Take Me (Take Me 1)

She’d told him she’d already set this plan into motion prior to them getting together, and Jude believed her.

Chalk another one up for who the fuck is he to be offended she hadn’t discussed this with him?

His cogent mind recounted more facts.

Everything about Kate that got her family all spun up was everything about Kate that Jude…loved.

Every nuance related to her that he could or could not balance out were nuances he loved.

So what if Kate didn’t want kids, a huge house, a husband?

Did that make Jude love her any less?

So what if Kate was hell-bent on saving souls from demons born of extreme tragedy…potentially to her own detriment?

Did that make Jude love her any less?

“Goddamn you, Kate…” he mumbled. Then laughed, albeit gruffly.

No…and…no.

Nothing could make Jude love her any less.

What he felt for her went well beyond anything he’d experienced before, anything he’d ever anticipated experiencing.

In this instance, love seemed to be a perfunctory classification for what Jude felt.

When what he really gravitated toward was an inherent and all-consuming want, need and desire where Kate was concerned.

Yes, he loved her.

But so very far above and beyond that, Jude acknowledged he couldn’t breathe properly without her. He couldn’t function properly without her. He couldn’t exist in a normal state without her.

He wanted Kate.

He needed Kate.

He loved Kate.

And equally significant to him? Jude believed to the depths of his soul Kate felt the same way about him.

But she had a mission to embrace. Something important to her that she had to see through, which wasn’t just life-altering for her…but for him as well.

What was Jude going to do about that?

He deliberated over this as his gaze swept the foyer, giving it a critical assessment. He’d be lying if he said he couldn’t see him and Kate here. With kids. Living life to the fullest—on their terms.

But at the moment, Kate’s focus was elsewhere.

What he envisioned for them could wait, he considered.

What Kate currently wanted to accomplish was something that couldn’t be shelved for a few years. It had to take place now. With her friend Nikki.

So the one final question Jude had to ask himself was also the most crucial: could he suspend, or even forsake, his dreams for hers, allowing her to have everything she wanted…so he might still—and eventually in a larger capacity—be a part of her life?

“Damn it,” he muttered as he dragged a hand down his face.

Angst and uncertainty roiled through him.