LAILAH
SEVEN
“Sunshine, we should get you back up to bed,” Hudson whispered, running a hand down my arm. “You fell asleep at the table again.”
Blinking, I sat up and found he was right. I’d had a nightmare at three and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I came down to go through the records of the mystery company.
“This is the third time this week we’ve found you here,” Hudson chided. “I don’t think it’s healthy to have you so involved in this. Maybe we need to send you back to Ryevick where Cami can keep an eye on you and give you some space from us and all of this.”
My heart slammed in my chest at his words. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“What? No, Sunshine, that isn’t what I want at all,” he spluttered, pulling me onto his lap.
“I’m just worried about you. Things are regressing, not getting better, the harder we push to find Jay’s mother.
My first and only purpose is to make sure you’re healthy and happy, which I should point out, you are neither of those things. ”
I looked up at him, seeing the truth in his words as he leaned in and kissed me softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out. My brain just went into panic mode hearing you say that.”
“Talk to me. Tell me where your head’s at. You always used to come to me when you couldn’t get out of your own thoughts, but this time, you’re just internalizing it,” Hudson pleaded, resting his forehead against mine.
“It’s all the same things.” I sighed. “Will we find his mom in time? Can we really do this? Parker, me, you guys, the Elementi—it might be easier to tell you what I’m not thinking about.
The only time my brain turns off is when I’m cooking or working on things like this where I have to pay attention to the details. ”
He hummed in understanding as he pulled me close, resting his chin on the top of my head. “I’m going to ask you a question and you need to answer it honestly.”
“What’s the question?” I asked, feeling I knew what it was already.
“Not until you promise to at least think about the answer before you give it,” he challenged.
I wrapped an arm around his neck to have him as close as I could get him. “I promise. Now ask your question.”
“Is Parker being here every day making things worse?”
As I promised, I thought about his question, the one I had a feeling he was going to ask me.
It was so hard to answer because it just wasn’t that simple to put into words.
Since the first day he came over to help, he’s been invaluable to us, getting information from places none of us could access.
Come to find out, no one knew about this mysterious company called Alpite but that was about all we knew about it for sure.
Each time we uncovered something, it led to another wild goose chase.
It just proved that once we figured it out, we would have exactly what we needed to find the demons’ military base of operations.
Something else had changed in him as well, as if a switch had been flipped and he did everything he could think of to be an active person in this mission.
He brought me flowers—my favorite kind, tulips—and I don’t think I’d ever told any of my guys that they were my favorite.
Gone was the wounded bleeding man who only wanted to beg for my forgiveness.
Now I saw him fighting for me or us. We had a long way to go for me to ever think about opening my heart back up to him but I could see him trying.
“No... in the list of things making this whole situation hard, he isn’t one of them.
I think I’m just reaching the breaking point of how many times I can take a hit like I have in the past year.
There needs to be an end to all this, Hudson.
I might be Synergy, the weapon you’ve all been waiting for, but I’m still Lailah too.
Not that any of you have forgotten that or made me feel like I have to keep pushing myself.
A year ago, I had no idea what I wanted for myself.
The rest of my family had plans, dreams, and aspirations—not me though.
I drifted, getting lost at every turn, then I stumbled into this world and found I did have a purpose.
It just wasn’t one I chose for myself. God, I feel like a broken record when it comes to this, which might be why I’m not talking about it,” I shared, burying my head into his neck and placing a kiss on his pulse that I could feel beating steadily against my cheek.
“Sounds to me like you need someone to remind you just how strong you are,” Hudson murmured, his voice turning husky with desire.
“Will you let me worship you, my sunshine? Help you to forget everything that’s going on in the world around us, force you to just feel what’s happening in this moment, right here, right now. ”
What woman in her right mind would say no to that?
“Yes,” I whispered against his skin before I pulled back and stood in front of him. Grabbing his jaw, I tipped his face up to look at me, knowing what he wanted from me. He was the only man out of the four who wanted to be told what to do in the bedroom. “Are the others asleep?”
“No, but they’re all in their rooms tonight,” he answered, telling me what I really wanted to know.
Hudson knew that part of what I was struggling with was having no control over what was happening, so he was giving me this gift. “Get on your knees.”
Confusion flashed over his face as he followed my order.
“Show me just how much you’re willing to do to keep my mind off things,” I directed, taking off his glasses then settling his hands on my hips.
I’d taken to wearing lounge clothes since I seemed to be falling asleep in odd places throughout the day.
I was only sleeping three or four hours a night.
Realization bloomed in his eyes as he started to smirk.
He hooked his thumbs in the elastic band of my shorts and underwear, pulling them both down to my ankles.
Lifting one foot then the other as he held me steady, he tossed them somewhere behind me then grabbed my left leg and threw it over his shoulder.
I yelped and grabbed onto a handful of blond hair as he wasted no time devouring me, his tongue thrusting into me as if I was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.
Hot damn, I need to challenge him more often if this was the result.
“Holy shit, Hudson,” I moaned as his hands slid to cup my ass and gave him the leverage he needed to get deeper.
He started to trace a finger around my back entrance that everyone had been threatening to convince me to try.
I wasn’t against it. I just didn’t know if I would like it, and it seemed so dirty, even if they all were excited with the thought.
His finger pressed against the opening but didn’t try to go further, almost as if he was just getting me used to the idea.
My attention was completely diverted when he pulled back enough to latch onto my clit and sucked on it hard, adding just enough teeth to add friction.
I screamed as I came, unable to fight to keep my voice quiet.
I shuddered as he lapped at me, keeping the orgasm going as long as he could.
Giving one last kiss to my clit, he slowly set my leg back down, making sure I was steady enough for him to stand.
He cupped my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss that he put as much vigor in as he had my lady bits.
I could taste myself on him, but I was too preoccupied with his tongue battling with mine to care.
Picking me up, I gasped in surprise but he just set me on the table and pressed me back as he worked up my shirt to uncover my bra.
He didn’t bother to take it off, instead just shoving it out of his way, exposing me to him.
Hudson gazed down at me, his clear blue eyes showing just how hungry he was for me and determined to make sure I couldn’t think of anything but him.
Slipping two fingers into me with his thumb rubbing my clit, I arched on the table. “Oh God, Hudson.”
“That’s right, tell the others that I’m the one down here making you moan. They like to tease me about being more submissive in bed, but all I want is to give my sunshine all the pleasure I can,” Hudson whispered as he kissed down my chest before descending upon a nipple.
None of the guys were ever selfish but Hudson had a love for foreplay that none of the others did, taking his time to drive me wild before he ever thought about relieving his own need.
His fingers pumped in and out of me while he worked my breasts over with his mouth and his other hand kept my mind overloaded with sensations.
Another climax came bursting forward, hitting me so hard I almost sat up from the table.
He held me in place as my body shivered under his touch.
Finally, he removed his fingers but still strummed my clit as he used one of his lubed fingers to press more urgently at my tight entrance.
“Just relax,” he murmured into my ear. “I’ve been doing some research and there are some neat tricks we can do that are enhanced with anal stimulation. If you hate it, then I won’t ever do it again. This is all about you and getting the last drop of pleasure I can out of you.”
I trusted Hudson to take care of me so as the tip of his finger passed the tight barrier, I forced my body to relax.
The sensation was odd but not unpleasant.
He didn’t move his finger in deep, just enough to give me a feel for the stimulation.
Pairing that with his continued attention on my clit, I came faster than I thought possible, the feeling sparking through my body like a shock of electricity.
“Look how beautiful you are, my sunshine. Your eyes glazed with contentment as I pull yet another orgasm from your stunning body. When you fall apart, it’s heavenly,” Hudson said as he finally slid into me, pulling me up into a sitting position, wrapping me in a tight hug.