and singing at the top of my lungs were just what I needed.
Sometimes you just have to let shit out. Because of time-outs with sexy construction men and gravely, whispered words in your ear. Because the sheer tension alone from sitting beside him at the table and in the truck had made me squirming in my seat all night. And mostly because I wished he hadn’t left.
Again, as if my brain had some unexplainable power to make Hudson materialize, there was a knock at my door. I didn’t even have to answer to know it was him. I could feel it.
Giddy and nervous, but high on the fact that he couldn’t stay away, I opened the door with a grin twitching the sides of my mouth.
“Did you forget something?”
He ran his hand through his hair, stepped inside, and slammed the door. “Yeah, this. Time the fuck in.”
Before I could even react, I was in his arms, against the wall, loving the feel of being claimed by him. If there was any doubt that our first kiss had been a fluke because of how incredible it had been, then there was no confusion about it now.
Hudson’s mouth knew things. When to deepen the kiss. When to let me lead. When to be gentle and when to roughly rake his teeth over my bottom lip—which was my personal favorite. There was something so raw and sexy about those playful and hungry nips that had me wanting more.
Hudson was by far the most confident, steady-handed man I’d ever known. But with one hand pinning both of mine above my head against the wall as he kissed the hell straight out of me, I could feel the ever-so-slight shake in the touch of his free hand running up my dress and across my hip to palm my ass.
“You wore this dress to drive me nuts,” he breathed against my neck.
I couldn’t deny how I’d fantasized about him taking it off me when I’d put it on. “What if I did?”
He looked into my eyes, and I couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever looked so handsome. His mouth swollen from our kisses and his cheeks flushed. But his eyes. Oh, blue was such a boring word, and his glistening, hooded gaze deserved better. Deep, rushing, cool water. Sunny Georgian skies after a thunderstorm. Sea glass at dawn.
Hudson up close was ruggedly beautiful.
When he released my wrists, my arms fell around his neck, and he cupped my chin and quickly pressed his mouth to mine before he said, “It worked.” A grin spread across his face. “But now that you’ve made me crazy and I’m back here again, what do you want?”
My heart banged through my tight, black dress against his chest.
Words were thick in my throat.
And all the places I usually hid within myself were suddenly too far away.
“I want you,” I confessed. “But—”
His index finger covered my mouth, and instinctively, my lips pursed around it.
“Shhh. No buts, Lex. I want you too.” Sweetly, he moved to cup my cheek and my eyes fluttered from the sensation of his warm palm against my skin.
“What if you’re wrong?” I asked without the mental fortitude to bite my tongue. The question wasn’t unfounded. After all, he’d mistaken friendship for desire before.
Surprisingly, he didn’t get defensive. He didn’t argue. He didn’t even make excuses. He only answered with, “What if I’m not?” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
We were at the edge of a cliff, not knowing what was at the bottom. Only sure that, after we took the leap, nothing would ever be the same.
I unhooked my legs from around his waist, and he let me slide against the wall to my feet.
If I wanted to take a step away from the ledge, it was my chance.
Instead, I offered him my hand and he took it, kissed it, and threaded his fingers with mine. That gesture alone proved to me that, at the very least, we were jumping together, and that made it worth the fall.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” I said, and then I led him to my bedroom.
The walk to the room at the back side of my house had never felt so long. With each step, I teetered between nerves and excitement. I was eager for more of him but also unsure if it was the right thing to do. And if I were being completely honest with myself, I’d have to acknowledge that it was the first