Bare (2 page)

3

Hudson made arrangements to pick me up himself for dinner. He showed up in a silver Mercedes with sunglasses on, and the dark T-shirt and jeans. The T-shirt was so tight against his broad chest that it pulled a little. It was hot. But I was surprised that he wasn’t in a suit. He opened the door for me, and I waved to Alexis as she stood surveying me from our balcony. She just nodded in response. We hadn't spoken as much over the past couple days, since our argument over Hudson, but I could tell that she was getting over it. Alexis wasn’t good at holding a grudge, and she knew that if anything happened to her as a result of our relationship, she had enough money to get out of it. Essentially, she was safe. Our conversations had still been shorter than usual, but at least she was talking to me. She had even offered advice on my outfit when Hudson mentioned that we were going to a casual dinner. I also had jeans on, and an embellished tank top with a blazer. I left my hair down. It lay in curls as it fell along my shoulders. Hudson greeted me with a kiss on the cheek once I was inside the car.

“So, where are we going?” I was buzzing with excitement. Everything was always such an adventure with him; we could be going to a local dive bar, or we could be crossing state borders just for the best Mexican food. Hudson had no limits.

“We’re going to the harbor to have a romantic dinner. Just the two of us, somewhere quiet.”

He still sounded formal, even on a casual date. “I love the harbor. You know how much I love the ocean.”

“I do, don't I? I mean this isn’t France, but the landscape is still pretty great. You belong in it.”

I blushed slightly as he took off. Hudson managed the streets with ease, even though he was going about thirty miles over the speed limit. We were at the harbor in less than ten minutes. He parked in an empty parking lot, and I wondered why there were no other cars around. It wasn’t until we approached the dock with two security guards that I understood why. We were totally alone. Hudson has rented the whole dock. I saw a table set for two just before the water. It was perfect.

“That for us?”

“Do you even have to ask? I thought we might need a little exclusivity tonight.”

He placed his fingers between my own and squeezed my hand. “Why's that?”

He stopped for a second, and pulled me back close to him so that our bodies were in full contact. “Because tonight I'm going to tell you everything. The real me, what I do. Everything.” He breathed against my jaw line, and placed a sweet kiss on my cheek. “You deserve everything, Calla, and I'm going to give it to you.”

He kissed me on the lips, and then pulled me towards the dock. The security guards moved aside so we could sit down. A waiter walked over with a tray of hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries. All of my favorite harbor foods from street vendors. I didn't even have to ask how he knew. I just smiled at him.

There was a milkshake sitting in front of me; no wineglasses or formalities this evening. It was just us. Maybe Hudson would finally be honest with me; maybe I would finally learn all his secrets like he claimed.

I slipped my milkshake, and took a hamburger off of the tray in front of me. After a big bite, he started to laugh. “What?” I asked, as I wiped some extra ketchup from my lip.

“I’ve just never seen you so calm before.”

“Well, that makes two of us. I mean, except maybe for the beach, and the picnic. But, besides that, you're always on guard, you have a wall up.”

He sat back, a bottle of Coke in his hands. “Well, tonight, I'm letting you tear down my walls. Ask me anything.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, and picked up my hamburger again. “And you’ll actually answer me? Honestly?”

“Yup. And we hope I don’t get shot for it.”

I took another bite of my hamburger as I mulled over the options. What did I want to know first?

“Tell me about your business. Everything. I can handle it.”

He nodded. “Okay. I deal black-market prescription drugs. I work mostly with hospice clinics, and patients whose insurance has run out. The insurance companies are such an enterprise of their own, it doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you're dying of cancer, sometimes it just won't help. So I serve private clients who are ill, and then I have the clinics. Most of my money comes from the clinics, the small rundown places that can't afford the good stuff. I help them out.”

I set my hamburger down. “And, where do you get the drugs? Who supplies them?”

He shook his head. “My company does most of the supplying, they work for a larger pharmaceutical corporation who's in the drug trade. I never see the trucks though, so I don't actually know. But I know the stuff is legitimate and good. None of the generic stuff; brand name only. I don't want anyone get hurt because of me. Especially some sick kid lying in a hospital bed. That's not what I'm about.”

I nodded. Suddenly, Hudson being a drug dealer didn't seem like such a bad thing. “And how did you get into it?”

He smiled mostly to himself. “You asked about my mom before. This all started with her.”

I squinted at him. “What do you mean?”

He leaned forward on the table, looking at his hands. “My mom was sick. Not physically, but she had mental illnesses, a whole list of them. And let me tell you, when you get diagnosed by multiple therapists, and they all argue with each other over your official diagnosis, your insurance company sees it as fraud. They stopped all her prescriptions when I was a teenager. My dad worked on Wall Street, and had loads of money, but didn't know where to find the drugs. I was at one of my boarding schools where all the guys did recreational, and I asked them about it. It pretty much saved my mom’s life; I think she would've committed suicide without them.”

I sucked in a breath. So, this is why he didn’t discuss his parents.

“Once my dad realized how lucrative of a business it was, he started investing in the black-market. He taught me everything he knew, so I would learn how to do it myself. I'm a dealer, I also mule. I go across the borders without being caught on a private jet. In some ways, I'm just like my father, and in other ways, I’m not.”

“How are you not like him? And if he was funding these guys, you working for them is the same thing.”

He looked out over the water, hunched over the table, with his hands resting on what was still an empty plate. “I thought that, because of him, I would never fall in love. I thought because of how my mom was, I couldn't trust anyone; he had made me think that.” He looked back at me, gazing into my eyes. They weren’t as cold as they once were. Nothing like when I met him in the club that night. He was so different now; so much had changed. “But when I met you, I knew that I wasn't like him at all. I want out. I like helping people, but this isn’t the way to do it. I want to run a legitimate business, maybe a non- profit dealing with hospice care or pediatrics. I know medicine, but I don't want to be part of that side of it anymore.”

I was shocked. Before Hudson met me, he had just been another Playboy. Now, it seemed like he’d grown so much in such a short amount of time. I couldn't believe he was willing to take the risk of getting out of the trade just for me.

I smiled at him and raised my milkshake up. “To big changes.”

He smiled back, and tipped his Coke so that it touched my plastic cup. “To big changes.” He gulped down some of the soda, and took a hot dog. He looked like he didn't even know how to hold it right. I wasn't sure how he would survive in the everyday world without his business suit and his mansions. It made me think. “What about the money?”

“What about it?”

“I mean you don't have enough to live forever. Not the way you live anyway.”

He studied me. “You have no idea how much money I have, do you?”

The truth was, I didn't. Even through all this time of us dating off and on, I hadn't even really looked him up.

“I was a billionaire before I was twenty. And most of that was my father's money. Now that I've made my own, I can live this lifestyle for as long as I want to, and help other people. You don't have to worry about me and the money.”

There was something else I was considering though. “What about your safety? How do you get out?”

He sighed. “I don't know about that yet. These two guys are my own security detail, but Rudolph, he'll try to get me wherever I am. Going have to transition out slowly or make a deal.”

“Who's Rudolph?”

“Rudolph Lenko is the head of the Russian mob. He's currently the supplier I work for. My father and he had a relationship, so it just seemed like the right move when I got into the business. But he’s ruthless, doesn't always give me the script I need for the people who need them. He pulled some shit recently that made me rethink my involvement with him.”

So, it wasn't just me he was leaving for. There’s something else going on. “What is that?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. He just thinks I owe him something that I don't. But I'll work it out, don't worry.”

I tried not to, but I couldn't help it. Hudson wasn't invincible whether he thought he was or not. And his cocky attitude just made him even more vulnerable.

“So, do I get to ask you more about you now?”

I looked at him. “As long as you promise not to report it to the DA this time.”

“Touché.” He further attacked his hot dog, and had it down in just another two bites. “So, tell me more about your family, or how you and Alexis met, or working at the library. Anything. I just don't want to be the one talking anymore.”

I sucked on my milkshake a bit more, and then I smiled at him. “Then, let's not talk.”

He gave me those hungry eyes that pulled me in every chance they got. “Are you saying that we need some additional privacy?”

I leaned across the table. “I'm saying that you make the rules. I just follow them.”

He looked over at the two suits that were guarding us. “Gentlemen, it’s time for us to go back to my house. Arrange the car for us, won't you?”

One of the men in sunglasses walked away, and in just a couple minutes, the silver Mercedes was pulled right up to the dock for us. I linked my arm through Hudson's as he guided me to the door, and opened it for me, allowing me to settle in. He placed his hand on the inside of my thigh, and trailed it up between my legs, sending shivers through my body. He was the perfect tease.

“This won’t be a long drive.”

I sighed. “Thank God.”

4

We only drove in the Mercedes for what felt like a few seconds before pulling into an underground garage minutes away from the docks.

“You live at the harbor?”

Hudson shrugged. “I don't really live anywhere, but I rent the penthouse here. I like to look over the ocean. Remind you of anywhere?”

I smiled. I knew exactly what this view reminded him of. It didn't surprise me that he needed to be close to the water. I felt like the ocean signified freedom to Hudson, and as long as he could see it, he felt like he could make a clean getaway. As he opened my door for me and extended his hands, I wondered when the night might take us. I had learned that he had very specific tastes when it came to his sexual desires. I was ready to explore all of them.

I heard the clicking of my shoes as we crossed the concrete pavement, walking to an elevator where Hudson stuck in a key card. We ascended to the very top of the building. As the steel doors opened, I saw why Hudson had chosen this place. There were windows everywhere, and for a moment, I was reminded of my night in the hotel, waiting for judge. I sucked in a breath, reliving the fear. I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder instead of admiring the view.

Hudson pulled me forward, and snapped me back into reality. I could see the ocean for miles. I wondered what it would be like to watch big ships come in the morning over cup of hot coffee. Hudson took my hand and led me further into the apartment, and I attempted to take in as many of the details of this place as I could. It was nothing like the cottage in France; here it was modern, posh, and it looked like it been put together by some young, hot designer. I felt like the house in France had more touches of Hudson, but maybe it was more of his true home. This is just another stop along his trail of deals.

“Why Boston?”

He moved closer to me, and I felt my heart rate increase. “The club.”

I was confused. “What about it?”

“How many of those men do you think are my clients?”

I'd never thought of it that way. He probably worked with most of the men that sat underground and smoked cigars while they looked at beautiful women. They were all wealthy and connected, just like Hudson. It made me think about how many of them were dabbling in illegal activities in order to pad their bank accounts. But, I didn't have time to think. Hudson pressed his body against mine, and I found myself nearly tripping over a chaise lounge in front of the windows.

“Lay down,” he instructed.

All I could do was nod. I had somehow lost my voice. I sat down on the edge of the chaise, and then pushed myself back until I felt my back touch the fabric.

“Take off your clothes.” I removed my shirt, and then wiggled out of my jeans, so that all was left was my bra and underwear.