Chapter 8
As promised, I only considered our dilemma when we weren’t enjoying the heck out of each other. And we did. Oh, we did that thoroughly.
I’d never considered myself particularly sexually adventurous before Hudson, but when I was with him all my inhibitions disappeared. No man had ever made me feel more wanted and that gave me a kind of sexual confidence and power that made me revel in our lovemaking.
When we weren’t sequestered in my suite, I was with Susan and Molly putting together the finishing touches for Molly’s party.
Most of our invites had been responded to within twenty-four hours and I’d organized a large bus to collect Molly’s friends and family and bring them up Winterhaven.
Thanks to Hudson, those who wanted to receive ski rental equipment and free lessons could—something he’d worked out with the owner, Deke, so it wouldn’t eat into my budget.
Molly and Susan were surrounded by supportive friends and family who seemed relieved to see the two enjoying themselves. I’d decorated the condo with fairy lights, pink and white paper floral arrangements in amongst the real ones, and strands of rose gold bunting.
The day before, Hudson had let me loose in his kitchen in the condo but the problem was, for some reason, my baking turned him on. He kept distracting and interrupting me with his hands and mouth.
While my cupcakes were cooling, he’d unzipped both our jeans and fucked me on the kitchen counter. There was no other word for it.
And it was glorious!
Hudson appeared at the party to be there when I gave Molly her gift from me and him—a necklace I’d seen her admiring in a store in Copper Cliffs.
She was delighted and after receiving a hug from Hudson that made her get this soft, dreamy look on her face, Hudson left us to it.
Not without first telling me he’d see me later, with a sensual promise in his beautiful eyes.
The party was a huge success and my appetizers and baked goods went down an absolute treat.
Having promised to keep some for Hudson, I managed to snag a cupcake, fairy cake, and a couple of brownies before they were all gone.
With them secured in a small airtight container in my hands, I waved a final goodbye to Susan and Molly after a tearful cluster of hugs.
I’d given Susan my number and email and asked her to keep me up to date but only if she felt like it.
The truth was I was melancholy leaving them because I wanted everything to turn out all right for them, and it was one of those horrible occasions when it never really would.
I knew because I’d been through it. You moved on with your life but it was always that little bit empty.
That was what it was to be human. To keep living, to find happiness, but doing it always being just that little bit sad because loss was inevitable.
I crossed the car park toward the lodge, toward Hudson, knowing that I’d lose him eventually. But I didn’t want it to be now, or tomorrow, or ten years from now, or even fifty.
I wanted it to be after a lifetime of happiness together, when its inevitability was natural and right, and we were hopefully holding hands in bed together in our nineties, drifting off peacefully in our sleep.
Hurrying, I almost slipped, and marveled that it was my first almost graceless fall since I’d collided with Hudson on the slopes. And oh, what a story to tell our kids! That Mummy took Daddy down on a ski slope, then accidentally kneed him in the junk and thankfully won his heart despite that.
I didn’t know how it would work but I couldn’t wait to tell Hudson that it was going to work.
Catching sight of Helena at reception, I practically rushed her to ask if she’d seen Hudson.
She grinned knowingly at me. Everyone at the inn knew about our romance. It would have been a miracle if they didn’t, considering we spent almost every available second attached at the hip.
“He told me to tell you he has the infinity pool all to himself, if you want to join him there.”
A tingle awakened between my legs at the thought. What a treat. The heated jacuzzi pool was small, half-moon shaped, and built into a balcony that jutted out from the inn over the mountains. When you sat in it and stared out of the edge, you felt like you were floating over the snow.
I had never moved so fast in my life, hurrying back to my room to change into my bikini and robe.
Not forgetting the baked goods, I practically sprinted to the spa, which had a closed sign on it, and slipped inside.
It was weird being there when it was empty, but Hudson had left some lighting on for me, lighting that acted as a guide toward the outdoor area.
The balcony was dimly lit and I saw his silhouette in the pool.
He had his arms crossed on the ledge, staring thoughtfully out at the mountains.
I opened the door, drawing his gaze, and made quick work of slipping out of my robe and slippers and lowering myself into the heat of the pool, out of the freezing cold air.
I grabbed the cakes off the ground and bobbed toward him with the container in my hand.
Hudson grinned, reaching an arm out to pull me toward him. He relieved me of the container with his other.
“How did you swing this?” I asked.
“Deke gave me the key. Though he said if we had sex in this pool he’d kill me.”
I burst out laughing, and it was soon muffled in Hudson’s long, luxurious kiss. I smiled as we settled at the edge of the pool and he opened the container.
Watching in delight and anticipation as he bit into my frosted cupcake, I leaned closer for his reaction. His gaze flicked to me as he ate and made a ‘yummy’ face. I grinned harder. After he swallowed he said, “Angel, fuck, you can bake.”
“That’s just a cupcake. Wait until you taste my chocolate hazelnut cake.”
His eyes lit at the prospect.
And I continued, my breath puffing in the cold air between us, “And you will. I hope you’ll be tasting my cakes until we’re old and decrepit.”
Hudson was about to take another bite of cupcake but stopped. Instead his mouth formed a gorgeous, crooked smile. “You mean that?”
“I mean that. I don’t know how we’re going to do it but we have to find a way.”
“Six months in Colorado, six months in Scotland,” he offered immediately. “Best of both worlds.”
Tears of happiness immediately rushed my eyes before I could stop them. “You’d do that?”
“If you’ll do it for me, I’ll do it for you. And it’s not like it’s a hardship, angel. If Scotland’s half as beautiful as you, I’ll be happy.”
I threw my arms around him, knocking the container out of his hand and into the water, but I didn’t care. Kissing the life out of him, tasting cupcake and frosting, I knew I’d never been happier in my whole life. I didn’t think it was possible to be this ecstatic.
His arms closed tight around me and soon our kiss turned to more. His hands were everywhere, cupping and caressing my breasts, sliding between my legs.
“You’re on the pill, right?”
“Right,” I murmured in a sex haze. “But why?”
“I’m clean. You?”
“Hmm, yeah, why?”
He nudged my bikini bottoms out of the way and suddenly thrust inside me. I gasped in pleasure and shock.
“I thought… no sex,” I panted.
“Angel, there’s cupcake and brownie crap all over the bottom of this pool. If it needs to be cleaned anyway…” He pumped into me harder to make his point.
And that night we made a memory I’ll never forget.
Hudson making love to me with the dark snowy Colorado mountain as our backdrop.
We came together, in a harmony that fit the moment perfectly and as I clung to the man I loved, he brushed his lips against my ear and whispered, “You owe me a cupcake.”
I laughed because he was funny… but mostly because that’s all I ever wanted to do now that he was mine. Love, sex, laugh.
Heaven.