Page 56 of When the Time Is Right
My other friends and family had been there for me too, but it was the man above me who had driven me to the beach and told me to heal there and say goodbye.
Hudson was right. He’d always protected me, even from myself. It wasn’t often when I let my mask slip, when I showed exactly how vulnerable I was, but he was right. With him, I was safe.
As his thumb rubbed a circle on my cheek, I leaned into his palm and kissed his hand, holding it with my own.
“No condom. I want to be the only thing you feel tonight, Hudson.”
He growled and claimed my mouth, and I fell under his spell again, not even noticing when he heaved me up the bed to the pillows. The way he moved was so smooth and intentional and effortless. He didn’t rush, but he worked with such intensity that my head swam with an all-consuming sensation.
When he couldn’t get his hand up the front of my dress the way he wanted, he roared again. I loved the idea of him wanting me so badly. But before I could help him, he slipped an arm under me and masterfully worked the zipper in reverse, and then in one deft motion, my little black dress was a little black pool of satin on the floor.
Holding his weight on one elbow, he studied me with his eyes and hands. His mouth open and his breathing labored, he tenderly traced my peaked nipples and my bare breasts, the line down my stomach, and the outline of my black lace underwear. He cataloged every square inch of me.
For a moment, while I had my wits, I watched him too. It was probably a silly thing to notice, but the way his face had gone slack and soft as he took me in made me feel beautiful, precious. Ever the explorer, Hudson pulled my panties to the side with his thumb and gazed at me bared to him for the first time. His blue eyes flared, and he licked his lips.
Instinctively, I spread my legs, but that wasn’t enough for him and he draped my right leg over his hip as he shifted to his side and smoothed his long fingers back and forth over my lacy center.
It felt so damn good and all he was doing was touching me over the fabric, but just as I thought that, he stopped the pads of his fingertips over my clit and rubbed circles until all I saw was the backs of my eyelids.
Then, like he had at the restaurant earlier, his gravelly voice rumbled against my ear, “I don’t know whether to be angry with myself for taking so long to do this…or to be thankful. Because I swear to fucking God, Alexis Lawson, if I would have known how fucking perfect you were this whole time, I wouldn’t have got fuck all of anything else done.”
A moan slipped out of my throat as he moved my panties aside again, but this time, he didn’t just look.
He sucked air through his teeth and pressed his forehead against my temple as he slipped through my slick sex, dipping a finger inside.
“Fuck. I was a blind fool.”
I couldn’t speak, not coherently anyway and not while he worked my body into a firestorm. I tipped my head to face him, but before I could kiss him, he pulled his fingers from beneath my underwear and did something I’ll never forget as long as I live. Eye to eye, he slipped the two fingers he’d been using on me into his mouth and moaned.
“Mmmm. All mine.”
Was it wrong that I liked it? The idea of being his? The idea of him possessing my body? Even if it was all pillow talk, I was a sucker for it.
Knowing he was in control, I could just be. I could shut the noise in my mind off and trust him because this wasn’t sex with a date or someone I kind of knew. It was sex with Hudson, and although he was stubborn and cocky, he’d never hurt me.
Still unable to speak with any semblance of language, I guided his face to mine to pour all my words into a kiss. I needed him to know how much I wanted him. How hungry I was for more. My other hand wandered to the bulge in his pants and stroked him over the fabric, and he twitched against my palm.
As if he could read my mind, in a flash he shucked his shoes and socks and pants and boxer br—oh my God!
While pulling my panties off, I froze and swallowed, getting a real, up-close glimpse of Hudson totally naked. I’d joked with him before about his size according to my teenage memories, but this man’s anatomy was no longer a laughing matter.
