Chapter 25
Tessa surged awake with a scream. Bolting upright, her scratchy throat shredded the sound as her nightmare splintered apart in the sunlight streaming through the window.
I’m okay.
I’m in my bed.
In my mansion.
She dropped her head into her hands and half-sobbed, half-laughed. Her mansion, well, half her mansion, still sounded like a dream.
A much better dream than the ones plaguing her these past few nights.
She shook off her ghosts and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 7:30 a.m. She never slept this late. Going back to work yesterday had been exhausting.
She flopped back onto the big, comfortable bed. Something black and furry slid off the pillow next to her.
“Fluffy?”
It couldn’t be. The only thing that had survived the fire was her lockbox.
With a squeak, she scooped up the football-sized stuffed dog and held him at arm’s length. A thin, deep red collar circled his neck with a note attached.
Fluffy is still a silly name.
She hugged the dog and laughed. “It is not a silly name, you stupid, wonderful man.”
Lia poked her head through the doorway. “Are you talking about Malcolm? ‘Cause he hasn’t admitted he’s an ass yet, but the things he did last night with his tongue were beyond wonderful.”
“I’m talking about Hudson.” She held up the dog, too excited to press Lia for details. “Look what I found next to my pillow?”
Lia bounded to the bed. “Oh my God. Is that Fluffy?”
“Yes. Hudson somehow salvaged him from the fire. I’m so excited I might fall if I stand up.”
Lia laughed. “Oh, sweetie. You’ve been falling for days. You just haven’t realized it yet.”
Tessa stared at Fluffy. With everything going on, Hudson had taken the time to find her silly stuffed dog and return him safe and clean. But more importantly? He’d listened to her cry about why she was attached to it.
Hadn’t made a comment about her mother’s twisted dynamic with Frank.
Hadn’t judged a damn word she’d said.
She pressed her fingers to her mouth. She’d just fallen over the edge for Hudson. “What do I do now?”
“Get up and go find that man and thank him properly.”
Tessa’s hand shook as she pulled her robe tighter around her waist. Holding Fluffy under one arm, she knocked on Hudson’s door.
Trust was a risk she’d taken before. Her decision to trust the boy at the beach had blown up in her face, but she couldn’t live another day in this house with secrets between her and Hudson.
Hugging the dog for good luck, she knocked again.
Still nothing.
Desperate to see him before she lost her nerve, she tried the doorknob. It opened with a loud click. Pushing her way in, her blood whooshing in her ears, she stuck her head through the doorway. “Hudson?”
Without waiting for an answer, she slipped inside.
Hints of bourbon and cinnamon scones greeted her as she stepped through the sunbeam on the hardwood floor and peered into the bedroom.
The sound of running water murmured in her ears.
A thin cloud of steam wafted through the partially open bathroom door like an invitation.
Creeping closer, she crossed to the wonder that awaited behind the veil.
Her stomach flipped as the back of Hudson, swathed in ethereal steam, materialized before her eyes. He stood center stage in the shower, one hand braced on the smooth expanse in front of him, his head hung low.
She moved closer. Water lit by sunlight sluiced down his shoulders in sparkling ribbons. She couldn’t halt the hitch in her breath as the fluid streams converged on his spine and funneled between ass cheeks so solid she could anchor herself in his strength and ride out a storm.
His free arm moved to wash the lower part of his torso. Steam electrified every nerve ending in her body. She gripped the edges of her robe with both hands so she didn’t touch the charged bundle between her legs.
Bending his knees, he angled himself oward the powerful jets set into the wall. He moaned, loud and heavy, and so guttural she pressed her legs together to stop her own source of wetness from sliding down her legs.
She should turn and leave. No, run. Once he accepted the classified opportunity at the Pentagon, how was she supposed to go back to mere mortals?
A moan that sounded like her name grated over the cascading water. He shifted his stance. Her heart stopped beating. He hadn’t been washing the front of his body this whole time. He’d been…
Her breath stuttered as he turned to fully face her.
With a smirk on his lips, he pumped his long, thick cock in his hand with a languid stroke, like he knew she was there the whole time.
The stuffed dog fell from under her arm.
Her lungs quit working.
His hand kept stroking.
His gaze didn’t falter, but her knees did as she reached back for the counter and caught herself.
“Don’t you dare run, little thief. Stay right where you are and watch me come.”
She bit her lip. No way was she running.
And no way was she just watching.
Stepping over the dog, she abandoned her plan to confess her shady past for another time.
He pushed the door open with his free hand. With his fist gripped around the base of his engorged cock, he stepped to the edge of the shower.
Lust-laced steam and the fresh scent of soap drifted into her nostrils.
As he glided his hand up and over the thick veins cording his length, a drop of desire glistened on the tip like liquid sun.
A smile twitched the corners of her mouth as she knelt on a soft throw rug and pressed her knees together. Shifting her hips, she reached for him.
“Tessa.”
He hissed her name like a prayer as she wrapped her hand around him and gasped at the contrast of unforgiving and hard.
He quaked and hissed again. Water sprayed from his hips and spattered her face. She darted out her tongue and licked the tip of his cock. Salt and sex exploded across her tastebuds.
Threading his fingers through her hair, he held her in place with light pressure. He didn’t move a muscle. He stood as still as a tracker eyeing his target and let her set the pace as she ghosted her lips over impossibly soft skin and grooved ridges.
His whole body convulsed on a moan. “Jesus, Tessa.”
She gripped his thigh and held fast to the strong, controlled man she held the power to electrify.
Coarse hair tickled her palm. The robe slid from her shoulders. With barely a shrug, she let the silky material fall down her arms and pool around her waist. Cool air at her back pebbled her nipples as she brushed her breasts against his thighs.
A curse and her name, slow and primal, cascaded around her like the water dripping from his shoulders. His hold in her hair tightened. His thighs shook, but his hips didn’t move. Instead, he cursed deeper.
Hungrier.
She leaned back as much as his grip would allow and lifted her gaze. Sweat dripped over the deep crease between his drawn eyebrows. A muscle pulsed in his cheek. His jaw tightened and his lips pressed together as he swallowed.
The potent knowledge that he fought his desire so she could stay in control summoned tears to her eyes.
It also awakened a wicked ache.
Biting her lip because she knew it drove him wild, she grasped him at the base of his erection. With a grin she hoped felt as salacious on his cock as it felt in her soul, she pulled him into her mouth, all the way until he hit the back of her throat.
“Holy shit, Tessa.”
She gagged. Tears leaked from her eyes. God, he was big and thick, but she wouldn’t retreat.
He jerked his hips back. “Tessa, baby, let’s take it easy and—"
“No.” Her refusal murmured around his cock as she grabbed his perfect ass with both hands.
She didn’t want gentle.
She wanted him to tell her, to show her what to do, to treat her as savagely as his need.
“Jesus, Tessa.” He tightened his fist in her hair.
Pleasure and pain danced on her scalp. The two merged into unfiltered desire where he gave the orders, but she controlled the mission.
Gasping, hungering for more of his raw, rugged taste, she sucked in a gulp of air and gazed up at him. With a soft moan, she flattened her tongue against the underside of his cock and tested his control.
He jerked against her lips. “You want this little thief? You want all of me?” He pushed her hand away with a hiss and gripped himself. “You pinch my leg hard if you need me to stop. If you don’t, I’m taking everything you’re willing to give. Understand?”
A smirk to rival the cockiest one he’d ever shot her way curved up from his jaw.
He let go of her hair and pressed his finger into her mouth. “Open for me.”
Gathering her hair into a ponytail, he held her in place as she opened her lips. A deep, rhythmic pleasure pulsed on her tongue as he fed her his cock, inch by rigid, glorious inch. He hit the back of her throat without mercy. She welcomed the invasion.
“Christ, Tessa, your mouth was made for me.” He double-fisted her hair. “I love how you make my cock disappear through your lips like a pretty little thief. Now suck what you stole.”
She did. She sucked him like she masterminded how to use her tongue, her lips, and her hands on his ass and his balls to drive him to the edge of insanity.
“This is what I was thinking about when you walked in. My pretty little thief on her knees, at my feet, and so fucking beautiful. Is that what you wanted when you came in here? To see me unravel thinking about the gorgeous woman I inherited?”
She hummed around his length, her panties as wet as the shower floor from his dirty, decadent praise.
“Is this what you wanted, Tessa? To watch me break into a million pieces for you?” He pulled his hips back until only the head of his cock remained inside her swollen lips. “Relax your throat.”
She had no idea how to do that and didn’t have time to try. A sharp pump of his hips cut off her breath, but she didn’t tap out. Instead, she welcomed the tears that leaked onto her cheeks as he thrust into her mouth like it was her pussy.
Moaning, her heart racing like danger chased close behind, she cupped his balls and charged into a silent plea for more.
“That feels so fucking good.” He braced a hand on the glass. “Don’t stop.”
Humming, each push of his hips landing with the force of a wrecking ball, she dragged her nails down his rippled abs.
“I’m about to come, baby. Can you handle me?”
She moaned as his body tensed. Bitter liquid shot down her throat.
“Fuck yeah. Keep sucking, just like that.” He held her to his cock as he rocked into her mouth. “Please don’t stop.”
Hearing him beg triggered her own spasms. Dropping her hand between her thighs, she pressed two fingers against her clit.
Her own release exploded in a jolt, so swift and intense, she could barely hear him roar her name over her scream.
She cried around his cock, her orgasm radiating in a brilliant, blinding rhythm, as he punched his hips as sharply as her pleasure.
She pulled her mouth free with a gasp. The last stream she couldn’t swallow dripped from her lips and onto her chin. Shaking, her breath as labored as Hudson’s, she raised her hand to wipe her mouth.
He grabbed her wrist. “Don’t.” She froze as he shifted both hands to her biceps and pulled her up. “I want to see my gorgeous, sweaty mess.” He wiped his come from her chin with his knuckles and slid the wetness across her lips. “Mine. All mine.”
The string of possessive words rumbled out of him in rapid-fire force. The intensity pulled a ragged moan from her throat. But the “mine” part wasn’t his dick talking. The bare vulnerability in his gaze and the elemental possession in his tone came from his heart.
Or at least she feared it did. If his definition of “mine” meant forever, he’d be sorely disappointed. Forever was as much of a fairy tale as a castle in the sand.
Stepping back, reeling from his possessive admission, she slid her robe back on. Picking up the dog, she tilted it toward his semi-erect cock. “Consider that my thank you.”
Before she offered a repeat of her gratitude, she turned and walked out. She didn’t look back as he called her name.
If she stayed, she’d offer more than her body.
She’d offer her heart.
And with Frank, her past, and everything dark and dangerous since Sam was murdered heading toward a climax, her chance of forever with the man she was falling in love with would go up in flames.