Page 131 of When the Stars Fall
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Warmth radiatedfrom his touch and left a trail of heat in its wake. He kissed below my ear. My cheek. My jaw. Pressed his lips to the pulse point at my neck. Kissed my shoulder. My wrist.
Calloused hands, rough against my soft skin, glided up my thighs. Over my breasts. Up my neck and into my hair. His hand clasped mine and he laced our fingers together, resting our joined hands beside my head as his lips traveled from my jaw to my ear and he whispered, “Tell me this doesn’t feel like home.”
And it felt exactly like home because my home was him. It had always been him.
He slid inside me, and it was slow, and we were silent, our bodies saying everything our words couldn’t. I curved away from the bed, the balls of my feet digging into the mattress, and he thrust harder. He groaned into my neck as he stroked in and out.
A fire ignited in my soul, burning only for him.
I touched his face and he kissed my lips, so gently, with a reverence that brought tears to my eyes. He pushed in deeper and my eyes drifted shut, a lone tear trailing down my cheek.
“Jude,” I whispered. How had I lived without him for so long?
My back arched off the mattress and he kissed me again. My nails dug into his back as he stroked deeper, harder, filling up the space inside me he’d created for himself so many years ago.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
All I could think about was him. All I could feel was him. All I wanted and needed was him.
“You’re my home.”
Forever. Always.
Chapter Forty-Six
Jude
“Is it ready to flip?”Noah tilted his head to look up at me. He was so fucking cute. In only a few short weeks, I’d gotten attached to him. I looked forward to spending time with him, as much as I looked forward to seeing Lila every day.
“Do you see the bubbles?” I asked him.
He studied the pancakes in the pan then nodded. “I see them.”
“That means it’s time to flip. But remember what I told you?”
“Be careful. Don’t touch the pan. Cause it’s hot,” he repeated the words I’d told him.
“It’s really hot and I don’t want you to get burned.”
“I know.”
I stayed right beside him, ready to intervene if necessary but unlike the way he did most things, he approached this task cautiously. I wrapped my hand around his and helped him get the spatula all the way under the pancake before he tried to flip it.
“I can do it.”
I released his hand and I watched him do it. The pancake was a bit burnt, which I suspected would be the case but I’d eat this batch.
I set the stack of pancakes on the island next to the bacon and Noah climbed onto his stool, all ready to dive in.
I poured a cup of coffee for Lila, added milk until it turned the color she liked it, and set it in front of her as she took her seat across from me. She looked down at the coffee then at the breakfast—pancakes, bacon, fruit that Noah and I had cut up—then finally her eyes met mine. “It’s kind of nice having you around.”
“Kind of nice?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
