Ryker’s Justice (9 page)

“Let’s
go inside,” he said. When she nodded, Jude swept her up into his arms and
carried her up the porch steps. He pushed open the seldom-locked door and
entered the house. Pleasant aromas wafted toward him, the lingering scent of
cooking, a hint of Nicole’s rose perfume, and the clean, fresh scent of dish
soap. Until now, after the long vacancy and his brief bachelor residence, it’d
been stale within, but now Jude felt as if the house had come to life again.

Without
pausing, he toted her to his bedroom, moving up the open staircase with ease. Once
there, he put her down and kissed her again. Once she managed to shrug off his
high school jacket, she snuggled against him, head tilted to allow his mouth to
reach hers, and hung tight. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her fingers
strayed into his short hair. The way she caressed him increased his already
volatile passions and he tongued her again, deeper than before. Nicole moaned
in response.

Her
hands fumbled and worked the button of his jeans free. When she undid the
zipper, Jude gasped. If he lost control, he’d shoot off worse than a teenager
with his first hard-on so he steeled himself to hold his orgasm. And if she
grabbed his cock, it’d be over in a hurry.

“Slow
down, honey,” he whispered.

Like
a sleepwalker, she gazed at him without seeing. Jude undid her blouse and
thrust his hands beneath her bra. He cupped her breasts and savored the weight
of them. After he managed to undo the front opening bra, he bent and suckled
one ripe nipple in his mouth. God, the warmth almost drove him crazy and when
the sweet bud blossomed inside his mouth, a ripple of sheer pleasure rolled
over him. He licked the hard nodule with his tongue and sucked harder. Nicole’s
fingers caught in his hair and despite its short length, they held tight.

She can snatch me bald-headed and
right now I don’t give a damn.
He switched nipples and repeated as she moaned. The small sounds she made
increased his want ten times over.

Jude
stripped away her top and when he tugged at her jeans, she unfastened them and
worked them to her ankles. Nicole stepped from them in one swift motion,
graceful as a dancer, and pulled his shirt from him with speed. He wiggled his
hips and shed his pants faster than a snake sloughing away an old skin for the
new. His cock sprang out between them, twice as long and solid granite. Such a
major boner hurt but he knew it would be worth the pain when he came.

He
maneuvered her to the bed but before they toppled onto the mattress, he stroked
her
body,
his hands running over each reachable bit of
flesh with slow strokes intended to tantalize. Jude kissed her again, this time
with a slow, deliberate heat potent enough to burn. Fire singed his lips as if
he’d held a lit match against them and the sensation sizzled all the way down
to his dick. Nicole used her fingers to tweak his nipples, her thumb rubbing
against first one, then the other until they ached. Before he had time to fully
appreciate the intense pleasure, she broke from the kiss and nibbled above his
left pectoral muscle with sharp bites. Each nip sent a thrill through his body.

Nicole
rose on tiptoes to use her teeth on the tender skin of his throat, using them
with such skill his cock throbbed to the beat of his heart. He delivered a
series of kisses and licks to her breasts and then dropped to his knees. Jude
stroked her pussy with his entire hand and then inserted one large finger into
the box. The heat amazed him and as he probed, her wet cunt convulsed and he
shivered with erotic delight. So did
she
.

Unable
to wait any longer, Jude pushed her back onto his bed, her head landing on his
pillows. Nicole opened her legs to him, knees upright and he plunged between
them, his cock finding the way home, blind. The moment he entered, her pussy
wrapped around him tight and she squeezed her box. Every sensation he had intensified
and he pumped harder. She
scissored
her legs behind
his back and pushed him deeper. He rocked her, pulling out and back in a slow
rhythm which delivered both incredible pleasure and something close to pain.

By
the time he entered for the final time, they both made soundless noise, whines,
groans, and cries. As they climbed together, the tension increased until Jude
found it near unbearable. When he thought he couldn’t stand any more, a
powerful orgasm struck with the force of a tornado. It overwhelmed him. His
body quivered and shook as he came, pumping his passion into her body with
force.

“Jude!”
His name burst from her mouth, loud and sweet to his ears.
“Oh,
Jude.”

Her
hands clung to him, clawing and pawing as her face suffused with a crimson
glow. She came hard, he thought, but with blinding joy. They shuddered together
in a blast of delightful sensation and powerful pleasure. For the first time,
emotion, coupled with the erotic rush, created something he’d never known
before, a cocoon of well-being and wonder.

Breathing
hard, sweat-soaked, and happier than he had been in a very long time, Jude
flopped down beside Nicole. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her
breath, and her body trembled with sweet aftershocks. He put his palm against
the mouth of her pussy and she came again, a hot rush against his hand. “
Ohhh
,” she moaned. “Jude, you’re killing me.”

Surprised
she could summon enough air to speak, he laughed. “Good
lovin
’
never hurt anybody, honey.”

A
smile emerged, brilliant and bright. “If you say so,” she whispered.

“I
do,” Jude told her. He shifted position to prop up against the pillows,
then
extended his arm in invitation. Nicole scooted into its
curve and nestled against him.

“I’m
sleepy,” she murmured.

He
kissed the top of her head, too spent to do anything more. “I am, too. Let’s
get some rest while we can. I need to go back to the hospital in a few hours
after I drop you off at the inn.”

Oh, shit. Mary and Rick will have
a fit when they realize Nicole hasn’t come home.
If they do.
Maybe they won’t. I hope they had a full house.

He
cared for the older couple very much but he didn’t always hold with their
old-fashioned ways and strict moral code. Although he didn’t know for sure
they’d object, they might, and he didn’t want any trouble for Nicole.

She
shook her head in disagreement. “I want to go with you,” she said. “Don’t you
want me to?”

To
his surprise, he did. “Yeah, but if you’d rather not, I understand.”

“Uh-huh,”
Nicole said. “I wore your jacket. We were seen shopping at the store together. So
we’re a couple, right?”

In
every way he could imagine, they were. “Yes, honey.”

“So
I’ll go with you.”

Her
caring wowed him and touched him deep within the places where he seldom let
anyone reach. “I’d like that a lot. Thanks.”

“Jude?”

Sleep
threatened to drop like a curtain soon. “What?”

“I
need to tell you some things about my ex-husband…”

“Sure,”
he said, relieved she’d brought up the subject.
“But later,
Nicole, later.”

“Okay.”
She yawned. “Then I’ll tell you something else.”

“What’s
that?”

“I
love you.”

The
barriers he’d erected around his heart long ago, built from hurt and
heartbreak, cracked. Emotion flooded him, deeper than a mighty river, darker
than
midnight
, and sweeter than
a stash of wild honey in a bee tree. He never doubted she meant it, and so
before her eyes closed and he succumbed to fatigue, he repeated them back to
her like the vow they were. “Oh, honey, I love you, too.”

He
drifted to sleep on soft wings, content in the knowledge that he loved and was
loved in return. Jude didn’t fret over the future, not his nephew’s or the
investigation or what would happen with Nicole. This moment, this interlude
contained the world—for now.

Morning
changed everything. He woke to the shrill insistence of a ringing cell phone, a
sound which would not stop. Jude roused, aware of the warm woman cuddled beside
him, her hand resting on his broad chest. His ringtone continued and he
untangled from Nicole to find the phone, still in the pocket of his discarded
jeans. Tense with concern, afraid the call might bring ill news, he answered.

“Ryker.”

“Jude?”
Mary’s voice echoed in his ear. “I’m sorry to call so early but I’m worried
about Nicole. She never came home.”

Jude
relaxed. “It’s okay, she’s with me,” he said. Then he realized how it must
sound and added, “After the football game, my nephew David was in a bad car
accident. He needed surgery but he’s in ICU now and the docs say he should
recover. Nicole wanted to stay, to offer what support she could.”

Mary’s
tone altered.
“Oh, my.
I hadn’t heard. Well, you’ve
both put in a long night. I’m glad David will be okay, though. If you can
leave, come to the inn and I’ll fix you a nice breakfast, Jude.”

“Thanks,”
he said. “We’ll see. I appreciate it.”

Nicole
stirred and opened her eyes. He watched as she became aware of her
surroundings,
then
stretched out her hand to find him.
When she didn’t, he stepped to the bed and sat down on the edge. “Good morning,
honey.”

She
answered with a smile and stretched out her hand. He took it. No woman had ever
seemed more beautiful than she did, hair tousled and bare skinned. “
Wanna
come back to bed for a while?”

His
cock tightened at the idea but he shook his head. “I wish. But I need to head
down to the hospital and see what’s going on. You can sleep awhile longer if
you want.”

Jude
stroked hair back from her face as tenderness welled up within. Nicole shook
her head. “No thanks,” she said. “I need coffee and then we need to talk.”

“Mary
offered to feed us if you want to head over to the inn.”

“She’s
sweet but I want this to last, just us, for a little longer.”

He
had no desire to argue so he pulled on his jeans and padded barefooted
downstairs to plug in the coffeepot. Reality, he thought, would be back soon so
he resolved to enjoy the interlude while it lasted.

Chapter Nine

After
plenty of black coffee and leftover biscuits, Nicole cleared the table while
Jude lingered over his last cup. She paused behind him and put her hands on his
shoulders, then leaned closer. “I meant what I said,” she told him.

Jude
tilted back so he could see her face. “So did
I
,” he
said. “I love you, Nicole. I’ve never said those words to any woman until now. Just
so you know
,
it’s not some ‘morning after sweet talk’.
But I’ll be damned if I know what happens next.”

She
folded her fingers and rested her hand against his cheek. “We’ll figure it out,
Jude. I haven’t felt this way, this strong, this
real
before either, and
I was married.”

He
placed his hand over hers, savoring her caress. “Yeah, I know, honey.”

“There’s
a lot you don’t know, but I want you to,” she told him.

“I’m
ready to listen whenever you want to talk. I need to tell you why I’m here and
what I’m doing, too, Nicole. But like I said, you can’t tell anyone any details.”

“I
won’t. And I know you’ll do the same. There are things I’d rather most people
don’t know about my ex and what he did. It’s one reason I left
Memphis
and why I’ve stayed so long.”

She’s
gonna
talk about it.
Relief
tasted sweet in his soul but it was short-lived. They had baggage to handle and
obstacles to overcome. Jude had no idea how they would get past all of it but
he resolved to make every effort. He opened his mouth to speak and his cell phone
buzzed. With a sigh, he answered without bothering to check the caller ID.
“Ryker.”

“Jude,
are you coming back to the hospital anytime soon?” His brother Elijah sounded
both frazzled and frantic.

“Sure,
whenever you need me. How’s it going?”

Elijah
sighed. “David’s holding his own, no change, but I’m worried about Tania. She’s
a total mess. She can’t stop crying and when she’s not crying, she’s puking. I
need to get her home and I could use a little sleep, too. I’m dead on my feet. I
hate to ask but Adam and Noah both had to work, Esther’s got the kids, and
Abigail’s working, too.”

“No
problem, brother. I’ll be there. Give me half an hour to shower and get over
there.”

“Thanks,
Jude.”

The
talk with Nicole had to wait. “Honey, I’ve
gotta
go…”

“I
know,” she said. “I figured you did. I understand.”

“We
need to grab a quick shower and change.” He knew he smelled of musk and sex and
sweat. “Then we’ll head to the hospital…”

His
voice trailed into silence when he noticed she wore yesterday’s clothing. “Oh,
shit. You don’t have anything clean to wear, do you? And I imagine you’d like a
shower, too. Nicole, I can drop you at the inn for a few hours so you can clean
up, maybe rest.”