Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
JULIETTE
H e’d asked me that back in Dallas. Back then, I was so cocksure it was impossible. Why would I fall in love with this asshole who cared little for others? Now, I’m not so sure what I feel. Standing here with him makes me so happy, so blessed. At this moment, I don’t want the seven days to run out.
“Did you bring her here?” I find myself asking. I don’t understand why. Is it an inherent urge to sabotage my own happiness or just a coping mechanism to keep me on guard and constantly remind me that Hudson isn’t the right man for me, no matter how he makes me feel now?
He moves away from me, his body language showing how angry he is.
“Are you serious right now!” he asks his voice as cold as eyes. “That is what you’re thinking of in this moment?”
Hudson walks out of the room, leaving me alone. He heads back into the control room. I stand alone and feel like crying, but the tears don’t come. Instead, I watch the dark seas, now unable to make out any fish jumping.
Why did I ask that? Why can’t I keep my damn mouth shut! After a while, I join him in the control room. I stand by the door, watching Hudson fiddle with the control. As he does that, the intensity of the light outside changes as well as its direction. After a while, I walk over to him and kneel before him. He focuses on the light, pretending like I’m not there.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him.
I get nothing back from him. Just a cold lack of acknowledgement of my presence.
“I don’t know why I did that, okay. I just wanted to know.”
He glanced briefly at me but then turns his attention back to the light. After a while, he sighs and turns to me.
“Why are you so intent on examining us? On questioning it. It feels good. Unbelievable even, I don’t know myself that we should look more closely at it just yet.
“I know,” I say. “Or maybe I don’t know.” This though is a lie, so I decide to say the truth.
“I’m just … I think I’m scared Hudson.”
“Scared? Of me?”
“Maybe. Maybe of us. I don’t know how not to take a closer look because I didn’t expect it and it’s diving me crazy not to know what to make of it. And you seemingly don’t as well.”
He turns away again, the light calling for him. He tweaks some more buttons and resets it to its initial configuration.
“Again,” he says. “I think we should simply just enjoy the moment.”
“You and me, we’re here, aren’t we? That’s all we are sure of. We are. We don’t know what tomorrow will hold. Hell, I’m worried out of my mind what new move Frank might take. But when I’m here with you, I can get that worry out of my mind. I can focus on the joy you give me.”
This … his take somewhat amuses me. “You talk about that like I’m nothing but a distraction.”
He thinks about it for a while before he speaks. “And would that be so bad? Remember, we are both together to help each other out. You help me steer clear of Phillipa, and I pay you so you can get your bakery. This thing between us is all an addition. Why should we worry ourselves further about what it might hold? Why not just enjoy the moment, one day at a time.” His voice softens. “You really can’t do that?”
“I don’t know,” I say and stand up.
Enjoy things one day at a time. Looking at the clock blinking on the control board, I can see it’s past midnight already, which means Hudson and I have just about three days more to spend here in Manhattan. If he resolves his issue with Frank within the next three days, will he no longer require a distraction? Do I then lose all importance to him?
I return to the viewing room; the sea won’t stop calling to me. There are no answers in there, yet, I return to it every time.
The solution to this is simple: What do I really want?
I don’t know.
It’s hard, close to impossible to think long term. When I close my eyes, do I see Hudson in my life, in say, the next six months? No, I don’t see him. What I see, however, is my bakery. I see myself as a business owner, proud and fulfilled. That is the only future I’m certain of.
Maybe he is right. My worries are unfounded. I’m stressing myself over something that will unfold in time. Three days ago, I would never have guessed I would be in the lighthouse with Hudson Sinclair, happily watching salmon jump in the sea, yet here I am. I don’t know what the next couple of days will hold either, so why do I stress over it?
I do know what is before me now. I do know what I want now. Hudson. I want to feel, let out the desire I feel for him. I want it to completely consume me.
In the midst of it.. in the midst of him with me I know that my questions dissipate and in its place is a certainty that feels more real than anything that I have ever known. These moments of pure magic I know now are what haunt me, and I’m desperate to feel it once again.
This seems to be it. This seems to be the answer and it’s just as Hudson said. I need to get myself caught up in the moment and not worry needlessly about the future, so I walk back to the control room but don’t get there as Hudson is on his way to the viewing room.
“We should head out. I prepared living quarters for us.”
“I don’t want to leave yet,” I tell him, my voice laced with desire.
“What do you want, then?” he asks me, his eyes locking onto mine, full of dark promise.
Before I can say “you,” Hudson’s lips crash onto mine. I’m not surprised—he probably sees it in my eyes, feels it in the way I look at him with raw need. As his tongue invades my mouth, tasting me, I become fluid in his embrace, melting into him.
Falling deeper, I submit totally to the mindless hunger that overtakes me. He guides me with his body, his passion wrapping around me like a vice until we reach the glass. He stands with one arm over my head, pushing against the glass, while his other hand lifts my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze as his tongue slides deeper into my mouth. There’s nothing gentle in the way he handles me—his touch is rough, demanding, and it ignites a fire inside me that only he can quench.
His free hand roams over my body, squeezing, groping, claiming every inch of me. I gasp, grabbing at his broad shoulders, needing to hold onto something as he bites down on my neck, tasting my skin with a hunger that mirrors my own. I’m barely able to hold back, my breaths coming in ragged gasps as I feel the desperate, raw desire between us, tangible and electric.
Eventually, he turns me around, his hands rough as they pull the zipper of my dress down. He’s desperate with it, his breath hot against my neck, and his frustration with the delicate frills of my attire makes me smile. But soon enough, he gets what he wants—my dress slides down, pooling at my feet, leaving me bare except for the thin lace of my bra and thong.
I kick the dress away as he unclasps my bra, his fingers impatient, needing to feel my skin against his. When he finally gets it off, he doesn’t waste a second. His hands are on my breasts, cupping the full mounds, his thumbs flicking over my hardened nipples. The sensation shoots straight between my thighs, making me moan, the sound low and needy.
And then he gets more forceful.
My chest hits the glass as he takes a sudden, forceful grip on my waist, pinning me there as his hands slide down to my hips. My breasts are squished against the cold surface, the chill of the glass assaulting my nipples, sending shivers down my spine. Hudson’s hands move to my thong, and when he can’t seem to be patient enough to get it off, he rips the flimsy lace away with one swift motion. The forceful snap and the slight sting make me gasp, my body trembling as wetness floods between my thighs.
He doesn’t hesitate—his fingers are on me, sliding through my slick folds, finding my clit with expert precision. He presses down on it, circling it with his thumb, and I can’t help the moan that escapes me, my body arching back against him. I hear him unzip his pants, the sound sending a fresh wave of heat through me. He leans into me, his cock hard and throbbing against my ass. I reach back, desperate to guide him into me, but he slaps my hand away.
“Keep those to yourself,” he growls into my ear, his voice rough with need. He bites down on my earlobe, his breath hot against my skin. “You can scream, let it all out. No one is here to hear you.”
And then he thrusts into me, filling me completely in one hard stroke. I’m barely able to hold back a scream, the sound tearing from my throat as his cock stretches me, fills me to the hilt. The sensation is overwhelming, a mix of pleasure and pain that has me clawing at the glass, my nails scraping against the surface. He’s relentless, fucking me with a raw, primal intensity that leaves me breathless, my body pressed tight against the glass as he takes me.
My knees buckle, but Hudson is there, holding me up, his grip on my hair and hips keeping me steady as he pounds into me. His movements are rough, possessive, each thrust harder and deeper than the last, and I can feel myself unraveling, the pleasure building to an almost unbearable level. My moans turn into screams, my body trembling with the force of it all, but he doesn’t let up. He keeps fucking me, his cock driving into me over and over, hitting that perfect spot inside me that has me seeing stars.
“Fuck, Hudson,” I gasp, my voice barely audible, but he hears me. He grinds against me, his cock so deep inside me I can feel every inch of him, and it’s too much, too good. I can feel my orgasm building, the tension coiling tighter and tighter inside me, ready to snap.
Hudson pulls at my hair, using it as leverage as he slams into me, his breath hot against my neck. I can feel him losing control, his thrusts becoming erratic, desperate, and it pushes me over the edge. I cry out his name as I come, my body convulsing around his cock, the pleasure so intense it’s almost painful. My vision goes white, my mind blank, and all I can feel is him, his cock buried deep inside me, his hands on my body, claiming me completely.
He groans, a low, guttural sound that vibrates through me as he finds his release, his cock pulsing inside me as he spills into me. He keeps thrusting, riding out the last waves of his orgasm, his grip on me tightening as if he never wants to let go.
We stay like that for what feels like an eternity, our bodies pressed together, breath mingling as we come down from the high. When he finally pulls out of me, we both collapse to the ground, spent but sated. Hudson pulls me close, his lips brushing against my forehead as we lie there, tangled in each other, the world outside forgotten.
No words are needed. We both know we’ll be doing this again, and soon.