Chapter 16
Hudson
Scanning my list this morning, I see Shannon’s address and I’m nervous about how this delivery is going to go.
I haven’t seen her since the night at the lake.
I’ve been trying to process how I feel about Gregor being the one who got Will’s murderer off, and while part of me thinks it would be justified vengeance to take his wife, the other part knows Shannon doesn’t deserve to be used as a tool for revenge.
Trying to give us as much time as I can manage—in case she wants to talk—I schedule my lunch break immediately following her delivery.
That way, the GPS monitor won’t notify dispatch that I’ve been stationary for so long and selfishly, I’ll probably need thirty minutes to get my shit together no matter which way this goes.
And if she isn’t ready to talk or she wants to ignore whatever is between us, then no harm, no foul. I’ll get in my truck, eat my leftover chicken piccata and roll to the next house as if I’m not splintering into a million pieces.
I’m a fucking fool for letting my thoughts and feelings get away from me like this.
She’s been married since the day I met her and yet, Jake’s right…
I can’t help who I’m attracted to. Nor can I help that she ran into me during an extremely vulnerable moment and clearly wanted to cross a line, spiking my desire without my consent.
The box I have to deliver today requires the hand truck, so it takes me a couple of minutes to get everything set, but by the time I make it to the bottom of the porch stairs, the front door is already open.
Shannon’s black jeans hug her hips and thighs as she leans into the doorframe, raising a coffee cup to her lips, steam rising from the mug. She’s gripping it with both hands, like if she loosens her white knuckles at all, the cup will slip from her grasp and shatter on the stone beneath her feet.
“Hey,” I greet her cautiously, trying to figure out where she stands and what she needs from me.
“Hi.” She blinks slowly, taking me in from head to toe.
“Where do you want this?”
“Are you allowed to put it around back?” she asks.
No.
“I’ll put it wherever you tell me to.” For once in my life, I wasn’t trying to make a double entendre, but it seems I’m incapable of normal conversation around her…especially when she’s wearing a silk, crimson blouse with a small bow that ties at her neck.
Crimson.
I’d told her it was her color, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s why she’s wearing it now.
“Let’s go around the side of the house, that way you don’t have to take it up and down any steps.”
I nod, not trusting myself to open my mouth.
When we circle to the back of the house, I’m greeted by an outdoor living space that rivals the indoor living space – at least what I’ve seen from the front door, foyer, and home office.
A large kidney-bean-shaped pool glows blue thanks to the underwater lights visible in the muted gray from the currently overcast skies.
A waterfall connects the hot tub at the top to the regular pool down below.
The entire patio is done in stone and red brick to match the home’s exterior, and the outdoor kitchen is nicer than the one inside my house.
Off to the side of the pool, but not connected, is a koi pond.
The water is crystal clear and I can see the large orange fish sitting still on the bottom.
“Wow.” My answer is simple, but it gets the point across.
“Yeah, out of everything, this is probably my favorite space.” She’s looking at it with a wistful look on her face like she misses it, even though she’s standing right in front of it.
Suddenly, my brain is flooded with images of Shannon soaking up the sun in a lounge chair or diving into the pool to cool off.
What does she look like when her skin is dripping wet and her suit clings to her body?
Images of midnight skinny dipping and pushing into her heat in the water with her back pressed against the edge of the stone dance across my brain as if they have any right to be there.
“Hudson?”
“Sorry, what’d you say?” I shake my head to rid myself of the images, but they’re determined to stay.
“Could you put it over here in front of the couch? It’s a firepit.”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
I wheel the hand truck next to the wicker chaise lounge and prepare to slide the box onto the outdoor rug.
Dotted along the covered patio are strong oak columns encased in stone making it flow seamlessly with the pool.
This portion alone had to have run six figures.
It’s the first time I realize maybe her husband was right.
I don’t think of myself as poor, but I could never give her all of this.
“Oh, dang, hold on a second, I need to straighten the rug.” She sets her mug down on the stone portion of the column, plants her knees on the couch and leans all the way over the arm to straighten the back corner of the rug, face down, ass up.
I war with whether or not to say anything, but when she’s like that for a full minute, working to pull the rug out from the corner of the couch she’s leaning on, I can’t stay silent.
“Uh, Shannon?” I huff out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. “If you stay like that much longer, we’re gonna have a problem.” Because I absolutely cannot look away and neither can my dick.
“What?” she asks, peeking back at me over her shoulder, one hand still planted on the ground.
It takes her a second, but she finally realizes the position she’s in.
“Oh!” She sits up and jumps off the couch immediately.
Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you look at it—she loses her balance and I pull her to me in an effort to keep her from spilling onto the hard ground.
The plan backfires though and we both topple over.
Thankfully, our fall is softened by the matching loveseat to the chaise lounge she was just bending over.
I’m on my back with my right leg planted on the ground, my left leg stretched out in front of me, as Shannon lands on my torso, quickly propping herself up with her elbows on either side of my head.
“This is getting complicated,” I tell her, my eyes locked on hers. Don’t run away. Don’t hide. I can feel her rapid heartbeat pounding through her thin silk shirt.
“It’s been complicated from the start,” she breathes, hovering over me.
Right before my lips find hers, I have one rational thought left. One solitary brain cell dedicated to self-preservation.
“Do you have security cameras?”
“No.”
“Tell me to stop,” I beg, even as I inch my mouth closer to hers, so ready to taste her I’m salivating.
“No.”
The thin, pathetic strip of whatever resolve I had left snaps in half. I place a hand on the back of her head and lower her mouth the quarter-of-an-inch to mine. Sweeping my tongue along her bottom lip, I smile when she groans.
She starts moving on top of me immediately… and stupidly, I let her.
Her hand knocks my hat off right before she plunges all ten of her fingers into my hair, gripping hard, using the leverage to push and pull herself along my body. If it’s friction she wants, I’ll give it to her.
I pull my mouth away. “Sit up,” I command. There’s no mistaking the lust—along with the myriad of other emotions—in my voice. I’m angry at myself, but I’m too far gone to care.
She creases her brow and her lips purse in a pout. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I just want you to straddle me.”
She nods and pushes herself upright. As soon as I follow, she’s across my lap on her knees with my hands on her ass. It’s just as tight and glorious as I thought it’d be. She’s gripping the back of the outdoor couch, staring down at me as she chases her orgasm from dry humping my lap.
Tilting my head back, I suck lightly on her neck, careful not to leave a mark as she leans forward, giving me better access.
My cock is so hard I have to readjust and push it down my pant leg, angling it behind her.
She’s now sliding along the top of my shaft and bringing me right to the edge every single time she moves. It’s heaven…and it’s hell.
“I haven’t come in my pants since I was fourteen-years-old.” I laugh against her skin.
“Are you going to now?” she asks breathlessly.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” There’s fire dancing in her eyes. She likes this. She enjoys that she does this to me. “And you’re coming with me,” I tell her.
“I know.”
She rolls her hips and wraps her arms around my neck, bringing her chest right to my face. My tongue darts out automatically, licking, biting, and sucking the exposed flesh between the bow and the actual neckline of her shirt until we’re both a series of staccato grunts.
“Hudson!” she cries in a whisper as her orgasm claims her. “I’m…ohmygod…yes!”
“That’s it, baby. Imagine if we were skin to skin and my cock was filling you up right now.”
She picks up her pace as she falls over the edge, sending me plummeting after her as she rides the wave to the very end before going limp in my arms with her forehead on my shoulder.
Miraculously, I recover first.
“Shannon, talk to me.” I kiss her hair and rub her back, trying to create a reassuring environment for her to open up.
“I think I should feel guiltier than I do,” she mumbles against my uniform top as her hands push underneath it, landing on my stomach.
A relieved chuckle escapes from my lips.
“I’m not sure there’s any certain way you should feel. Just don’t shut me out,” I plead, hating that I’m asking for even more from her. My heart is on the line, too, I silently point out.
Lowering her head in shame, she whispers, “I already know I want more.”
A shrill alarm interrupts our conversation, telling me it’s almost time to clock back in. I grab my phone from my shirt pocket and silence it, the same way I silence myself so I don’t ask the question. More physically or more as in a relationship?
I can’t do the first one without the second, and she can’t do the second at all.
“Baby steps.”
“Speaking of babies, it’s almost time for Serafina to wake up,” Shannon says, climbing off my lap. “Do you want to come in and clean up?” she asks, pointedly staring at the dark spot on the front of my pants.
“Thank you, but if I step foot inside your house, I’ll end up doing things neither of us are ready for.”
Her eyes flare and her lips part on a gasp.
“I know this is crazy, but I’ve been drawn to you ever since the day you brought me those flowers,” she says.
“It’s not crazy,” I reassure her. “That’s how attraction works. It’s either there or it isn’t.”
“But it wasn’t just that I thought you were incredibly sexy, which I do, by the way. It’s…I don’t know…your energy, your smile, the way you carry yourself. You’re so comfortable in your own skin. I wanted to know more about you and I couldn’t explain why.”
“I understand.” I brush her hair back from her face.
“I’ve never brought flowers to a customer before you.
I just knew I had to do something to make you smile.
You reminded me of something precious dipped in silver and I immediately hated your husband for not caring for you like he should, allowing the tarnish to diminish your shine.
How’s that for crazy?” I ask, feeling my brows pinch, unsure why I’m telling her all this.
As if the universe is telling us our time is up, the baby monitor connected to her phone chimes. I recognize the sound because Monica has the same one.
Monica. I haven’t told her about the connection to Gregor yet. I’m not sure if it’ll make Monica more for whatever is happening here or against it.
“Serafina’s up,” Shannon announces.
I nod.
Shannon wraps her arms around my waist and buries her face in my chest once more. “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know I’m a terrible person for doing it. Even still, please tell me I can see you again? Gregor’s out of town until tomorrow night.”
Hugging her back, I blow out a breath as the truth spills from my mouth.
“I couldn’t stay away even if I wanted to. Take my number. I promise not to text you, but if you need me, at least you can reach out.”
She enters my number in her phone and immediately sends me a text. “I want you to be able to reach me too.”
I nod. “I’ll swing by tomorrow,” I tell her, although, I’m already thinking about sooner options.
With one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head, I pull her to me, rougher with this kiss than I was earlier.
This kiss is possessive, the kind that claims, and she pushes into me, trying to get closer still.
When Serafina’s coos and gurgles start to come through her phone, we break apart, panting.
“That was the best lunch break of my life,” I tell her with a smile and another quick kiss on her soft lips.
As I turn to go, the old saying blasts through my mind uninvited: If you play with fire long enough, you’re going to get burned.
As a firefighter, I’ve stood in the mouth of raging infernos, been so hot I couldn’t draw breath, and have nearly felt like my skin was going to melt off beneath my protective layers.
Even still, none have burned as hot as this one.