Boarded by Love (32 page)

Claire, be my girlfriend?

Tears rush to my eyes as my breath catches in my throat.

This. Can. Not. Be. Happening.

I
drop the books that are in my arms and hold my chest as a sob fights to come out. When he starts to sing along with the words to the song, my heart explodes in my chest, and it feels as if millions and millions of butterflies are going nuts in my stomach.

“Cheesy and romantic enough?” he calls up to me.

I smile as I nod, tears flooding my eyes, but I don’t want to let them fall. I don’t want this to affect me as much as it is, but soon I can’t keep them in. Slowly they roll down my face and I know I love him.

I love Jude Sinclair with a fierceness that cannot be touched.

Yes, it’s insane that it’s only been two weeks, but this is different. We’re different. We’re special, and I can’t get enough of him. As I slowly shake my head, I wonder if I’m dreaming, and if I am, I hope I never wake up. This is simply perfect. Amazing.

“Come on down here,” he says then. “I want to dry those tears. They better be happy ones! And you better say yes!”

Laughter bubbles in my chest, but when it comes out, it sounds more like I’m choking than laughing. “You know damn well the answer is yes. Hold on, let me take a picture.”

“No, come down here with me, pictures later.”

Deciding that he’s right because I want to kiss the stuffing out of him, I throw my bag down and rush down the stairs, wiping my face free of tears. Soon I’m in the cool rink and I rush to the ice to find my man, my
boyfriend,
standing there waiting for me. A grin curves his lips and his cheeks are warm with color. Taking my time, I go on the ice and he meets me halfway, the roses dropping to the ice as he takes me in his arms, meeting his lips to mine. Wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, I move my tongue with his as he picks me up off the ice, holding me up and close against him.

There is something about kissing him that hits me right in the middle of my chest. It’s like a feeling of falling, almost. It makes me breathless, and I know that I need to go slow and enjoy it, but I can’t. I need him. My heart pounds hard against his chest, and I can feel his too. A strong, steady beat that has me smiling against his lips, I love that I affect him as much as he affects me. Pulling back, my head rests against his as we share the same breath, a little cloud appearing around our mouths. As he sets me down on my toes, I look up into his intoxicating green eyes and my heart comes into my throat.

Slowly his thumbs brush along my cheek, catching any stray tears before replacing them with soft kisses. He’s so beautiful. So stunning. His hair is falling in his eyes, his eyes so intensely on mine and his lips puffy from our kiss. He brings his hands up from my waist to cup my face, running his thumbs along my jaw as his eyes search mine. The words are right there and I know I should say them, but they are lodged in my throat. I need to tell him about my job before I profess my love for him because that’s not fair. I can’t expect him to love me when he doesn’t know everything about me.

“Okay, this is pretty amazing.”

He squeezes me close, his nose brushing against mine as he says, “So what do you say? Wanna be mine?”

I grin as I lean into him, bringing my arms around his waist, holding him tight to me. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been yours since the moment I met you.”

His mouth turns up at both sides, fully grinning at me as he nods. “I’ve been yours too.”

“This is crazy,” I say, and I want to believe that it is, but it seems so right. “How does this happen so fast between two people?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t change a thing about us.”

“Me neither. It’s only been two weeks, but it feels so right, you know?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s been the best two weeks of my life. I am finally alive being with you, and I didn’t think that could happen off the ice.”

Looking deep in his eyes, I fight off the tears and then very softly, I admit, “I never thought love was made for me.” Moving my nose along his, I say, “But you changed my mind.”

“You were made to be loved by me, and no one else can ever take that away,” he says and then takes my mouth with his in a deep, toe-curling kiss. I’m not sure what he means with that statement. Is he saying he loves me? Does he love me? Surely he does! Who does something this amazing for someone? Well, someone who wants sex really bad would, but he isn’t pushing for that. He’s holding me, treasuring my lips as he kisses me slowly, so he has to love me. Right?

Pulling back, he grins against my lips before kissing me once more and then pulling completely away. Reaching down, he grabs the bouquet of roses and hands them to me. “So what do you think of everything?”

I smile as I lace my fingers with his, needing to touch him. “It’s amazing, Jude, thank you.”

“Anything for you,” he answers. He then smiles back at me, bringing my hand up to kiss the back of it before looking up. I do the same to see Jayden leaning across the railing, a phone in his hand. “Smile.”

He brings me up under his arm, close to his chest, and I smile up at Jayden as he takes the pictures of us. I can’t wait to send these to Reese; she’ll flip when she sees them. Turning me in his arms, he dusts my jaw with kisses before I say, “Wow, you had this all planned out, huh?”

He smiles up at me and says, “I wanted to make sure you never forget this moment.”

“How could I? This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me,” I admit. “I kinda feel like I’m dreaming.”

He shakes his head, cupping my face in his hand before dropping his mouth to mine. He doesn’t kiss me though, instead he smiles, his lips lightly touching mine and then he says, “I know what you mean.”

Then he kisses me, pressing our bodies together and smashing the roses between us, but I can’t seem to muster up any energy to care. I’m so engrossed in him. I’m too much his to care about anything but kissing him with all the love and desire in my heart. As his mouth moves with mine, I want to ask if he loves me, but then I feel so selfish and wrong for hoping he does. In a way, I’m giving him a false claim of who I am. I mean, I’m not saying that burlesque is who I am, because I’m more than that, but it is a big part of me. If this works out with the investors, then it will be my career, and I’m not sure how he will feel about that.

He pulls back slowly, looking into my eyes, and I know it’s time. “I have to tell you something,” I whisper and he smiles, his finger moving along my jaw to my lips.

“What’s that, baby?”

I get lost in his eyes as my heart pounds so loud I can hear it in my ears. I love the way he’s looking at me. As if I’m it. I’m his, and I know in my heart that’s true. He may have not said it, but his actions mean way more to me than words. This couldn’t have been a quick setup. It takes time to line the pucks up perfectly, and he got me flowers and cleaned up, looking so damn hot it’s mind-blowing. This took time. Time he could have used on anyone or anything else, but instead he used it on me. I mean something to him, and I know that I can’t fuck that up for both of us.

“You make me so happy,” I say and I close my eyes, leaning into him.

His arms come around me, holding me tightly as he whispers, “I feel the same way, baby.”

If he’s happy with me, he won’t leave me, right? He’d stay; he would accept the job I love to do. But for some reason, I don’t believe that. I think he’ll run the other way, and I can’t risk that. I can’t. Melting against him, tears sting my eyes as we slowly sway back and forth to the music. Dusting kisses up my jaw and cheek, he pulls back, looking deep in my eyes as he says, “Wanna get out of here?”

I give him a cheeky grin. “For what?”

Eyeing me, he smiles as he says, “Anything you want.”

“So, just hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to go back to your house and play chess, we could do that?”

He nods, his face straight as he says, “Hypothetically, we could do that.”

“Or? I feel an
or
there,” I say, a grin pulling at my lips.

“Or…” he says, dragging out the word. “I can take you back to my house and bend you and fuck you in every way possible,” he says, stealing my breath and making it hard to breathe. “But that’s hypothetical. It’s whatever you want.”

Leaning into him, I move my hands up his hard chest and around his neck, looking deep in his eyes. “I think I like the way you think. Being bent in every way possible is way more fun than chess.”

“True,” he agrees. “And way more challenging.”

“Agreed.”

“So…”

My face hurts from smiling so hard. “So I think you should get me home, Jude.”

He doesn’t nod or say anything; he just takes my hand and basically pulls me off the ice. Once our feet hit a hard surface, not a slippery one, we’re hightailing it out of the place.

“Shit, I forgot my bag,” I remember.

“Jayden will get it,” is all he says as he pushes through the door. But instead of going out the front door, he goes to a side door and pulls me through, pushing me against it to slam it shut before pressing his mouth to mine. He sloppily kisses my mouth, knocking my world off its axis as he kisses the living hell out of me. Melting against him, I moan out as he nibbles at my neck, biting and sucking as his hands come up to grab my breasts.

Pulling away, he looks in my eyes and all I see is red-hot lust. He’s going to take me against this door, and I have no damn problem with that at all.

“You can’t wait,” I say, reading his face. “You’re going to fuck me right here.”

Cupping my face, he slowly shakes his head, and I’m surprised that I misread him. Bringing his mouth close to mine, his eyes lock with mine as he says, “Yes, I can’t wait. But no, I’m not going to fuck you, Claire. I’m going to make love to you. Probably superfast, but I promise when we get back to the house, I’ll take my time.”

“Oh,” is all I can say before he takes my mouth with his.

Pressing me against the door, he holds me still by pressing his pelvis into mine and slowly removes my shirt, my bra following quickly behind it. Looking my chest over like a starved man would, he molds my breasts together before dropping his mouth to them, sucking and nibbling on my nipples, sending heat straight between my thighs. Tweaking my nipples, he devours me as I cry out, squeezing his shoulders. Letting go of my breasts, he nibbles up the middle of my chest, kissing my throat and then coming back to my mouth as he undoes his pants. I push my sweats down along with my panties, kicking them to the side as he breaks the kiss to do the same, pressing his long, raging hard-on against my stomach.

I know he thinks he’s about to make love to me, but I have other plans.

Dropping to my knees, I take his dick in my hands and slowly move my hands up and down him, his eyelids falling in a hooded way, watching me intently. Pressing my back against the wall, I guide him into my mouth and to the back of my throat. He moves my hair out of my face before very slowly moving his dick in and out of my mouth. His hands move along my shoulders, my throat, and jaw as I suck him hard and take him as far as I can down my throat, which isn’t as far as I’d like since he’s so big. He seems to like it though, his breathing picking up as he whispers my name.

“That’s perfect, baby,” he moans, tangling his fingers in my hair. “Fuck, you are so hot. Yeah…Claire…mmm.”

Picking up speed, I rake my teeth along his shaft as I cup his balls, molding them slowly as he quickly thrusts in my mouth. I know he’s about to come, I mean, he’s basically screaming my name, and I feel his dick seizing up. Like I suspected he would, his legs buckle and he’s coming hard, my name falling off his lips as he squeezes my shoulders in his hand. I suck him dry, milking him until he can’t take it anymore. Moving his limp dick out of my mouth, he picks me up and presses me into the wall. Closing the space between us, he takes my mouth with his, kissing me long and hard, curling my toes and making it hard to breathe. He then takes my legs, hooking them over his arms before pressing his hands into the wall, opening me wide for him.

I feel completely exposed and I want to be a little shy, but that look in his eyes tells me I have nothing to be shy about. Pressing his hands into the back of my knees, he holds me up before dropping to his knees and burying his face between my wet folds. I cry out, my nails digging into his shoulders as he makes love to me with his mouth. I tremble with need, my heart pounding, my legs shaking from my impending orgasm, and I’m not sure how much more I can take. I’ve been craving this for days, been dreaming about it, and now it’s happening. In a hot, sexy way against a wall where anyone could find us. The thrill of that has me crying out louder, my hands squeezing his shoulders as he slowly moves his tongue in and out of me, his nose pressing against my clit. Moving up, he holds nothing back, flicking his tongue ruthlessly against my clit, and I come, my whole body coming undone beneath his talented mouth.