Crush (19 page)

Thomas shook his head as he continued to stack cheeseburgers onto a serving tray. “So today I’m ‘your man,’ but not too long ago I was Peter Pan. What earned me the upgrade?”

“First off, I called you Peter Pan because I’m a jealous dick who’d just found you undressing my girl,” Jude explained. “And you’re ‘my man’ because you’ve been looking after the three most important people in my life.”

Thomas fought his smile. “What do you know? The dumb jock is deep.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jude said, taking a drink of his beer. “I’ve heard enough dumb-jock jokes to last an eternity.”

“And I’ve heard enough Peter Pan jokes to last two,” Thomas tossed back, before heading to the table with a tray holding more cheeseburgers than we could eat in a week.

Jude took another drink before examining the bottle. “PBR?” he said, looking impressed. “Luce, you know how to treat me right.”

I wrapped an arm around him because, after three weeks of being apart, I didn’t want to be apart anymore. “Nothing but the best for my man.”

“Come on. Let’s eat,” he said, ringing an arm around my neck. “I’m starving.”

“Me, too,” I said, lowering my voice, since young ears and sexual innuendos shouldn’t go together. “But not for food.”

Jude stopped in place. His mouth lowered just outside my ear. “You keep up that kind of talk and I will throw you down and do you on this table, too.”

Goose bumps were already rising, but when his teeth grazed my earlobe, those goose bumps exploded to the surface even quicker.

Fine. Two could play at this foreplay game. I had to rise up on my tiptoes to settle my mouth at his ear. “I’m so ready for you my panties would be wet . . .” I said, going one step further and sucking the tip of his earlobe between my teeth, “if I was wearing any.”

His breath hitched between his teeth.

Flashing him an innocent smile, I continued to the table. Just as I was sitting down, he came up behind me. “Thanks to you and that filthy mouth, I’ve got to take a little time-out in the bathroom.”

“What?” I said, spinning in my seat. “We’re just about to eat dinner. A cold shower can wait.”

I chalked up a point for Lucy Larson. She’d won this round of verbal foreplay.

“My dick’s so hard a cold shower wouldn’t even touch it. And I’m not going to sit through dinner with a hard-on tenting my jeans,” he said into my ear. “I’m going to go rub one out. I’ll be right back.”

Speaking of wet panties . . .

“I’ll help,” I said, jumping out of my chair.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me along. “Good. Your hands are softer than mine.”

We’d just about made it to the bathroom, so close I was already reaching for the top button of Jude’s jeans, when a solo knock sounded outside the front door.

A solo knock followed by three fast ones.

I wanted to cry from the letdown. If we’d been two seconds faster, we already would have been behind that closed door and my hand would have been sliding up and down—

“Lookie here. We’ve got a welcoming committee,” India said after swinging the door open.

With Anton at her side.

“Shit.”

Did that just slip out of my mouth?

“‘Hello. Nice to see you. Good of you to make it,’” India said, stepping inside. “These are a few commonly accepted greetings when welcoming someone to your place.” Smirking at me, she gave Jude a quick hug. “It sure is nice to have my arms around your sexy-ass body again. Any idea why we had to shove through a mini army of paparazzi camped out on the sidewalk?”

“Hey, Indie,” Jude said, his eyes locked on Anton. “I hope you kicked each one of those bloodsuckers in the junk on your way up.”

I sighed. I must have been too absorbed and focused on getting up to the apartment to notice that the small crowd of people outside our apartment had cameras around their necks. It seemed wherever Jude Ryder went, so did the photographers. Looked like we wouldn’t be leaving the apartment all weekend, which, actually . . . wasn’t such a bad deal.

“I hope you are hooking up my girl tonight, because she needs some sweet, sweet lovin’,” India said, patting his cheek before heading down the hall. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Lucy’s cute little freshly F-U-C-K-E-D face.”

“Don’t worry,” Jude answered her, continuing his stare-down with Anton, who didn’t look the least bit threatened. “I plan on taking care of my girl. All. Night. Long.”

I flushed so hard I could feel it bleeding into my neck. “Hi, Anton. Nice to see you,” I said, wrapping both hands around Jude’s arm. “Even for you, this is one hell of a ballsy move.”

“Lucy,” he replied with an amused smile.

I shot him a tight smile before tugging on Jude’s arm. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. “Now, if you’re done talking about our sex life with my boss . . .” I pulled again, harder this time. Nope. One of the downsides to being with a man who could bench a school bus was feeling like the biggest wimp in the world. “I’ve got a half dozen cheeseburgers with your name on them.”

Jude squared himself in front of Anton, not taking the cheeseburger bait. “You must be Anton.”

How could he make a few harmless words sound like a death threat?

Anton looked pointedly at Jude’s arm draped over me. “And you must be Jude.”

“In the flesh,” he said. “No more phones keeping us apart if you try to cuddle up to my girl again.”

“Jude,” I warned for quite possibly the millionth time in my life.

“Okay. How do we do this?” Anton said, sliding his hands into his slacks. “I haven’t been in a fight over a girl since fifth grade. Do we take it outside? Throw down right here in the doorway? Schedule an appointment? I’m in uncharted territory here.”

I would have laughed had the whole situation been so not funny. Where was everyone else when I needed them to help me separate these two? A peek over my shoulder revealed my answer.

“Oblivious” was the name of the game back in the kitchen.

“Let’s get one thing straight right now. We are not fighting for a girl. Luce is
my
girl. She will
always
be my girl.” The veins were starting to bulge in Jude’s neck. We were two stages away from fists flying. “What we’re fighting over is the way you look at my girl. The way I know you think about her. The way I know you want to have her. That’s what we’re fighting over.” Jude straightened his back to stand a little taller. He had a way of making his three-inch advantage seem like he was towering over Anton. “But let’s be honest. Since you and I both know you don’t stand a chance in a fight against me, why don’t we just pretend I’ve just kicked your ass into next year and you stop trying to weasel your way into Luce’s better judgment, heart, or pants. Got it?”

“I’ve never been one to take the easy road,” Anton replied, as calm as if he were conducting a business meeting. “And I don’t like being told what to do, so I’m afraid that’s a no-go, big guy.”

“Anton,” I hissed, wondering if he had a death wish. From what he was saying, I would guess he did.

“So how are we going to do this?” Anton repeated, taking a step forward. I’d underestimated Anton. I’d figured him for more the pacifist, antiwar kind of guy. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He wouldn’t back down from a fight any sooner than Jude would. Anton just wore a suit to the battle.

“I’m gonna kick your ass,” Jude replied, taking his own step forward.

Yep. They were going to do this. Right here in the doorway.

“Dinner’s ready!” Holly shouted. “If you don’t want me tossing yours out the window you’d better have your butts in your seats in three.”

When the end of time was upon us, Holly Reed was here to save us.

“Later, then,” Anton said, shouldering past Jude.

“Looking forward to it,” Jude said, glaring holes into Anton’s back.

“Real mature,” I said, nudging him.

“I thought you said that guy didn’t have a thing for you, Luce.”

I still hadn’t told Jude what Anton had said to me that afternoon a few weeks ago in the office. No time seemed to be right for unloading that dirty little secret. Least of all now.

“What’s your point?”

“That douche has a serious thing for you. A
serious
thing.”

I rubbed his arm, trying to soothe him. “How do you know that?” I asked, pretending I wasn’t sure if he was right.

“Because when he looks at you, it reminds me of the way I looked at you when we first met.”

“And how was that?”

Jude grabbed my hand in his and led me to the table. He sighed. “Like it was all over. Like the girl I was looking at was the one I was going to spend my life with.”

“And you don’t look at me that way anymore?” I teased.

“I still do, but there’s a confidence behind that look now. A confidence because I know you’re mine.” Jude pulled my chair out for me and moved his mouth closer to my ear. “That guy looks at you with the uncertainty I did at first. When I wasn’t sure I could ever have you,” he said quietly. “That guy wants you, all right, but I’m going to make damn sure he knows that he will never have you.”

“Hey, Tarzan,” I said as he took his seat next to me. “Tone it down a notch or ten.”

He slid me a smile. “You know that’s not my style, Luce.”

“Then why don’t you take a cheeseburger and stuff it in your mouth before you start throwing around any more ass-kicking threats at my boss.” I motioned at the tray of burgers Holly was holding out for Jude.

“So, Lucy,” Anton said from the other end of the table—positioned so he and Jude could pick up right where they’d left off in their staring contest. “I haven’t had a chance to talk with you about this yet, but I was wondering if you’d be able to stay on in the fall once school starts.”

Oh, boy.

“Lucy’s going to be busy—”

I raised my hand, cutting Jude off. “I can answer for myself, thank you very much.”

Jude raised his hand in surrender, clearly amused.

“I’m going to be busy”—I shot Jude a look—“with school. I really piled on the coursework my senior year, and then I’ll be going back and forth to San Diego to see Jude a bunch, too.”

Jude’s hand fell on my knee. “Not as much as I’ll be coming back and forth here to see you.”

“I could work around your schedule,” Anton said as everyone else chewed their dinner in silence. Even LJ knew something was going on. “In just three weeks’ time, you’ve proven to be quite the asset at Xavier Industries. I can’t just let you go.”

Jude squeezed my knee, more out of irritation than in reassurance.

“I’ll double your salary,” Anton announced before taking a big bite of his cheeseburger.

Jude opened his mouth, but I wasn’t going to let this go any farther without adding my two cents.

“It’s not about the money,” I said.

Anton arched an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s not totally about the money. I just won’t have the time. I want to commit to the things in my life that are more important than money,” I said, grabbing the ketchup bottle and squirting a glob onto my plate. “Besides, Jude’s making boatloads of money. I’m sure he can lend me a few bucks if I need it.”

I peered over at Jude. This was a source of discomfort for me, a matter of pride, and admitting to a table of my closest friends that I’d be willing to lean on Jude for financial support made me feel very . . . vulnerable. In the I’m-naked-where’s-the-nearest-palm-leaf kind of way.

But taking one glance at Jude’s face eased the way I was feeling. He didn’t just look happy; he looked relieved. Like I’d just removed a heavy weight from his shoulders. I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t need to in order to be glad I made him feel that way.

“I thought you liked making your own money. Being independent. Multimillion-dollar fiancé or not.” Okay, Anton didn’t just have a death wish courtesy of Jude. He had a death wish compliments of Lucy Larson.

This time it was my hand that moved to Jude’s leg, giving it a squeeze.

“That’s right. I do like making my own money,” I said, wanting to dunk one of my fries in ketchup and sail it across the table at Anton’s face. “But if Jude ever needed any of it, that money would be all his. And I think he feels the same way about the money he makes.”

“Damn straight I do, Luce.”

I loved the way he was looking at me right now, like he’d never been prouder of me. I wanted nothing more than to straddle him in that chair and kiss him until we were both blue in the face.

But I had someone else who needed to be put in his place.

“Anything else?” I said, challenging Anton with my eyes.

“I’ve got a whole lot of ‘anything else’s,” he said, dropping his hamburger onto the plate. “I’ve got so many more ‘anything else’s I could go on all night. But how about I start with one word that pretty much sums it up.” Anton wagged his finger between Jude and me. “Un. Healthy.”

Jude bolted up from his seat. I didn’t know what route he would take to get to Anton, but I wasn’t ruling out his flying straight across the table.

“That’s enough!” Holly scrambled out of her seat, too. “My three-year-old behaves better than all of you.” She looked down at LJ, who was trying to stuff a fry up his nostril. “And that’s not saying a whole lot.”

She looked at Anton. “Behave.” Then turned those crazy eyes on Jude. “Behave.” And then me. “Behave.” Taking a seat, she pulled the fry from LJ’s nose. “What’s Mom always telling you about using kind words, baby?”

LJ sat up in his seat, quite pleased to be included in this conversation. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Holly mussed the top of his head. “Any questions?” she asked the table.

Nada.

Other than a few more death glares aimed at each other, Jude and Anton didn’t say another word to each other over dinner, although it wasn’t exactly a quiet dining experience. Between LJ and India and Holly trying to talk over each other while Thomas tried and failed to add in his two cents, my ears were ringing by the time Jude started on his third cheeseburger.

“Where are you putting all of that?” I asked, done in at half of one of those burgers.

He shrugged as he chewed off a tennis ball–size bite. “I have a feeling I’m going to need my energy for tonight.”

Ah. There was that flirty foreplay I’d missed. “Good feeling.”