I slowly pushed the door open and stuck my head in, fully expecting to see Jude's eyes glued to his computer screen. But to my surprise he was sitting at his desk with his head resting on it, his arms folded beneath his cheek. The softest of snores left his lips. I couldn't even be irritated that while I'd been sitting out in the waiting area for hours on end, he'd apparently been passed out in his office. He just looked too adorable all soft and peaceful.
He also looked incredibly young. I told myself just to call out to him, but my body overruled my mind and I ended up walking slowly toward his desk and taking in his features. His beautiful full lips that were slightly parted, his dark as night eyelashes that were fanned over his pale skin, the little piece of dirty-blond hair that hung down over his forehead…
I could picture him looking exactly like that after a couple rounds of intense lovemaking. Hell, I could practically feel the weight of him on my chest as he pressed his body against mine. The skin along his spine would feel like silk as I ran my fingers up and down his back…
Yeah, good job on the not letting the job get too personal, I said silently to myself.
I stepped behind the desk and moved to his right side, the one without the computer. "Jude," I said softly. He didn't stir, so I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake as I repeated his name. He still didn't respond. Since he was breathing just fine and didn't seem to be in any kind of distress, I figured he was simply just a heavy sleeper.
"Jude," I said more loudly and this time I gave him a firm shake.
He snapped out of his sleep like a wild man and began lashing out at me. He managed to graze my jawline before I grabbed his wrists and said, "Hey, calm down, it's me. It’s Nik.”
His eyes were bleary as he tried to take me in. "Nikolai?" he said groggily. The use of my full name sounded strange on his lips, but I also kind of liked it.
Okay, I really liked it.
"Yeah, it's me. You were asleep.”
Jude looked around his desk in surprise. "What time is it?" he asked. He tugged his arms free of my hold. "I have to get these amendments reviewed—"
He actually went to wake the computer up. I reached across him and turned the monitor off. When he tried to turn it back on, I grabbed his fingers and said, "It's two a.m., Jude. You need to sleep. You can get a fresh start on it again tomorrow morning. Well, this morning, I guess."
"No, I have to finish," Jude said. He pulled his hands free of mine and fumbled to turn the computer back on, so I turned his chair so he was facing me instead of his computer.
"It's late," I said firmly. "You'll be able to tackle it twice as hard after a few hours of sleep."
Though my words made complete and utter sense to me, they seemed to agitate Jude further. I didn't understand why he couldn't see the logic in my thinking. But fortunately, he didn't argue further. It was proof that he was as tired as he looked. He finally nodded, so I released his chair and he immediately turned around and began organizing his desk. To me, the desk looked like it always did, but he must've seen a few things off because he straightened several items and moved others around. It almost seemed more like a ritual than anything else. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe he had a little bit of OCD going on. I busied myself by pretending to look at the view from his window.
I was surprised when he actually said, “Okay, I'm ready to go." It was the first time he'd acknowledged my presence as well as my role. Normally, he just took off and left it up to me to catch up to him.
I was glad to see that the guard outside of Jude's office suite was still standing at attention despite the late hour. Even though Jude wouldn't be there for the rest of the night, the guard would remain.
Jude was quiet as we rode the elevator down and he didn't put up a fuss as I turned in my visitor badge and walked by his side out the door. I'd already alerted the car and driver to be at the front of the building and the foot traffic outside was at a minimum, so it was easy to just climb into the vehicle and be on our way.
Once inside the SUV, Jude rested his head on the back of the seat instead of playing with his phone like he usually did. That wasn't to say that he was completely still, though. I noticed that the fingers on his left hand were constantly tapping on the seat in a certain pattern.