Page 47 of Hidden Vows
“Patience, love.” I lift her shirt, placing a feather light kiss to the skin right above her shorts.
“I don’t want to wait.” Abbey has never been one to blindly take orders. She’s always been an active participant in everything she does. It really shouldn’t surprise me that she pushes me away to sit up and tear her shirt over her head along with the lacy bralette she’s wearing underneath.
My eyes drink in the sight before me as she falls back onto the bed, a smirk forming across her lips. I’m not the only one who’s marked their skin. I want to say the first thing I notice is the elegant script under her left breast, but it’s the glint of silver at hernipples that captures my attention first.
I don’t even think about it as I reach for her left nipple. My fingers barely brush the pebbled tip when I hear her little moan and my eyes spring to hers. The way she bites her lip as she stares at me has my cock pulsing.It’s entirely possible I’m going to come in my pants without her laying a hand on me.
“When did you do this?” I ask, pinching her nipple around the barbell piercing.
“A few years after you left.” I appreciate that she doesn’t shy away from saying it. It’s proof that she wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t want to forget about the past.
“And this?” My fingers trail down her breast to the words tattooed across her ribs. My breath catches when I register the words.
…and until we meet again…
A line from an old Irish blessing my father gave us on the day we told him about our wedding.
“The day our divorce was finalized.” Her voice is soft, but I don’t hear the pain I thought I would. And when my eyes meet hers, all I see is sincerity. She’s not saying it to hurt us, she’s simply stating the truth.
I let my gaze fall back to the words, watching as my fingers slowly trace each letter. Goose bumps pop across her skin, but I can’t stop.
I bring my lips to the tattoo and finish the blessing against her skin. “May the joys of today, be those of tomorrow.”
“Jude,” she begs, reaching for me.
This time I don’t make her wait, my lips crash to hers.
twenty-one
ABBEY
I hadevery intention of going home when I left Emily’s house. It was an emotional night. One filled with so many questions—from everyone, including myself. But walking up those stairs and seeing Jude’s door was like someone looped a rope around my waist and I couldn’t stop myself from being pulled in.
I needed to see him. I needed to talk to him. I needed to feel him.
I neededhim.
If I’m being honest, while I hadn’t planned on kissing him or falling into his bed, the second I laid eyes on him, I can’t say the thought didn’t cross my mind. It was quickly followed by the thought that it would only be scratching an itch, but the second his lips touched mine I knew it would never be only scratching an itch with Jude Murphy.
His name is written across my soul, and I can’t imagine anything changing that.
In the grand scheme of life, it hasn’t been long since I slept with someone, but I’ve never felt the connection I had with Jude with anyone else. Being with him has always been—and will always be—so muchmore.
No matter how much time passes, Jude and I fit together in a way I’ve never experienced with anyone else and in a way I’ve only seen few other couples display.
Being with Jude is like coming home.
Is it smart to ignore the elephant in the room—the possibility that he lied to me all those years ago?
It’s probably the stupidest mistake I’ve ever made.
I don’t have any proof he lied. He’s never lied to me before, so why is it so easy to believe he lied about this? But then again, if he did cheat on me—have an affair with someone else—all those weeks were lies.
Talking myself in circles proves how stupid I’m beingnottalking to him. That thought doesn’t stop me.
If he did lie to me about the affair, I know it was for a good reason. And giving myself the time to actually think rationally? I have a pretty good idea what that reason might have been. It’s a reason I don’t want to think about because it means losing the one person I had after he left and my mother died.
I may have more people in my corner now, but for so long I only had one, and no matter what, he’s my family.
