Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MAC
How the hell had I ended up here? Lying on the chest of the man who’d been my best friend for more than half my life…then been slotted as the one who’d broken my heart the last time we’d gone down this road.
I’d thought about that before I’d slept with Hudson. Whether or not I was ready for this—if it was in my best interest to get involved with him again.
And while there was a nervous tug in my stomach at the thought of him leaving, the voice I heard over everything—even my own self-doubt—was that of Will and what she’d said about me spending the rest of my days being weighed down by a lifetime of regret.
I didn’t want that. God knew living my life with failure resting solidly on my shoulders was hard enough. I didn’t want regret dog-piled on top.
Tucked into Hudson’s side, my head resting in the crook of his arm and my legs tangled with his, I traced random patterns on his bare chest, wondering if it’d be too soon to ask for round two. Because now that I’d stepped foot down this path, there was no going back. And, well…I might as well enjoy the hell out of this ride now that I was on it.
“You’re so quiet. Don’t tell me I fucked the sass out of you,” Hudson said, his lips pressed to the crown of my head.
I breathed out a surprised laugh. “I can’t believe you just said that. You’ve gotten quite a mouth on you since you’ve been away.”
Just thinking about the words he’d whispered in my ear while he’d moved inside me was enough to make me wet all over again.
“I don’t believe ‘fuck’ is a new word in my vocabulary. In fact, I know it’s not, because I remember exactly when we both said it for the first time.”
“You do not.”
“I do,” he said, his tone confident.
I leaned up on my elbow, acutely aware of the fact that Hudson now had an unencumbered view of my breasts—one which he took full advantage of. “Oh yeah? Tell me, then.”
“In a minute. Let me have a chat with my ladies first.”
By have a chat, he meant pepper kisses all over my breasts before sucking on my nipples. Just when my laughter was turning into moans, he pulled back, bending his arm and tucking it under his head, staring up at me with pure male appreciation.
Amusement dancing in his eyes, he smirked up at me. “Sorry ’bout that. Where were we?”
“Oh, you mean before you turned into a clit-tease?”
He feigned shock, his eyes wide as he stared up at me. “And I’m the one with the mouth? Mackenna Haven, you should be?—”
“If you say ashamed of myself, I’m gonna clock you.”
Reaching up, he cupped my neck and pulled me toward him until the tips of my breasts swept across his bare chest and our lips brushed as he spoke. “ You should be whisperin’ all those naughty things in my ear while I’m inside you.”
He closed the last bit of distance between us and brought our mouths together, groaning as his tongue slid against mine. Or maybe that was me. I couldn’t tell anymore, our sounds mingling in the space between us, no one around to muffle them for.
Not breaking our kiss, I swung my leg over him, settling across his lap. Directly on top of his erection. We both moaned at the contact, and I didn’t even try to hide my desperation at needing to extinguish this fire he’d lit inside me. I rocked over him, gasping into his mouth when the head of his cock nudged my clit.
He’d been inside me not even an hour prior, and already, I wanted him again. Now that I’d opened Pandora’s box, I feared I wouldn’t ever not want him.
“Need you again,” he rasped into my neck, his fingers digging into my ass and guiding my movements. Pressing me harder against him until I nearly came from that alone.
“Yes.” No hesitation from me. Not anymore. I’d gone down that path of wondering and fighting and ignoring what was between us. And I was done.
For however long Hudson had left in Havenbrook, I was all in.
One of his hands left my ass, and then he was fumbling toward his pack. The zipper didn’t work at first, which had him swearing up a storm, proving he could use cuss words in quite an imaginative way.
As I was hiding my laughter in his neck, he finally got the zipper to work and pulled out a strip of condoms, but the backpack tipped over as he did so, landing right on our furry friend.
Who, of course, jerked awake, thinking it was time to play. The dog trotted over, tail wagging, nose cold as she pressed it to our faces, then greeted us with dog kisses.
“ Fuuuuuuuck ,” Hudson groaned, giving up his quest for the condoms and dropping his arm to the ground, doing nothing to push off the overly exuberant ball of fluff currently taking up residence on his chest.
I sat up, giving the dog more room. But that also gave me and Hudson less room as I pressed harder on his erection, the solid thickness of him settling between my legs like we were made to fit together. The sleeping bag pooled at my waist, and for the first time since yesterday afternoon, I wasn’t worried about the chill. We’d heated up the tent plenty enough to keep me warm. And if we hadn’t, the look he shot me would’ve done it.
“So, you’re just openly tryin’ to kill me then, huh?” he asked, his voice gritty and rough.
I tipped my head back, laughing, and Hudson groaned, reaching down to grip my waist and hold me down at the same time he lifted his hips. It would’ve made me hot as hell and desperate to get him inside me, if not for the tiny dog sitting on his chest, tail wagging nonstop as she planted puppy kisses all over his face.
Twisting around, I grabbed his shirt from yesterday and tugged it on, then stood, acutely aware my ass was hanging out in plain sight for him to ogle all he wanted.
“Do that again,” he said. “Slower this time.”
I shot him the finger as I hopped my way into the pajama pants he no longer had use for. “I’m takin’ your dog out to do her business. You should be nice to me.”
“ My dog? Since when is she—” He cut off his words midsentence as the dog continued lapping at his face. Picking her up off his chest and holding her at arm’s length above him, he shot her a scowl. “ No ,” he said sternly. “Quit tryin’ to French kiss me, CB.”
“CB?” I asked, slipping my feet into my hiking boots. “See? You’ve already named her.”
“A nickname. ”
“I don’t know—initials show you really takin’ your time and thinkin’ long and hard about it. When’d you come up with it?”
“Just now. On account of the little cockblocker always cockblockin’ me.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to grin. Lord knew Hudson didn’t need the encouragement. “Well, I’m takin’ CB for a little walk so she can do her business. And, apparently, tryin’ to think of another name those initials could stand for.”
I reached down and scooped up the dog, lightly pressing on Hudson’s stomach with my booted foot as I stepped over him to unzip the tent. “Make me breakfast while I’m gone, will you?”
“No sweat. I’ve got a sausage right?—”
“Oh my God .”
His laughter followed me out of the tent as I set down the dog, keeping an eye on the fluff ball until I was certain CB wasn’t going to take off again like yesterday. Then I lifted my gaze to the view that stretched out in front of me.
It was breathtaking, to say the least, and we hadn’t even made it to the higher summit we’d planned to in order to catch the sunrise. Though, I couldn’t say I minded, considering how I’d been otherwise occupied during that time.
I sensed Hudson behind me before I felt him, his arms wrapping around me and his face nestling in the crook of my neck. He inhaled me deeply, then sighed as he squeezed me back against his chest.
“What’re you even wearin’?” I asked. “I stole your clothes.”
“You think I only came up here with a single pair of clothes?”
Now that I thought about it, he’d probably managed to cram a week’s worth into that pack of his.
“Point taken,” I said, settling back into his body, my hands covering his.
We were quiet for long moments as CB trotted around our feet and we stared at the glory that was Mississippi in the fall. By some miracle, the trees hadn’t lost all their leaves yet, and the kaleidoscope of reds and oranges and yellows was interspersed with the dark green of pine trees.
And this, right here, was what I lived for. It was why I loved going on the outdoor adventures with the kids, why I spent all the time I could with Ella in the wooded area on my parents’ property. I felt the most myself when I was outdoors, surrounded by nature and breathing in the scent of fresh earth.
“We never made it to the higher summit to watch the sunrise,” I said, taking my eyes away from the view for a moment only to make sure CB was close.
She was, sitting dutifully at Hudson’s feet, as if waiting for his command to move.
“Can’t say I minded at the time.”
I smiled at how his words echoed my thoughts from earlier. “Me neither.”
“Though I am bummed we missed it.”
“Yeah,” I said on an exhale.
True, I could have an unobstructed view of the sunrise any day of the week from nearly any spot in Havenbrook, but this? Being up here, so high it felt like I could reach out and touch the clouds? This was a whole different realm.
“Well…” he said, drawing out the word slightly. “We could fix that, you know.”
I tipped my head to the side enough and looked back at him. “Oh yeah? You got an in with the big man upstairs so you can make the sun come up again?”
He grinned, leaning down to press a quick kiss on my lips, murmuring against them, “Smartass. And no, but I was thinkin’…”
I rolled my eyes. “Jeez, Hud. Just spit it out already.”
“Will got your shifts covered all weekend, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, who says we have to go back today?”
I opened my mouth to say exactly why we needed to, only nothing came to mind. My shifts at the bar were covered, and there was absolutely nothing at town hall I needed to be doing. I could text Will—hopefully there’d be a signal as we hiked higher—and tell her I wouldn’t be at Sunday supper. Hudson and I would be up early to catch the sunrise, and we could hike down right after, which meant I could definitely be at town hall on time. Or at least at a reasonable hour. Will would understand and cover for me if I was a little late.
“What about food and water?”
He snorted. “What do you think I am, an amateur? Condoms weren’t the only thing I brought extras of.”
“You did bring an awful lot of those. Plannin’ to get lucky on this trip, were you?”
Humming, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to my neck. “Not so much plannin’ as prayin’ to every deity in the world you’d let me between those gorgeous thighs.” He scraped his teeth along my skin then laved it with his tongue, sending a shudder through me. “Just so I could get a feel of heaven again.”
Oh. My. Word. The Hudson I’d been with so long ago had been amazing—kind and caring and generous and gentle. But this Hudson? With his dirty, uncensored mouth and his rough, demanding hands setting my entire body on edge, making it feel like I was balancing on the precipice of a near-constant orgasm—not that I minded. Well, he was something else entirely.
“And yet you’ve only done it once.” I tilted my head to allow him more access. “You waitin’ on something? An invitation, maybe?”
With a growl, he lifted me up with a hand around my waist and another tucked between my legs, only the thin cotton of his pajama pants between us as he rubbed his fingers against my clit and walked us toward the tent. “You sure you want to play this game? Get me all worked up, and you might be too sore to hike up to that summit after all.”
That was a gamble I was willing to take.