His poor Sara, when he thought about how that bastard had forced himself on her, he wanted to gut him like a downed deer. Hell, if the man wasn’t already behind bars serving time for raping another woman, he would have dragged him behind his truck through town. Now, he was done giving her time. Besides, she only seemed to avoid him more and he was done with it. She was going to forgive him for being an imbecile, a Hudson trait, Synclair had told him, and then they were going to be a family. That included her son, Logan. The more he saw the boy, the more he saw Sara in him; he had been foolish to think that sweet boy would be anything like Travis. The kid was bright, mannered and the light in Sara’s world. Lucas wanted them both, he wanted to love them, protect them and soon, Logan would come to accept Lucas like a father. He had already wasted so much time. Lucas was done waiting.
“No you’re right, the door was locked. I just commandeered Synclair’s keys when she went to bed.” He laughed holding up the set of keys she had given Synclair a few weeks ago when they had agreed to be partners.
“Am I supposed to be impressed with your ability to steal the keys from an exhausted pregnant woman, Lucas?” Sara gritted.
Lucas could not help but grin as he pocketed the keys. Moving fully into her small office, he saw Sara stumble back a step. He liked that she was nervous around him; at least, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way.
“You’re avoiding me.” Lucas drawled taking a step closer.
“You’re ridiculous,” Sara retorted taking another step back.
“Accurate,” he grinned, as he took another step towards her retreating frame.
“Delusional,” she spat trying to sound stronger than she felt. Just being this close to the man made her dizzy. She knew the second he realized the effect he had on her because his grin went from cocky to predatory. Crap, don’t fall for it, Sara, her inner voiced screamed.
“Hungry,” he purred as he closed the distance between them.
Sara retreated until her back hit the wall, she put up a hand to ward off Lucas but he knocked it aside and swept her up in his arms. Inches from her face, his warm, minty breath mixed with hers.
“I-if your h-hungry you should go home and eat something,” she managed to squeak.
The look in Lucas’s eyes was liquid heat and Sara knew if she didn’t put some distance between them, she was in trouble.
“Where ever you and Logan are is my home and what I want, sweet Sara is not on any menu, it’s between your legs.”
Lucas’s mouth absorbed Sara’s startled gasp as he branded her with a scorching kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes.
Yep, she was in trouble!
Back to You! A Hudson Family Series
Book 1- Synclair and Reece
15 Years Earlier
Synclair
I watched the slumbering man next to me. I was hypnotized by the sight of his sculpted chest as it expanded and fell with each breath. Reece freaking Hudson, I had given my virginity to one of the most sought-after basketball players on the university campus. Everyone wanted Reece. Averaging 40 points a game made him the all-around VIP for the University of Las Vegas, basketball team. His toned legs, eight pack abs, black hair and emerald, jade green eyes made him the all-around hottie for every girl on campus. Yet, somehow he was here with me.
A gentle palm on my face forced me from my thoughts. I had a habit of letting my thoughts drift, and he always drew me back. Dark green eyes probed my sleepy hazel ones. When he stared at me like that, I swore he could see into my soul.
“Morning Synclair,” he rasped palming my ass with one hand. I smirked. No awkward morning after here.
“Hey, hands off my ass Hudson,” I struggled to sound tough, but my voice held no heat. Instead, I grinned and curled up into his chest. It had been a long standing joke with us. In the six months that he had relentlessly pursued me, he had always found a reason to have his hands on my ass. In the beginning, I was furious, then I was peeved, and now I was turned on.
“I like this ass, and now that I finally have it naked, I intend to have my hands on it a lot,” he declared as he rolled me onto my back and began kissing my neck. Yes! Please!
It was like a dream, a dream I never wanted to wake from. Especially since most of life had been a nightmare, I would gladly like to live in this fantasy world permanently. Things like this just don’t happen to me, not ever. Sure, I’m not dog ugly, with my unruly shoulder-length, curly red hair, hazel eyes, and button nose, I was pretty confident I fell in the cute, if she tried, level of life. My curvy hips and hourglass figure got attention, but I would never be like Barbie, that bitch had everything.
Sighing, I leaned my head back to give Reece better access to my neck, “Are you sore babe?” he whispered into my neck, his hot breath teasing my ear as he tugged my lobe.
“A little,” I conceded grudgingly. I blushed, and I never blush. I had waited 20 years to give up my virginity and last night could not have been more perfect. He had been seductive, gentle and attentive, and after the initial pain was over it had been pure bliss to have him inside me.
At first, I had been worried that his large member would never fit, thankfully Reece had driven me insane with his mouth and fingers before entering me. My mind had been distracted from the orgasms when his massive cock finally pushed past my virgin barrier. Just the thought made my panties flood with wetness.
“Synclair?” Reece stopped kissing my neck and peered at me, a serious face replacing the one that was filled with lust, merely minutes before.
I grimaced, something was wrong. He looked sad, essentially miserable. Had I done something wrong? Crap, maybe I was a terrible lover? Yet, he seemed content and satisfied only minutes ago.
“Reece, what is it?” I sat up, confusion registering on my face. I pulled the sheet up over my exposed breasts, suddenly feeling like I needed protection, but from what? I had no idea.
Reece dragged his hand through his dark hair; his eyes cast downward.
Now I was becoming uneasy; something was wrong, but what? I hastily ran over the events of last night in my mind. Nope, he was into it, that I knew. I replayed the last six months of our courtship.
He had been chasing me since school started in August. I had been the private, anti-social, nerdy kid in the back of the English lit and Latin classes we shared. My second day of class, I slammed into the room with a “don’t fuck with me vibe.” I felt like I didn’t belong with the ocean of people sitting around me who judged me by my old clothes. I couldn’t afford new clothes like the other kids, so I wore second-hand store Adidas, jeans and whatever shirt I could find that was clean. Armed with my brains and the chip on my shoulder I was resolved to keep my head in the books and make something of myself.
The initial two weeks of school Reece said nothing to me; girls constantly besieged him. Occasionally, in class he would shift his gaze to me, but as soon as our eyes met, he swung back to whatever flavor of the day he was screwing. Girls flocked to him, always feeling his biceps and acting like loons to get his dimpled smile to point in their direction.
It was the second or third week of class when I was running late; mom had been arrested for prostitution, and I had to take the bus to the jail to get her out. Luckily, I had just gotten paid. I didn’t want to touch the money that Uncle Jack had given me. He kept a certain amount in an account for me, just for these lovely occasions; but I didn’t want to spend it on my mom’s bail. Unfortunately, I had gotten home so late that I had collapsed into bed and woke up late for class.
Running for class, we smashed into each other when we struggled to get into the classroom at the same time. The only thing that saved me were his quick reflexes, which also allowed him to hold me up from hitting the ground, by my ass. I knew my ass was more than a handful, but it didn’t mean I wanted him and all his swagger judging me.
I was embarrassed, and when he made no move to withdraw his hands, I spat at him, “Hands off my ass Hudson.” Smirking, he removed one hand
then moved the other to my waist. Bringing me upright, he winked one of those long-lashed, green eyes at me and gestured me in before him. Cheeks on fire, I ignored the stares from everyone and nearly threw myself into my chair.
After that, he sat next to me every day. I even changed places to escape him, but he only followed. I made it a point not to look at him. I didn’t see what he wanted. No one had ever shown interest in me before. While he wore jeans and in style t-shirts from stores like Gucci and Abercrombie and Fitch, I wore jeans from, Goodwill and Walmart with shirts I picked up at the Swap Meet. There was no doubt Reece came from money. I had heard him tell some big boobed, cheerleader that his family had an estate somewhere in Northern Nevada. He was here studying agriculture. It made me chuckle, who comes to Las Vegas to study agriculture? Still, I obviously did not come from money. I never knew my father; and my mother was a crack whore who had merely provided a roof over my head and a lot of “step” daddies.
I only had one road out, so I had thrown myself into my studies, occasionally sleeping in my high school principal’s office when we were between shithole hotels. The sole reason I graduated is that the owner of a Las Vegas restaurant told me I could come and eat at his place. I could have all I wanted as long as I did my homework while I was there and went to school every day.
He was also the only one at my graduation last June. I graduated with a 4.0 while living out of a dumpy hotel on the, not so glamourous side, of the Las Vegas Strip. It wasn’t the Bellagio or Caesar's Palace.
Let me explain, there are two strips in Vegas, the one the tourists see that is all glitz and glamor and the local’s strip, where the extended stay in hotels with free cockroaches are.
I grew up on the local’s side, not that I was complaining, everyone had bad stuff happen, and I was working on getting out. In fact, my grades and volunteer work at the Women’s Shelter got me a full scholarship to UNLV, then an Irish uncle I had never known had shown up just before college started and begged me to move in with him.
Happy to finally have someone other than my mother I started spending time with my Uncle Jack, whom I liked to call UJ, but decided to settle in the dorms. I had earned it with my scholarship after all.
Uncle Jack was incredible. He looked like a balding Jackie Gleason, with his plump belly and friendly blue eyes. When he laughed his whole body shook and when he smiled his whole face lit up. He didn’t say much about the family in San Francisco or back in Ireland, and he didn’t have an Irish accent, but he was my hero.
I was thrilled when he informed me he was opening the only Irish ran bar in Vegas, on the other end of the strip near the South Point Hotel and Casino. It wasn’t a coveted center strip position, but I felt he could make it work. What I was most enthusiastic about was that he was building two flats above the bar, one for me and one for himself. He included me as a permanent part of his life, and I couldn’t be happier.
My mom, on the other hand, had been furious that the brother she had never spoken of, and I guess didn’t like, was in my life. Apparently, mom and Uncle Jack came from money, and when their parents died in a boating accident, they both had inherited money.
My grandparents were both from Ireland but had moved to Northern California before mom was born. Only mom was already hooked on drugs when her inheritance check came through and spent hers. She pulled away from the family in California and followed some douchebag to Vegas so that she could become a showgirl.
Yeah, always thinking big, I reflected bitterly. Now that Uncle Jack was in town mom was pissed that he wouldn’t give her money. Mostly he offered me money for textbooks, bought me a laptop for school and even got me a credit card. I never told mom about the credit card because I know she’d steal it from me.
As soon as that apartment above the bar was built, I would finally have a home, somewhere where no one could kick me out. I couldn’t even count the times mom, and I had been kicked out of hotels we couldn’t pay for. Nothing was worse than a sheriff throwing your panties in a black rubbish bag, then throwing the bag in front of the door, to the room, you were being evicted out of. However, all that was the past! I had an Uncle, I was in college, and I had the hottest guy in the world kissing my neck like a man consumed.
Obviously, I didn’t tell my mother these arrangements; she wanted me to go after her dream of being a showgirl. Not happening. When I was born my mother wanted me to have an active stage name so that I could follow in her, soon to be famous, footsteps. But it never happened, mom gave birth, named me Synclair and my douchebag dad took off.
Full lips nibbling at my neck brought me back to present, of course, the brilliant man in my bed didn’t know any of this. He was aware that I lived in the dorms; I was here on scholarship, and I loved wet, sloppy kisses. In fact, I mused, he had never inquired about my family, and I was grateful. If he realized what a street rat I had been, he wouldn’t have touched me with a ten-foot pole. But here he was, stroking my face, looking like something was eating at him.
Something about the expression on his face caused my heart to thump harder; something was clearly wrong. My instincts had saved my butt more than once in my life, and they were advising me that my perfect moment, my feeling that life was finally falling into place, was about to be demolished.
Reece grabbed my shoulders and spun me until we were nearly nose to nose. Sighing he laid his forehead against mine. I realized my breathing was rough, and my heart shot into my throat when he pressed his soft, full lips to mine. It was the sweetest kiss I’d ever had, but it felt like goodbye and not the beginning of what I thought was going to be a forever kind of relationship.
“You are so amazing, I just want to stay in this room forever, there is so much I need to tell you... I…” He was cut off when my dorm room door swung wide. Standing in the doorway were his three stupid friends, Ron, Ryan, and Keyvin. Fuck! I despised those guys, clearly I hadn’t locked the door, and the three stooges didn’t have the manners to freaking knock.
“What the hell? Get out,” I shrieked at the three yahoos, none of whom were staring at my face. I followed their gazes to my chest and realized I was perilously close to revealing my nipples to Reece’s basketball friends.
“Dammit guys, get out, I’ll see you in the cafeteria!” Reece bellowed blocking their view of me with his body.
Pissed off beyond belief, I grabbed my boots and hurled them at his grinning friends. Laughing they closed the door.
Feeling like I was missing something, I looked at Reece. He twisted his body back to me and for a minute, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the heat coming off of him. He was warm and safe, and I felt secure with him, but I couldn’t shake the suspicion that I was missing something. How did his friends know where he was? Why were they laughing like a joke had been told that I hadn’t been let in on? Hoping it was just my old trust issues and insecurities flaring up, I laid my head on his shoulder.
His massive arms came around me, and I exhaled. This was good, this was Reece, I didn’t trust many people, but I could count on him. He had worked for months to get us to this place; he would never hurt me, I concluded.
“Promise me something?” His tone sounded nervous and a little shaky. At that point, I would have promised him the world. I nodded against his shoulder. Reece pulled me closer, I could hear his heartbeat, and it sounded fast. “I have to go meet the guys for lunch, but I wanna talk to you later, promise you won’t leave your room or talk to anyone till I get back?”
I pulled back to look at him; he looked worried. I didn’t have any clue as to what was going on. “If you want to break up with me, then just say it. If this was all about sex Reece, I can take it, just be straightforward with me, I hate surprises,” I choked out. I meant what I had said, if he were finished, now that we had done the deed, I would get over it, I would despise him, but I would survive. What I couldn’t handle would be him telling me this meant something that it didn’t.
I struggled to pull out of his arms; I needed clothes, and I needed somet
hing to act as a barrier against the anxiety that was forming in my stomach.
Unfortunately, It was like trying to push against steel. One large hand tipped my chin up at him. His green eyes glowed with something I couldn’t read.
“It’s not over, I wanted you before, and I want you now. I just need to go wrap something up with my friends and then I want to talk about us; I want us to be real,” he kissed me and got up from my small, twin bed.
“Okay, Reece,” I replied, still not sure about anything. “I’ll stay here and then we can talk about us,” I hoped I sounded more positive than I felt. He grinned at me and pulled on his jeans and sweater. Man, he was impressive, from the tussled black hair to the blue Vans that matched his navy sweatshirt. He kissed me on the forehead, grabbed his backpack and walked out. I was certain it was okay; we were going to talk about us being real. Wasn’t that what I wanted, for us to be real?
Suddenly, I froze. Why would we need to talk about being real? Weren’t we already real? If not, what the hell were we?
I elected to take a shower. Maybe he had misspoken. I quickly shampooed my hair and tried not to acknowledge the places that were still tender from last night. I struggled to forget his comments that seemed to be on replay in my mind. Real, real, real… My thoughts kept coming back to it. My mind kept seeing his friends busting in, the shocked looks on their faces to see us in bed together, their smirks and grins.
I recalled the angry way he looked at them. What did he need to wrap up with them? Why did that come before our “talk”? I wanted to trust Reece, I did. I wanted to remain in my tiny dorm room consisting of a bathroom, twin-size bed, and a dresser, but I suddenly felt closed in.
Something was wrong; I didn’t want to see it, but something was off, and I needed to discover what it was. Why did he want me not to talk to anyone till he got back? What would someone tell me that he didn’t want me to hear? I felt awful for questioning his motives, but I was finding it tougher and tougher to reject the red flags all around me. If I were mistaken, I would beg forgiveness, if I were right, I would rip Reece limb from limb like only a street rat could.
Lucky Charms: A Hudson Family Series- Book 3- Dalton and Cami Page 31