“You did?”
“This luscious ass of yours.” I gripped each globe and thrust into her. “Are you close?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, because I’m about to come.”
A few seconds later, her secret muscles fluttered around me and I lost it completely. I came so hard. It went on forever, or at least it seemed like it did.
“Sorry about that,” I said.
“About what.”
“Not lasting very long.”
“It was perfect. No. Better than perfect.”
I crawled up beside her. “I thought it was perfect too.”
A tentative hand reached out and touched my cheek.
I grabbed hers and laid mine on top of it. “That was seriously hot sex.”
She took a deep breath and then said, “I’m a lot rusty. I haven’t been in this dating scene for a really, really long time. Honestly, this is so awkward for me. And now you’ve seen me naked and we’re neighbors.”
“Your point is?”
“I guess, what if we don’t … I mean, where do we go from here?”
“How about we take our dogs for a walk and then have another round because I know one thing and that’s you’re mine for the night.”
My answer wasn’t the one she was looking for, but I couldn’t give her more right now. Tonight was supposed to be fun. A one and done. But I’m not sure after what just happened I could let her go. Only I wasn’t sure I could keep her either. Hurting her was not part of my plan. I totally got the awkward part. Maybe we could do this.
“How about we take this a day at a time?”
Then she did the one thing I least expected.
“What happened to Wiley’s mother?”
Chapter Fifteen
Milly
Hudson flew off the bed like it was on fire. At first, I figured he was trying to be comical, but when he disappeared into his walk-in closet, I knew it was pure avoidance. Whatever happened must’ve been bad. I knew bad. I’d lived bad. I totally got bad. I was the poster child for bad.
“Hey, you in there. Whatcha doin’?”
He came out dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and looked every bit as hot as he did in a tux. Did this man just fuck me? Doggy style?
“Changing clothes so we can walk the dogs. What’re you doin’, lazy butt?”
“Do you think anyone would notice if I ran home naked because I don’t want to put that dress back on?”
“Nah.”
“Seriously?”
“Milly, never in a million years would I let you do that. Here.” He tossed me a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants.
“Aww, thanks.” I threw them both on, but the pants were huge. “Yeah, these will only get me home.” I laughed.
“That was the idea. I’ll leash up my three and meet you at your door.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I walked toward the door when I heard him say, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Um, home?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Dang. My dress.”
“Not that.” He pointed to his lips. “You forgot to kiss me. Get over here.”
Was he serious? He hooked a finger and motioned for me to come closer. So, I did. I only expected a quick peck on the lips. Nope. It was an all-out, buckle-your-knees toe-curler. Shit.
“Did you want to take the dogs out or go back to bed because if you keep this up, those poor dogs will never get their walk,” I said.
Then he slapped my ass and said, “Go.”
“Yes, sir, mister bossy boss.”
I heard him chuckling as I left.
Dick was super excited as I walked through the door. “Hey buddy, how are you?” I hurried into my room so I could put on some yoga pants. No sooner than I pulled them up, my doorbell buzzed. I ran to open it and Dick started barking when he saw the other dogs.
“Shit.”
But Hudson, in his deep, manly mannish voice, said, “Quiet.”
Dick’s ears perked up, twitched, and he instantly stopped.
“That was brilliant. Why won’t he do that for me?”
“You don’t have that alpha tone when you speak to him.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to try that.”
I attached Dick’s leash and out we went. The walk was fast and when we got back, I asked, “My place or yours?”
“Bring Dick over to mine.”
“What about me?”
“You can come too.”
“Oh, goody.” I grinned at him.
“You think you’re cute, don’t you?” he asked as he opened his door.
“No, you think I’m cute.”
“You are so wrong. I think you’re stunning.” And he was tearing off that sweatshirt as he guided me to his bedroom. I hadn’t bothered with a bra, so his fingers were doing all sorts of playful things to my nipples, which I didn’t object to at all. Then he used his mouth. “How can you be so damn perfect? I love your tits.”
“You can have them. They’re yours. Do what you will with them.”
I was only being playful of course, but he stopped what he was doing and said, “Can we talk for a minute?” By this time we were already back in bed.
“Sure.”
“This thing between us. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not in this for any kind of relationship right now. I, uh, it’s not you, it’s me.”
I blinked. Once. Twice. It’s not that I didn’t think I heard him correctly. It was rather like getting doused with a bucket of cold water. We’d just had spectacular sex. We were in bed, currently on the way to round two. I certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship either. Maybe friends with benefits would’ve been great, but he just pulled that rug out from under my feet and left me floundering.
“Riiiight. So, what you’re saying is, you’re not really into us?”
“No. That’s not it at all.”
“Then what you want is a one and done?”
Now it was his turn to blink. His brows creased and he appeared to be at a loss. Good for him because so was I. Single-hood was a strange thing.
“Maybe it’s best if I leave.” I put his sweatshirt back on and gathered up my dress that was lying across the chair. I wanted to say something to him, but there weren’t any appropriate words. The mixture of anger and hurt wasn’t a good thing, so my decision to go home was the best choice.
“Please don’t.”
“It’s really for the best.”
I put Dick’s leash on, unaware if Hudson was there or not. Then I left. How did things get so weird so fast? And this was that awkward I’d been afraid of. Now, when I saw him, all I would think about was how spectacular the fucking had been and how great things were one minute and how weird they’d turned the next. Wow. And they said women were weird. Of course it was always men who said that.
I flopped down on my bed, my mind churning. I pieced back together the details of the night, and everything had been great until I’d asked about Wiley’s mother. Perhaps I should’ve volunteered my own personal details and then he wouldn’t have freaked out so badly. But I honestly thought he’d just talk about how things hadn’t worked out. Oh shit. What if she’d died? Me and my stupid questions. Why did I always have to ask people things? That’s dumb. Everyone asks people things.
My doorbell buzzed. When I opened it, he stood there.
“Hey. I, uh, didn’t handle that well. I’m sorry. Can I come in?”
I waved him through.
“It was my fault. I shouldn’t have asked about your wife.”
“You had every right to after what we did.” He smiled, not a huge one but a smile nonetheless.
“Come and sit.” We both took seats on the sofa and faced each other.
“It’s not a very nice story to tell, which is why I avoid it. She left us one day while I was at work. You’ve heard those typical stories, the spouse drains the accounts, moves everything out, and the other one comes home to the
empty home? Yep, it happened to me. I still feel foolish when it comes up, which is why I avoid it.”
“Wait. Let me get this straight. She left you and Wiley?”
“Yes. She sent the nanny to a hotel and told her to stay there until she heard from me.”
I was floored. “Wow. Just wow.” This was mind-blowing. What kind of mother does that to her kid? “I get walking away from the spouse. Okay, not really. But still. Leaving Wiley? That’s just cruel.”
“It completely blindsided me. Had no idea at all she was planning it. Luckily, I had a couple of accounts she didn’t have access to, or I would’ve been financially ruined. She nearly did that as it was.”
“Where is she now?”
He shrugged. “No idea. My brother is an attorney—you met Pearson tonight? He handled everything. I got total custody on grounds of abandonment and she never showed up to contest so …”
“I don’t know what to say.” And I didn’t. My heart ached for little Wiley. “How old was he when it happened?”
“Eighteen months.”
The more he talked, the worse it got. “How does Wiley handle it?”
“He never asks. I put him in counseling when he was three for an evaluation. The counselor recommended to continue with visits every month and as long as he doesn’t show any atypical behavior, he should be fine. It worries me, though, because what kid never asks about his mother? The therapist believes he will at some point, but so far, nothing.”
“Do you ever talk about it with him?”
“Yeah. I had a picture of her in his room, but he put it away. It’s almost like he knows. I asked his therapist about it and she said it was his way of dealing with his mom’s absence.”
“That’s so weird. And Wiley seems fine.”
“True, for now. But what about when he’s a teenager? Will he act out or turn to drugs? I lose a lot of sleep over that.”
I touched his arm. “Hey, you’re doing the right thing in taking him to someone. Maybe he’ll open up at some point.”
“Man, I hope so. You don’t know what it’s like. How it eats at me knowing it could all explode one day.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish things were different.”
“Me too. That kid is the world to me. If anything ever happened …”
“I understand. Even though I don’t have kids, it’s not because …” I shut my mouth. That was a topic I didn’t need to open up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“So, yeah, what’s your story? Now that you know mine, I think it’s only fair.”
I pushed my hand through my hair and groaned. “This isn’t anything compared to what you had to deal with.”
“Hey, everyone’s situation is different, but that doesn’t make one worse than the other. What you went through was difficult for you, I’m sure.”
My hand landed on my chest because my heart still hurt over the betrayal my ex dealt me. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. My ex’s best friend died. They were as close as brothers ever since they were twelve. His death was unexpected, and it hit my ex so hard that he spiraled into depression. It was terrible to watch.”
He took my hand, the one on my chest, and held it between his. “That’s awful. I can’t imagine.”
“At first, I figured he’d get better after a while. But he didn’t. He began to change. His personality altered. He used to be fun, but the fun disappeared. He became morose, withdrawn. Then he said I was working all the time. He was right, but being around him was so depressing. We had no common interests anymore, and whenever we were together, we’d end up arguing. You might say the great divide occurred and kept growing.”
“Marriage counseling?”
“Didn’t help. Gah, I feel awful dumping all this on you.”
”Don’t. I asked, remember?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah, but I wanted you to know I’m not interested in any kind of a relationship yet either. After all the crap I went through with him, I recently discovered he’d been having an affair and that’s why he moved to London.”
Hudson’s mouth dropped open.
“That’s why he brought the dog here. He couldn’t take him along. But the woman in London, well, my sister pointed out that there was evidence on Facebook that he’d been seeing her for a couple of years.”
“Ouch.”
“Exactly. And it pisses me off because at one point I thought he was suicidal. Instead, he was marriage-cidal. It was all an act, I guess.”
Hudson shook his head. “Some people have no regard for their marriage vows. My ex certainly didn’t.”
“So, can we be neighbors with benefits? And can this not be weird between us?”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “Oh, I don’t know. Will you let me borrow a cup of sugar?”
“Yeah, but it’ll cost you.”
“I’ll be happy to pay. In fact, I can even pay it forward if you’d like.”
“Oooh, I do like the sound of that.”
He made a grab for me and I landed on his lap. “How about we start right here?”
“Wait. You’re not going to suggest we talk about the first thing that pops up, are you?”
“No. I’m not going to suggest we talk at all.”
And we didn’t. Talk that is. But we did everything else.
My pants vanished, and he did all sorts of dirty things with his mouth to me. He sucked, licked, fucked, ate, and did things I’d never heard of before. I was a heap of moaning lust on the floor, couch, coffee table, and eventually, the bed.
My frozen vagina had officially thawed. In fact, it was beyond defrosted. It was officially in a state of a meltdown. It was raw from friction as he currently banged me doggie style, again. He grasped my hair in one hand, tugging it hard. The other hand held my hip in a bruising grip and all I could hear was our breathing and his hips slapping against my pelvis.
I was chasing another orgasm as it built with astounding intensity until it erupted upon me. My fingers clawed the sheets as I moaned and prayed the walls were thick because neither of us was exactly quiet. Hudson got his right after mine, and then we collapsed in a pile of tangled limbs.
A moment later, he rolled me over and kissed me. Long, slow, and sensuous. If I weren’t so exhausted, it would’ve sparked another round of sex.
“Was that something or was that something?” he asked.
A shaky laughed rippled out of me. “Yeah, that was something.”
He traced a circle around my peaked nipple with his fingertip. “I’m glad I was right.”
“About what?”
“How fucking sexy you are. You’re better than any gourmet meal out there.”
“Hmm. And here I thought I was too old to be sexy.”
“Say what? Why would you say that? How old are you?”
“No, no. You first,” I said.
“I’m thirty-nine.”
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I’m older than you.” I covered my face with a pillow.
He chuckled. “No way.”
“Way,” I said under the pillow.
“Give it up, Fremont. How old?”
“Forty.”
“Shit. That’s not old. You’re younger than Grey. We tease him all the time about being the old man.”
I elbowed him. “Shut up. You’re close to forty.”
“True, but look at all the sexy dudes in their forties. The forties can’t be that bad. Besides, you’re there so I’ll be in good company.”
I put the pillow aside. “The truth is, you can’t do anything about it, so I guess it’s better than the alternative.”
“You’ve got that right. I know one thing. I adore those forty-year-old lips. So give me a goodnight kiss. We need to catch a few hours before I have to pick Wiley up in the morning.”
I touched my lips to his and then we snuggled together, his arm wrapped tightly around me. I didn’t think I would sleep, because I was in that state of post-
sex-happy-glow and my vagina still vibrated from all the activity it just had. But the next thing I knew, Hudson’s phone was ringing, and bright light streamed through the blinds. Morning had broken.
“Hey wild man,” his raspy morning voice answered. It must’ve been Wiley on the phone. “No, buddy. I’ll be there later this morning.” He paused. “She did? Did you tell her you didn’t want to?” Another pause. “Tell you what. If she pesters you too much, just say you really don’t like it and then ask Aunt Marin for help. Okay?” He paused again. I heard Wiley’s voice but couldn’t decipher what he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be out later. I love you.” After he hung up, he laughed.
I waited for him to fill me in.
“Grey’s daughter has this obsession with Irish step dancing and apparently she drove Wiley crazy last night trying to make him dance with her.”
“Oh, no.” Then I cracked up. “I’d actually like to see that.”
“Oh, she’s horrible. It’s very hard to watch without laughing because she holds her arms stiffly to her sides like you’re supposed to, but her legs fly all over the place in odd motions. It’s hilarious. But then she’s super bossy with the boys. Even little Aaron gets bossed around. We’re all praying he shows great ability for sports.”
My phone rang, and I picked it up to see it was Ellerie, so I let it go to voicemail. But she called back again. And again.
“Do you think you should get that?”
“It’s my sister. She probably thinks I’ve been abducted.”
“I should go too. I need to shower and then head out to pick up the boy.”
“Yeah, I need to shower and grab some coffee. Dick is probably chomping at the bit to go out.”
He scratched his jaw and it sounded like sandpaper. I put my hand on it and it felt like it too.
“I need to shave.”
“I think it looks very sexy.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm. Maybe I won’t then.” He pushed the covers back and stood. Holy fuck. I’d seen him last night, sure. But in the bright morning sun, the man was outrageously gorgeous. Sculpted abs for days and his cock was—how in the hell had I missed that last night?
“Hey, come here a sec.”
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