Page 17 of Sinful Sharing

He laughs outright. It’s deep and unrestrained, flooding my insides with heat. “I sense you have a question. Ask.”

Risking a glance toward him, I keep my gaze focused on his face. “Why are you running without clothes on?”

His smile softens. “I’m clearing my head.”

“From what?” I ask with a frown.

Silence. It goes on long enough for me to wonder if he’d heard me. Eventually, I chance another glance at him.

Huge mistake.

My eyes drop for the briefest moment. Pleasurable tingles cover my skin. Despite the cold, Jude is unmistakably hard as stone.

Fuck.

I jerk my gaze away. Too late. My body has already noticed.

Already responded.

Every single muscle tightens as a sweet ache settles in my groin. The snow crunches again. Before I can retreat, Jude invades my space. He doesn’t touch me, but he stands close enough for me to feel the heat radiating off his body. Close enough that looking anywhere but at him becomes impossible. I lift my eyes. His expression has changed. The teasing is still there, but beneath it is something darker.

Something hot and intense.

His voice drops to a growly whisper. “I run to clear my head.”

Another beat passes. My breathing pauses.

“Otherwise...” His eyes don’t leave mine. “...I’d come pounding on your door.”

Every ounce of warmth rushes to my face as his gaze flicks downward. A corner of his mouth lifts. “Something tells me you wouldn’t mind.”

I manage one shaky step backward. Then another. Jude doesn’t follow. Instead, he lets his gaze drift over me. It’s slow, unblinking, piercing, sending chills up my spine.

A soft smile spreads across his face, and then he turns and runs back up the driveway. I stand frozen long after he’s disappeared, replaying every word, every look, until one undeniable truth settles over me.

That wasn’t harmless teasing or a figment of my imagination. Jude isn’t straight. And he’s definitely attracted to me. The realization should terrify me; instead, it sends another dangerous rush of heat through my body. I haven’t been with a man in months. Not since everything fell apart. Not since I convinced myself it would be easier to give my mother what she wants.

It was safer that way.

Lonelier.

But I’m not in San Francisco anymore and Hallow Creek feels cut off from the rest of the world. No photographers. No gossip bloggers. No one trying to ruin my mother through me. For the first time in months, temptation feels... possible. A temporary distraction. A secret that stays buried here.

Except that there’s something about Jude, something that makes me think he might be more than a temporary distraction. Something dangerously easy. It’s his warmth. His confidence. The way he looks at me is as if he already knows what I’m trying not to admit.

I cast a last glance up the driveway before heading back inside. A deep, internal instinct whispers a truth I don’t particularly want to hear. If I let myself cross that line with Jude, walking away won’t be easy, not like it had been with Noel.

And that frightens me almost as much as the cops linking me to a dead man.

11

Jude

My gaze follows Roman’s strides across the yard. Something is off about him. I can’t put my finger on it, but I felt it last night. Sex with him was always brutal. Not that I had any complaints. I find it incredibly cathartic to have my brain fucked right out of my skull.

At least, that’s what sex with Roman was like.

Until last night.