by Vi Keeland
“That’s fine.”
Again he was quiet as we made our way to his room. He unlocked the door and held it open for me to enter, but once the door closed, the silence grew deafening, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you…mad at me?”
Hudson’s eyes looked back and forth between mine. “No.”
“Okay… Are you tired? It’s been a long day with the travel and all.”
He shook his head. “I’m not tired.”
I nodded, intending to leave it alone. But that only lasted thirty seconds. I couldn’t help myself. “When I said I’d never been to LA and wanted to check it out, I wasn’t hinting that he should ask me out.” I shook my head. “I don’t even know if he was asking me out—but whatever he was offering, I wasn’t trying to open a door for him to show me around.”
Hudson’s eyes seared into me. “Oh, he was asking you out. Make no mistake about that.”
“But I—”
He interrupted me. “You were perfectly polite and professional. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I shook my head. “So why does it feel like you think I did?”
Hudson stared down at his feet for what was probably only a few seconds, yet felt like an hour. Eventually, his eyes met mine. “I’m just a jealous asshole. I don’t mean to take it out on you. I apologize.”
Oh...wow. I didn’t think he’d be so honest. I smiled sadly. “Thank you. For what it’s worth, if the roles were reversed and the photographer was a beautiful, female ex-model who asked to show you around, I’d be jealous, too.”
Hudson looked into my eyes. “You know, we don’t get jealous of things we don’t want.”
“Want has never been an issue for me. It’s just…so much could go wrong.”
“Or so much could go right.” Hudson forced a smile and nodded. “But I get it.” He glanced around the room. “I don’t see the boxes in here. Let me check the bedroom. Do you have a list of what we should have received?”
“Yeah…” I sighed. “I can pull it up on my phone.”
I sat down on the couch and dug my phone out of my purse. As I started to scroll, I noticed something sticking out of the corner of the couch, tucked between the cushions. It looked like a book. Without giving it any thought, I pulled it out and laid it on the end table so it wouldn’t get lost. But when I caught the title on the front, I did a double take.
The Thorn Birds.
Hudson and I had talked about this book the other day. He’d said he hadn’t read it.
I picked the book back up and began to thumb through the pages. About three-quarters through, one of Hudson’s business cards was tucked inside like a bookmark.
“They delivered two box—” Hudson froze. His eyes rose to meet mine, but he said nothing.
“You’re reading this?”
He set the boxes on the coffee table in front of me. “You mentioned you liked it the other day. I usually read a lot while I travel.”
My heart swelled inside my chest, leaving me a little breathless. I shook my head. “You knew I thought Marco reading Amalia’s favorites was romantic.”
Hudson was quiet for a moment before tapping on the boxes. “How many were left to be delivered?”
“Umm…” I hadn’t finished looking to find out. I swiped to my email and searched for the one Olivia had sent with the shipping confirmations. “I think those are the last two. All of the props are being delivered tomorrow morning from a local company.”
He nodded. “I’ll carry these down to your room for you.”
I shook my head. “That’s okay. It’s just a few outfits. I can take them.”
Hudson pushed his hands into his pockets and kept his eyes down. The shy demeanor was very un-Hudson-like.
So many emotions swam through my head, and I stood, not knowing what to say, though the conversation about the book felt unfinished. Eventually it became awkward, so I took the boxes and figured it was time to go.
“Thank you again for dinner. I’ll see you in the morning?”
“I’ll be down at your room by the time they get started.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
He opened the door and our gazes caught once more. Why did it feel like my heart was breaking? “Goodnight, Hudson.”
I made it down to my room but couldn’t bring myself to go inside. I had two boxes in my hands, yet I just stared at my door.
What the hell am I doing?
For the last few weeks, I’d been reading a diary and rooting for a man to get the girl because of all his sweet gestures. Yet in my personal life, I had a man who listened to me, a man who’d forgiven me for crashing his sister’s wedding, and for giving him a black eye. I’d called him an asshole on more than one occasion, yet he’d done nothing but help me get my business off the ground and stand by my side the entire time. He was also an adoring father, which says a lot about a man. Not to mention, I was ridiculously attracted to him.
So why the hell don’t I take a chance?
I’d told myself it wasn’t a good idea to mix business with pleasure because of the way things had turned out with Aiden. But my business had already exceeded all my expectations, and we hadn’t even made the website live yet for the general public. So it wasn’t that. I thought back to my conversation with Hudson a few minutes ago.
“So much could go wrong,” I’d said.
But maybe what he’d said was more important.
“So much could go right.”
The truth was, I was afraid to take a chance. But I realized now that by not taking a chance, I might miss out on something really beautiful.
My palms started to sweat, because I knew what I needed to do. I also knew that if I walked into my room and started overthinking things, I might chicken out. So it had to be now.
Right now.
I dropped the boxes on the floor in front of my door and rushed back to Hudson’s room. Standing in front of his door, my first instinct was to take a moment and pull myself together. But doing that would give me time to lose my nerve. So I forced myself to just do it and knock—though with all of the adrenaline and nerves rushing through me, my knock came out more like a bang, a very loud and fast pounding.
Hudson whipped open the door. His face was angry, but at the sight of me, he jumped into protective mode.
“What happened? Are you okay?” He took a step out of his room and looked down the hall, first to the right and then the left. “Stella, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fi…”
I forgot what I was saying mid sentence. When he’d whipped open the door and startled me, all I saw was an angry face. But now…
I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
My Lord.
Hudson’s dress shirt was unbuttoned. His belt was open, and the zipper to his pants was down, revealing dark boxer briefs. But it wasn’t his state of undress that had me unable to form words, it was what was underneath the clothes.
I knew from our talks that he exercised, so I’d expected him to be in good shape. But Hudson was so much more. He was…magnificent. Beautiful smooth, tan skin, carved pecs, and an eight-pack of rippled muscles. A thin line of hair led from his belly button down into his boxers, the sight of which made me salivate.
“Stella? Are you okay?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, I blinked a few times.
“Oh…yeah. I’m fine.” Though not as fine as you.
“You banged on my door like there was a fire or something.”
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I was just anxious.”
“Anxious about what? The shoot tomorrow?”
“No…yes…no…well, I am anxious about the shoot tomorrow, but that’s not what I was anxious about when I knocked on your door.”
Hudson still looked confused.
But of course, why wouldn’t he when I was babbling like an idiot? So I took a deep breath and steadied myself.
“I…I…would you like to have dinn
er tomorrow night?”
“Dinner?”
I nodded and swallowed. “Yeah…like a date?”
All the confusion and anger disappeared from his face. He shook his head. “It’s about fucking time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be all cocky about it. Do you want to or not?”
He smiled. “Yes, I’d very much like to go out with you, Stella.”
My belly did a little somersault. I suddenly felt like I was in middle school and the most popular boy had told me he liked me back. Nervous, I looked down. “Okay, so tomorrow then? After the shoot. We’ll have dinner or something?”
Hudson looked amused. “Yes, that’s how it usually works—dinner or something.”
I scowled at him. “This isn’t easy, you know. You don’t have to make it even more difficult by being a jerk.”
His eyes sparkled. “I’ll work on that.”
“Good.” I’d never asked a man out in my life, so I wasn’t sure what came next. But when I caught myself grabbing for the ring I always twisted when I felt nervous, I figured the best thing would be to say goodnight. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
I went to walk away, but Hudson stepped out of his room and grabbed my hand. “Hang on a second. You forgot something.”
My brows dipped. “What?”
He yanked my hand so I stumbled and fell against his chest. Then in one quick swoop, he leaned down, lifted me up, and turned us so my back was up against the door to his room. My legs wrapped around his waist, and Hudson pushed into me, pinning me with his body. He cupped my cheeks and looked into my eyes.
“This, sweetheart, you forgot this.”
Hudson’s mouth crashed down on mine. The gasp that had been halfway through my lips was swallowed, along with any shyness I’d felt a minute ago. I threaded my fingers through his thick hair and tugged, wanting him even closer.
Hudson groaned. He tilted my head to deepen the kiss, and our tongues frantically collided. All hell broke loose after that. Hudson grinded between my legs as one of his hands snaked around to the back of my head where he grabbed a fistful of my hair. The roughness of his actions coupled with the feel of his warm, hard body pushing against me brought a moan from somewhere deep inside me.
“Fuck,” Hudson growled as his mouth moved to my neck. He sucked along my pulse line before kissing his way back to my lips. “Do that again. Make that sound again.”
It wasn’t a sound I’d tried to make, so I wasn’t sure I could repeat it. Though when he rubbed his cock up and down between my spread legs, I didn’t have to worry about trying to make it, because yet again it came from somewhere deep inside me.
Hudson grunted. “Fuck, yes.”
I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that—grabbing and pulling, grinding and groping—but when our kiss finally broke, we were both panting. I reached up and felt my swollen lips. “Wow.”
A smile spread across Hudson’s face as he leaned his forehead against mine. “Took you long enough.”
I laughed. “Shut up. I had good reason to be scared.”
Hudson pushed a lock of hair from my cheek, and his face softened. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. Except maybe a little biting.”
A sound at the other end of the hallway interrupted the intimate moment. An older couple was headed down the hall toward us.
“Shit,” Hudson said as he lowered me to my feet. In a really adorable move, he pulled my black dress down and straightened it for me.
I laughed and pointed my eyes down to his trousers. “Uhh... I don’t think I’m the one you need to worry about looking obscene.”
Hudson’s forehead wrinkled until he glanced down and saw his erection bulging from his pants. “Shit.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I got you.” I stepped in front of him and angled myself to shield him until the couple passed. Then he pulled up his zipper and partially buckled his belt.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you to your room.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s on my way.”
My brows furrowed. “On your way where?”
“To the front desk. I locked myself out of my room.”
I chuckled. “Smooth, Rothschild. Smooth.”
He responded by swatting my ass. “Be nice or I won’t be a gentleman when we get to your door.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to be a gentleman.”
He hooked an arm around my shoulder as we started walking. “I said I’d be a gentleman when we’re at your door. Trust me, that shit will stay parked outside once we’re somewhere less public, now that you’re mine.”
“Oh, I’m yours now, am I?”
When we arrived at my door, Hudson kissed me gently on the lips. “You have been for a while, sweetheart. You just finally admitted it.”
I rolled my eyes as if what he said was arrogant, but it was the truth.
I grabbed his shirt. “Do you…want to come in?”
He stroked my cheek. “Yes, I want to. But no, I won’t. You have to get up in the morning. Plus, you deserve a nice date, and I’m going to give you that before we take things any further. If we go into your room, I will wind up trying to get you naked. You’re impossible to resist. Trust me, I’ve fucking tried.”
I smiled and pushed up on my tippy toes for another sweet kiss. “Goodnight, Hudson.”
“Glad you finally listened to the whisper, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t really have a choice. My whisper has been more like a scream lately.”
CHAPTER 21
Hudson
The next morning, I showed up at Stella’s door at seven thirty.
She opened it wrapped in a towel. “Hey. You’re early.”
My eyes dragged up and down a shitload of creamy, exposed skin. I shook my head. “Looks like I came at the perfect time.”
She giggled, and I swear the sound might’ve been even better than the view, and the view was pretty fucking spectacular.
Stella stepped inside. “The hair and makeup people are coming at eight, so I waited to take a shower so my hair would still be damp.”
Being inside her suite felt completely different than it had when I was here just yesterday. For example, now I could do this…
The moment the door shut, I took her in my arms and crushed my lips to hers. Last night I’d fallen asleep thinking about the way she tasted, and this morning I’d awakened starving. The soft moan that almost did me in yesterday made an appearance again—it crossed from her lips to mine and traveled straight down to my cock.
Fuck.
She probably wouldn’t stop me if I slipped the towel from around her, though that would only make things worse. If just a kiss made me feel like a savage, there was no way in hell seeing all of her would be enough. So I wrenched my mouth from hers.
Stella lifted her hand and rubbed two fingers along her bottom lip. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt what was going on in someone’s mind from just kissing them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your kisses. They say so much. Whether it’s a sweet peck on the lips or what just happened, I just know what’s going on in your head when our lips meet.”
“Oh yeah?” I said. “What was going on in my head just now?”
“You wanted to take off my towel, but you knew that wasn’t a good idea because people will be here any minute.”
My brows shot up. “How the hell did you know that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just did.”
“That’s dangerous—for me.”
She smiled and adjusted the tucked-in corner of her towel. “I should go get dressed before people start arriving.”
As much as I hated to see her cover up, there’s no way I wanted to share the way she looked with anyone—especially the asshat photographer. I nodded. “Go.”
Stella walked away, but at the bedroom doorway she yelled back.
“Hudson?”
“Yeah?”<
br />
She let the towel drop to the floor.
I groaned. This was going to be one long day.
Before Stella finished getting dressed, the first person arrived. Dig—at least I was pretty sure that’s what he’d grumbled when he introduced himself—was a stylist. He rolled in a trunk on wheels and looked around for where to set up.
A minute later the makeup person knocked, followed by three guys delivering rented furniture, room service, a lighting technician, and some random guy whose accent was so strong I had no idea what the hell he said he did. They all pounced on Stella as soon as she emerged from the bathroom.
After forty-five minutes being surrounded by a team of people primping, she looked a little overwhelmed. So I made a plate with some fruit and a croissant from the breakfast spread and set it down in front of her.
“Did you eat yet?”
Stella shook her head.
I looked at the hairdresser who had just wrapped her entire head in rollers and then at the two guys flanking her on both sides. “Could you give her five minutes, please?”
“Oh…of course.”
I nodded my head toward the trays of food. “Why don’t you help yourselves to something to eat? There’s a table outside on the patio.”
Once she wasn’t being prodded anymore, Stella let out a big exhale. “Thanks. How did you know I needed a break?”
I shrugged. “Same way you knew I was about two seconds from ripping your towel off during that kiss earlier.”
She smiled and picked up the banana I’d put on her plate. As she went to peel it, she caught my scribble and read out loud.
“I can’t wait to show you my banana. Ooh…” She giggled. “I think I’m going to like these notes much better now.”
I smiled, but pointed to her plate. “Eat. They’re going to be back in here painting shit on your face in a few minutes.”
“On second thought, I’m going to save this for later.” Stella set down the banana and picked up a piece of melon. “So what are we going to do tonight for our date? I know I asked you out, but it’s my first time in California.”
“I figured I’d feed you and show you around LA, since you’ve never been.”