I took a step back and shook my head, tears misting my eyes. He shackled my wrist in his hand, not hard enough to hurt, but preventing the retreat I craved.
“Don’t run,” he whispered. “Not tonight.”
“I need air,” I choked out.
“So take mine.”
He dragged me against his body, dropped his forehead to mine, and slid his fingers up my arm, tracing heat along my skin. His breath skimmed my mouth, and my lips parted. The bondsnapped tight, and a punch of desire shot through my veins, so hot and reckless it threatened to drown me.
“Hudson…” My voice shook.
His thumb brushed my bottom lip, and a growl rumbled from him, vibrating through my bones. “Stop trying to convince yourself you aren’t good enough, Cora. We are endgame. No more running. No more questioning. No more doubts. I am yours, and you are mine.”
My heart tried to escape the confines of my chest. I’d taken this leap of faith with him, and he’d caught me several times, even when I hadn’t known I’d needed saving. I couldn’t win this war alone, and I had to accept that Hudson was it for me. In return, he had to accept the same, and that no one, be it man or god, could come between us.
“Only if you do the same,” I responded.
Hudson’s eyes fluttered closed, and his nostrils flared. “You smell like him.”
“I didn’t ask for the kiss.”
“I don’t care,” he rasped. “I care that he touched you.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
His fingers tangled in the neat bun I’d tamed my hair into, and he tugged it, tipping my head back and releasing the strands. I hissed at the sting of pain, and the part of me I kept contained rose to the surface.
“Don’t challenge me, Cora.”
“Not a challenge, Principal. A dare.”
His other hand wrapped around my throat as he walked me backward until my back hit a wall. “What are you daring me to do?”
He needed permission, I realized, after I’d shut him out of my thoughts, my feelings, and my bedroom. He needed permission to touch me.
“I dare you,” I said, making sure my eyes locked with his. “To claim what’s yours.”
The growl he released was predatory, wild, and utterly consuming. I wanted to be devoured by him inside and out. I wanted to know his world spun on the same tilted axis as mine, so that together we clung on, because if he wasn’t with me, I’d be adrift and wouldn’t survive it. Hudson had shown me extraordinary, and now I knew what that felt like, no other would ever compare.
“Are you sure?” His voice trembled.
“Always, mate.”
His lips fell on mine, and unlike Donn, there was no calculation. This was a claiming, just as I’d asked. The pressure was bruising—as was his grip on my hips—but it was exactly what I needed.
His mouth left mine, and his teeth raked down my neck, causing my spine to arch. His fingers grabbed the hem of my dress, and he tore it clean in half. “I don’t have slow and steady in me right now, Cora. So if that’s a problem, tell me.”
Was he kidding? I dared him to claim me, and he was asking if I needed rose petals and sweet nothings? Idiotic man.
I hitched my leg up and pressed myself against his hardening length with a moan. He unclipped the front fastening of my strapless bra, cupped a breast, and fastened his mouth around my hardening nipple. He sucked so hard that I cried out as he balanced me on that enticing line between pleasure and pain. My nails scraped through his hair, ensuring he continued this sensual torment.
I was about to have sex in a graveyard, and yet it was the most peace and privacy we’d found in weeks.
He tore my panties from me, and his fingers swept between my legs, finding me ready for him. Hudson pushed two fingers inside me and skimmed my clit with his thumb in a way that toldme he’d memorized the exact pressure and motion that drove me crazy.
“Yes,” I breathed, chasing the crest as he pumped in and out. My eyes fluttered closed, and my skin tingled, ready for?—
He stopped and withdrew. I blinked. “What are you doing?” If he stopped now, I couldn’t be held responsible for my violent reaction.
