Chapter 19
SERENA
Acouple of months ago, I couldn’t have pictured us together like this again. But Hudson had done more than I ever could’ve asked to prove to me that I could trust him. And there was only one way I wanted to celebrate our reconciliation.
Looking up at him with my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat, I murmured, “Take me to bed.”
Hudson went completely still, his eyes searching mine. The need on his face nearly undid me. “Are you sure? I didn’t tell you about the house deed and the offer to rush you. We can wait as long as you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
The genuine care in his every word cracked the last piece of fear I’d been carrying. I slid my hands up his chest so I could cup his face, enjoying the familiar scrape from his beard on my palms. “I’m sure. I’ve waited long enough. We both have.”
He let out a shaky breath, then nodded, his eyes never leaving mine. “Okay. But if you change your mind at any point, we stop. If there’s some reminder of what—”
I cut him off with a kiss, letting him feel how certain I was. And how much I needed him.
We made it to the bed in a haze of kisses and wandering hands. The moment we reached the edge of the mattress, my gaze caught on the nightstand.
There was a new photo there—a candid shot of the two of us from our first movie together. We were laughing on set, his arm slung around my shoulders, my head tilted back in pure joy. It hadn’t been there before.
I stopped, my throat tightening with sudden tears.
Hudson noticed immediately. He stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“I put it there the night after the interview,” he murmured against my hair. “The lonely nights without you were brutal. That picture reminded me of why I was fighting so hard to get you back. It helped me get through the times when I was sure I’d lost you for good.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. I turned in his arms and kissed him again, pouring every ounce of love and forgiveness I had into it.
“Then stop talking.” I tugged at the hem of his shirt. “And show me.”
He chuckled, but there was a hint of restraint in it. “Easy, baby. I’ve waited months for this. I want to savor every second.”
I made a grouchy little sound and nipped at his bottom lip. “You can savor all you want after you make me come. It’s been too long, Hudson. I need you.”
His eyes darkened with heat. “Yes, ma’am.”
He stripped me slowly, like he was unwrapping something sacred.
His lips followed every piece of fabric he removed—kissing the hollow of my throat, the curve of my shoulder, and the sensitive underside of my breast. When his mouth closed over my nipple, I gasped, arching into him.
He took his time there too, sucking and licking until my legs were shaking and I was clutching his shoulders for balance.
“Hudson.” My voice came out breathless and needy.
He hummed against my skin, the vibration sending sparks straight between my legs. “I missed this. How you taste. The little sounds you make when I touch you here.” His hand slid down my stomach, his talented fingers teasing just above where I needed him most. “Missed feeling you fall apart for me.”
“I missed you too.” I tried to hurry him, tugging at his shirt, but he caught my wrists gently and pinned them above my head with one hand while the other continued its slow exploration.
“Not yet,” he murmured, kissing down my stomach. “Let me worship you first. I want to remind you how much I love every inch of you.”
By the time he dropped to his knees and spread my thighs, I was already trembling.
The first slow lick of his tongue against my clit made my knees buckle.
He held me steady, humming in satisfaction as he licked and sucked with devastating patience, two thick fingers sliding inside me and curling just right.
I came hard within minutes, crying out his name as pleasure crashed through me in waves.
He didn’t stop there, though. He kept going, adding a third finger, his tongue working my clit with lazy, perfect strokes until I was shaking again, another orgasm ripping through me so intensely I had to grip his hair to stay upright.
“Hudson,” I gasped.
He pulled back just enough to grin up at me, his lips shiny with my come. “If the amount of time I can linger is tied to the number of orgasms I give you, I’m planning on staying down here all night.”
A breathless laugh escaped me. “That sounds fantastic to me. Yes.”
He kept going, relentless and tender at the same time, until I was shaking through a third orgasm, my thighs clamped around his head as I sobbed his name. When the pleasure finally ebbed, I was boneless.
Hudson pressed a soft kiss to my inner thigh before getting to his feet.
Then I got to watch him strip off his own clothes with shaking hands, revealing the body I’d missed so desperately.
Even though I’d just come three times, his broad shoulders, defined abs, and the V of muscle that disappeared into his boxers turned me on.
When he pushed them down too, his cock sprang free, thick and hard, already leaking at the tip. I sat up and reached for him, but he caught my hand and brought it to his lips instead.
“I want to feel you come around my fingers one more time first. And taste you on my tongue while I’m buried inside you later.”
His words sent a fresh wave of heat through me. I nodded, too overwhelmed to argue, and let him guide me back onto the mattress. He settled between my legs again, this time sliding three fingers inside me while his mouth returned to my clit.
The stretch was perfect, the pressure exactly what I needed. He curled his fingers, stroking that sensitive spot over and over while his tongue flicked and sucked with devastating precision.
I came again, harder than before, my back arching off the bed as I cried out. Only then did he finally pull back, his eyes dark with lust and love as he looked at me.
When he settled between my legs, the head of his cock nudging my entrance, he paused again, waiting for me to meet his gaze.
“Tell me you’re ready. That this is what you want.”
“I’m beyond ready. I want all of you.” I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer. “Now.”
He pushed inside me in a slow, deep thrust, and we both groaned.
It felt like coming home and catching fire at the same time. He filled me so perfectly, we just stayed there for a moment, breathing each other in.
“I love you,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “Only you. Forever.”
“And I love you.”
He finally started to move, using long, deliberate strokes that dragged against every sensitive spot inside me. I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist, meeting him thrust for thrust, my nails digging into his back.
“Harder,” I gasped. “Please.”
He gave me what I asked for, his hips snapping forward with more force, one hand sliding under my butt to tilt me exactly where he wanted me. “That’s it, baby. Take me. Feel how much I need you.”
The dirty words mixed with the love in his voice undid me. I came again, clenching around him as pleasure ripped through me in waves. He followed right after, burying himself deep and shuddering through his release with my name on his lips like a prayer.
“So fucking perfect, Serena.”
Afterward, we cuddled together, sweaty and breathless, with the sheets tangled around our legs.
He pressed soft kisses to my temple, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “I’m never letting you go again.”
I smiled against his chest, tracing lazy patterns on his skin.
“Good. Because I’m not letting you go either.”