His Curvy Fantasy, page 19
“He’ll be okay. He’s resourceful.”
She smiled. “Yes, he is.”
“Five minutes!” the man at the front of the room announced.
“Want to grab anything before we get started again?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “Thank you for letting me ask you questions. Joey doesn’t know this, but his dad always said he was stupid. The last time he visited, Joey was starting to learn to read and Nick rolled his eyes and got frustrated when Joey would guess the wrong word. I never want him to know, but I’ve always felt bad about that. He deserves better.”
“He has better. He has you. He doesn’t need his father.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
I leaned down and kissed her softly, letting myself enjoy the moment as the people around us settled into their seats for another round of bingo.
The woman across the table slammed her cane against the side and shook her head. “None of that here. We’re in a church.”
Anna and I shared a grin and nodded. We got our cards ready and waited for the round to begin.
“I can’t believe I won,” Anna said with a laugh on the ride home. She beamed with excitement, the same excitement that was on her face when she realized she had bingo.
“I almost had you,” I said.
She laughed. “Yep, but you didn’t.”
She waved her five dollars in my face, brushing my cheek with her reward. I laughed and shook my head. It was good to see her so happy.
“So, does that mean you’ll let me take you out again? You had fun?”
Her laughter faded, and I worried I pushed her too far. I glanced over and she had a dreamy look in her eyes. “Yeah, I had fun. Thank you.”
“Good.” I paused. “You didn’t answer the question.”
She laughed. “Yes, I’ll let you take me out again. But next time you don’t have to spend so much money.”
“Quarter bingo pushed it over the edge?” I teased.
She laughed again, the sound filling me up. I wanted to hear that sound every day. “You know what I mean.”
“I know money is an issue for you. I need you to understand it isn’t for me. I have a successful business, and I’ve been single most of my life. Hillary had a small life insurance policy through her work, so I inherited a little money, which I used to buy O’Kelley’s. I own my home outright, and my truck, and I have no debt. I know that’s not what you’re asking, but it’s important to me that you know I’m financially secure, not like Trent, but secure, and I enjoy spending my money on people I care about.”
She gasped, quietly. I knew it was because I said I care. I reached over and grabbed her hand, needing to feel her skin against mine.
“I care about you, Anna. And Joey and Matty. You’re important to me.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
We drove the rest of the way to MacKellar Cove in silence. She didn’t pull away from me, and it wasn’t awkward. Just the kind of comfortable silence you only could find with someone you trusted.
“Do you want me to take you home?” I asked. I hoped she said no, but I wasn’t going to push my luck.
“No.” One word. No explanation was needed. I got the message. All of me got the message.
I pulled into my garage and closed the door behind us. The wind whistled through the cracks, but we were protected inside. I let us into the house, the entrance from the garage opening to a small mudroom. My heart beat hard, and my palms started to sweat.
I took off my coat and helped Anna out of hers. We both took our wet boots off, then padded in socks around the corner to the kitchen. I stopped at the island, unsure what to do next. Whisking her to my bed felt like a dick move, but we’d been dancing around ending up in bed all night.
“I love your house,” she whispered.
“Thanks. It’s been a lot of work, but I love it.”
“You remodeled it?”
I nodded. “It wasn’t bad when I bought it, but it was outdated. There was a wall here between the kitchen and dining room. The fireplace was shiny black tile with a gold mantel. The bathrooms had green fixtures and cheap vinyl flooring that was peeling and coming up. It took me years to get it to how I wanted it, but it’s been worth it.”
She nodded and chewed on her lip. Her gaze drifted around the space, taking it all in. When she looked up at me, she smiled shyly. “Why am I so nervous?”
I laughed and moved toward her. “I don’t know, but I am, too.”
She breathed a laugh. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.”
“I can show you around the house and then take you home. Or not, if you want. Nothing has to happen. I didn’t plan for this.”
She nodded and stepped into my arms. We stood there for a long moment, then she stepped back and smiled. “Lead the way.”
I led her back toward the mudroom and showed her the two guest rooms and the bathroom for those rooms. Both were set up with double beds even though they were rarely used. We went back to the kitchen and looked at the open dining and living rooms. She loved the rock I’d used for the fireplace when I redid it, and said she hoped to see the deck out back when the weather was nicer.
I liked that thought.
The only room left to show her was my bedroom. I’d never brought a woman into my bedroom. The few I’d slept with over the years, we either went to their place or used one of the guest rooms. But taking Anna into my room felt right.
My heart pounded hard again, but this time I knew it wasn’t anxiety. It was anticipation. She ran her hand across my soft gray comforter. She peeked into the bathroom and gasped at the oversized tub. Then she turned back to me.
I leaned against the dresser and watched her. I wasn’t going to pressure her. If anything was going to happen, it would be up to her.
She sat on the edge of my bed. My heart beat faster. She looked up at me. “Hudson.”
I pushed off the dresser and crossed the room to her. I cupped her jaw and lifted her face as I ducked to meet her in the middle. She gasped as our lips touched, letting me in. I swept my tongue through her mouth and tangled with hers. We didn’t fight. We alternated who had control.
She lifted my shirt, pressing her hand flat to my stomach. She sighed and slid her hand around my back, pulling me down as she laid back on the bed.
I leaned my weight onto her, pressing my erection to her center. She spread her thighs wider and wrapped her legs around my hips.
“Please,” she whispered against my lips.
“Are you still nervous?”
She shook her head. “Only that you might have changed your mind.”
“Not a chance.”
She surged up and kissed me, pulling me onto her again. She tugged at my shirt, lifting it to expose my skin to hers.
I spread my hands over her body. We moved together to stand, our hands on each other, pulling, stretching, yanking clothes off until nothing stood between us.
“Condom.”
“In the nightstand. But I’m not ready for that yet.”
She looked up at me, her eyes hooded with desire. I wanted to lick every inch of her, taste her body and know her soul. One night wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough the first time, and I was sure it never would be.
I didn’t think I’d fall in love ever again. I was partly going through the motions when I said I was ready to date again. I missed having a partner, someone to share my days and nights with, but I didn’t think I’d find someone I couldn’t get enough of. Not again. Not ever again.
Anna Charlotte stormed into my life and made me crazy. She pissed me off and yelled at me and challenged me, and made me love her and her kids. She made me want to be a better man. She made me a better man.
And I intended to show her exactly how much that meant to me. One kiss, one touch, one fuck at a time.
21
Anna
The look in his eyes was enough to make me wet. No man had ever looked at me the way he did. Every time he made me feel like my curves and lumps and bumps were perfect. Like my thighs weren’t too thick and my hips weren’t too wide. Like he couldn’t imagine me being any different than I was. If that wasn’t enough to make me want him, the way he drove me wild was.
He kissed me, and I swore I felt it in my toes. My entire body tingled. His hands slid over my body, squeezing and caressing and lighting me up. He gently pushed me backward until I hit the edge of his mattress.
“On the bed,” he said. His voice was rough, not cruel, just unsteady, like he was as close to losing it as I was.
I sat down on the edge and started to move up, but he grabbed my ankle. I looked up at him. His gaze was low, between my legs. Where I hadn’t shaved in decades and couldn’t see to do it, anyway. He’d already been there and didn’t say a thing about it, but that time wasn’t planned. This time…
Was he going to be disappointed?
“I can’t wait to taste you again,” he growled. “If you’ll let me. What time do you need to be home?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have a curfew.”
He grinned and grabbed my other ankle. “Good. Because we never had dessert.”
He pulled me to the edge of the bed and dropped to his knees. I couldn’t see him over the bump of my belly. He dropped my ankles and skimmed his hands up the inside of my legs. I trembled at his touch, closing my eyes and letting my body feel the excitement building.
One finger traced my entrance, drawing out the moisture pooling just inside. When he opened me, it was like a floodgate. I felt it seep from me, trailing between my legs.
Then his tongue was there, licking me clean. I jumped, the gentle touch a surprise.
“So good,” he whispered.
He licked to my entrance and dipped his tongue inside me, pulsing in and out a few times before he traced my folds to my clit. His hands pressed my thighs wider, giving him more space to work. His thumbs brushed where my thighs met my entrance and sent shockwaves through my body.
I was tense and ready. Anticipation coursed through me, readying me for the pleasure I knew he was going to deliver. When he pressed a thick finger into me, my body drew him in deeper and pumped around him.
“Fuck, Anna. You’re already ready, aren’t you?” he asked, his lips brushing my flesh with each word.
“Hudson,” I moaned.
“I want to hear you tonight, Anna. I want you to scream my name. I’m not stopping until you’re so far out of your mind you shout. Are you ready?”
“Hudson.”
He didn’t wait for me to say anything else. He added a second finger to the one that had been pumping in and out of me while he spoke, thrusting them deep inside and setting off the first tremors inside me. He had a way of sending me over the edge in an instant. My body was craving him, begging for more from him, and ready to accept everything he gave me.
My first orgasm was small, but Hudson was far from finished. He added a third finger, stretching my entrance to the limit and fucking me hard with his hand. My core burned. Sparks shot out to all areas of my body. Years of quiet orgasms on my couch kept me from opening my mouth and letting all those feelings out.
He licked my clit and sucked hard when he felt me pulsing around him. I panted and writhed. I bucked against his face. I pleaded in whispers.
And he kept going. Harder. Faster. Deeper. My body accepted everything he gave me. He pressed my thighs wider when they closed on his head. Then he pushed me to my limit.
“I love seeing you like this,” he whispered. “Watching you lose your mind. My hand full of your come, my face soaked in it. I can’t wait to feel you come on my dick. God, I’m so fucking hard right now. I want to stroke myself and come with you, but I want to be inside you. I want to feel you lose yourself with me buried deep inside you. You’re so beautiful, Anna. So fucking beautiful. How did I get so lucky?”
His whispered words, the conviction in them, drove me to the edge. I heard him, and I believed him, and I lost all sense of everything except him.
He punctuated his words with licks and sucks, sending me higher and higher with each thrust of his hand inside me. And when he bit down on my clit and sucked it hard into his mouth, I lost the battle I wasn’t trying to fight and screamed his name.
“Hudson! Oh, fuck. So good. So fucking good. Yes. Yes. Yes!”
I couldn’t stop the moans from tearing out of my throat or the way my hips bucked against him and demanded more. He sent me up a second time, not giving me a break between orgasms. My heart pounded. My body shook. Every inch of me burned like I’d walked through fire.
Colors burst behind my eyelids, and all the air in the room disappeared. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All I could do was ride the wave and pray I didn’t die in his bed. Because I wanted more of that.
When I blinked my eyes open, he was standing. He was positioned between my thighs, his hands running up and down the sensitive flesh that trembled at his touch.
“Are you with me again?” he asked softly.
I nodded. “I’ve never come that hard.”
“Good. Ready to come again?”
“Hudson…”
He thrust into me in one stroke, his body meeting mine the only thing that stopped him from going in deeper. I moaned instantly, my sensitive flesh dancing around him.
“Oh, God.”
“Fuck, Anna. I’m dying here. I want to go slow, but—”
I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Fuck me, Hudson.”
Those words broke something in him, and he lost it. His hips pounded hard, sending me up and up and up until I teetered on the edge once more. His gaze bore into mine, our eyes locked and holding.
His face twisted. His mouth pinched. His eyes closed for a second, then opened and met mine again.
“Anna,” he grunted.
“Hudson.”
He knew. He knew that meant I was close. I was ready for him. He didn’t have to hold back because I was right there, hanging over the edge, just like he was.
He reached between us and pressed his thumb to my clit, and I lost my fucking mind. My already sensitive body jumped into mid-air, knowing Hudson would catch me and keep me safe.
He came with a shout, my name a roar as he pumped his hips, then stilled deep inside me and pulsed with his orgasm.
My breath left me in jerky pants. My thighs shook like they were jelly. My channel quivered in the best possible way. And the man above me looked at me like I was everything he needed in life.
He leaned down and kissed me hard. His breath puffed against my cheek while I tasted myself on his tongue. He held my head still, even though I had no intention of pulling back from him.
When he released me, he held me tight, our bodies still connected. His hand ran up and down my spine. His heart pounded beneath my ear. We stayed that way until he adjusted and slid from my body.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, walking bare-assed to the bathroom.
I watched him go and wondered how I’d ever go back to a life without Hudson Grant in it.
I shook the thought away. I wasn’t going to go there. Not now. Not when I was still with him. When it ended, I would figure it out. I had no choice.
He came back and leaned over me, kissing me once more like he couldn’t get enough. “I feel like I’m addicted to you. And not just sex, but you. I feel more like myself when I’m with you than I’ve felt in a long time.”
I smiled up at him and cupped his jaw. This beautiful, kind, amazing man was addicted to me. Damn. “I feel the same way.”
He kissed me again, then pulled back and said he should get me home.
I didn’t want to leave. His big bed and his private bathroom and the kitchen that was the size of my entire apartment called to me. I’d never lived in a place like his house. And it was all his.
It was another reminder that we came from different worlds. Even though we had the same zip code, we were worlds apart. He lived the life I’d only ever dreamed of living. Stable, solid, secure. Those were words that never described my existence.
By the time he dropped me off, I was struggling to remember why he would want to be with me. He walked me to the door to the building and stopped.
“Are we okay?”
I nodded.
“Something changed. Are you sure?”
I wasn’t sure I liked how perceptive he was. I laughed. “I was just thinking your world is so much different from mine.”
“How do you mean?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just being weird. I had a really good time tonight.”
“Anna? I don’t want you to think you can’t talk to me.”
I smiled. “I know I can. It’s just hard for me to trust that. I’ve never had anyone in my life I could rely on.”
“That’s not the case anymore.” He pulled me in close and kissed the top of my head. He said all the right things and did all the right things. I wanted to believe it was real and it would last, but I’d learned to wait for the other shoe to drop. To wait for the shit to fly and for it to end. It would. It always did. I just hoped I’d survive it this time because the more time I spent with him, the more time I wanted to spend with him.
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
“What’s tomorrow?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care. I just want to see you.”
I laughed. “Sounds good.”
He kissed me again, then opened the door for me to go into the building. He stood there until I unlocked my door and let myself into my apartment.
I leaned against the door and sighed. That weird feeling I had? It was happiness. I wasn’t sure the last time I felt it, but it was there. And it was starting to fill up all the space inside me.
I just hoped it stayed because if it didn’t, all that space would feel really damn empty without the Hudson provided happiness there.
Hudson was busy with interviews over the next week, and I was busy with work. We texted or talked every day, and managed a few stolen sexy moments, but we hadn’t managed to go on another date yet.
