Chapter 29
twenty-nine
HUDSON
I stride into The Salty Dog and look around, my jaw tight because it’s been a long day and I’m exhausted as hell.
As soon as I set my eyes on her behind the bar, laughing at something Jesse’s said, I let out a long breath. Like she can sense my need for her, she slowly turns her head in my direction and our eyes connect.
I want to lift her over my shoulder like a damn caveman and get us the hell out of here. To somewhere without people or expectations.
“Hi,” she breathes as I reach the bar.
“Hey.” I lift the counter up, ignoring the raised eyebrows of a few locals as I make myself at home.
Not that I care. We agreed that we’d tell Ayda about us, and I’ve already started doing that with the blessing from Dr. Methi. And of course the word has spread that we’re seeing each other. I know she’s told Jesse and I’ve spoken to Autumn and Parker – who already knew.
But nobody else in this town is owed any explanation. I just want to hold my fucking girl.
So I do. I pull her into my arms and drop my face into her hair, breathing her in like she’s more important than oxygen. Like she can sense my need, she tangles her fingers into my hair, scraping the line where it meets my neck.
“Ahem.”
I look up to see Jesse staring at me.
“Don’t fucking start,” I say to him. If I want to hold her I will.
“Somebody’s grumpy,” Skyler murmurs. “What’s up?”
“Hey, before you say anything else, as Skyler’s brother I feel the need to lay down some ground rules,” Jesse insists. All the people sitting at the bar turn to watch us.
I let out a long breath and look at Skyler for help. I don’t want to do this now. How can I make it any more obvious?
“Don’t look at me like that, I had to deal with your sister,” she says. “You can deal with my brother.”
I take her in with needy eyes. She’s wearing a denim skirt and a patterned shirt, tied at the waist to reveal her taut stomach and a hint of her tattoo. Her hair is in a high ponytail and she’s got a slick of lip gloss on and nothing else.
And then I look at Jesse, who has the same stubbornness to his jaw as she does.
“If you hear me out,” Jesse says, looking amused at my annoyance, “you can take her out for the night. I’ll close up.”
“Then do it.” Because as soon as he closes his mouth I’m dragging her out of here and to my car. I don’t care where we go. To the hotel, to the cottages, hell I’ll be content to sit with her in the car and watch the moon together. I just need to be where people are not.
“Okay.” He nods, looking suddenly uncertain. Skyler looks from me to him and then back to me again, her eyes beseeching. I give her the smallest of nods.
I won’t hurt your damn brother.
“Okay,” Jesse says, jutting his jaw out. “In the absence of Wayne, I’m the closest thing Skyler has to a father.”
“You’re two years younger than her,” I snap.
Skyler bites down a smile.
“And as her only male relative,” Jesse continues, ignoring my interjection, “it’s inherent upon me to make this very, very clear. If you ever hurt this woman,” he says, looking at her. “If you so much as harm a damn hair on her head, I’ll make sure you regret it. Understood?”
My lips twitch. When I look at Skyler’s hers are doing the same. But I also appreciate the guts it takes to talk to me like that.
“Understood,” I manage to say with a straight face.
“Good.” He nods. “You can go.”
I don’t point out that I’d like to see him stop me. Mostly because I’m kind of impressed. It’s almost rubbed the edge of my annoyance.
“Ready?” I ask her.
She nods and I take her hand, barely stopping to let her grab her purse as I march us out of the bar.
“What’s got you all resting-bastard-face?” she asks me as I open the door to my car. I help her in and walk to the other side, climbing into the driver’s seat.
“I got a call from my attorney,” I tell her, closing the driver’s door.
“What kind of call?” she asks, frowning.
I start the engine up. “One where he told me that Ayda’s grandparents’ lawyer sent them a letter before action. They didn’t like my refusal to their request for her to stay with them every summer. So they want to take me to court.”
“Oh.” Skyler frowns. “They want her to stay with them in England?”
“Yes.” I’m so pissed I want to fucking hit something. I thought telling them no to their request would be the end of it, not that they’d take me to court again. “I gave them an inch and they took a fucking mile. I wish I’d never agreed to let them see her at all.” I put the car into drive and pull out of the space, my fingers so tight on the wheel my knuckles are white.
Skyler shifts in her seat. The movement makes her shirt collar gape open. I can see the swell of her breasts from the corner of my eye.
I put my foot on the gas, turning the corner onto the country road, deciding that we’re not going to the hotel or the cottages. I’m taking her home. To my bed. I need her with me tonight.
“They’ll lose though, won’t they?” she asks. “Like they did before?”
“Probably.” I grit my teeth. “I won the case fair and square in London. But now they’re petitioning the state court here. Grandparents have more rights in the US than they do in the UK.”
She puts her hand on my thigh, like she’s trying to soothe me.
“Listen, I don’t want to think about it right now. I just needed you to understand why I’m in a bad mood.” I swing into the driveway that leads up to the Captain’s House. The turret is lit up by the moon, giving it an almost eerie feeling. If she’s wondering why I’ve brought her to my home, she wisely doesn’t ask.
“I understand,” she says softly. “And thank you for being so sweet to Jesse earlier.”
I pull into my usual space, next to the steps that lead up to my front door. “I wasn’t sweet.”
“You were,” she says. “You didn’t call him an asshole, you didn’t punch him…”
“I don’t punch people.”
“I know.” She bites down a smile. “But thank you anyway.”
I turn off the engine and let out a long breath. The annoyance is slowly seeping away. She’s still in her seat, looking at me with those big, brown eyes of hers.
“I like the way you look at me,” I say, my voice thick.
“That’s good,” she breathes. “Because I like looking at you.”
I turn to her, reaching for her, pulling her against me even though there’s no room in this car. “Can I take you to my bed and show you exactly how pissed off I am?” I ask her.
Her lips curl into a smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
SKYLER
His breath is warm on my back, his fingers digging into my hips as he moves thickly inside of me, both of us on our knees. We’re on his bed, which is a complete concession to him, because as soon as we walked through his front door all I wanted to do was drop to my knees and make him come with my mouth.
I love that he can show his vulnerabilities to me, even though they come covered in a outercoat of annoyance. So I let him kiss me all the way upstairs and then stripped for him while he watched, his jaw still so tight I swear the man’s going to need extensive dental surgery one day.
Since we’ve been back from New York we’ve made gentle love, we’ve made fast love, we’ve had oral sex enough to curl anybody’s toes, but this rough, animalistic sex hasn’t been in the repertoire since then.
But now he’s fucking me like he hates me again, his skin hot and taut as he thrusts inside of me, his mouth tracing the line of my neck as he lifts his hand beneath my face to turn it.
His kisses are mean and mine are meaner. I bite his lip and he growls. Then he runs his hand down my stomach, his fingers searching out the neediest part of me, and he circles there, still thrusting so hard my whole body judders with every movement.
I tighten around him, making him curse, then he flicks my clit one more time, sending me into a quivering mess of pleasure, my body convulsing around him as he holds me tight, before my orgasm sets off his own, and he spills inside of me.
“Fuck.” He’s as breathless as I am as he pulls out and collapses onto his back. He reaches for me, looking suddenly vulnerable again. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“You can stop asking me that,” I say. “No, you didn’t. And even if you did and I didn’t stop you that means I liked it. I like it rough, you know that.”
I also like it slow and sensual. I like it anyway he gives it to me.
“Thank you.” He kisses my brow.
“I should be the one thanking you,” I point out. He made sure I was coming before he was even inside of me.
Even on the edge, he still maintains control.
He smiles softly. “I needed this. I needed you.”
The way he says it, like it’s a weakness, makes my heart ache. “I’m here,” I tell him, kissing him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he replies, kissing me back. “Because Ayda’s staying at Autumn’s which means we have all night. And I have plans for you.”