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He set his guitar down and twisted to face me, hands tangling in the sides of my hair.
“I’m still terrified, Stripes. I don’t wanna screw this up.”
“You won’t. Just don’t be a shitty boyfriend, and you won’t.”
He exhaled slowly, eyelids lowering. “I deserve the hell out of that.”
I fisted his T-shirt, and his eyes snapped open, finding mine. “I want this to work. But if you find yourself wanting to lay in bed with another girl, or thinking about kissing her, or telling her she’s gorgeous, cut me loose, okay?”
“Goddamn, I wish I could cut myself open and show you my entire insides are stamped with you. Your name’s on my heart. Your sweet face is chillin’ on my pancreas. Your pretty voice is embedded in my lungs. Your scent is wrapped around my kidneys. You’re every-fucking-where, and that’sneverhappened to me before.”
Those words, they sunk inside me and curled like tentacles around my heart. I slid my hands up to his cheeks, palming the two-day-old stubble. “I believe you, Jude. That’s why I’m here.” My lips found his in a slow, soft kiss. “I told my dad about you.”
“Oh shit.” He held his hands up. “Now, that might be a little too intense for me.”
Laughing, I slapped his chest. “Oh, now we’re enemies.”
He arched a brow. “Are we?”
I scooted away from him to the other side of the bed. “Yes, we are. Don’t come near me unless you want to be kicked.”
Jude got an evil glint in his eye as he prowled toward me on his hands and knees, a low growl coming from his throat. Squealing, I kicked at him, but he grabbed my ankles and yanked me flat on my back underneath him.
“Are we still enemies?” he asked, hovering above me.
“The worst kind.” I had no idea if he was ticklish, but I went all in, digging my fingers into his ribs. It turned out he wasextremelyticklish. He flopped over on his back like a capsized turtle, flailing and attempting to bat me away.
Jude howled with laughter, only making half-hearted attempts to evade me, until someone banged on his door. “Keep the kinky shit down!” That had to be Jin.
I fell on top of him, giggling and tickling him whenever his laughter started to die down.
“Mercy,” he groaned, pinning my arms to my sides. “Please have mercy on me, pretty girl.”
“I can’t believe how ticklish you are. That is adorable.”
He snarled, giving me an Elvis lip curl. “Nothing about me is adorable, Tali. This is pure, hardcore manliness.”
I pressed my mouth to his ear, and whispered, “Adorable.”
Jude rolled to his side, keeping me in his arms, so we were face-to-face. “What’d you tell your dad about me?”
“I didn’t tell him a lot. My dad does better when he’s mostly in the dark about my life. I told him I wasn’t sure about dating a musician and he said if I liked you, and you were a good guy, then I should give you a chance. He also told me to date around and not get pregnant.”
Rough fingers pushed hair away from my face. “Sounds like I’m dad approved. I’m going to ignore his shitty advice about you dating around. Not happening.”
My mouth curved up at his possessiveness. “He was concerned you’re not Catholic, but I assured him we wouldn’t be getting married, so no need to call in a priest.”
Jude stilled, brows pulling into a hard line. “Says who?”
“What?”
“Who says we won’t get married?”
I laughed, pushing his chest. “Uh, that’s hilarious. Can we be boyfriend and girlfriend for a while before you propose?”
His hand went around the back of my neck. “Don’t write me off.”
“I’m not. But I told you, I’m the thinkiest thinker you’ll ever meet. I don’t have flights of fancy.”
He growled, warm fingers tightening around my neck. “Sometimes I want to shut off your brain a little.”
“You like me because of my brain.”
He nipped at my bottom lip, and I melted against him. “Oh, that’s right. I do.”
I drew my leg up, draping it over his. “You know, I can stay for a little while longer. What can we do?”
He pulled me closer. “Maybe a little something to shut off your beautiful brain?”
“Yes.” I pressed my chest to his. “Let’s do that.”
