Chapter 13
thirteen
HUDSON
I storm over to the door, ready to unleash the wrath of God onto whomever is on the other side, while simultaneously willing my hard-as-steel erection to go down.
Running my fingers through my hair in an effort to make it look like the most beautiful woman at this party hasn’t spent the last five minutes tugging it, I take a deep breath and open the door.
Parker is standing on the other side. “Been looking for you everywhere, man. Tried to call, but you weren’t answering.”
My phone is in my jacket pocket. On silent. “What’s up?” I ask, distracted by the knowledge that I almost got to slide inside the woman who’s been messing up my mind for the past few weeks.
“Ayda fell asleep on Autumn. She took her back to your place. Said to enjoy the party, she doesn’t mind staying there and babysitting.”
There goes my father of the year award. Autumn had insisted on watching Ayda this evening, along with her friend Francie, because she wanted me to – in her words – have a blast at the after party.
To be fair, I’d decided to give it an hour before I scooped my kid up and headed home. But then I got distracted – first by Sylvie who stalked me down, then by Skyler doing the most impressive air dive I think I’ve ever seen.
And now by her body. By all of her.
It hasn’t escaped my notice that I can still taste her on my tongue.
“She should be the one enjoying the party,” I tell him, but he’s not paying attention. Parker is looking at my waist, which seems a really fucking weird thing to do until I realize my shirt has been pulled out of my pants, and it’s more than a little crumpled. Saying nothing I tuck it in. “She’s the one who organized it after all,” I continue, like nothing has happened.
He’s still giving me a strange look though.
“I’ll go take over,” I tell him. “I’ll send her back.”
“Sure. I’ll walk you over.” Parker nods.
Shit . “Actually, I have a couple of things to sort here,” I lie smoothly. “It won’t take long, but I don’t want to hold you up. I’ll meet you there.”
“It’s okay,” Parker replies, as easy going as always. “I’m happy to wait.” He goes to walk into my office but I block him with my body. He blinks, surprised.
“No need,” I insist. “I don’t want to hold you up.”
But instead of leaving, Parker tips his head to the side. Then he leans forward and picks something off the cotton of my shirt.
A brown hair. He lifts it up and inspects it like it’s a diamond ring.
“Ayda’s,” I say.
He smirks at me. “And did she give you the hickey, too?”
“What?” I touch my neck. “What hickey?”
Parker points at my throat. “That one,” he says. “Say hi to her from me, whoever she is.” Then he turns on his heel and walks back down the hallway to the door that leads to the reception area.
I’m still touching my neck with one hand when I close the door once more, turning to face my desk.
Skyler is still hiding behind it.
“Did you give me a hickey?” I ask her. Before she can reply, I walk over to the mirror on the opposite wall to inspect my neck.
And there it is. The telltale redness on the skin.
She walks over to where I’m inspecting my throat. Her bodice is laced up again, though she’s still holding her panties.
I reach out and grab them.
“Hey!” She tries to take them back but I hold them up in the air. “Those are mine.”
“I’m keeping them.”
“No you’re not.” She starts jumping, in a feeble attempt to get them back from me.
“Yes I am. You gave me a hickey, I’m taking your panties.”
“I didn’t mean to give you a hickey,” she tells me, reaching out to touch my neck. And fuck, the rush of desire is pumping through me again. Our eyes lock.
“You marked me,” I murmur.
The corner of her lips quirk. “Should I be sorry?”
“Probably. I haven’t had a hickey since high school.”
This time she grins. “Nobody has stolen my panties before, if that helps.”
In a way it does. “I’m sorry you had to hide,” I tell her. “I don’t like that at all.”
She shrugs nonchalantly. “It’s not like we want anybody to know what we were doing, right?”
I blink. I don’t have an answer for that. My brain says she’s right. That we should feel lucky to get away with it.
But my body? It wants more. It wants everything. It wants to take and give until every sense I have is full of her.
If I had a heart, maybe it would, too.
“You should go to Ayda,” Skyler says softly. “I bet she’d love for you to read her a bedtime story.”
There’s no guile to her words. She’s looking at me with honest eyes. Because I know for a fact what dishonest ones look like.
“We need to talk,” I say firmly. Because yes, I have to go see my kid, but this isn’t the end.
“Look, I know I got my rocks off and you didn’t,” Skyler says. “And that’s unfortunate, because I’m a giver not a taker and I absolutely would have followed through if we hadn’t been so rudely interrupted. But I think we both know this was a mistake. Let’s blame it on the alcohol. Or my major accident.” Her eyes crinkle. “Go see your daughter. I promise I don’t expect anything. I know I’m not your type.”
“I’m getting pretty sick of you telling me who my type is,” I say, my voice mild.
“Maybe that’s because you know I’m right.” She looks over my shoulder into the mirror, adjusting the leather crown across her face. “Now can I have my panties back, please?”
“No,” I say stubbornly.
She laughs. “You’re so petulant.”
“I’ll bring them back to you on Monday night.”
“Monday night?” She lifts a brow, looking amused. “Two days is a long time to stay panty-less for.”
“I assume you have more than one pair,” I point out.
She looks at me closely. “You’re full of assumptions, aren’t you. And anyway, I can’t.”
“Why not?” I try and fail to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
“Because your sister is coming over with her friend for a girls’ night. Unless you want to join us.” She lifts a brow.
“Then let’s make it Tuesday,” I tell her, because that’s as long as my patience will last.
“So you can finish what you started,” she murmurs.
There’s a strange expression on her face. She almost looks hurt.
“No, I want to come over and talk to you. I’ll bring dinner.”
“Like a date?” She frowns like I suggested we swim in a pool full of sharks with bleeding wounds. “It’s okay, you don’t have to do that. And we don’t have to talk. Let’s just agree to never mention this again. You can keep the panties. Whack yourself off with them if that’s your thing.” She takes a step backward from me, like she’s afraid. “Seriously, you made me come. And it was very nice. You don’t owe me dinner and you don’t have to pretend you’re interested in me. What’s done is done.” She mimes zipping her lips. “It’s our secret.”
I stare at her. “It was very nice ?” I repeat.
“Is that what you got from my words?”
“Very nice,” I say again. “Damned with faint praise.” I’m not going to lie, my ego is a little dented. Because what happened on my desk was far from nice. It was dirty and it was heaven.
But nice ?
“Okay it was mind blowing.” Her eyes lock with mine. “I came harder than I ever came before. You’re the King of Cunnilingus. The Earl of Oral.” Her brows knit. “The Troubador of Tongues.”
“Tuesday night. Seven o’clock.”
“Make it eight. And I’m a picky eater.” She smiles like she thinks that will put me off.
Before I can answer, she sashays out of my office, leaving me staring after her, open mouthed.