Description
April and I have been torn apart for eight years.
I didn’t think she’d leave me after I joined the military.
But her letter shredded me into pieces.
She’d clearly told me that we weren’t meant to be.
That everything we felt for each other was meaningless.
I didn’t believe her.
And I shouldn’t have.
There was something else at play.
April is my best friend’s little sister and he’s overprotective of her.
There’s still time to find out the truth.
Because I’m returning home.
And April is no longer just my ex girlfriend.
She’s also my employee.
My forbidden, tempting, and gorgeous employee.
And she’s hiding a secret.
A huge secret that I should’ve known about years ago.
I don’t think I could forgive her for keeping it from me.
But first… I have to find out what kept us apart.
And how I can make her mine forever.
Prologue
April
I want Jude Mason to be my first.
I looked at the diary entry I’d made when I was sixteen. My sentiments hadn’t changed in the last two years. I wanted to give my V-card to my brother’s best friend. But I didn’t just want to have sex. I wanted him to like me the way I’d liked him since I was fourteen years old. I’d gone from having a crush, to an infatuation, and now love.
When my brother first brought Jude home to play video games, I was eleven years old. My brother August was a freshman in high school and having a hard time of it. He was the proverbial nerd with big glasses, scrawny build, and more interested in cerebral activities than sports. In many ways, his friendship with Jude was odd since they were opposites. Jude, unlike us, came from a poor and somewhat dysfunctional family. Even at fourteen, he’d been strong and athletic. But, he was also smart, and while a little rough around the edges, he was nice. He and my brother were partnered in some sort of science experiment, and since then they’d been friends. Perhaps it was because Jude, for all his good looks and natural athleticism, was also a bit of an outsider as he never really bought into school culture, so maybe his friendship with my brother made total sense.
At eleven, I just thought they were boring and annoying. It wasn’t until I was about thirteen, and first noticing boys, that I took notice of Jude. He was sixteen and drove a used motorcycle that he bought with his own money saved in his part-time construction job. When the weather was nice, he’d cruise over and then he and my brother, in the new car my parents bought for him, would drive to the river to swim. I often tagged along as the annoying little sister.
By the time I was sixteen, I was full on head-over-heels in love with him. I not only wanted to give him my V-card, I wanted to marry him. All over my diary were flowery signatures of Mrs. April Mason. While now at eighteen, I thought those signatures and hearts were silly, my feelings and desires for Jude were as strong as ever.
He was my brother’s best friend, but over the years, especially when my brother left for college four years ago, Jude would still come over usually under the guise of helping with things like mowing the lawn, and over that time we’d become friends too. He once beat up Daniel Kipson for making lewd comments about me when I turned Daniel down for a date. At the time, I hoped it was because Jude was jealous, but then he started dating someone else and I realized he was just being a big brother type.
Of course, that didn’t stop me from loving and lusting after him. I was biding my time and finally, my patience was about to pay off. My parents were off on a weekend overnight trip and August, who had planned to come home this weekend, decided to stay at college in Jamestown to play Dungeons and Dragons or something with his college friends, since they were all graduating and going their own ways soon.
He’d made plans to see Jude too, but when he called to tell me he wasn’t coming home, I told him I’d let Jude know. Yes, it was a lie, because I didn’t let Jude know, but what big brother didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. And if I was lucky, Jude wouldn’t be too disappointed at not finding August here, and in fact, would discover I was much more interesting.
It was a warm day in late May, so I wore a pretty summer dress that accentuated my curves. I wasn’t a petite girl with a thigh gap, a goal I never understood. I like looking like a full-figured woman, not a boy. Underneath my dress, I wore the lacy bra and panties I just bought at Victoria’s Secret. It was kismet or serendipity that I’d bought the lingerie and then had this opportunity to seduce Jude. I just hoped he liked it and I didn’t end up embarrassing myself.
I sprayed on my mom’s pretty floral perfume, and checked that my nails from yesterday's mani-pedi still looked shiny.
I heard the roar of his motorcycle and it sent shivers of anticipation up my spine. When the doorbell rang, I rushed to it, stopping and taking a quick breath to calm myself before opening it.
I pulled the door open. “Hey Jude.” I smirked as always when I’d sing the greeting like the Beatles song.
He gave his head a quick shake, his slightly overgrown dark blond hair falling over
his forehead. “That’s not old or anything.” He stepped inside. “Where’s Aug?”
I shut the door behind him so he couldn’t escape too easily. “Actually, he’s still at school. He changed his mind about coming home.”
Jude’s brow furrowed. “Why didn’t he call me?”
“I was supposed to. I’m sorry. But since you’re here, do you want to hangout? My parents are gone so I’m all by myself.”