Chapter 20 #2
The raw truth in her whispered answer spiraled through his veins. He shuddered at the rush as he faced her. “If I had known Pop wanted to set me up with a gorgeous little thief, I would have taken leave as soon as I could and been on the first plane home.”
Hunger, and a plea to make the sadness recede, if only for a little while, fired in her bright eyes. He breathed in the scent of roses and the unmistakable tension that edged the crisp air. Gripping the curve of her waist, he pulled her closer. The neckline of her sweatshirt dipped low.
She tugged it up.
He caught her wrist in his hand. “Don’t. I need to see.”
Pulling the material with enough force to elicit a gasp from her pouty lips, he looked down. Blood raced to his cock so fast he twitched.
“Fuck.” The slow, carnal curse slid from his throat in whispered awe. Gliding his hand from her face, he slid his fingers down her neck.
The curve of her shoulder.
Across her ribcage.
Every shiver, every little, breathy sound slowed his descent and fed the pulsing need for more.
Grabbing her waist, he tugged her onto his lap and settled her knees on either side of his hips.
She yelped as he slid his hand under her ass.
With another yank on her sweatshirt and a slight shift of his hips, he exposed her breasts and nestled his cock where it belonged.
Her eyes widened at the direct contact with the thick, hard bulge underneath his sweatpants. A sexy as fuck moan vibrated in her throat. The aftershocks undulated through his body, each wave crashing through the sorrow that crushed the deepest parts of him down to the cellular level.
Sliding his hands to her wrists, he pinned them against the little valley in her spine just above her ass he couldn’t wait to explore.
She fought his hold as her pupils dilated to the size of sand dollars.
Instead of letting go, he rubbed circles into her flesh with his thumbs.
In the span of a breath, she rolled her eyes on a soft moan and relaxed into his hold.
His ego swelled at her trust. His cock swelled at her sexy ass submission.
But the clinical side of him caught the flash of panic in her eyes.
He’d bet his medical degree that the reason she feared the cops, and why she flinched when he touched her cheek, were connected to her involuntary reaction to his light restraint.
And circled back to someone who’d hurt her.
She’d said it wasn’t Frank. He wasn’t sure if he believed her, but instincts honed on and off the battlefield signaled with brutal certainty that someone close to her had damaged not just her body, but her soul.
Now that she was his responsibility for the foreseeable future, nobody would touch her again.
With gentle, yet firm pressure, he pressed her hands into her back.
The movement raised her perfect breasts, the color of the sun-kissed sand on the beaches of Coronado, within inches of his mouth.
He licked his lips and groaned at the sight he’d been dreaming about for what seemed like a year instead of two days.
“I take back what I said before, little thief. I’m still jealous. ”
“Why??”
He flicked his tongue against a lace-covered nipple.
This time the arch in her back was all her doing.
He fucking loved the soft, breathy sounds she didn’t try to stifle.
“Because you’ve had a whole year to stare at my photo on the fridge.
I’ve only had a day to look at the picture of you I took on the boardwalk. ”
A full body shudder ripped through her as he scraped his teeth against her nipple. The friction against his tongue and the tease of tight, soft flesh shot blazing hot desire to his already hard dick. “You looked more breathtaking than the sunrise.”
“Hudson.” She tried to break her arms free of his hold. “Let me—"
“Oh no, little thief.” Her desperate plea for release had nothing to do with outrunning her past and everything to do with touching him.
Now.
Right fucking now, based on the way she rubbed her pussy against his cock that felt hard enough to punch through his Navy issued sweats and tear past the wet spot on her yoga pants.
He’d let her touch him wherever she wanted, but not yet.
Pulling air through his teeth, he dipped his head to her breast. A long, raspy gasp vibrated from her throat as she arched into his mouth.
He slid his hand up her smooth collarbone and encircled the base of her neck. “Make that sound again. Let me feel how much you like my mouth on you.”
A nip of his teeth triggered the reaction he didn’t just crave to hear but feel under his palm.
As her desire surged down his body and wrapped around his cock, he sucked her salty, sweet skin that tasted better than taffy from the boardwalk.
“You’ve had twelve months to think about me.
Tell me how often you’ve thought about me fucking you. ”
She pulled back and stilled. Her wide eyes, and even wider mouth he fantasized about, conveyed what he needed to know.
Tessa picked up her jaw, but no words, not even a breath, came out.
Hudson traced the seam of her lips with a fingertip. “I need to hear you say you’ve been thinking about fucking me because I sure as hell have filthy daydreams about you, starting with this pretty mouth.”
The contrast of his stern demand and whisper-soft touch awakened a need to share every carnal detail she’d conjured of this man. Her imagination hadn’t factored in a dirty-talking side, though, and damn if she didn’t love it.