23. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Hudson
One hour, three phone calls, and two texts to Finnley later, I’m trying to wrap my head around what happened. When I looked up and saw her standing there, eyes trained on my body as I jerked off to the fantasy of her riding my face, I almost thought I was imagining her. Kind of like some fucked-up, lust-clouded fever dream.
But the little whimper that hit my ears as I came had me snapping back to reality. I stood there with my dick in my hand, watching her watch me, and my cum painted like an erotic Jackson Pollock on the shower door.
I should’ve been embarrassed; I should’ve covered myself. But the look on her face had me feeling bold, especially knowing she’d been watching me, and probably for longer than I realized. The flush on her cheeks and the rise and fall of those perfect tits of hers—her nipples puckered against the white of her sports bra. It all had a sick kind of male pride swelling in my chest, and my softening cock jerked back to life.
She’d chucked the towels she was holding and run like a bat out of hell, but not before knocking into the doorjamb on her way out. Then, she promptly slammed my bedroom door, and I was left calling after her as I climbed out of the shower and quickly dried off.
In flannel pajama pants, my hair still dripping, and feet and chest bare, I made it downstairs, when I heard the slam of her car door inside the garage and the engine firing to life. I crossed back through the living room and opened the front door just in time to see the back end of the Volvo pulling down the road and away from the townhouse.
Now, I’m dressed, pacing the living room, and waiting for Hutch to come back and pick me up, so I can grab my truck and go to the bar to talk to Trevor. After we finished working for the day, Hutch had followed me over to the tire shop, since I’d picked up a nail in one of my tires in the last couple of days. When we arrived, there was a long line. I left the truck, and Hutch had dropped me off at home so I could shower.
I’d planned to stop at the market and pick up stuff to make dinner, but after that private, little peep show, I’d be lucky if Finn would ever be able to look me in the eye again. Hell, I might avoid her, too, had the situation been reversed and she’d actually caught me listening to her with her vibrator the other night.
Except for one thing: she didn’t look horrified at walking in on me. Maybe a little embarrassed about being caught watching, but every inch of her looked turned on and strung tight. That pillowy bottom lip of hers was tucked between her teeth, and her eyes were hooded and sort of glossy.
After I got back from picking up Paige last night, the three of us had dinner together, and then Finn and I fell asleep on the couch, snuggled up and watching a movie like we usually do. I woke up around midnight, but I couldn’t stand the thought of going to bed alone, not after the afternoon we’d spent together. Not after our wedding and that kiss, and especially not after having her so close all night. So, I’d pulled her against me and breathed her in while she slept peacefully .
She shocked the hell out of me when she asked about a name change. Lots of people keep their maiden names after marriage. But it meant everything to me that she wanted to take my last name, and it killed me that I couldn’t let the full extent of that show. Something unlocked in my chest in that moment, and I knew there was no going back. In that moment, she was my wife. Whether in name or in reality, it was the truth yesterday and it’s the truth today. She was mine the second we said, “I do,” and there is no changing my mind about that.
We’ve been dancing around this spark between us for weeks. Actually, it’s more like years. It fizzled out a little when we were apart or in relationships, but me moving in with her and spending time with her every night is like gasoline on that spark. Every laugh, every brush of her hand on my skin has me wanting more until I feel like I’ll lose my mind. I’m half hard around her all the time, and I can’t stop thinking about how it would feel to have her writhing underneath me, stuffed full of my cock, and screaming my name.
I’ve tried to extinguish it, tried to tamp it down with friendship and jokes, but my attempts are halfhearted at best. Her marrying me lit something in my gut I can’t explain. I have this all-encompassing need to consume her. I feel like we’re one small gesture away from going up in flames. And I’m finding I don’t give a damn. I want it. I need it. I need her . I’m obsessed.
I’d just been fantasizing about burying my face between her legs when she caught me jerking off, for hell’s sake. She belongs in my life, permanently, and not just as friends. She belongs at the table with my family and in my bed. I have no doubt about that, and after sleeping with her against me all night, I can’t stand any distance between us. But I can’t tell her that without telling her how I feel about her. And I’m not sure she’s ready to hear that .
I look down at my phone. No new messages or phone calls. She’s definitely freaking out. I probably should have locked my door, but she was supposed to be at work. And who just walks into the bathroom without knocking?
Granted, she probably had her earbuds in, because I found one on the carpet outside the bathroom as I was leaving the room to chase after her. She must have dropped it, hurrying to get the hell out.
I tap out another text to her.
Hudson: I’m picking up dinner. Maybe after Paige goes down, we can have that rematch?
Immediately after I send it, I realize that sounded like a proposition to watch me jerk off again, instead of a friendly game of chess. Which, I mean, I don’t hate, either. I’d definitely be down. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I groan.
There’s a honk out front, so I grab my keys and pocket my phone. Locking the door behind me, I jog down the driveway before climbing into Hutch’s truck.
“What’s with the scowl?” Hutch asks, glancing my way, before backing down the drive.
I look over at him. Do I dare tell him what happened? He’ll just give me shit, and I don’t know if I’m in the mood. It could help to talk it through, but fuck that. I’ll verbal vomit all my feelings, and then he’ll tell me to fuck her already. Which, fair, but not exactly helpful in this situation. I just got her to agree to marry me; I can’t just whip my dick out and be like, “Wanna hop on?” So, I shake my head and look out the window.
However, I should have known I wasn’t going to escape his questions.
When he stops for a row of ducks crossing the road, he turns to look at me. “So…that was some wedding, yeah?”
I keep my face forward, watching as the mama duck and her six little babies waddle across the road. Only in Timber Forge. “Yep. ”
He taps his thumb on the steering wheel to “Bad Company” playing softly from the radio. I see his cocksure grin from my periphery. “You guys fuck yet?”
Really?
When I just continue broodily staring out the passenger side window, he barks out a laugh. “Holy shit, you did, didn’t you? What, you couldn’t get it up or something?”
“Fuck you, Hutch,” I say, throwing a glance in his direction.
He huffs out a laugh. “Then what?”
“I think I spooked her.” I bob my head back and forth, frustration at the whole situation creeping in. “Or maybe she spooked herself.”
He arches a brow at me. ”Spooked her, how?”
I study my younger brother for a couple of beats and decide, fuck it. This is what I came home for, right? Support and shit. Besides, telling my brother that I’m in love with my best friend—now wife—isn’t exactly news to Hutch. Hell, it probably isn’t news to anyone in my family. The only one who seems to not know is her.
“I kissed her,” I blurt.
“Yeah, I know. I was there,” he says, like I’m an idiot.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Not yesterday. Before,” I say. “Ugh, never fucking mind.”
“You had your tongue in her mouth for thirty seconds yesterday, and she seemed ok when you guys left.”
“That was before …” I say again, but then trail off.
He shoots me a confused look. “Before what? I’m not following, brother.”
I sigh. I should talk to Finn about this first. And he doesn’t push. He’s silent the rest of the way to the tire shop. It isn’t until he pulls in and parks that he finally turns his attention to me. He waits, fucking around with one of the beaded bracelets stacked on his wrist .
I watch as Larry from the hardware store comes out of the shop, carrying two quarts of oil. He climbs into his old Cadillac.
And then, I start talking because Hutch’s doing that Jedi mind trick shit again.
“I think she’s spooked or embarrassed…maybe both.” I blow out a pent-up breath and scratch my jaw.
He grunts, flicking my arm like a ten-year-old. “About what , motherfucker?”
“She kind of…walked in on me,” I say, throwing a glance his way.
His brows come together with a look that says, And ?
I huff out a breath. I can’t believe the fucker is going to make me say it. “You know…” I nod at my junk.
“Wait,” he bursts out laughing. “She walked in on you jerking off, and you thought, this is the perfect time to kiss my best friend?”
I give him a pointed look. “No, asshole. God, keep the fuck up,” I bark at him, even though I’m being vague as hell, and no one could follow this conversation. “The kiss was months ago. At Christmas. Then, she walked in on me jerking off…” I trail off, and then add under my breath, “An hour ago.”
He howls like an idiot, tears gathering in his eyes as he clutches his stomach. I want to punch him in it. But the more he yuks it up, the more I realize just how ridiculous it all is, and soon, I’m chuckling, too.
“What the hell happened?” he asks, his laughter dying off some.
“I played it off all cool like, hoping to Christ that she bought it. Then, I invited her in to watch again.” I deadpan.
“Seriously?” he asks, eyebrows just about launching off his forehead.
I scoff, drumming my fingers on the open window frame. “No, dick.”
“Why the hell not? I swear, you’re such a pussy sometimes.” He laughs again. “Unless you weren’t into it,” he says with a smirk.
“Because she took off,” I answer .
“That disappointing, huh?” he quips and I flip him off.
“Fuck this,” I say and move to open the door, but he grabs my arm.
“Come on, Hudson. I’m just fucking with you,” he says through another laugh. The bastard is always so smug. “So, you talked about it?”
I shake my head, watching people come and go from the tire shop. “I haven’t really seen her since.”
“You said you played it cool, which I find very hard to believe, given that it’s you.”
“Over text. I just sort of glossed over it.”
“That’s not playing it cool, dipshit. That’s avoidance.”
“Well, aren’t you smart with your big fucking words?” I toss out.
“You are something else,” he says after he finally gets his laughter under control.
“So you keep saying.”
“So, what? You’re just going to ignore her for the rest of your life?”
“No, but things are gonna be weird between us.”
“Tell me something the rest of us don’t already know.”
“Eat a dick. Her seeing what she saw… It’s hard to explain.” I think back to the time Finn made me watch Twilight with her. “It’s like what happened to Edward and Bella, when he sees her for the first time in class.”
He runs a hand over his face with a groan, then drops it to his lap. “I don’t think that’s the flex you think it is, bro.”
“Fuck off. It’s not a flex. It’s just the truth. There’s an even stronger pull toward her now. Especially since we’re married now.”
“You two are so fucking weird.” He laughs, scratching his jaw.
“Whatever. At least I’m not like you, fucking your way through every tourist in the county, or like Hank, pining over someone for twenty fucking years.”
He cocks a brow at me as if to say, Oh, really ?
“Just forget it,” I say and climb out of the truck, slamming the door behind me, before stalking toward the tire shop.
“You two are inevitable, you know,” Hutch calls out his window as I reach the door of the tire shop. Several customers turn to look, so I flip him off and pull open the door. “Quit fucking around and just do it already, man.”