Diamonds (All that Glitters #1)(30)

“Enough to realize that someone calling you on Christmas morning and asking about your New Year’s plans is probably someone important. Oh, and she upset you. I’ve never seen you upset,” she told him point-blank.

“Was,” he corrected. “She was someone important, and we are separated. That’s why I’m here with you.” He walked across the tile floor and wrapped his arms around her. “This is the only place I want to be. She doesn’t matter to me.”

If Bryna were a typical girl, she might have just let the subject drop. After all, it was Christmas, she was in St. Barts on vacation, and the man she was falling for had just said that there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

Except she wasn’t typical.

“So…are you guys getting a divorce then?”

Jude took a step back and sighed. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”

“Oh. Merry Christmas,” she said. “In California, I know you have to be separated for at least six months before a divorce is finalized.”

“Can we not talk about this?” he asked. He looked weary of the topic of discussion.

“Ever?”

He grabbed her by the back of her thighs, hoisted her legs around his waist, and then carried her to the island in the middle of the kitchen. “Not while you’re here in nothing but skimpy lingerie.”

His mouth landed hot on her neck, and he kissed his way up to her earlobe. Her brain started going fuzzy again. Fuck, she wanted to just forget all the questions she had been asking. This felt so f*cking good.

She pulled back and gave him a stern look. “Are you trying to distract me?”

“I’m going to make you come. Are you objecting?”

Well, when he puts it that way… “No.”

His fingers dug into her thighs as their lips came together once more. He was intoxicating. Their chemistry was electric. Every touch threatened to push her over the edge and liquidate her very existence. She was already lost in the moment, in his tender caresses, and in thrall to his mesmerizing ways.

Jude pushed her back until she was lying flat on the island and then slid her down until her ass was almost hanging off the edge. He dragged her underwear to the ground, and his followed. His fingers gently probed her *, swirling around her opening until it was slick, and then he rubbed his thumb along her clit. Her body heated as he warmed her up to his touch.

If Jude was purposely diverting her, this was clearly the best kind of distraction.

“Tell me you want me,” he said. He teasingly slid his dick along her opening, not going in but making her want him more and more.

“Fuck, Jude. I want you. Just f*ck me.”

“Maybe if you ask nicely.”

He pressed the tip against her, and she gave up the illusion of control. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and arched toward him.

“Please,” she groaned. “Please take me. I’m yours.”

“Yes”—he shoved inside her *—“you are.”

After his declaration, their bodies smacked together in time. It was feral and possessive, a joining of two beings out of a basic primal craving. No thoughts crossed their minds of what awaited them once they rejoined reality. There was nothing else but the thrill of taking what they wanted, living without guilt for their choices and enjoying every f*cking minute of it.

BRYNA SILENCED HER PHONE for the second time that morning. Celia kept calling her, and Bryna did not want to talk to her. If my own father hadn’t called, why would my stepmother think that I would want to talk to her?

She had thought about calling her father in New Zealand, but he was the parent. Shouldn’t he care enough to call or at least text? He was a modern man. He knew how to use a smartphone, and he had an unlimited international package plan, so he could use his phone anywhere at anytime. Apparently, that time didn’t include calling his daughter on Christmas.

She didn’t want to let that bother her. Not today while she was spending the wonderful day with someone who actually cared for her.

Her eyes cut across the pool to where Jude was swimming laps. His shoulders and back were ripped. While he wasn’t bulky, he had great definition. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. They’d had sex before breakfast, but when he was half naked in front of her, it wasn’t fair how much she wanted him. He made her insatiable.

Her phone started buzzing again, and she grumbled under her breath. How distracting!

She went to silence the ringer when she noticed that Gates was calling, not her stepmother. She rolled her eyes but answered anyway.

“Merry Christmas,” she said faux-cheerfully.

“Bri, where the f*ck are you?” Gates asked.

She froze. Gates sounded freaked out.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I just got a call from Celia. You haven’t answered your phone all morning, so she called your mother.”

“She what?” Bryna shrieked, sitting up in her lounge chair.

Jude’s head popped up out of the water at the commotion. He wore a concerned look on his face. “Everything all right?”

She covered the phone to hopefully muffle any noise and nodded at Jude. She hoped she didn’t look as terrified as Gates had sounded. Because this was f*cking terrible. “Yeah. Just a call from home,” she told him, trying to hold on to a smile.