Page 90 of Lies Like Love

“Enemy Muse. This is from their latest album.”

Sometimes I forget how popular Twisted Roses is, and that it’s not unusual for celebrities and rock stars to walk in and get work done. But the mention of the biggest rock band in the country catches me off guard.

“What?” Jude pulls me closer.

“I just can’t believe you know Sebastian Kane.”

“He’s a friend.” Jude squeezes me tighter. “So please tell me you don’t have a crush on him because I’d hate to have to do something about it.”

“Very funny.” I wrap my arms around Jude’s shoulders and seal our bodies together.

My nipples are still sore from earlier, and for some reason, I love the reminder—the sharp sting of pain from what I let him do. A sensation only Jude can give.

“He’s not you,” I whisper in his ear.

And I mean it. Celebrities, other men. No one is, or could be, Jude Carlisle.

Jude runs his fingers through my hair and brushes it off my shoulder, holding me and looking me in the eyes. I try not to sink too far into this moment, but I can’t help myself.

This man in my grasp was always off limits.Forbidden. Torturing me at the sight of him because not being able to have him didn’t prevent me from craving it. Never thinking it could actually be possible.

One kiss pushed me under and now I refuse to come up for air.

A waitress drops off a round of shots, and I don’t miss that her eyes linger on Jude a moment too long. He’s playing with his tongue piercing like he does when he’s lost in thought, and her cheeks flush pink at the sight of him clenching it between his teeth.

She’s beautiful—like Brea and every other girl who can’t tear their gaze off him. And I wonder if he meant what he said to me at the shop earlier when he told me he didn’t need anyone more than me.

I’m nothing more than a girl with little direction blindly chasing my dreams. Haunted by a dead mother and a closet full of skeletons. Hoping Jude can live among them when years ago it was impossible for him to stay.

The waitress disappears—not that he seemed to notice. Jude hugs me tighter, and I can’t help but wince at the pressure it puts on my nipples.

“Sore?”

The dark gleam in his eyes says he’s satisfied with himself for inflicting a little pain.

“Yes.”

He squeezes me again, and even though pulsing heat radiates through me, I want more.

“Do you like it when I hurt you?” He must notice how every bit of pressure makes my eyes flutter and my thighs clench around his tattooed fingers.

“Sometimes.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Jude shakes his head and dips his mouth by my ear, planting a kiss behind it, and sending shivers over my skin with his breath. He grins against my neck as he grazes his lips back and forth over the sensitive skin. “You like it when I hurt youalways. It’s your downfall, Felicity. You should know better by now.”

He nips at my earlobe, before pulling back and staring into my eyes.

He knows he’s right.Iknow he’s right.

I hate him for every bit of pain he puts me through. But more than that, I hate how it doesn’t stop me from still going full circle. No one can hurt me like Jude Carlisle. And no one can make me ravenous for more.

But I don’t admit the real power he has over me because I don’t know how he’d use that information. Even I have my limits on the pain I’ll allow him to inflict.

So I stay quiet and relax against him, enjoying the fact that we’re in a place I can do this openly. If we were at another one of my grandparents’ galas, people would whisper. They’d judge.

Among his friends, in a club bleeding sin, right and wrong already don’t exist. People chase what makes them feel good. For me, that’s Jude, and the high being in his presence gives me.

He said,to the end.

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