Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1)

by Kelly, Georgia

  Now he just needed to convince Annabelle that not everything in their relationship needed to be fake.

  “Oh, my goodness, look at this one!”

  Annabelle slid the photo album toward Hudson. She laughed as he wrinkled his nose in distaste.

  “Not one of my best days,” he joked, sliding the book back to her.

  “I disagree,” she said. “I think you made a handsome Darth Vader.”

  “Luke, I am your father,” he said, doing a terrible impression that made her start giggling all over again.

  She turned the page and smiled at the Halloween pictures. The two of them had been going through Hudson’s family photo albums all evening. It was part of his “let’s get to know each other” plan for when reporters started asking questions at the bonfire the following night. For two days, Annabelle had been with Hudson almost nonstop, and she was surprised at how well they got along.

  Whenever she thought about the inevitable ending to their growing friendship, her stomach tangled in knots. Keeping a solid distance from him would be a much smarter path to take, but when they were together, it was so easy to forget about her reasons for staying away.

  “How old were you in these pictures?” She traced her finger along the gold rim of the page. It was hard to reconcile the smiling blond boy in the pictures with the intimidating man she’d first met that day by the pool. The Hudson she was getting to know was so different from the cold man her cousin had described to her. He was warm and caring and he made her laugh. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been so cruel to her cousin.

  Hudson leaned over to take another look. “Ten? Yeah, I think Jack was about fourteen and Jilly was only seven.”

  Hudson and Harlen were both dressed as Darth Vader. His older brother was Luke Skywalker, and his sister was a pouting Princess Leia.

  “It doesn’t look like Jilly was too thrilled with her costume.”

  Hudson laughed. “No, she wanted to be Luke.”

  “Where was Scarlett?” she asked.

  Scarlett was the oldest Montgomery daughter, just a year older than her twin brothers.

  “She had come down with a terrible bug that year,” he said. “The flu or something, I think. Dad had to take us trick-or-treating, because Mom was at Scarlett’s bedside all night. That was one of the only times I remember our father taking us out like that without Mom. It was probably his worst nightmare.”

  The room grew quiet at the mention of Hudson’s father. He didn’t talk about him much, but it was obvious how much he had adored his dad. And how much he missed him.

  Annabelle knew all about what it was like to miss your father.

  Just as Annabelle’s thoughts started to turn more serious, she turned the page and erupted in laughter again. “Now this one is definitely a keeper.”

  “Which one?” Hudson asked, trying to get a better look.

  “Uh uh,” she laughed, shaking her head as she covered the picture with both hands. “I’m not showing it to you. There’s no way I’m handing this over without a fight. Next thing I know, this picture will disappear, never to be seen again. I can’t let that happen.”

  Hudson got up from the couch and stepped over the piles of photo albums spread out around her. In an instant, he was by her side, crouched down and studying the pictures around the one she was hiding. Her heart raced as she inhaled his scent and felt the warmth of his body close to hers.

  “Oh, no,” he said with a groan. “Those look like pictures of my Boy Scout troupe. If the picture you’re hiding is the one I think it is, you’d better hand it over!”

  Without hesitation, Annabelle sprang up, the leather volume clutched close to her chest, a finger stuck holding the page. “I’ll hand it over,” she said. “Right after I blow it up and frame it to put on display at our engagement party.”

  She pressed her back flat against the wall on the opposite side of the study and smiled at him. He stood and tilted his head, squinting his eyes as if to say he was up to the challenge.

  Hudson slowly moved to his left around the piles of photos on the floor, and Annabelle countered by moving in the opposite direction. After a couple of steps, he stopped and started walking to his right. He moved slowly, like a lion tracking his prey.

  She giggled, her heart pumping.

  He maneuvered around the books and papers, then headed straight for her. Annabelle gasped and sprinted toward the door, but Hudson was too fast for her. Just as she reached the doorway, his large frame blocked her. Her heart was pounding fast, and she laughed nervously as the back of her hand brushed his chest.

  Hudson walked closer to her and she backed up, her head tilted up toward his. Their eyes locked and in that instant, Annabelle wanted nothing more than to be in his arms. How many times over the past few days had she wished for the feel of his lips against hers? Or his arms around her?

  She licked her lips and let out a rush of air. “Okay. I’ll cut you a deal,” she said, needing to fill the tense silence. Giving in to him now was far too dangerous. She had to get rid of this tension in the air before it overwhelmed her.

  “Oh?” Hudson asked, raising one eyebrow. “What kind of deal?”

  “I’ll show you this picture if you’ll agree to sit down with me and look through the rest of the photos in this book. I want to hear at least one great story about your childhood before I go to bed tonight.”

  He seemed to think it over for a second, and then agreed. “Sounds fair. Now hand it over.”

  “Of course, Mr. Montgomery, sir,” she said, teasing him with a salute.

  He held out his hand to take the photos, but she ignored him, plopping back down onto the floor. Annabelle laid the album flat and patted the rug where she wanted him to sit. “The deal was that you would sit down with me, remember?”

  Hudson sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled, rolling his eyes as he sat. Annabelle pointed to a photograph of a very young Hudson. He hair was spiked up with a ridiculous amount of gell and he was missing one of his front teeth, but he was smiling from ear to ear, sitting in a canoe with his father and waving back toward shore.

  Looking at the picture, Annabelle fought off another bout of giggles. She glanced over at Hudson, expecting to see him laughing as well, but instead she saw that he looked almost somber as he stared at the picture.

  “What’s wrong? Did I upset you?” she asked, wanting so badly to reach out and touch his hand.

  “I had completely forgotten about this,” he said, touching the picture with his fingertips. “I was working on different Cub Scout badges that summer, competing with a friend of mine to see who could earn the most before school started back that fall.”

  Hudson shifted his weight slightly, and Annabelle tried hard not to move closer to him. She felt like there was a magnet pulling her body toward his, and there was nothing more she wanted in the world than to be closer to him in every way possible. Sitting back down to look at photos was supposed to diffuse the tension, not ramp it up.

  “Larry Wexler was the kid’s name,” he said. “I haven’t thought of him in years... Mid-summer he was already two badges ahead, and you know me, I hate to lose.”

  The intimacy of the moment almost hurt her physically. Ever since the death of her parents, she had purposely avoided moments like this. Getting close to people only made it hurt that much more when they were gone.

  Tonight, she wished she could believe that it wouldn’t hurt so much to let Hudson into her life. She wished she didn’t know the downside to loving someone, only to have them taken away.

  But she did know.

  The worst part was that it was her own lies that would send Hudson away from her in the end. Anything they might have shared was doomed before they even met.

  “I asked my father to go fishing with me one weekend,” he continued, clearly deep in thought. “Our family owns a house on Lake Hiawassee, up in the mountains, and we would sometimes go there for a week or two. Dad wasn’t always there, of course. A
lot of the time, he was just too busy with work. But that weekend, he said he’d drive up to the lake to help me earn my badge.”

  Annabelle watched as Hudson flipped the page, revealing another set of photos taken of the two of them in the canoe.

  “I remember being so excited about the thought of getting out on that lake, just the two of us. I had been looking forward to it all week, but when Friday came, Mom broke the news that Dad wasn’t coming to the lake after all. Work had held him up yet again, and he was sorry, but he couldn’t make it.”

  She could see the anguish in Hudson’s eyes. He looked so vulnerable. So real. Not at all like the cold and powerful CFO of a multi-billion-dollar business.

  “Getting up on Saturday morning, though, that was like Christmas. I woke up to the sound of my Dad’s voice calling my name behind our house. My eyes were open in an instant, and I ran down the stairs so fast I hardly felt them underneath my feet. Turns out he stayed up most of Friday night getting his work done so he could come out and fulfill the promise he made to me.” He looked down at the photograph again and smiled. His eyes glistened. “That was one of the best days of my life. Just me and my dad.”

  The room grew quiet. For a moment, Annabelle was afraid he could hear the pounding of her heart in her chest. Hudson Montgomery was full of surprises. Just a few days ago she thought he was the most one-sided human being she had ever known. But now, Annabelle saw a softness in his features that was warm and new. His love for his father was clear. She hadn’t thought him capable of such love until now.

  “Annabelle.”

  The sound of her name on his lips was enough to send a rush of heat up her cheeks.

  “Yes?” she asked, unable to look away from him.

  “I don’t know what it is about you,” he said, his hand moving to cup her face. Her mouth went dry at his touch, and she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling. “I’ve never really opened up to anyone like that before.”

  Annabelle’s body buzzed from head to toe with the thrill of his touch, as though she were plugged into some secret electric current. Hudson leaned closer. She was drawn to him, finally allowing the magnetic pull between them to take over.

  Their lips brushed in one soft, tentative movement. She pulled away, but he brought her closer. Annabelle opened her lips, yearning to taste him, to get closer to him, and Hudson responded, moving his hand to massage the back of her neck.

  Their bodies came together in a mixture of warmth and vibration. Annabelle put her hands around his waist and pulled him closer, her lips spreading wider at the probing of his tongue. The attraction she had been holding inside bubbled to the surface and she let out a hungry whimper.

  As Hudson’s hands began to run up and down her back, all Annabelle wanted was to feel him on top of her, inside of her. Without thinking, she began to pull his shirt from his pants, eager to feel his skin against her own.

  She reached under his shirt and ran her hands up his bare back, her fingernails exploring his smooth skin. A lower, more guttural moan escaped from Hudson and in that moment, she understood that he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him. His lips traveled down her face to her neck, and she lifted her head to give him access.

  Heat spread through her body like wildfire. Hudson’s kisses burned a path down her neck that left her panting and clawing at him, hungry for more. He lifted her shirt in a frenzied motion, kissing her breasts through her thin silk bra, her nipples taut with anticipation.

  From somewhere deep inside, a small voice cried out against his touch. This was wrong. But oh, each tiny exploration of his mouth on her skin made her beg for more. She cried out as he lowered her to the floor and kissed her quivering stomach. Her fingers entwined in his thick hair, and she raised her bottom off the floor, begging for satisfaction that could only come once they were joined together. For a glorious moment she was lost in her own base nature, the pure primal thirst for skin on skin and the joining of flesh.

  The sound of her zipper being pulled down snapped her back to herself. So close to the point of no return, she knew that if she didn’t stop him now, she would regret it. Things between them were already so much more complicated than he could know. How could she even think of making love to a man who had been so cold-hearted toward her cousin? A man who’d refused to help her in her time of need?

  But he’s so much more than that.

  Despite all she’d come to know about him in the past few days, it didn’t change the truth of his actions toward Julia. And it didn’t change the fact that once he knew the truth about Annabelle, there would be no chance of a future together.

  She grabbed Hudson’s hand and pulled it away from the top of her blue jeans. He continued to kiss her along her neck and breasts, and she closed her eyes, relishing his touch for a moment before her mind screamed out again in protest. She wiggled away and scrambled to her feet, searching madly for her discarded t-shirt, then clutching it to her chest as she regained her breath.

  Hudson sat up and stared at her, his broad, bare chest rhythmically breathing in and out. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

  “No,” she said, gasping for breath. She struggled into her shirt. Hudson stood and moved to touch her, but she backed away.

  “Would you rather take this upstairs?” he asked. The thought was extremely tempting, but Annabelle knew she had to walk away.

  She stared into his blue-green eyes and wished she could tell him everything. But how could she? Telling him the truth would ruin everything, including Julia’s chances of ever seeing Harlan again. No, she had to see this through to the end.

  “I can’t,” she said, turning away so that he couldn’t see her struggling to regain her self-control. “It’s late, I need to get back to the cottage.”

  “It’s pretty clear that we both want the same thing,” he said, gripping her shoulders, forcing her to face him. “Why do you keep pushing me away?”

  “We both know how this ends, Hudson. When the deal is finalized, we part ways.”

  “Does that mean we can’t enjoy each other until then?”

  “Getting physical at this point is only going to confuse things,” she replied, her voice far less confident than she needed it to be.

  “So, let’s confuse them.” He lowered his head toward her and her body hummed with expectation.

  Just before their lips touched, the final thread of control within her threatened to unravel. In a panic, she pushed against his chest and took two steps back.

  “I can’t.”

  Without looking back, she ran from the room.

  She didn’t stop until the door of her cottage was safely locked behind her.

  Annabelle couldn’t sleep.

  All she could think about was that kiss. The way Hudson’s hands felt all over her body. And the fact that he was sleeping next door. Was he thinking of her, too?

  She sat up after hours of tossing and turning and stepped out onto the porch. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and settled down on the swing overlooking the waves. The tide was coming in as the sun began to rise, and Annabelle felt that the turbulent crashing of the waves mirrored her own heart.

  What was she doing?

  She’d come here hoping to get answers for her cousin, but had ended up getting her own life and emotions tangled up in a huge mess in the process.

  Hudson wasn’t at all the man she’d expected him to be. He wasn’t some cold and heartless billionaire playboy. He was kind and funny and he loved his family with such passion, it made her heart ache.

  But none of that changed the fact that this was all pretend.

  Maybe he wanted to make love to her, but that didn’t mean he wanted her in his life in any permanent way. She’d barely been able to maintain control back there in his study, and if she hadn’t gotten out of there when she did, who knows what might have happened between them. Things were complicated enough without adding sex to the equation.

  Still, there was no denying their physical att
raction. The more she got to know him, the stronger that attraction grew. How would she survive the next few days of reporters and events, much less potentially months of pretending to be engaged to him?

  Tomorrow night was the end of summer bonfire, and everyone would be scrutinizing their every touch. Reporters would be asking questions, and all eyes would be on them as a couple.

  Annabelle wasn’t sure she could handle it. Not with all this unspoken tension between them.

  She had lied to him.

  There was no coming back from that. No redeeming herself. But if they were going to be crashing into this wall of desire every time they were together, she had to deal with it one way or another.

  Maybe she just needed to tell him the truth.

  The thought of it made her stomach knot, but what choice did she have?

  Would he still go through with the announcement at the charity ball next weekend? Or would he call the whole thing off?

  He would probably hate her when he found out the truth, but he would hate her more if she slept with him first, knowing their future was doomed.

  Annabelle resolved herself to tell him.

  Tomorrow night after the bonfire, she would find a way to confess her role in those photographs. And hope that somehow, he would be able to forgive her.

  Chapter Seven

  Annabelle stood by the pool, waiting for Hudson to escort her down to the beach. Avoiding him all day had been a challenge, but now she was out of time. They were already late for the bonfire where several members of the press, and most of the island’s residents, were anxiously waiting to meet Hudson’s new girlfriend.

  Being interviewed by the press was the least of her worries. She’d learned enough about him and rehearsed their dating story so many times, it felt like second nature. Being around Hudson and having to touch and kiss him all night, however, was absolutely terrifying.

  Even though she was facing the ocean, she heard the screen door slam, and knew that Hudson was behind her. She felt his presence the way radar could track a nearby ship. Annabelle took a calming breath and willed her heartbeat to slow to a normal pace.