Fixed on You (14 page)

Mira didn’t approve of his lack
of attention either. “Huds, it’s the weekend. Put your Blackberry away.” She
nudged him with her elbow. “You finally have a girlfriend. Are you trying to
run her off?”

Hudson finished his typing and
raised his head. “Hmm?”

I stepped in front of him and put
my hands on his biceps—his perfectly sculpted biceps. “Listen to your sister
and stop with the working.”

He pocketed his phone and wrapped
his arms around me. “Are you feeling ignored?” His face had relaxed, but his
eyes still showed signs of distress.

“You’re going to make me think
you have another girl.” Maybe he did have another girl. I’d nixed the sex and
maybe he was now going through his contact list. 

I shoved the idea out of my mind
and rubbed my nose against his. Then, because I couldn’t help myself, I lowered
my voice and asked. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s work.” He nuzzled his face
against mine, but not before he glanced at Mira to make sure she was watching.
His phone buzzed in his pocket again. He pulled it out, leaving one arm wrapped
loosely around me. His body stiffened under my hands as he read his text. “I’m
sorry, baby, I have to make a phone call.”

Baby?
In my head, I rolled
my eyes.

Mira actually did roll her eyes. “Come
with me, Laynie. He can make his boring call. Let’s go try some of these things
on you.” She took my arm, ready to lead me to the dressing room.

Hudson paused his dialing. “Hold
on a second, I’ll join you.”

Mira shook her head. “We’ll come
out and show you her outfits. Don’t worry.”

“Mirabelle, I’m not leaving
Alayna alone with my over-enthusiastic little sister.”

I vacillated between gratefulness
for Hudson’s protection and suspicion that he didn’t want me alone with Mira
for reasons of his own. I leaned toward suspicion, but that may have been
because I’m suspicious by nature.

Mira glared at her brother. “You’re
not coming in the fitting room. That’s just...wrong.”

Deciding that I could handle her
fine on my own, if that was indeed the reason he meant to keep us apart, I
pulled away from Mira’s grasp and leaned into Hudson. “I’ll be fine, H.” I
shortened his name partly out of the need for something more familiar to call
him and partly to irritate him. “Take care of whatever you need to.”

“H?” he questioned so only I
could hear. 

I whispered in return. “Go with
it,
baby
.” I meant to only give him a peck, but when my lips brushed
his, he pulled them in for a deeper kiss—a kiss that felt much more involved
than necessary if it was only for Mira’s sake.

The afternoon went quickly as I
tried on nearly every item in the boutique. Mira helped me dress, pairing each
outfit with appropriate shoes and accessories. I had always loved trying on new
clothes, but I’d never looked or felt as good as I did wearing Mira’s choices.
I felt like a model.

At each outfit change, she’d
parade me out for Hudson who smiled and nodded in between talking on the phone.
Occasionally he’d shake his head in disapproval, usually when an outfit was
slightly risqué. And a few times I saw the glint of desire in his eyes—the one
that had claimed me on the night I met him. Those outfits were the ones I set
aside as my favorites.

When we’d already selected a
dress for the fashion show, plus a stack of additional outfits, Mira held up a
long black evening gown with a corset bodice. “We’ve saved the best for last,”
she said.

Though the idea of wearing a
corset around Hudson had me slightly anxious because of my first encounter with
him, I’d never seen anything so exquisite as the gown Mira held, and I knew
before I’d even put it on that it would be gorgeous.

Mira helped me remove my bra then
lifted the dress over my head, pulling it down over my bust. “So Hudson told me
you met at some college thingy,” she said as she began to thread the laces.

I swallowed. I’d assumed that
Hudson would have told people we met at the club, but this made more sense. It
gave the fictional Alayna and Hudson time to fall in love. Still, it threw me
off for a moment, and I paused before answering. “Yeah, it was a graduate symposium
at Stern.”

Mira tightened another lace. “I
have to know, was it love at first sight for you too, or just him?”

So he’d claimed love at first
sight.
Nice touch.
“Definitely for me too.”

I saw Mira smile behind me in the
mirror. “It’s all so romantic. How he wanted to hire you and you already had a
job, so he bought the club you work at to get closer to you.”

I sucked in a quick breath,
shocked at this new addition to the story. “He told you that?”

Mira clasped her hand to her
mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh my god, did you not know?”

“No, no, I knew.” I hadn’t known,
of course. But what really struck me was the possibility that it could be true.
I’d dismissed it when it had occurred to me before. Now, I couldn’t dismiss it
so easily.

I also couldn’t think about it
right then. Not when Mira still looked frightened that she’d said something she
shouldn’t have. I tried to ease her. “It was crazy romantic that he bought the
club. I just didn’t think he’d tell anyone.”

What I said worked. Mira’s face
relaxed. “It is surprising. He’s usually so private about his emotions. You
must bring out something in him.” She stepped away from me. “And this dress
will totally bring something out in him or else he’s completely blind. You look
incredible!”

She was right—I did look
incredible. And when we walked out into the boutique, Hudson did more than
merely smile and nod. He hung up his phone and gawked.

“Do you like?” I could already
tell the answer from his hungry eyes. That look of his, it never failed to
arouse me, never failed to make my panties wet.

He nodded slowly, seemingly
speechless, and I marveled that I had brought him to that state. It made me
feel more attractive and more powerful than I’d ever felt.

“Wow, Huds is at a loss for
words,” Mira said, her hands resting on her pregnant belly. “Call Ripley’s.”

Ignoring his sister, Hudson
walked up to me. “I’d take you in my arms,” he murmured, “but I wouldn’t be
able to look at you anymore. You’re stunning, Alayna.”  

“Thank you,” I whispered. This
moment was for us, not Mira. I was beautiful to him and that made him all the
more beautiful to me. It also made my nipples stand at attention, an
uncomfortable predicament when a corset already had my breasts in a vise grip.

“Okay guys, I’d tell you to get a
room, but I’m afraid you’ll use one of the dressing rooms.” Mira threatened to
break the moment, but the intensity of it lingered. “I don’t have to ask if
you’re buying this one.”

“We’re taking it.” Hudson didn’t
take his eyes off me, proving the truth in his statement since he couldn’t stop
looking.

A brief image flashed into my
mind of him and me going at it right there on the showroom floor. But since we
had spectators—and since, by my own decree it was a sex-free day—I looked away.
The lapse in eye contact helped give me the strength to pull away as well.
“I’ll get changed.”

Mira led the way, stopping at the
door of the dressing room to glance at her watch. “Aw, crap, is that really the
time? I’m totally late! Go on in. I’ll send Stacy to help you undress.” She hugged
me quickly. “And it was so wonderful to finally meet you. I’ll see you tomorrow
at the fashion show.”

I huffed at a strand of hair that
had fallen over my face and entered the dressing room, not at all eager to
encounter Stacy and her dagger eyes alone. While I waited for her, I reached
behind my back to see if I could unlace the corset myself, snagging my fingernail
on one of the threads. I was examining the nail, trying to smooth out the rough
edge when I felt Stacy’s hands undoing the laces. She had so much hatred for me
she hadn’t even offered a greeting.

I glanced up from my nail at her
in the mirror. But it wasn’t Stacy undoing my corset—it was Hudson.

He met my eyes, pinning my
reflection with a greedy stare. Slowly, without breaking his gaze, he continued
loosening the laces of my bodice.

I didn’t stop him. He didn’t ask,
and I didn’t stop him.

When he’d finished loosening my
gown, his hands traveled to the spaghetti straps at my shoulders. I watched as
he moved the straps over the curve of my bones and down my arms. The dress fell
to the floor, leaving me in nothing but black strappy heels and my red thong.

Hudson’s eyes widened and my sex
clenched.

I wanted him. Whatever I told
myself about healthy and unhealthy relationships, it didn’t matter. I was
already in this with him. If there was a point of attachment that would lead me
to obsession, I’d already passed it. And admitting that made me sorry I’d ever
tried to be anything different with him.

Hudson’s hands ran around my
waist, meeting above my navel. Then while one hand traveled up to fondle my
breast, the other moved under the band of my thong. I stepped my legs apart, an
invitation for him to find my swollen bud. His lip twitched the slightest bit
as he slid his fingers through my slick desire, parting the folds of my sex,
and releasing the musky aroma of my lust. In that moment he knew how much I
longed for him, embarrassingly wet as I was.

He continued to plump my breast
that was suddenly heavy and tender as he flicked his thumb across my raised
nipple. The attention he gave to my bosom magnified the action below, his pad
returning to tease my clit, and I let out a breathy moan. He stretched his arm
over my torso, supporting me as I weakened from pleasure and I closed my eyes
to relish in the nearness of climax.

“Alayna, watch.” Hudson’s thick
voice at my ear startled my eyes open. “See how beautiful you are when you
come.”

My sexual history had not been
comprehensive. Dark rooms with half-drunk partners and clumsy fumbling hands.
Keeping my eyes open during only ever happened on accident. Mirrors and public
places were never on my fantasy list. But I watched his hand moving at my core,
his thumb circling my sensitive nub, his finger dipping into my wet center. He
was right—it was beautiful. It was beautiful how he stroked me, how he knew
what to do to make me feel the way I wanted to feel, how my skin flushed and my
back arched. It was beautiful how he held me when I jolted in his arms, my
orgasm moving through me in one long eruption.

“Put your palms on the mirror.”
His husky command and the anticipation of knowing what he was about to do
sparked a new wave of arousal, even more intense than before.

Still shaking, I reached my hands
out in front of me, his arms leaving me as soon as I had managed to support
myself. Behind me, I heard his zipper, the sound raising my level of
excitement, knowing his cock was released and seconds away from being inside of
me. The four-inch heels I still wore put me right at his level, and he pushed
easily into my moist channel with a groan. “Fuck, Alayna!”

Our eyes met in the mirror, the
connection between us frighteningly intense, and a panic rushed through me. He
saw it, or sensed it, and he coaxed me through it, telling me he was with me,
assuring me he’d take care of me, promising me he felt it too.

I bit my lip to suppress the
moans that threatened to escape, aware that only a door stood between us and
Stacy—Stacy who likely rehung and folded the discarded outfits I’d tried on
earlier as I was gloriously fucked by the man she lusted after. But when I came
this time I didn’t hold back my cry, desperate to let Hudson know what he’d
done to me.

I was still whimpering when his
own orgasm took him, his weight heavy on my back as he leaned into his release.

And if I wondered that the whole
act was a display for his sister’s assistant, his whisper in my ear said
otherwise. “
This
, precious. This is for real.”

Hudson let me choose the majority
of clothes and shoes he purchased for me. In the end, it was a generous pile. I
purposefully didn’t listen to the total cost as Stacy read it off for him,
afraid that I’d feel like I had a sugar daddy or, worse, that I was his whore.

We ate a nice dinner in an
Italian restaurant in the Village then Hudson drove me to the club. Unusually
lucky to find a curbside parking spot on the block, he took advantage and
parked, letting the car idle.

 “My mother’s charity fashion
show starts at one tomorrow. I’ll need to pick you up at twelve-fifteen. I’m
sorry you won’t get more sleep. You’re off at three this morning?”

“Yeah. I can handle it.”

 “Jordan will be here to pick you
up. I’ll make sure he has all your packages and that he helps you up to your
apartment.” A sly grin crept onto his face. “Unless you’d rather I picked you
up.”

Hudson take me home? Yes, I’d
rather, but I needed to keep some boundaries. I’d already let him have me when
I explicitly said I wouldn’t. “I’m afraid I’d get even less sleep that way.”

“Right. Probably not a good
idea.”

 We sat for several seconds, the
sexual tension sparking in the silence. Should I kiss him goodbye? Would he
kiss me goodbye? Did we have time to sneak into the coatroom for a quickee? I
had cleaned up as well as I could in the restroom of the restaurant, but the
smell of sex still hung in the air and it had me thinking dirty thoughts. I
didn’t want to leave.

“Is everything okay with work?”
It was an excuse to linger, but I also was genuinely interested in his series
of texts and calls at the store.

“I can handle it,” he said
repeating my earlier words.

I’d hoped he’d tell me more, but
he hadn’t shared any business with me since I’d known him. There was no reason
to believe he would now. I gazed at him for a bit, until it made me feel funny,
my stomach flip-flopping as if I were descending on a Ferris wheel. Then I
looked out the front window. Liesl strolled down the street, her purple hair
making her easy to spot. It gave me an idea. Another excuse, actually. This
time to get the physical contact I longed for.