Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(83)

He leaned down and pecked a kiss to my forehead. “Let’s get you home.”

Home.

The longing hit me full force.

A smack in the face.

Jud touched my scar like he felt it, too, then he stepped back and took me by the hand, leading me out of his loft and downstairs. He bypassed his bike and opted for his truck. He helped me into the passenger’s seat and leaned up to buckle me in.

I grinned. “I can do that.”

“Now why would you go and do something like that when you can have all of this doin’ it for you?”

He ran his lips up the column of my throat and to my jaw when he said it.

My heart thundered in my chest.

The man didn’t fight fair.

He chuckled low as he shut the door, and the mammoth of a man rounded the front of his truck.

He hopped in. His presence overpowered the cab.

Citrus and spice.

A warm fall night.

The breaking day.

A whisper of new life.

He pushed the button to open the garage, and he started the truck, backed it out, and took to the road.

He kept grinning over at me as we traveled the quiet, sleeping streets.

Slow and sure.

A little cocky.

Too much of everything I hadn’t known I needed.

All while that energy spun and churned and built into a mountain as big as him. A force that couldn’t be conquered or subdued.

I didn’t think a word had been said between us by the time he made the last turn into my neighborhood. He pulled to a stop at the curb, and he left the truck running when he hopped out and came around to my side.

He opened the door to help me out.

Fire streaked up my arm when he took my hand.

But it was the flames that burned, wasn’t it? What left us ash?

I needed to remember.

Remember.

“Thank you.” Apparently, those were the only two words I knew since I couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out where we were supposed to go from there. What last night had meant other than…everything.

Maybe that was the most terrifying part of all.

Jud laughed a low sound as he shut the door and leaned back against the metal, those giant arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, it’s my pleasure, darlin’.”

My lips tipped up, and I touched the steady pounding at his chest. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

He just grinned, and I turned and edged up the walkway. Quietly, I slid the key into the lock. I looked back at him as I did.

“Are we still friends, darlin’?” A playful smile kissed his mouth when he asked it.

My smile his elicited was riddled with affection.

“Is that what you want to be?” Somehow, I pulled it off as a tease.

Jud shook his head, that smile so bright on his face, like he didn’t know what to do with me.

Figuring I’d wind up spending the whole day standing there grinning at him like a fool if I didn’t stop this madness, I forced myself to turn the knob.

He waited there with all that arrogant tenderness until I disappeared inside the hushed, sleeping house. I had the door locked behind me before he moved back to his side and climbed into his truck.

Yeah, I knew since I was peering at him through the drape that covered the window, and damn it, if the man didn’t take a piece of my heart with him when he drove away.

I angled farther to the side so I could watch the tail end of his truck disappear down the road.

“Look any closer, and you’re gonna break your neck.”

A squeak peeled out of me, and I whirled around to find Mimi smirking at me from the end of the hall, wearing her favorite muumuu and slippers.

“Mimi, you scared the crap out of me.” Heavy breaths heaved from my lungs.

She waved me off as she lumbered toward the kitchen. “Figured you’d be sneaking in right about now.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m not sneaking. I just didn’t want to wake anyone up.”

She eyed me up and down. “And it looks to me like my girl never went to sleep.”

“Mimi,” I chastised, gaze darting through the empty living room, just in case anyone else could hear.

“Salem,” she shot right back as she edged the rest of the way into the kitchen. She flipped on the light and moved directly for the coffee maker.

“Where are the kids?” I asked as I followed behind.

“They built a fort in my bedroom. Felt like I’d better keep an eye on those two before they ended up packing their bags and trying to walk to the moon. Cute as pie, but woo wee, those imaginations are running wild. Could barely keep up with the two of them.”

Love pressed full at my chest. “She’s a dreamer.”

“Mmhmm…” Mimi mused as she filled the carafe with water then poured it into the machine. “Just like her mother used to be.”

A huff of air left my nose as I sat on the stool at the tiny bar on the opposite side of the counter. “I used to be, didn’t I?”

I’d almost forgotten what that was like.

“You sure did, but you lost those dreams along the way.” She paused, glancing over at me. “More like someone snuffed them out.”

She reached over the counter and tipped up my chin so she could study my face. “But there they are…the spark of something new lighting in those beautiful eyes.”