“Good point.” He hopped up, muted the movie, and turned on music instead.

This time he lowered himself over me slowly, his gaze never leaving my face as he pressed his body along the length of me. His mouth lowered over mine, and the kiss built with urgency again, the same unequaled urgency I’d felt in the pool house. His hands explored every inch of skin on my arms, stomach and breasts. My fingers grasped for the hem of his shirt and I pushed it up, exposing his skin. I lifted my head and ran my lips and tongue along the hard, muscular ridges of his chest.

Physically, I felt completely vulnerable as if I had no intention of stopping what we’d started, but my mind kept tugging at my self-control, pulling me from the dizzying swirl of pleasure and back into reality. I wasn’t prepared for this yet. I knew once I’d given into it all, I was risking everything, including my heart. Jude seemed to sense my hesitancy. His hands moved up to my face, and he pressed his palm against my cheek and kissed my lips.

“I’m sorry, Jude. I’m not ready yet.”

“I understand,” he said. “It’s killing me but I understand.” He stretched out next to me on the seat.

“Now that you’re free again, I suppose you’ll be taking off soon. At least that’s the rumor I keep hearing.” I wasn’t completely sure what’d prompted the topic at this particular moment, but suddenly, I wanted to know.

“Rumors, huh? This town is famous for gossip.” He leaned down and kissed me lightly. “Look, Eden, I know this complicates things some—”

I peered up into his incredibly perfect face. “You think?”

“All right, it complicates things a lot, but contrary to what my sister may have told you, I’m not a complete jerk.”

“Actually, she uses the word ass more than jerk.”

“I’m not a complete ass,” he continued. “Maybe a partial ass but not a complete one.” He fell silent and then reached up and pushed the hair off my face. “I’m here right now because I badly want to be with you. And as my sister can tell you, there aren’t many people I want to be with.”

Everything would have been much easier if my initial dislike of the guy had stuck, but it had been obliterated almost from the start. In fact, it had disintegrated so completely I questioned whether I’d ever truly disliked him at all. Now there seemed to be no turning back. I just needed to remember to keep my head.

Jude leaned down and kissed me again, and a tingling sensation warmed my skin.

Keeping my head was not going to be easy.

“Hey, tomorrow, I’ll take you on a ride on the bike. If you want to go-that is? And we’ll have to clear it with the Empress. But we could just take a short ride. What do you say?”

“Uh, let me think— hell yeah. Do I get to wear one of those cool Harley helmets?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of the law out here in L.A.”

“Yippee.”

Chapter 14

Finley and I had spent the morning attempting to knit. She was quite skilled at it, but I’d spent more time untangling the yarn than actually getting it around the needle point.

I held up my project. “It looks more like a spider web than a scarf.”

Finley’s phone had buzzed several times during our knitting session, and each time she’d looked at it and then put it back down.

“You’re a popular girl this morning,” I said.

“It’s Max. He wants me to call him. He says he’s worried about me.”

I lowered my yarn disaster into my lap. “So call him. You know how many guys out there take the time to worry about anyone but themselves?”

“Three maybe four?” Finley laughed.

“That’s being generous. Call him.”

“I will. When you go on your ride with Jude.” She looked slyly up at me.

“Oh, he asked you already?”

“This morning. But I told him not to go far. That thing is dangerous.” She picked up her yarn, and her fingers moved quickly with the needles. “Just be careful, Eden.”

“I wasn’t planning on jumping off the back or anything.”

She stopped knitting. “You know what I mean. And it has got nothing to do with the ride.”

“I know.” We’d been sitting with our legs crossed on the floor, and I stretched them out to wake my sleepy feet. “All I can tell you is that I’m usually pretty level headed when it comes to guys.”

“Have you ever been with a guy like Jude?”

“No, definitely not.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to be careful. He likes you for sure. That I’ve known from the start, but my brother has never settled down with one girl before.”

I wasn’t sure if she was telling me this for my protection or her own. I knew falling for Jude completely screwed things up, and I as much as I didn’t want to mess up this awesome summer job, I’d never had a guy like Jude interested in me before. I was, after all, only human.

Finley stretched out her legs too. “Like I’ve said before, I love him but sometimes he’s an ass.”

“Mental note taken.” Unfortunately, I sort of knew what I was getting into with Jude. For a guy like him this was probably just a summer fling, or now that he was off house arrest, it might just be a June fling. Or even a one week fling. I was determined not to go crazy about the guy. Even if he left, I would stay on with Finley and be perfectly content. Hopefully.

I pulled on jeans and sneakers for the ride. I only wished I’d had a pair of cool motorcycle boots to go with the helmet. And maybe a leather jacket with a flaming skull on the back.

Jude was out front dressed head to toe in black and looking completely breathtaking straddling his bike. His smile matched my enthusiasm for the ride.

He adjusted the helmet strap beneath my chin and then leaned over and kissed me. “Let’s go, biker mama.”

I threw my leg over the seat and wrapped my arms around his rock hard stomach. “I’m ready to roll.”

The bike rumbled beneath us as we turned down the tree-lined path and through the security gates. The experience was exactly as I’d dreamed it. It felt like we were flying, and I laughed like a little kid as he picked up speed and raced down the street. We toured the scenic streets around the estate. Grand, stately mansions lined both sides of the road, as we rode through a world so different than mine it was like being on a different planet. And as beautiful and grand as it all was, I still missed my modest little home and nutty parents. Even though I was having a blast and the summer of a lifetime, I felt the constant ache of homesickness.

We pulled onto a pathway that led to a small park. The grass was as green as an Irish landscape and flowers lined the children’s play area. Aside from one older woman in a maid’s uniform who watched attentively as two small girls played on the slide, the place was deserted. We parked the bike and got off.

Jude took my hand. “There’s a cool, little manmade waterfall and pond around the bend.”

“Well, of course there is. I mean every park I’ve ever been to has a waterfall and pond.”

We walked along a neatly paved path. One side of it was bordered by a small stream that looked as if each polished stone had been hand placed to create the perfect flow of water. Large, smooth rocks and a sparkling waterfall sat at the top of small hill. We walked under the shade of a tree with manicured branches that jutted out like a massive umbrella. Jude leaned back against the wide trunk and pulled me into his arms.

“You seemed to know exactly where to lead me— to this wonderfully secluded tree. Almost as if you’ve been here quite often before,” I teased.

“Contrary to what my backstabbing siblings may have told you, I am not an animal.” He reached up and held my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I like you a lot, Eden. And I don’t like many people. I’m not using you.”

“No?” I lifted my face and kissed his jaw. “Because I’m totally using you for that friggin’ Harley back there.”