by Abby Brooks
I turn to him. “Mystery woman?”
Hudson nods. “You stole my attention at the bar and then disappeared. Notice, anything different about me? Like, maybe I’m missing three very interested blondes?” He lifts an eyebrow like he’s paying me a compliment. “They meant nothing to me the moment I saw you.”
While I’m utterly flattered and couldn’t have better proof that this is the perfect guy for the hot meaningless sex I’m craving, Chelsea is not impressed.
“Hudson. That’s my sister you’re talking to there. Show some respect.”
Hudson grins. “What? I am showing respect. Your sister is sexy as all hell.”
I try to catch Chelsea’s eyes without Hudson seeing because I need her to back the fuck off. I can hear that she’s gotten her protective big sister thing engaged and she’s totally going to cock block me.
“Damn right she is. Smart and sexy and way out of your league.”
“You hear that Maya?” he asks, turning to me with those dimples calling my name. I really do just want to lick him from head to toe. “Chelsea says you’re out of my league. What do you think?”
Oh, God. I just want to throw myself at this man and tell him to have his way with me. I want to run my hands over that hard body, wrap my fingers around his dick, and then let him ravage me until I beg him for more. That’s what I think. But how do you say that to a man you just met while sharing a table with your sisters?
The answer is, you don’t.
So, after taking a second to gather my thoughts, I look Hudson straight in the eye, lick my lips and say exactly what’s on my mind.
“Do you want to get out of here?
Chapter Four
I haven’t run across a girl who screams desperate quite as loudly as Maya London is right now. Normally this is a huge turn off for me. I like them willing, not needy. The needy ones get clingy and the last thing I want is a creeper who doesn’t know when to back off. I don’t care how hot Maya is, she’s going to have to understand that this is a one night only kind of deal. But, when she asks me if I want to get out of here, I surprise myself by wanting to say yes.
“You cool if we go?” I ask Chelsea, just a little curtesy to my physical therapist.
“I’m not her keeper.” It’s clear she’s trying to keep it cool, even though she really wants to tell me no.
I scoot my chair back and stand before offering Maya my hand. “You ready?” Her sexy brown eyes go wide with either excitement or fear, I’m not sure. Whatever it is, she looks hot as hell with those wide eyes and my dick springs to life, agreeing with me. I help her into her coat and it’s a damn shame to cover up that body with this thick and shapeless wool thing. She’s more than a little wobbly in her heels—how many of those massive margaritas did she have?—so I put a hand on her lower back as I guide her through the bar.
She half explodes out of the club, stumbling a little as she steps through the front door.
“Woah,” I say as I instinctively grab her arm to steady her. Which, of course, only knocks her more off balance. Her free arm windmills as she falls backwards and I wrap my arms around her to keep her from going down and getting a face full of pavement. Little titters of self-satisfied amusement come from the people still waiting in line to get into Aura and I see more than a few phones pointed our way.
I should be worried about how many of those pics and vids are going to end up on the internet by tomorrow, but I can’t think about anything but the woman in my arms. Her hair smells sweet, like coconut oil on the beach. And her body, hot damn, even through her coat I can feel the soft swell of her curves, the warmth of her tits as they press against my chest. I swallow hard as I help her to her feet, making sure she’s got her balance before I let her go.
“Thanks,” she says, except it comes out more like ‘shanx’ and I hear even more giggling from the people in line. I like my reputation the way it is, thank you very much. The people know me as a player, capable of seducing even the coldest of women. Someone who doesn’t need to get them drunk and disorderly to have my way with them. I’m sexy, not creepy, damn it, and the last thing I want is for this little excursion with Maya to ruin that. At this point, I’d have been better off stepping out of the club with my threesome of hot blondes.
There’s a coffee shop across the street from Aura, conveniently open twenty-four hours on the weekend. The last thing this crowd needs is to watch me spill Maya into a cab when she’s this wasted. Not if I want to keep my image of playboy from morphing into date rapist.
“Come on, doll,” I say, jerking my head towards the coffee shop. “Let’s get some caffeine in you.” The crowd rewards with me a few aww’s and Maya stares blearily up at me.
“I thought we were gonna have a one-night stand,” she manages to say, scrunching up her face in confusion.
I wrap an arm around her shoulders and lead her down the sidewalk. “Let’s just see how the rest of the night goes.”
She manages the walk without too much trouble, the sharp staccato of her heels finding a somewhat even rhythm as we head into the crosswalk. Our breath frosts in front of our faces, the cool air almost shocking after the heat of the club. She clutches my arm and for some reason that makes me smile as I look down at her, the streetlights shining in her hair.
I hold the door to the coffee shop open for her and she giggles as she steps through. “Thanks,” she says again, this time managing not to mangle the word.
“You go have a seat,” I say, pointing her to a table near the window. “I’ll get us some coffee.” I start to head towards the counter and then pause, realizing that I have no idea how she takes her coffee.
Someone that small and sweet, that soft and feminine surely likes her caffeine more like one of those awful blended concoctions that’s more milkshake than coffee. “Cream and sugar?” I call out across the café.
She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. “Black, please.”
She slides into the booth near the window and stares out at the people in line for Aura, running her hand through her hair and closing her eyes. She’s stunning. Typically, I go for women who are overtly sexual, because let’s face it, I’m overtly sexual. I like them bleached and tanned. Long, lean legs that takes hours in the gym to get them sculpted just right. Hell, let’s face it, I like them more like a Barbie doll than a person. Cheap and plastic and not even a little real.
Maya isn’t that. She’s so real I can’t stop staring at her from across this coffee shop. Fuck, the things I’d do to that body. I tear my eyes away from her and place an order for two black coffees and a croissant. Maybe the starch will help to sop up some of the alcohol in her system. She looks up as I slide in across from her.
“Thanks.” And then she giggles, shaking her head. “This is the weirdest one-night stand in the whole wide world.”
“What? Coffee and croissants weren’t part of the meaningless sex with a stranger you intended to have tonight?” I grin and wink at her as a blush flares up her cheeks.
“You heard that did you?” Maya pulls her mug towards her and wraps her hands around it, hunching over so the steam hits her in the face.
“Heard what?” I put on my most innocent face before letting it dissolve into something way more wicked.
She just shakes her head. “As you can tell, meaningless sex isn’t my forte.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve mastered the art of meaningless sex. If we get to that portion of the evening, you’re in good hands.” I mean it to be funny, but even I hear how shallow and empty it sounds. I take a sip of my coffee. Since when do I care about shit like that? “Do you live downtown?” I ask, trying to move the conversation into safer territory while I get myself under control.
Maya shakes her head and picks at the croissant. “I couldn’t afford to live down here. At least not in a neighborhood that makes me feel comfortable. I live out in Townsbury. It’s a small cluster of streets they call a town about half an hour or so from here.”
“Co
uldn’t afford to live down here?” I sit back in the seat and throw an arm over the back. “You’re a surgeon, right? Aren’t you swimming in money?”
“Maybe someday. Right now I’m swimming in debt. Medical school ain’t cheap.” She pops a bite into her mouth and chews slowly, staring at the croissant with way too much regret. “Ahh, the glory of living someone else’s dream.”
“What do you mean?”
“My parents are doctors. I went to med school for them. Now I’m in debt for them. Have no life for them. This is the first time I haven’t been at the hospital or in bed, for…” She looks up like she’s thinking. “About a hundred years, I think.” She takes a long drink of her coffee.
“Damn, that sucks.” I resist the urge to check my watch. I feel bad for this girl, I really do. And that means there’s no way I’m taking her home now. I refuse to take advantage of someone this down in the dumps. I prefer to be an amazing story about the one that got away rather than one more bad decision in a string of bad decisions.
Maya’s eyes go wide and her ruby red lips part. “Wow,” she says, slowly enunciating the word. “I’m really good at this easygoing sex with a stranger stuff. Bet you can’t wait to get me in bed now.” She grins a little and it’s adorable.
“Oh yeah.” I lean forward and wrap my hands around my coffee, mirroring her posture. “I’m totally turned on right now.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“So, how about you?” she asks and her eyes look more and more focused by the minute. “Do you live around here?”
I nod. “Yep. Got me an apartment overlooking the river. It’s my version of the whole ‘dress for the job you want’ thing.”
“How so?”
“Cincinnati isn’t exactly my dream city. It’s a nice stop along the way, but I have no intention of finishing out my career here.”
“More of a Super Bowl kind of guy?”
I nod. “Exactly.” I pick a bite off her croissant and quirk a grin at her shocked face. “So, since we’re being deep and philosophical here as we lead up to our hot meaningless sex with a stranger… You don’t look like the kind of girl who’s had a lot of experience with one-night stands. Why now?”
Maya widens her eyes. “Wow. Intense foreplay here, Knox. You really know how to turn a woman on.”
“Like I said. I’m the master.” I sit back again and flare my hands. There’s absolutely no chance I’m fucking this woman tonight. Not now that she’s sobering up and we’re busy talking about stupid stuff like where we live and why she wants to make a bad decision with me. But, I’m not really interested in heading back into Aura, even though I’m sure the threesome would still be interested if I found them. Maya’s got my attention now.
“Honestly? I spent too much time doing the right thing and not enough time having fun.” She shrugs and drops her eyes, her eyelashes fanning out away from her cheekbones. “I guess I just want to have a little fun.”
“Life should be all about the fun, doll face.”
She chokes on a laugh and looks up. “Not if you’re Maya London, I guess. Then it’s all about work really hard for a bunch of stuff you don’t even think you want.” She finishes her croissant and takes a long drink of her coffee.
“What do you want?” I ask.
She bites her bottom lip and crinkles her brows. She looks so damn hot my pants get tight. I’ll be jacking off to her for the next week and a half.
“Is it bad if I don’t know?”
I widen my eyes. “Probably. How can you not know?”
She shakes her head and shrugs. “It’s the price I pay for living life for everyone but me, I guess.”
Silence falls between us. She finishes her coffee and stares out the window while I watch the way she licks her lips, the way she runs her hands into her thick hair, the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She’s intoxicating. And I like her.
“Well,” I say when she finally catches me staring. “You ready to get out of here?” I doubt she drove here. I’ll pay for a cab to get her home. Maybe even ask for her number so I can collect on the meaningless sex before the end of the weekend. Get her out of my system because I so don’t need to be worrying about a woman.
A slow smile stretches across her face. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Five
It was sweet of Hudson to help sober me up, although I doubt he did it for me. Something tells me he was more worried about his image than my dignity. That’s okay. It ended up being sweet anyway. And for whatever reason, I kind of like the guy. Which, while it’ll make the sex part of the evening much better, it might get in the way of the whole meaningless deal.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m going through with it. Not even a little. Everyone keeps telling me to live a little, to go crazy, to have some fun. I get the very distinct feeling that a night with Hudson Knox will be all of those things wrapped up into one delicious package. And the fact that he has no intention of being a permanent fixture here in the area? All the better.
He guides me out of the coffee shop and out into the cold October night. He has no intention of taking me home tonight. I saw that idea fly out of his head the moment he took me across the street for coffee instead of helping me into a cab. But, judging by the way I kept catching him staring at me in there, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to talk him back into it.
I turn to him as soon as the door swings shut behind us. Step into his personal space and look up at him, my eyes sweet and innocent. “I need you to fuck the hell out of me tonight,” I say as I run my hands up his chest. I don’t know who this version of Maya is. I don’t know where I got the courage to say something like that, but damn, it feels good.
His eyes go wide for a fraction of an instant and I see him get ready to shoot me down. I press my chest forward, letting my breasts press into him and part my lips.
“Please?” I slide my hands down his stomach—hot damn I can feel how firm it is through the thin fabric of his shirt—and down over the waistline of his pants. I bite my lip because you can be damn sure I saw how much he liked it when I did that in the coffee shop and am rewarded by the huge bulge I find at his crotch. I give it a squeeze and watch any and all objections fly out of his head.
The next thing I know, I’m in the middle of the sexiest cab ride of my life. He’s got me pressed against the window, his body covering mine, pressing down on me so I can feel the sheer weight of him. He’s so much bigger than me. So much more powerful. He thrusts his hips forward and I groan. His mouth devours mine and I run my hands up and down the length of his shaft, so thick I can feel it through his pants.
It’s been so long since anyone’s touched me, I’m practically on fire. I don’t even know how long it takes to get to his apartment. We’re just suddenly there and he’s throwing money at the cab driver and dragging me up the sidewalk and in through the front door. We stand side by side as we wait for the elevator, chests heaving. As soon as the doors slide closed in front of us, sealing us off from the rest of the world, Hudson is on me again.
He gathers my wrists in one hand and pins them above my head while his other hand slides up under my dress. His thumb grazes my clit and I moan, letting my head drop back while his mouth travels over my lips and jaw, his teeth grazing the soft flesh at my neck. I have no doubts, only desire. I will fuck this man and disappear. I will use his body and wake up in the morning at my house, satisfied and alive for the first time in a long time.
I’m a player’s dream. Equally ready to be used and discarded as I am to use and discard. His apartment is massive and I get the sense that he’s taken time with the decorating as he flicks on the lights, but that’s all I notice because the moment the door is closed behind us, I pull him towards me, unbuttoning his shirt while I lead him into his living room.
“Jesus, Maya. Slow down.”
“I need to see you,” I say. “I need to see that body.” I’ve never been so forthright. Never felt so
powerful. Never felt so sensual.
I think I like it.
Hudson steps back, lets his eyes rake over my body as he takes over the job of unbuttoning his shirt. First, undoing the buttons at his wrists as he stares me down. Gone is the playful man with the dimples and in his place is a warrior. He finishes with the cuffs and undoes the rest of the shirt, sliding it off his powerful shoulders and letting it drop to the floor.
“Holy shit, you’re beautiful.” I step forward and run my hands up over his arms, enjoying the thick, corded muscles bulging under my palms. His chest is hard and smooth and his abs are tight. I’ve never been with a man that looks this masculine before.
He smiles down at me as I study him, giving me the time I need to appreciate his body. I trace the tattoos swirling up his arms and across his chest and then lower myself to my knees in front of him, kissing and licking his hot skin as I do. It doesn’t take me long to unbutton his pants and slide his boxer briefs down past his straining cock.
My pussy clenches at the sight of him. So thick and hard I almost forget Dakota’s advice before I take him in my mouth. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s clean as he kicks off his shoes and pants. I’ve never seen a dick this beautiful before.
I lick his shaft and swirl my tongue around his tip, cupping his balls in my hand. Hudson glares down at me, his eyes hooded with lust and desire while I stare up at him, his cock in my mouth. He thrusts his hips forward, pushing against the back of my throat and I realize that there’s no way I can take him all with my mouth. I wrap my hand around the base of his shaft and pull back for air.
“Stand up, baby doll,” he says. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
I think he missed the whole point of the evening. The part where I’m done doing things other people tell me to do. Tonight is about me taking control back and doing what I want. And right now? I like having this man’s dick in my mouth. I flick my tongue around his crown while working my hand along his shaft. His eyes roll back in his head and a surge of power and excitement rolls through me. To know a man this big and powerful is naked in front of me, and I’m in control of his pleasure? I like the way that feels, that’s for sure.