Chapter 9
Nine
“IT WAS JUST A little rat snake that had crawled under the seat to take a nap. They don’t bite.”
Audrey sent Hudson a withering glare. “It was a slithering thing at my feet.”
He wisely refrained from further comment, instead pulling a hamper and blanket from the canoe. Because, of course, he hadn’t gone overboard. No, just her.
Soaking wet and irritated with her own over-reaction, she unsnapped the life jacket and yanked it off, dumping it into the beached canoe. Now they were about to hike to…somewhere, and she was going to chafe all over the place.
“C’mon.”
With as much dignity as she could muster—which was to say, none—she headed in the direction he indicated. God, she was embarrassed. But it was a snake. Hadn’t he ever seen Indiana Jones? Didn’t he understand the horror?
“So, you were going to ask me something?” he prompted.
Oh, hell no. No way could she ask him now.
She looked like a total spaz. She was not about to still ask him if he’d be interested in checking off some of those bases with her, attraction be damned.
But God, she’d been thinking about his hands all during their little paddling lesson, and then she’d stayed hot and bothered—at least until her unplanned dunk in the lake.
She’d even been a little bit jealous of Claudia Collingsworth for having had those hands on her.
Okay, maybe a lot jealous. Audrey knew how stirred up Hudson’s kisses got her.
She couldn’t stop wondering about the rest. When Sam had tossed out the idea of a flaming hot affair, Audrey hadn’t given it any serious thought. But now…
“Never mind. It was nothing.”
“You’re thinking awfully hard about nothing. And it’s making you blush.”
Damn her red-head’s complexion! Couldn’t a woman be embarrassed without announcing it to the world?
The little island was heavily forested, so she said nothing and concentrated on walking, so she didn’t add tripping over a root or a hole or her own damned feet to her list of mortifications for the day.
After all the exertion the last few days, that required a lot more effort than she liked.
The hike to the center of the island didn’t take more than five or ten minutes.
It was a tiny island, after all. The little clearing reminded her of a fairy bower—which made her feel excessively romantic and stupid.
Fairy bower? She was a scientist. A logical, rational professional.
But the impression remained, with trees wrapping around the space in a way that suggested utter privacy.
Hudson flipped out the blanket and spread it out over the grass. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
“If I were a Disney princess, I’d open my mouth to sing and small woodland creatures would scurry to the edge to pay homage.”
He laughed. “You don’t strike me as the Disney princess type.”
“They were my guilty pleasure growing up. Intellectually, I get all the problems with some of the messages they put out there for girls, but I certainly never watched Beauty and the Beast and thought ‘oh hey, Stockholm Syndrome seems like a good idea’ or that I should change what made me me for the sake of some guy after watching The Little Mermaid. I just loved the stories and the music.”
“Which one is your favorite?”
“Honestly? Sleeping Beauty. Which ought to be ridiculous. Aurora has literally eighteen lines of dialog in the entire movie. And Tangled. I guess I relate to the whole princess removed from the normal world. And the overprotective parent vibe.” Why had she said that? It made her sound pitiful.
“I was much more into Shrek. An animated movie with fart jokes? It was great. Plus, Eddie Murphy. I love all things Eddie Murphy. I used to be able to quote The Nutty Professor word for word.”
Audrey snorted. She toed off her shoes and started to step onto the blanket.
“You might as well strip down and lay out your clothes to dry. They have to be uncomfortable.”
They were, but she didn’t move.
“If you hang them up now, they’ll probably be dry by the time we head back. Plus, it’s shady enough here, you shouldn’t burn,” he continued, peeking into the hamper.
She still didn’t budge.
“Unless you were lying about having a swimsuit on under there?”
She did have a swimsuit. A bikini. One that had once made her feel sexy.
But that was before. She’d only packed it for camp because buying another seemed a waste of money, and she hadn’t really planned on doing any water stuff anyway because she had no intention of showing her legs.
Ever. They invited too many questions, too much pity.
And yet she was thinking about being intimate with this man.
That would require exposing her scars—both literal and metaphorical.
Could she do that? Could she really trust him enough, let him in that far?
Hudson knew what she’d been through. Part of it, anyway.
They wouldn’t be a surprise to him. And maybe this was a good, safe way to test herself.
To see how she felt about someone seeing her.
I can do this.
Before she could lose her nerve, Audrey tossed her hat onto the blanket and stripped off her shirt.
She hung it on a branch, then unbuttoned her pants and slipped them off, too.
But she couldn’t make herself turn around to see his face.
Her heart pounded in a sickening rhythm, too loud in her ears, and her skin prickled with more than just gooseflesh.
She wanted to grab up the blanket and wrap it around herself, anything to cover back up.
But she stood in the silence, biting her lip, until she couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
“They basically had to rebuild my legs. Multiple surgeries and about twenty pounds’ worth of pins, rods, plates, new knees… It’s functional but not very pretty. Sort of Bride of Frankenstein. With better hair.”
Audrey jumped when Hudson’s hands skimmed down her arms. She hadn’t heard him move.
“You know what I see when I look at you?” he asked softly.
“No.” She could barely force the word out.
He turned her to face him, tipping her chin to force her to look up at him. Stubborn, she kept her eyes downcast, somewhere around his mouth.
“Strength. And that's the sexiest thing I can imagine.”
Her heart flipped. She wanted to believe that, but she just…couldn’t. “That’s sweet, but—”
“I’m not lying to make you feel better, Audrey.” He reeled her in, pulling her flush against his body until the truth of his statement nudged her in the belly.
“Oh!” Heat swept through her at the contact.
Audrey lifted her eyes to his and lost her breath.
He wanted her. The huge erection was certainly a clue, but he could’ve been thinking about some hot model or a bikini car wash or any number of things that might turn him on.
But he was looking at her, as if he wanted to devour her.
It made her knees go weak. How was it he could see anything other than a woman broken?
Hudson cupped her cheek, sliding his hand into her hair. “Let me show you.”
Had she spoken aloud? Before she had a chance to think about it, he’d lowered his lips to hers. They’d shared several kisses over the past few days, some initiated by him, some by her. They’d varied from hot to playful to sweet. But this. This was something else entirely.
He made love to her mouth. It was all she could think as he slowly stripped away her anxiety and embarrassment, leaving nothing behind but needs.
She realized, as he lowered her to the blanket, that her sexual experiences before had been pale substitutes for what could be.
She’d thought this kind of pleasure was a fiction, a fairy tale.
The sort of thing that existed only in dreams. If this was a dream, she didn’t ever want to wake up.
His hands roamed over her, impossibly gentle as he skimmed those calloused fingers across her skin.
How could such big, powerful hands be so reverent?
They made her feel cherished, electric. And when his palms cupped her breasts, she arched into the touch, desperate for more.
He tore his mouth from hers, and she whimpered at the loss, until he pressed his lips to the column of her throat, thumbs stroking her nipples through the swimsuit. Everything in her went taut.
Audrey tipped her head back to give him better access, threading her fingers into the hair at his nape as he kissed his way down to the little hollow above her collarbone and continued to massage her breasts.
They were full and heavy in his hands, the nipples pearled tight and sensitive.
With every brush of his thumbs, her sex pulled tighter.
“More,” she breathed and couldn’t even care that it came out a plea.
His fingers tugged at the knot of straps behind her neck until the bow released, then drew them down with slow deliberation. The sun on her bare breasts was nothing compared to the heat of his gaze as he looked at her.
“Beautiful.”
He drew her into his mouth, circling her nipple with his tongue, and Audrey all but flew off the blanket.
Hudson shifted, nudging one muscular thigh between hers, pressing right against her aching center, and, oh, that was better.
Her hips began to move to the same, suckling rhythm he set with his mouth.
Breath catching, she speared her hands in his hair, holding him to her when he shifted to the other breast. God, she was so close he was going to make her come, just from this.
“Hudson.” His name came out on a moan.
He worked one hand between them, cupping her. Audrey arched into the touch with a cry. So. Very. Close. She widened her legs and bucked into his hand. He came back to her mouth, thrusting his tongue against hers as he rubbed the heel of his palm against her mound, and she shattered.
He held her through the shuddering aftermath, bringing her down with long, drugging kisses, and easy strokes of his hands.
“Okay?” he asked.