightening his fist around it and tugging her forward, reveling in her gasp of pleasure.

Within moments her clever fingers had worked the belt and his pants open. Her breath against his cock sent shivers up his spine. She wasted no time, taking him into her mouth, hot and slick with just the right amount of suction.

He would have closed his eyes, but that would have meant not being able to watch her with his cock in her mouth, on her knees in front of him. There was simply no contest there.

Her hair slid forward and back as she moved, sucking him deep and pulling nearly completely off, giving him a peek-a-boo view, adding to the allure.

The pleasure banked, building from his toes as she built him up, slowly, surely, knowing exactly what he liked and how he liked it.

Being known so well was something he associated only with her. She got him all the way to the bone.

Content, utterly and totally content, he continued to watch, continued to let himself fall into her until orgasm swallowed him, sucking him under as he held onto her shoulders.

She cut her eyes to his as she pulled back and pressed a kiss to the head of his cock.

“Better?”

He laughed, helping her to her feet and pulling her in for a kiss. “You make just about everything better.”

She sighed happily. “I love this place. No cell reception. My laptop is at home. A girl could get used to having Jude Callahan all to herself this way.”

“You do have me all to yourself.” He snorted a laugh.

She made a cute little harrumph sound, one he knew quite well since she’d been making it when she was displeased pretty much her whole life. In that moment he saw her as the young girl and then the teen she was.

Blinking, she paused, surprise on her face. “What? Are you denying women still follow you around town like lost puppies?”

“Ha! You’re just the she-bitch to smack ’em down. But no, I don’t notice because you’re in my bed. Who the hell wants to be looking at some chick at the grocery store when I’ve got you at home baking me cookies and making my life pleasant and filled with hot sex?”

It was probably totally bad of him to get turned on by the fire in her eyes when any women got too close, but he did. She was fierce in her claim on him. As fierce as he was in return.

“When does dinner arrive?” She peered past him to the clock on a far wall.

“What I plan to do you later will take hours. But dinner will be here in twenty.”

She hummed. “You say the best things.”

He knew she’d think about it all through dinner now. Good. He found himself enjoying that part of their relationship—the slow build up to fiery, intense sex.

Still, there were things he’d been thinking about and maybe with the glow of good sex and a nice walk, they could talk about stuff easier.

“I think we should buy a new house.”

There. He’d said it.

She paused, taking his hand and looking him over carefully. “I brought some wine. I think this conversation might call for a glass or two. Plus, I like wine.” Her smile reassured him.

“Sit and I’ll get your boots for you.”

He peeled away his coat, already having tossed the gloves and his hat on the pegged bench at the entry. He sat, enjoying the way she moved to take his boots off, setting them to the side of the couch in an orderly fashion before she dug through the grocery bag and pulled out the wine.

“This is nice, you know? The quiet. The pace.” She handed him the wine and the corkscrew. “Be back with glasses in a moment.”

He poured them each a glass, waiting for her to snuggle into his side before he tossed his feet up on the low table and sat back with a satisfied sigh.

Smiling, she rested her head on his shoulder. “This feels good. Now, back to the house issue. Tell me.”

“It’s a great house. That’s not really the issue. I know we decided to move the master suite to my room and to stay in the house because the economy is crap and we didn’t know if it would sell very fast. And I know you’ve lived there for several years so I wanted to really give it a try.”

Filled with love for him, and with hurt on his behalf, she turned and pressed a finger to his lips. He’d done it all for her. How could he not know how much she cherished that? It made every day special. “Stop. You don’t have to make excuses for how you feel. Talk to me. You can tell me anything. I love you, Jude.”

He nodded. “When I lived there after…after Zach died, I was a roommate. A friend who was there to help you pick up the pieces. And that was fine. You needed that and I needed it too. It gave us both time. Like I said, I like the house. But it wasn’t mine. And then in a beautiful turn, we got together and we shared my old room and I hoped it would feel like my house too. And it does, in most ways. But I still feel like I’m renting a room in your house sometimes.”

How could she not have known he felt like that? “I’m so sorry. “

“I don’t want you to be sorry. It’s not about you being sorry or me being mad or anything like that. It’s about us finding a way to move forward and to talk to each other around all this stuff. My goal in life is to not hurt you. I know this stuff hurts.”

“What hurts is that
you
were hurting and I didn’t know. I want you and me to be able to talk about anything. I’m not made of glass and we both know I’m pretty high capacity.” She took a drink.

“How much you can take when I’m wielding a flogger is not the same as talking about your dead husband. That’s real pain and I can’t help that.”

What a lucky, lucky woman she was.

“Don’t you see? I give myself to you because I trust, without hesitation, that you will take care of me. That you will know my limits and push them farther than I could imagine. I trust you not just with my body and with what we do sexually, but with my heart. My submission is
all of me.
We need to be able to talk about
anything.
Even when it’s very emotional or sensitive. I don’t expect you to be uncomfortable or like a guest in your own house.” It would be silly to think they could get through the next few years without talking about Zach or issues involving him. She wanted Jude to realize she was his totally and that she’d moved on.

“I don’t know that I’d characterize the situation in those terms, darlin’. I was absolutely genuine when I said we’d move bedrooms. I wanted to give it a try and waited to see if the house would feel more like mine the longer I lived there.” He paused and she touched his hand, wanting him to know she wanted to hear what he had to say. Knowing deep down it was about Zach and her marriage before.

“It’s hard to find a way to talk about this because I know it upsets you and because well, you and I are still learning how to be a couple.”

“It upsets me so much more that you felt like a stranger in your house and I didn’t know.”

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Didn’t I just say I didn’t think that was it at all? I don’t feel like a stranger in my house. I feel like it’s still Zach’s house. I’ve lived there longer than he did, I know this, but he left his mark. I can share a house, but my everyday life? I don’t think I can.”

Entirely reasonable. He had every right to be comfortable and happy in his home.

“All right.”

“That’s it? You don’t have anything more to say than all right?”

“Zach died nearly two years ago. I’ve moved on. With you.
To
you. If you feel uncomfortable in any way that I can help with, especially a request as reasonable as moving to a house that will be ours, I can change that. Easily in fact. I don’t know about you, but the stuff easily fixed is stuff I celebrate.”

“You won’t miss your house?”
Your
house. Man she was slacking to have missed this one.

She took a deep breath and there was a knock on the door. “Not really, no.”

Another knock.

“We’ll shelve this for now.” Jude stood and kissed her again, just quickly, but enough to reconnect them and reassure her they were okay.

She held him in place with her hand on his arm as she stood. “I
want
this. I have zero regrets.”

She watched as he interacted with the staff in that friendly, easy way he had with people. Lazy and charming. He moved with confidence, taking on multiple tasks with such effortless efficiency.

After the table had been prepared and their dinner ready to eat, she settled in, buttering his bread while he brought the wine over.

“Do you know how much I admire you?” she asked, dishing up some asparagus.

Pleasure and surprise brought a smile to his lips. “How so?”

“You’re just good at everything.”

He snorted as he cut into the beautifully cooked steak.

“Don’t snort at me, mister. I got your number. See, you, Jude Callahan, are good at everything. You are spectacular at some of them, extraordinary in most. You can do general man stuff like deal with putting up shelves and the planter boxes you made this year.” She looked up, eyes dancing, a huge grin on her face.

“Darlin, you please me a hell of a lot in general, but thank you. I’m flattered. And lucky.” She just kept smiling. “What is that smile for?” He knew he blushed and so he just pretended he didn’t know that and continued to eat.

“I was just thinking how we’d get to make them at the new house, or maybe look for a house that has them? Maybe a lot with a lot of trees. Yes. I’d like a house surrounded by trees. I’m so excited for this.”

And she truly was. He saw it in her face. And peace washed through him as he could let go of that worry. Gratitude that she felt the same way for him that he felt for her.

“Trees sound very good. I want a yard with a deck. Obviously we’d want to stay close to our families but there’s a lot out there right now.”

“Good. Okay so back to what I was saying. You’re efficient with all sorts of manly deeds. You deal with car stuff and the filters in the heating system and you hang stuff and lug stuff.”