Page 30 of Kiss Me at Midnight
“Why wouldn’t I appreciate you? Adore you and your glasses? I’ll tell you a secret.” His lips moved over the shell of her ear. “When I’m not wearing contacts, I wear really thick glasses.”
Lily sucked in a breath. He was perfect. “Kiss me, Talon.”Rescue me from my own self-doubt.
Jud obeyed Lily’s command.
“Never apologize for being mature or smart or wearing glasses.” Jud tangled his fingers in the hair at the back of Lily’s neck and then he kissed her some more. Long, hot, drugging kisses that made her forget everything but him.
“Jud, we should–”
“Hello.” Paulo stood next to the hot tub, shedding his bathrobe, revealing a bright red Speedo.
“Eep.” Mortification had Lily scrambling off Jud’s lap and gathered her soaked bathrobe from the bottom. She stood and held it in front of her chest. “We were just…leaving.” She climbed out, dropped her wet robe on the deck, grabbed a towel from a nearby cupboard, and wrapped it around herself. Belatedly, she realized Paulo may not have understood her statement, so she repeated it in Spanish while Jud joined her on the deck.
Paulo sunk into the tub, legs long enough to extend his feet to the other side. “Yes, you need air.”
You? Did he mean him?
Lily was too shaken to examine his words.
Jud wrapped a towel around his waist, and then covered Lily with dry his bathrobe, and hustled her out the door.
“Did you hear that?” Lily asked Jud in hushed tones when they reached the stairs. “Paulo said he needed air. Like Rachel was suffocating him. I think…”
“You think?” Jud padded down the stairs, drawing Lily with him. “Are you saying that because that’s what you want to believe because feeding the hungry is on the line? Or are you saying that because that’s the exact translation?”
Was her opinion colored by her desire to fulfill her contract with Abe? The feeling of uncertainty about Paulo’s words returned. And then Jud pulled her to a stop and nibbled on the back of her neck. Lily stiffened taking a few quick steps out of reach. “I should get off the boat tomorrow. This is how it starts.”
“How what starts?”
Expectations between us. Lily couldn’t get those words out. She executed a mental pivot, as she had so often before with men. “Politicians get made deals like this and their actions and perspective becomes less clear.”
Jud scoffed. “This has nothing to do with you being a politician. You’re scared of Rachel. She only has power over you if you give it to her.” He sounded like Violet.
“Forget Rachel.” Lily’s steps slowed as they neared her cabin. “This deal we made with Abe… My gut’s telling me to cut my losses.”
“You’d leave me?” His heart was in his gaze, soft and as blue as a spring sky.
“Yes.” She didn’t want to stay. There were pitfalls everywhere. And yet, a bit of courage made her admit, “But I’d rather you left with me.”
“I can’t leave. Not yet. Stay,” he pleaded softly, whispering in her ear. “Stay on board at least through our planned break up. This is like one really, long date. Emphasis on one.” He kissed her neck and then kissed her as if he couldn’t stand not to. When he finally drew back, he said two words, “Stay. Please.”
Lily knew if she stayed that she’d regret it. She was in danger of falling for him, despite their relationship being a ruse. She knew she wasn’t the right woman to win the heart of the world famous Judson Hambly. “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight.”
“If you can’t sleep, knock on my door.” Jud brushed aside her hair and pressed a light kiss to her lips. “I like kissing you, Lily. But I like talking to you more.” He grinned. “MaybeI like talking to you more than kissing you. The jury’s still out.”
It was indeed. Lily watched him enter his cabin, heard his door click shut. And still she leaned against her door, worried about what tomorrow would bring.
*
Lily’s phone began announcing text and chat messages before six a.m.
She put a pillow over her head for the next twenty minutes, ruing the fact that she’d turned her phone on after dinner and left it charging in the bathroom. She shut her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.
No such luck.
“Lily, I know you won’t believe this, but I need my beauty rest.” Grandma Dotty rolled over. “Silence your cell phone.”
Lily got up, put on her glasses, and began checking her messages.
