I’d gone to a party with Audrey on the hunt for a completely different guy. I looked up and saw Judas, watching the room from above like some kind of king holding court. As if reliving the moment, my skin prickled beneath the unmoving weight of his gaze.
The expression on his face gave nothing away.
That had always driven me mad. I wanted to climb inside his head and know everything he was thinking.
“What do you think when you look at me like this?”
I cringed at how that sounded out loud, but Judas simply regarded me with a half-smile.
“I think a lot of things.”
“Like?” I prompted.
“Right now? That there’s a beautiful woman in my bed and I never want her to leave.”
I half snorted half laughed, which I’m sure was super unattractive, but I gave zero fucks. “How many times have you used that line?”
His hand stopped its circular orbit, and thick perfectly groomed brows rose slightly. “I don’t use lines.”
“Right. You don’t need them.”
“Exactly,” he agreed, skipping right over my sarcasm. “I’ve never had anyone else in this bed. This house was built for you from the ground up. I would never let another woman I’ve been with taint your space. That would indirectly be disrespecting you.”
I rolled onto my back and pushed myself into a sitting position, bracing my weight against the headboard. His eyes dipped to my pajama top. It was easy to see I was no longer wearing a bra. I’d chucked it into the hamper inside the closet.
“Does that mean you’ve had them here somewhere else then?”
His stare flashed back to mine. “It means I would never fuck another woman anywhere where my future wife will be.”
If I wasn’t hearing things, he sounded angry I’d just asked him that. Judas had always been intense but this mature version of him was vehement.
He wasn’t holding back. Everything he’d said and was saying seemed unsettlingly genuine. His words were absolute, and it took an effort to question them because of how believable they were.
If he really hadn’t brought women here, then where did he take them? I knew he hadn’t chosen to be a saint during our time apart. I looked down at the comforter and tried to remember if I’d read anything online.
As hypocritical as it was, it sickened me to think of him being with another woman. He was so intense and dominant. Power and confidence cloaked him like a second skin. He did everything with diligence that put every other man to shame. He was mine, even when I wanted to pretend that he wasn’t. I hated the thought of someone else getting to see those parts of him.
“I can see that brain of yours working so I’m going to clear this up once and for all.”
He caught my jaw and forcibly brought my attention back to him. “I never fucked women anywhere other than an office I used to have in the city. I changed the location of that building over six months ago and haven’t touched anyone since.”
“So, you’re like a born-again virgin by now,” I joked to distract myself from the queasiness in my gut.
He chuckled and I instantly felt a tad better.
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be if it will make you understand you’re all that matters. There haven’t been many, just so we’re clear and you don’t start creating wild-ass narratives. I’m…selective. I don’t let my dick lead me to make bad decisions.”
That part didn’t surprise me. He had never slept around. Even back in high school, he was only linked to one girl aside from me and I couldn’t even remember her name. She was a redhead, I think.
“Why an office?” I don’t know why that one detail stood out to me or if it was worth knowing the answer. I wanted to track all these bitches down and burn them alive.
“Because they didn’t deserve anything more and I wasn’t taking them to bed.”
“But what if I--?” I caught myself before I could finish asking. What the hell was wrong with me? I might as well pick up a knife and stab myself with it.
Judas grinned knowingly and gave my face a slight squeeze. “Amore Mio, you are mine and I’m entirely yours. You can fuck me wherever you want, and you will be fucked however you want.”
My cheeks heated both from his promise and the knowledge that he knew exactly what I’d been about to ask. I turned over his words and Diego came to mind.
I hadn’t slept with him, but there had been a few a year or so prior.
Judas was possessive to the point I feared for another man if he looked at me for longer than a second. On the jet ride here he’d gotten visibly pissed off at the mere mention of Diego. He hadn’t asked a single thing about him or anyone else, though.