Fixed on You (9 page)

The secretary’s voice poured into
the room again. “I’m about to leave, Mr. Pierce. Is there anything else you
need?”

“No, thank you, Patricia. You may
go.” He’d gotten control of his voice now. Amazing. I was still reeling.

Hudson put one hand on his hip
and stared at me, as if wondering what to do with a problem in front of him. It
both heated and chilled me simultaneously, to be looked at so intensely, to be
considered so scientifically.

I hugged my arms around myself. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.” He
grabbed his jacket off the seat chair and extended his hand to me. “Come,
Alayna.”

My body responded to his command
before my brain could decide to. I took his hand, the warmth of it rekindling
the fire he’d started in my mouth.

He led me to an elevator in the
back corner of his office that I hadn’t noticed before. Inside the car, he
entered a code into the panel and we traveled what felt like one flight up. The
doors opened to a fully furnished loft, styled in the same modern design as his
office below. Floor to ceiling windows lined one whole wall. The theme was echoed
throughout the sprawling space, glass walls partitioning off a dining room, a
sitting area, and peeking behind half-drawn curtains, a bedroom. 

I quickly looked away from the
bed, scandalized by the wicked thoughts that flashed through my mind at the
sight of his personal space, and met Hudson’s gaze, aware of the amusement in
his eyes. I flushed.

He walked to the kitchen and
opened a cupboard pulling out two glasses. “Can I get you some iced tea?”

“Sure.” I wondered if he always
had iced tea or if he’d stocked it specifically for me. I followed him to the
kitchen, climbing up onto a sleek metallic looking barstool. “You live here?”

He opened the freezer and grabbed
a handful of ice cubes, dropping half in each of the glasses. “Sometimes I stay
here. But I don’t consider it my home.”

I looked around the loft again,
realization setting in. “Hudson! Is this your fuck pad?”

“Sometimes.” He poured tea into
our glasses and then turned to hand me one across the counter.

 I took the glass from him,
sipping eagerly, needing the moisture for my suddenly dry mouth. “And you
brought me here because...?”

He took a swallow of his tea, and
licked his lips. He raised a brow. “Why do you think I brought you here?”

A sudden thrill set in followed
by a wave of panic. I wasn’t ready for this, was I? I looked at my watch. There
was no time. “Um, I have to leave for work in ten minutes.”

“Twenty minutes. You have a
driver.”

I shifted, the inside of my legs
feeling sticky and moist. “That’s still not a whole lot of time.”

Hudson came around the counter,
took my tea from my hand and set it down with his. “Not a whole lot of time for
what?”

My throat felt like it had
closed, but somehow I managed weak words. “Are you going to make me say it?”

He grinned as he swiveled me
around, then caged me against the bar. “No. Not now. If you say it I won’t be
able to resist you, and, as you said, there’s not enough time. So instead I’ll
have to settle for a sample.”

His mouth sealed over mine,
consuming my lips and my tongue with heated frenzy. My hands crawled up his
vest, yearning to be on his skin. I could feel the hard, broad muscles of his
chest underneath my fingertips. Jesus, this man had to work out, the sculpted
definition of his torso evident through two layers of clothing. I wanted to run
my nails over his body, aching to discover if he had hair or was bare-chested,
desperate to be naked against him. 

Hudson didn’t let the minor
detail of fabric get in the way of his desire. He undid several buttons at my
torso so he could slip his hand in and cup my breast. My nipples stood up as he
flicked lightly at one with his thumb. Then he squeezed using just the right
amount of roughness that I liked, causing me to sigh with pleasure into his
mouth.

He placed his other hand on my
bare leg and slowly traced up my limb. His touch was fire against my skin and I
fidgeted under his caress wanting more of the burn, greedy for the inferno at
bay. I opened my thighs for him, coaxing his hand upward with one of my own. He
smiled against my lips as I willingly showed him my need—my insane craving for
him.

And then his fingers were on me,
pushing aside the thin material of my panties, reaching for the sensitive bud
at my core. I moaned at his touch, his thumb circling the bundle of nerves with
a skilled mixture of deep and gentle pressure. Feather light sweeps followed
measured rubs. I was already writhing when he dipped a finger into my hot
opening. I gasped, lifting my hips to meet his probe, out of my mind with the
desire to come.

He murmured against my mouth.
“Christ, Alayna, you’re wet. Ah, so wet. You’re driving me crazy with your
sounds and how wet you are for me.” He dragged my juice up and over my clit,
then rammed two fingers inside me, luring a series of whimpers from my body.
One more brush of my clit and I was over the edge, my orgasm spurring me to
convulsions.

But even as I came over his hand,
Hudson didn’t stop his assault. “God, you come so easily.” His voice betrayed
his amazement and his own longing. “I have to make you do that again.”

He slipped off my panties while I
still shuddered. “Lean your elbows back on the counter,” he commanded.

I did, grateful for the support
it gave me. Then Hudson put his hands on my knees and spread my legs apart,
opening me further. Before I realized what was happening, his fingers returned
to my hole—three of them now—and his tongue was on my clit.

“Fuck!” I cried, unable to bear
another climax, unable to live without it.

His skilled fingers fucked me,
plunging in and pulling out in long, steady strokes as he sucked and licked at
my cleft. I clutched the end of the counter behind me as I felt the ripple of
another orgasm overtake me, all my muscles tightening, my core clenching around
his fingers.

Still, he fed on me, lapping up
the evidence of my ecstasy, caressing my tender nerves with his tongue with
endless devotion. It was so much—too much. A third climax tore through me,
right on the heels of the last. I threw my head back, trembling violently and
cried out—a curse, maybe, or his name or unintelligible sounds, too mindless to
identify the details of my cry.

When my vision cleared and my
brain returned, I found Hudson holding me, whispering at my ear, my scent
wafting off his lips. “You’re so sexy, precious. So fucking sexy and soon I’m
going to come with you just like that.”

My fingers clutched at tufts of
his hair.

“Soon,” he promised. “And often.”

When I’d recovered enough to sit
without support, Hudson left me, returning with a wet washcloth. I watched as
he wiped the insides of my legs and my sex, the warmth of the cloth and the
intimacy of the action transfixing me.

“Thank you,” I said when he met
my gaze, my gratitude extending beyond the cleansing.

He kissed me, my taste clinging
to his tongue. Though sated, arousal began anew at the touch of his lips and
the awareness of the bulge in his suit pants.

Too soon he pulled away. “You’re
welcome.”

I followed him with my eyes as he
walked to the bedroom and threw the washcloth in a tall, black laundry basket.
When he looked back, he caught me staring and winked. 

I blushed. The new familiarity he
had with my body made me feel awkward. Scrambling to compose myself, I fumbled
with the buttons of my dress. Then I slid off the barstool, found my underwear
on the floor and stuffed them into my purse.

He raised a questioning brow as
he straightened his tie.

“My panties are, um, soaked.” I
noted his expression of satisfaction. “I can’t wear them.”

A frown replaced his smile. “You
can’t work without them. Your dress is too short.”

“I’ll be careful. I don’t mind.”

“I do.” Hudson approached me,
putting his hands on my upper arms. “Alayna, you not wearing panties is very
sexy. When I’m with you. I definitely don’t think it’s sexy knowing you’re bare
and surrounded by a bunch of grabby drunk customers.” He was stern, as though
he were reprimanding a wayward child. “In fact, it makes me very unhappy.”

Well, well. Hudson had a jealous
streak. Could he be any hotter?

But I couldn’t have him
infiltrating all aspects of my life. He’d already insisted on a driver. And
weighed in on my wardrobe choices. I stood my ground. “I can take care of
myself.”

He folded his arms over his
chest.

I mirrored him. “I’m not putting
on soaking wet panties. I’ll smell like sex all night and let me tell you what
that does to a bunch of grabby drunk customers.”

He scowled. “Leave them then. I
can at least have them laundered.”

I held out my panties for him.
“If you wanted a memento all you had to do was ask.”

He took them, his expression
still tight. “I’m not keeping them. Excuse me a moment and I’ll be ready to
go.” He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the door open.

“You’ll be ‘ready to go?’” I
hadn’t expected him to be going with me. He didn’t respond, though, or I didn’t
hear his answer over the sounds of water running.

 “Did you say something?” he
asked when he returned. He put on his suit jacket and held his hand out to me.

I took his hand, realizing he no
longer smelled like me, his hands washed and his teeth freshly brushed. It was
practical, but I deflated as he officially distanced himself from the
passionate scene of moments before. “I hadn’t realized you were going to the
club.”

“I am.” He pulled me through a
main door into a corridor with another elevator. This one, I guessed, led to
the main lobby instead of his office. He let go of my hand and pushed the call
button. “Is that a problem?”

I shrugged though I wanted to
say,
Hell, yes it’s a problem. You befuddle and dazzle and distract.
How
could I present my ideas with Hudson’s hot eyes on me, staring at his
incredibly wicked mouth that had recently devoured me with such skill?
Especially when his hot eyes and wicked mouth gave no indication that anything
out of the ordinary had occurred.

Unwilling to be that honest but
unable to let it go, I pushed. “Why did you have me meet you here when you
could have met me at the club?”

“Privacy, Alayna. I can’t imagine
you would want to experience
that
at the club, would you?” The doors
opened and he ushered me into the elevator. “Do you regret coming?” The smile in
his tone emphasized the double meaning in his words.

“No,” I answered quickly as he
pushed the L button. “I regret
you
not coming.” I couldn’t think of a
time when a man had let me take all the pleasure without receiving any of his
own. It made me feel even more vulnerable in front of him.

“You’ll have opportunities to
rectify that.”

And then thoughts of
rectifying
that
raced through my mind, touching Hudson’s naked body, his shaft in my
hands…

My sex felt swollen and needy.
Again.

Damn. Not what I needed at the
moment. I had to get my head in the game. Which would be easier without the
object of my desire standing next to me, his arm brushing at my shoulder. “Just
after all your talk about not being my boss and all that, I didn’t think you’d
show.”

“David may want advice. I should
be there.” He peered down at me. “Also, I’m curious. Is that going to bother
you?”

“I wasn’t prepared. That’s all.”

His eyes lit with understanding. “You’re
nervous.”

“Yes.”

 He shifted behind me, wrapping
me into his arms. “Don’t be. You’re perfect. You’ll be perfect.”

 I sunk into him. That’s what I’d
needed—his touch after such an intimate act. I’d felt bereft and exposed. I
needed reassurance, not just about the business presentation I was about to
give, but about his feelings, or attraction, or whatever it was he had for me.

As we descended, I turned my
thoughts to David and the presentation I was about to give. Oh, god, David. A
new horror struck me. “Could we…?” I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted to
ask. “Do we have to, um, do the pretend thing today?”

“You don’t want David to give you
extra points because he thinks you’re dating his boss.”

“Right.” And since I still might
marry David one day, my sham with Hudson required delicacy. Though the idea of
marrying David sounded less appealing than it once had.

“We can keep it under wraps for a
day or two, if you’d rather.”

“Thanks.” Anxiety crept into my
belly as I wondered how I planned to balance the men in my life and all the
facets of my relationships with them: the fake romance with Hudson, the wannabe
future with David, the severing of dependence on Brian, the real sex with
Hudson, the possible promotion from David. I shivered and pulled Hudson’s arms
tighter around me.

He misread my anxiety. “You know
what they say to do about nervousness,” he whispered in my ear. ”Imagine your
audience naked.”

I raised my brows. “You and
David?”

“No, precious. Just me. That’s an
order.”

Hudson’s commanding tone sent a
trickle of desire to pool between my thighs. Somehow I didn’t think picturing
him naked would be any help.

Jordan waited for us on the
street in front of the building in a black Maybach 57. I’d never been in a
luxury car and my natural reaction would have been to gush and salivate, but I
held in my enthusiasm, trying to appear more unaffected than I actually was. I
did recline my seat, taking advantage of the footrest, while Hudson attended to
some work issues. He typed away on his Blackberry and made several phone calls.

I should have been focusing on my
presentation, but listening to him conduct business fascinated me, his
commanding tone and demand for respect radiated so naturally in even the
simplest directives. Usually when he spoke like that to me, I felt shaken and
off-balance. But when I witnessed him speaking that way to others, or perhaps
because of what had transpired between us, I felt empowered. As if I could
embody those qualities myself through osmosis.