JOSH
In hindsight,taking Jules to the picnic was the worst idea I’d ever had. The short-term gain of outsmarting the hospital’s matchmakers wasn’t worth the long-term pain of replaying the afternoon over and over in my head like a broken record I couldn’t bear to toss.
You were just a kid. What happened wasn’t your fault.
You’re a good brother, and you’re a good doctor.
Every time I thought about our conversation beneath the tree, I wanted to rewind and freeze time so we could stay in that moment forever.
Sun shining, food in our laps, the emptiness in my chest a little less empty with Jules’s presence filling it up.
It was unacceptable.
Wanting to fuck her was fine. Wanting to call her when I had a crappy day was not.
It didn’t matter if she was the only person I could talk to without fearing judgment. There would be no more quasi-dates from now on, not even fake ones. And definitely no more sleepovers or letting her borrow my shirt.
I still hadn’t washed the one I’d lent her after Hyacinth. I’d get around to it eventually, but it didn’t smell bad. It smelled faintly like her—warm and cinnamony with a hint of amber.
The same scent enveloped my senses now as I buried my face in her neck and drove deeper into her, trying to ease the ceaseless, unquenchable need in my stomach. But every thrust and kiss only magnified it, and my frustration spilled into the speed and force of my fucking.
The headboard banged against the wall in rhythmic response to my thrusts as I pounded into Jules, my muscles taut and slicked with sweat from the past half hour.
We’d landed in Athenberg that afternoon, and Jules and I must be on the same wavelength because she showed up to my suite twenty minutes after we checked in with nothing more than a, “Wanna fuck?”
No mention of the picnic, library, or any other rule we’d broken, thank God. We were both eager to return to the status quo, and I’d happily obliged.
Now, if only I could fuck the hunger for Jules out of my system, I’d be a happy man.
“Josh.”Her sharp cry ricocheted through the hotel room as she clawed at my back and exploded around me.
Jules fucked the way she fought—fierce and fiery, no holds barred. It was addictive.
The exquisite burn from her nails matched the fire in my veins as I clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting off her cry.
“Shh. You’ll wake everyone up.” My jaw clenched with the effort to hold back my own orgasm as her pussy rippled around me. Christ. It should be illegal for someone to feel that damn good. “You don’t want our friends to hear, do you?”
My suite was across the hall from Jules and Stella’s and only two doors down from Alex and Ava’s. Alex was taking a video call in the hotel’s conference room downstairs, and Ava and Stella were napping ahead of Bridget’s bachelorette party tonight, but I didn’t want to risk it.
We were already risking enough sneaking around right under Ava’s nose.
The headboard banging might give me away, but I could easily play that off as coming from another room on the floor.
Jules whimpered, but when I removed my hand from her mouth, she successfully kept her cries down even as she came a second time.
She pressed her face against my shoulder, her body shaking with her silent release.
“Good girl,” I whispered. “Keep those screams in, Red. I’m the only person who gets to hear how much you love my cock in that tight little cunt.”
Another, louder whimper.
Her pussy clamped around me even tighter than the first time, and a blinding orgasm ripped through me with such sudden, unexpected force it rendered me speechless for a second.
When the aftershocks finally faded, I sank against her, reveling in the sensation of her soft curves melting into my body. She felt so damn perfect I was tempted to stay there forever and lose myself in her warmth.
I allowed myself to savor the moment for another second before I reluctantly pulled away. I handed Jules a bottle of water from the hotel’s mini bar, my mouth curving at her content, slightly dazed expression.
“Thanks.” She took a sip of the drink, her voice slumberous with post-coital bliss. “I’ll leave soon. Just…” A yawn split her face. “Give me a second.”
Disappointment spiked in my chest at the thought of her leaving before I forced it down. This is just sex, I reminded myself.
“As long as it’s only one second. Don’t want you accidentally sleeping over.” I settled next to her in the bed. I itched to draw her closer, but I propped my hands behind my head instead.
She glared at me, her contentedness giving way to irritation. “I see the asshole is back.”
“He never left.”
“Obviously.” Jules climbed out of bed and shrugged into her shirt.
“I’m kidding, Red.” I leaned over and grasped her wrist before she could button her top. “Stay a bit longer if you want. It’s not like Ava and Stella are awake to hang out.”
I pulled her back into bed. She resisted for a second before relaxing next to me. She knew I was right. If she left now, she had nothing to do except wander the hotel.
“What are you guys doing tonight, anyway?” I asked.
“Dinner and clubbing.” Jules wrinkled her nose. “I wish we could throw Bridget a full-blown bachelorette party, but tonight is the only night she has even a little free time, so we’re keeping it simple.”
My eyebrows reached my hairline. “You’re taking the Queen of Eldorra clubbing? In Eldorra?”
“We’ll be in disguise.”
I stared at Jules, unsure if she was joking. She stared back with one hundred percent seriousness.
“Disguise,” I repeated. “I hate to break it to you, Red, but a wig and sunglasses aren’t gonna be enough to disguise the most famous woman in the country.”
“We’re not wearing sunglasses,” she scoffed. “No one wears sunglasses at night except douchebags. No, we hired a makeup artist to transform our faces.”
“Are you fucking with me? How the fuck is a makeup artist supposed to transform your face?”