Page 78 of The Plus One
Jude gave up on her feeding him, reaching for his own bite. He opened his mouth, loaded fry dangling close, but Indira jolted forward, wrapping her lips around his fingers, tongue curling to take the fries into her mouth. She nipped at his fingers for good measure before pulling away with a loudpop.
Jude stared at her for a moment, then brushed his knuckles across his mouth trying to hide his smile and the touch of pink high on his cheeks.
“I’d be careful if I were you,” he said, voice rough and hot. “Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean I won’t bite back.”
Indira stuck out her tongue, waves of heat rolling low in her belly at the very idea of his bite.
Jude caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger, brushing his nose against hers before kissing her with barely controlled passion. Indira pressed back, a soft groan vibrating in her throat as he threaded his fingers in her hair, tugging lightly and shooting sensation through her. Indira moved, crawling like a feral little animal across the space between them, legs kicking the food trays as she situated herself firmly on Jude’s lap.
He grinned up at her. “Wow, should I threaten to punish you more often?”
Indira laughed against his mouth, dizzy with how much she felt for him. They continued making out like infatuated teenagers for a few more minutes.
“Bed,” Jude grunted, pressing his hips up against her as she ground down on him.
Indira shot him a wolfish smile at the sharp edge of desperation in his voice.
“I’ve always said mac ’n’ cheese is the world’s most potent aphrodisiac,” she said, nipping at his jaw before scrambling to standing.
They were a tangle of limbs and kisses, giggling as they tripped down the hall toward her bedroom.
Jude pressed Indira against the wall outside her door, dragging his teeth down her neck, hands snaking under her skirt and up her thighs to squeeze her ass. She threw her arms around his neck, knotting her fingers in his hair and tugging till his mouth met hers. They kissed until she was panting, a decadent type of pleasure coiling tight between her hip bones.
“Wait,” he whispered against her throat, hands stilling. “Go get comfortable, I have one more gift for you.”
“Give it to me later,” she whined. “I have a few more important things on my mind.” She felt his smile against her throat at her protest.
“I don’t plan on letting you leave that bed once I get you on it,” he said against her skin before nipping gently.
Indira melted. “Fine,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “Do what you must.”
He laughed as he pulled away, and Indira slapped his butt as he walked back down the hall, giggling and punch-drunk at the prissy look he shot her over his shoulder.
She went into her room, flinging herself on the bed as she waited for him. Her heart felt like it’d strapped on roller skates and was zipping a blurred, happy loop around her chest.
Indira considered getting undressed, but she loved watching Jude do that for her, the careful, adoring way he unwrapped her, like he could never get over the shock of seeing more of her skin as he stripped away layer after layer.
When he returned, he had a nervous look on his face, a wrapped rectangle partially hidden behind his back. But as he walked closer, he gave her a boyish grin that made her heart stutter.
She scooted to the edge of the mattress, and Jude sat down next to her.
“So, it’s kind of silly,” Jude said, pink touching his cheeks as he bounced his leg. “But, uh, here you go.” He cleared his throat, handed her the carefully wrapped rectangle, then stared down at his lap.
Indira punched him on the shoulder. “You already got me literally all of my favorite food and moved me into my new apartment. Give a girl’s heart a moment to recover.”
Jude caught her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before letting it go. “I think you should start having higher expectations from me,” he said with a rough laugh. “Because you deserve the world.”
Indira sucked in a breath, something sweet and intoxicating swelling in her chest, pressing against her ribs.
“It’s seriously nothing big,” he said, the pink turning deep and rosy, spreading across the bridge of his nose.
Indira tore into the paper, revealing the back of a frame. She turned it over, excited to see what picture Jude put in it, but instead of their smiling faces, a crumpled, old piece of paper sat front and center.
Indira brought it closer to her face, tracing her fingers over the cool glass. She recognized her own adolescent handwriting, big soft letters written in red crayon at the top of the page:
I♥Indira sooooooooo much
~Jude
