Less than Perfect, S. J. Evans [classic literature books txt] 📗

what you two have going on here,” he started, chuckling. “Lunch is ready and Leah was hoping we’d all sit together and eat today.”
Skye bit back an outburst of giggles, watching Jules as he looked at her with bright eyes and a playful smile, and tried to catch her fleeting breath enough so that she could speak. “Thanks, Victor,” she said, turning to look at him again. “We’ll be right down.”
He showed his white teeth then, uncrossing his arms. His voice lowered a notch when he spoke next. “Good thing I came up to let you know, huh?” he asked Jules, pointedly looking him in the eyes.
Skye watched Jules nod his head a little, returning Victor’s gaze in the next moment. “Yeah man,” he replied. “Perfect timing.” His voice drifted away from Skye, the sarcasm and deepness of it all, faded when he looked back at her and winked.
“You know what I mean, Jules,” Victor insisted, laughing under his breath. “Better me than Leah to drop in.”
Jules chuckled, staring into Skye’s eyes. “Right, Vic,” he added. “See you in a few?” He turned his head then, looking at his friend who stared at them with a quizzical look.
Skye, put a little on unease at the way Victor looked at her, forced a wide smile and tugged on Jules’s shirt a little, almost as if to prove something. She sighed gratefully on the inside when Victor nodded at them and departed from the room, leaving her with the look he’d given her imprinted on her memory. He’d looked at her with something she’d never seen before—adoration.
When Victor was clearly out of sight, she let out a quivering laugh, cupping Jules’s face with her hands and searching for his eyes. She felt all the warmth overwhelm her body again once she’d found his eyes, forgetting about everything around them.
“Should we go?” Jules asked her, a grin spread wide across his face as he supported himself above her with his hands at the sides of her face again. “Couldn’t have anyone waiting for us now, could we?”
Despite the part of her that wanted to make everyone wait, to curl up with Jules and hold him until she fell asleep again, she nodded. She could tell from the rumbling that erupted in her stomach at the thoughts of lunch that she was hungry and it was about time she’d had something to eat. Jules would still be with her through it all—she didn’t have to worry about him leaving.
“Yes, we should,” she finally said. She planted one last kiss on Jules’s lips before carefully pushing him off of her and rolling off the side of the bed. His quiet laughter made its way into her ears, sending tingles of pure bliss along her inner core.
Warm arms wrapped themselves around her, breath tickling the back of her neck as it slithered through her hair. “That was fun,” he whispered, lips against her ear. “If you’d like to, we should definitely do it again sometime.”
Her entire body tingled at his touch and the way his words caressed her thoughts. “Agreed.”
He shifted so that he was beside her instead, arm slung over her shoulder. “It’s a date then,” he confirmed. “Sometime. Somewhere. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Sounds perfect, Jules,” she breathed, hard at finding her voice with the sensations that lingered inside of her. “I can’t wait.”
He pulled her hand in his. “Come on,” he instructed, standing up and regarding her with a caring smile. “It’s time.”
Hesitantly, she stood up and followed him out of her room, leaning on his shoulder for unnecessary support as she felt a reassuring amount of strength and pleasure mingle with her body. He had done it yet again, she realized, he’d made her feel incredibly good even when things outside of their world together seemed to be on the border of danger and safety.
“Oh good, you’re here!” Leah exclaimed cheerfully, watching as Jules and Skye took their seats beside each other at the table. “You two have a lot to talk about?”
Skye bit her lip, remembering how little talking her and Jules had actually done, and fought to keep her expression neutral. Jules pulled her hand in his from underneath the table, squeezing it reassuringly. She couldn’t help her heart but quicken its pace, thumping in her ears loudly. And as she glanced at Victor, watching him shift in his chair and cough abruptly as if he was trying to cover a laugh, her nerves hitched up another notch. She couldn’t lie to Leah, she knew that much, but the truth was also too humiliating to admit.
And just as she was about to cover for what she and Jules had done, as innocent as it was, she was interrupted. “We did,” Jules cut in, squeezing her hand again as he directed his attention towards Leah. “Skye can be quite the chatterbox when she wants to be. A real talker, she is.” He looked down at Skye, a wicked grin plastered on his face.
Relieved, Skye let out the breath she’d been unaware of holding and whispered in Jules’s ear casually, “Thank you.” He let go of her hand, nodding once. Turning her attention back on Leah, she smiled and folded her hands in her lap, adding simply for good measure, “Guilty as charged.”
Leah chuckled a little, scooping salad out of a bowl and dropping it on her plate. “Good to hear you’re both enjoying each other’s company,” she said. “We wouldn’t want you two getting sick of each other so soon.”
Jules, having picked up a platter of bread, chuckled and slid a piece of sesame on his plate. “Don’t worry,” he said quietly, handing the platter to Skye. “We’re in no danger of that.”
Skye couldn’t help but giggle at not only his statement but the way his voice sounded in her ears, so sure and confident, so beautiful. There was that familiar blanket of warmth again, covering her entire body, as she glanced at his face and saw even from the way he upheld his smile that he was right. They were not going to tire of each other’s company, at least not any time soon.
“Hey, trouble,” Jules purred in Skye’s ears, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Want to pick up where we left off earlier?” His voice was quiet enough so that no one could hear but them, but even so, she couldn’t help but worry someone else would hear him. She’d only barely made it to the living room, and surely at least Joe, who was still in the dining room picking up the last remains of lunch, could hear Jules.
She spun around in his arms, pushing on his chest a little. “Jules!” she hissed. “What if Joe or Leah heard you?”
He laughed. “Does it even matter, Trouble?” He cupped her face in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. “Leah loves me. And I think I might have just won Joe over during lunch. Besides, it’s not like Joe would ‘tattle’ on us, and I’m sure Leah can’t even hear us right now.”
Deciding it would be easier to go with him than against him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, whispering, “Why don’t we pick up from where we left off than?”
He grinned wickedly, murmuring, “As you wish.”
In one quick movement, he lifted her into his arms by the waist, her legs circling his body as he drew them closer together, and carried them both upstairs, stumbling a few times. They were both distracted, caught up in the moment, giggling and managing small kisses, as he walked down the hall and came to an abrupt stop at her door.
Skye gasped as her back came in contact with the hard, cold wood, giggling when she realized how silly she was acting. “Jules,” she breathed, brushing her lips over his. “Did anyone see us?”
He tried to groan but it came out more as a chuckle than a groan. “Skye,” he purred, “no one saw us. But we are being quite loud, you know?”
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his, a much more aggressive kiss. Her body shook with energy so oppressive, so heated, she didn’t know whether to stop or keep going. “I’ll shut up if you will.”
He chuckled, the vibration sending jolts of pleasure coursing through her body. Clumsily, he spun the knob, releasing the door of its jam, and tossed it open, filling the space it once was. He brought them forward a little, gripping the door and closing it behind them as quietly as possible, and lifted Skye up as she started to slip.
She pulled away from his lips to catch her breath as he carried her over to the bed and laid her down against the mattress, catching his own breath in the process. She stared into his bright eyes, the green bold and inviting, asking her to request permission of something, anything. She grinned, butterflies springing, warmth flooding, and anxiety gripping her restless heartbeat.
In that moment, everything else disappeared. Leah and Joe, Victor’s behavior, Johnny’s betrayal, the uncertainty of what would happen next—all vanished. There was nothing that could bring her down, nothing that would change the life she finally felt inside. Jules was her medicine. He and he alone, stripped all of her troubles away.
Jules, climbing on the bed beside her, grinned sheepishly at her. He crawled over her, hands brushing against the sides of her arms, breath warming all the cool of the air-conditioner away. Once their faces were mere inches away from each other, he stopped, playing with her hair as he stared into her eyes.
“You’re beautiful, Skye,” he whispered, the sound caressing her ears. “I can’t believe I went as long as I did without finding you. I really wish I’d met you sooner.”
“You’re perfect,” she breathed, reaching a hand to touch his face. She hesitated before brushing a finger against his jawline, distracted by the way he was looking at her. “I don’t deserve you.”
He grabbed her hand in his, shaking his head. “No, Skye,” he muttered. “I don’t deserve you. It’s like you’re too good to be true. I’ve waited my entire life for someone like you, but I’d never expected to really find you

. You’re…incredible

.”
Before she could say anything else, his lips were against hers, kissing her with gentle poise. He didn’t push harder than she led on, nor did he try to touch her. They lay together, him above her, hands at the sides of her head, kissing with a much less aggressive, reckless attitude, but instead, a gentle, genuine expression of their feelings towards each other.
When they broke away for air, Skye took