Chapter Six
Jude
This must be how winning an Olympic medal or conquering Mount Everest feels. She wants to stay. With me. The kind of happiness that rushes through me is something that only happens once in a lifetime. That’s how I see it anyway, because in all of my years on this planet, I’ve never experienced it.
I pull Birdy back to the porch, one hand sliding into her hair, and kiss her again. It feels so, so good and so, so right that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop kissing her.
She makes a soft sound against my mouth and presses her body closer to mine. That’s the moment I snap. I’m done holding back.
“Inside,” I murmur.
“Gladly,” she says without hesitation.
I take her hand, and we go inside. The fire in the living room is still going, and I look at Birdy in the warm light. Her hair is slightly undone, and she looks stunning in that ankle-length dress that’s been quietly ruining my concentration all evening.
“You have any idea what you’ve been doing to me?” I ask.
She bites her lip. “No.”
I dip my head down and seal her mouth with mine, kissing her like I’m claiming her. And I am. She’s mine, without a doubt.I might not know everything, but I do know that we are made for each other.
“You’re mine, Birdy. You know that, right?”
She looks up at me with parted lips and nods.
I lean down and kiss her again, slower this time. I caress her curves through the fabric of that dress that’s been driving me insane. Her fingers curl into my shirt, and she lets out a sort of low growl.
Hell, she’s going to make me lose my mind.
I slowly reach for the zipper at the back of her dress to give her every chance to change her mind. But she doesn’t. She tilts her chin up and looks at me steadily while I drag the zipper down.
“Jude,” she says.
“Yeah.”
“Stop going slow.”
Yeah. Fifteen years of disaster relief, and this is the situation that finally finishes me off. This woman, in front of my fire, telling me to stop going slow.
I pull the zipper down all the way, and her dress slides down until it pools at her feet. My heartbeat immediately speeds up. Birdy’s standing in front of me wearing a matching set of underwear: Lila panties with an ornamental flower at the top seam, paired with a see-through bra that looks expensive as hell.
I stand there for a second and just look at her. The fire throws warm light across her skin, and she holds my gaze steadily.
“You’re beautiful.”
I tell her because it’s true, and she needs to hear it. Needs toknowthat she’s the most gorgeous woman in Timber Peak Valley. Hell, in the entire galaxy, and that includes the ones we haven’t discovered yet.
I reach out and trace the strap of that expensive bra with one finger while not taking my eyes off her.
Her eyes drop to my chest as I shrug off my Henley, and then her hands are on me. I don’t move. I let her look the way she let me look at her because that’s only fair.
“Your turn,” she says softly, reaching for my belt.
She unbuckles it so agonizingly slowly that it’s pure torture. I put my hands on hers and unbuckle it myself. If I let her keep going this slowly, I’ll completely lose my mind.
My pants drop to the floor, and she stares at my boxers.
“Wow, that’s… wow,” she squeaks.