Page 54 of Steadfast
Jude set the box down on a stepstool. And before I knew what was happening, he’d pushed me up against the door to the walk-in. Those silver eyes came in at close range. “Yeah.” Then he kissed me.
Oh, sweet Jesus. His mouth slanted over mine, the pressure bossy and delicious. An angel choir sang a chorus of hallelujahs as his hips pressed against mine. When I parted my lips, he deepened the kiss. Then his tongue made a long, sweet pull against mine. I forgot where we were. I forgot my own name. My hands gripped Jude’s waist, and I gave myself over to him completely.
It was useless pretending otherwise; I was gone for him. Always had been. He thrust his tongue into my mouth one more time and then eased up, smiling at me. The whole episode lasted maybe thirty seconds before he pulled away.
I stood there panting. The angel choir in my head had switched over to a dirty, groovy channel. I wanted more, and I was probably doing a bad job of hiding it.
Jude kissed me on the nose. “I’m leaving my door open tonight in case you feel like swinging by.”
“Okay.” My knees felt wobbly. But I knew they’d be wobbling right over to Jude’s place after the dinner service was over.
Jude leaned over and snagged a couple of bulbs of garlic out of their bin. “You need me to carry some meat?”
“What?” I was busy admiring the muscles in his forearm when he closed his hand around the garlic.
With an amused glance in my direction, he pointed at the ground beef in the box I’d brought out. “Meat. Do you need me to carry some of it?”
“Yes, please,” I said. “Thank you.”
Jude grabbed the box and walked out of the room.
I went back into the walk-in for another case of ground beef and to cool off my overheated body.
* * *
We served a lot of tacos. Hundreds of them. By eight o’clock I was ragged from constant trips between the serving line and the prep stations.
“What are we doing with the leftover refried beans?” Denny asked. “Is this enough to take over to the food pantry tomorrow?”
“No,” I said. “Compost it, or take them home with you.”
“Woo-hoo!” Denny said. “Nachos for me tomorrow.”
My eyes tracked across the room, where Jude was slipping on his coat. I watched him leave. And then I cleaned up for another thirty minutes. By that time, I decided it was safe to follow him home. I put the last of the clean dishes in the storage cabinets and closed them for the night.
In the kitchen, I found Denny waiting for me, my coat in his hands.
Crap, I thought immediately. And just as quickly I felt guilty for it. Sometimes Denny walked me out to my car, just to be nice. I supposed I could always drive my car around the block and re-park.
This reminded me of high school, and not in a good way. Hooking up with Jude forced me to sneak around like a teenager.
Denny held up my coat.
“Thanks,” I said, slipping my arms into the sleeves one after the other.
He lifted it onto my shoulders, then gave me a pat. When he spoke, his voice was so low that I almost couldn’t hear it. “Please be careful, Sophie.”
“What? Why?” When I turned around to check his face, he wore a sober expression. That’s when I realized that he was onto me. “How did you…?”
He lifted his chin toward the pantry, and I felt my face heat. He must have seen us going at it against the walk-in door.Smooth, Sophie.
“I’m just worried about you,” he said, fishing a pair of gloves out of his pockets. “Do you know the rate of relapse among opiate addicts?”
I shook my head, because I was suddenly too upset to speak. Howdarehe imply that Jude would start using again?Noneof this was any of Denny’s business. And not only was it rude to Jude, it also implied that I was an idiot. I knew Jude’s road was a tough one. But when a man was working so hard to stay clean, it seemed impossibly cruel to say out loud that he wouldn’t make it.
“Over fifty percent,” he said.
Stepping backward, I yanked my gloves out of my pockets. “If I ever have a problem with addiction, remind me not to come to you for encouragement.”
