I feel like a high school girl again, high on the moment. I feel like a woman who’s restlessly searched for too long, secure in my decision.
When Hudson tugs on the hem of my shirt, I silently lift my arms above my head.
His eyes meet mine, a silent question.
“Yes,” I breathe out.
His eyes flutter closed as he pulls the shirt off my head and discards it on the floor.
“Fuck, Pipe, but are you the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever known.” His voice is reverent as his eyes drink me in. Slowly, he lifts his hand to my shoulder and brushes my bra strap down my arm. Then, his mouth dips to kiss down the slope of my neck. When he nips at my shoulder, I moan, leaning into him.
“You sure?” he murmurs.
“Yes,” I repeat, my voice heavy with need.
“Thank fuck,” he swears, turning my face to his and kissing me again.
This time, his kiss swallows me whole and I succumb to the moment, to the fantasy, to my long-held desire.
I give myself, body and heart, to Hudson Page.
Chapter 4
Hudson
Her skin tastes like apricots and feels like satin. As I lay her out on the pool table in my parents’ basement, I feel like a fucking high school senior all over again.
Anticipation tightens my limbs, expectation races through my veins, and a desperate kind of hope rings in my eardrums.
Please let this be good for her. Please don’t let my parents come home. Please don’t cut this moment short.
You’d think I hadn’t spent the past decade living up to my playboy reputation. But one look at Piper’s flushed cheeks and trusting eyes and I feel like a virgin. My past erased, my slate clean, with her as my everything.
I touch her slowly, running my hands down the slopes of her breasts, tugging the cups of her bra down until the band is somewhere near her belly button.
She trembles beneath me. But her eyes don’t waver from mine as I lower my head and take one dusky rose nipple into my mouth. I swirl my tongue over the pebbled tip, my fingers testing the weight of her right breast before traveling to her left, and rolling my palm over it for a full handful.
Piper arches up into my touch as I lavish her breasts with attention. Her knees fall open and I position myself more firmly in between her thighs. With her laid out and me splayed over her, I have a full visual of her sexy body, and I want to touch, taste, and savor every inch of it.
Her hands slide across my cheeks, her fingers tangling in my hair as she gives a yank.
I let her nipple fall from my mouth with a pop and grin at her. “Not yet, sweetheart.” She tugs at the material of my T-shirt, and I reach behind my neck, tugging it off in one swipe and dropping it on the floor. Then, my hands drop to the button on her jeans. I pop it, pull down the zipper so slowly, the sound cuts the air. That, and our panted breathing, heavy with awareness.
“I feel like a teenager around you,” I admit. “You’re so damn beautiful?—”
“Don’t,” she whispers as she lifts her hips and I tug the jeans off her legs.
I frown. “Don’t what?”
She shakes her head, her eyelids at half-mast. “I’ve seen the women you dated and?—”
“They have nothing on you, Piper,” I cut her off, my tone serious. “You’re the full package. The woman who knew me before I wore a jersey. The girl who cared about me and supported me from the start. Don’t tarnish what it means to be my day one because of some casual flings I’ve had before this moment. Right now, this, you, are the only thing that matters.”
Her breathing ticks up at my monologue. As the words fall from my mouth and color the air, I feel their truth layer my bones. This changes everything. If we cross this line, we’re entering a new chapter, a different phase. And hell, I want it. With Piper, I want it all.
As she continues to process my words, I pull her panties down to her knees, not bothering to see if they fall to the ground, and drop my head. As my tongue meets her core, she moans. It is the hottest fucking sound I’ve ever heard in my life, so I do it again.
“Hudson.”
