Page 42 of Strangely Normal

An entire shower of popcorn flew at Cole from the front seat.

He picked a piece off his shoulder and ate it. “Needs butter. And you didn’t let me finish. I was going to sayeasy to scare.” More popcorn flew his way.

Jude threw his arm around my shoulder. “The boy never knows when to shut up.”

Finley stood and stretched. “I’m tired. I think I’ll turn in. I already know how it ends.”

“I’ll walk you upstairs just in case there are any cannibals lurking in the hallway,” Cole said. “Hey, Jude, I’m going down to Corky’s Bar and Grille to meet some people. You want to come?”

“Nope.”

“Kind of thought you’d say no. See you later.”

Finley and Cole left the room and Jude grabbed me. “I thought they’d never leave. Now where were we?” He laid me down on the seat and his mouth devoured mine instantly. But after a few moments, I pulled my lips away. The look of disappointment in his eyes nearly made me laugh. “I understand your newfound respect for this movie and all, but do you really want me to think about Hannibal and his fava beans every time we kiss?”

“Good point.” He hopped up, muted the movie, and turned on music instead.

This time he lowered himself over me slowly, his gaze never leaving my face as he pressed his body along the length of me. His mouth lowered over mine, and the kiss built with urgency again, the same unequaled urgency I’d felt in the pool house. His hands explored every inch of skin on my arms, stomach and breasts. My fingers grasped for the hem of his shirt and I pushed it up, exposing his skin. I lifted my head and ran my lips and tongue along the hard, muscular ridges of his chest.

Physically, I felt completely vulnerable as if I had no intention of stopping what we’d started, but my mind kept tugging at my self-control, pulling me from the dizzying swirl of pleasure and back into reality. I wasn’t prepared for this yet. I knew once I’d given into it all, I was risking everything, including my heart. Jude seemed to sense my hesitancy. His hands moved up to my face, and he pressed his palm against my cheek and kissed my lips.

“I’m sorry, Jude. I’m not ready yet.”

“I understand,” he said. “It’s killing me but I understand.” He stretched out next to me on the seat.

“Now that you’re free again, I suppose you’ll be taking off soon. At least that’s the rumor I keep hearing.” I wasn’t completely sure what’d prompted the topic at this particular moment, but suddenly, I wanted to know.

“Rumors, huh? This town is famous for gossip.” He leaned down and kissed me lightly. “Look, Eden, I know this complicates things some—”

I peered up into his incredibly perfect face. “You think?”

“All right, it complicates things a lot, but contrary to what my sister may have told you, I’m not a complete jerk.”

“Actually, she uses the word ass more than jerk.”

“I’m not a complete ass,” he continued. “Maybe a partial ass but not a complete one.” He fell silent and then reached up and pushed the hair off my face. “I’m here right now because I badly want to be with you. And as my sister can tell you, there aren’t many people I want to be with.”

Everything would have been much easier if my initial dislike of the guy had stuck, but it had been obliterated almost from the start. In fact, it had disintegrated so completely I questioned whether I’d ever truly disliked him at all. Now there seemed to be no turning back. I just needed to remember to keep my head.

Jude leaned down and kissed me again, and a tingling sensation warmed my skin.

Keeping my head was not going to be easy.

“Hey, tomorrow, I’ll take you on a ride on the bike. If you want to go-that is? And we’ll have to clear it with the Empress. But we could just take a short ride. What do you say?”

“Uh, let me think— hell yeah. Do I get to wear one of those cool Harley helmets?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of the law out here in L.A.”

“Yippee.”

Chapter 14

Finley and I had spent the morning attempting to knit. She was quite skilled at it, but I’d spent more time untangling the yarn than actually getting it around the needle point.

I held up my project. “It looks more like a spider web than a scarf.”

Finley’s phone had buzzed several times during our knitting session, and each time she’d looked at it and then put it back down.

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