Small Town Girl (10 page)

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine
what I’d look like in a tabloid magazine hanging on Hudson’s arm. Celebrities
almost always looked great, even when they were just coming or going from the
gym. It had to be the cameras, right? The angles? The lighting? Paparazzi were
better off taking flattering pictures they could sell, I assured myself.

“We’re here,”
Hudson
said a short while later as he pulled into the valet of an Old Hollywood
looking restaurant.

Just as he’d warned, there was a group of
men and women with cameras loitering up and down the sidewalk outside the
restaurant.

“Hudson! Hudson!” I heard them yelling
the second he stepped out. “Is it true you and Ava are broken up for good? What
happened? Can you tell us what happened?”

I stepped out of the car reluctantly as
he walked around and extended his hand towards mine.

“Hudson! Who’s the new girl?” another
paparazzo asked. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Ignore them,” he said as he leaned down
and whispered into my ear. “Smile and keep walking.”

I thought I was doing great. I smiled. I
ignored them. I did my job as Hudson’s arm candy. I felt beautiful, truly
beautiful, and everything was going great. We were just a mere ten or fifteen
feet from the entrance of the restaurant.

And then I tripped.

The fancy, red-bottomed shoes were harder
to walk in than I ever could have imagined. Without any warning, my ankle
rolled and I tumbled down onto my knee, skinning it on the sidewalk below me.

“Brynn, oh, my God. Are you okay?” Hudson
said as he rushed down.

Flashes of light and camera clicks
surrounded us. My tumble from grace was had been officially documented.

He pulled me up and I brushed the tiny
bits of sidewalk gravel from my knees, inspecting the hem of my skirt for any
tears.

“Are you okay?” Hudson asked again.

“Yeah,” I said with a flushed face. I
brushed the hair from my eyes and pulled my shoulders back. “Just extremely
embarrassed.”

“The good thing is, no one knows who you
are,” he said. “If they knew your name, those pictures would be all over the
internet by tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure they won’t sell them?” I
asked once we were finally safe inside the dark confines of the restaurant.

“Trust me,” he said. “They can’t sell
pictures of someone no one knows.”

“Not even if I’m with you?” I asked.

“Nah,” he said. “Just forget it happened.
Let’s have a nice dinner, okay?”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek before
approaching the host.

“Yes, Mr. Smith,” the man said with a
huge smile on his face. “We’ve been expecting you. Right this way.”

Hudson grabbed my hand and led me to the
back of the restaurant to a cozy, circular booth in the corner.

Frank Sinatra music played lightly from
the speakers above us as little candles flickered in the middle of our table.
The place was dark, but I could see enough to appreciate Hudson’s dashing good
looks from across the way. His eyes sparkled against the candlelight, and I
couldn’t help but notice he couldn’t take them off of me.

“Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio used to
eat here,” he said. “At this very table.”

“Are you serious?” I asked. “Wow.”

Hudson ordered us a bottle of blush wine
and some sort of appetizer I’d never heard of before. I peered over the menu.
Everything was so fancy. Everything had pine nuts or capers or pesto or was
something I’d heard of but couldn’t pronounce.

I settled on a steak and house potatoes.
It was the closest thing to something I’d find back in Iowa. Hudson ordered
roasted duck and sautéed root vegetables.

“So what do you think?” he asked as I
took my first bite of my steak.

“Perfection,” I said once I finished
chewing.

He smiled. “Great.”

I was enjoying our intimate little dinner
in the corner, but I could still feel eyes upon us. I tried to ignore it, but
the voice in the back of my head kept telling me that everyone was wondering
why he was with someone so ordinary like me.

“I feel like people are staring at us,” I
whispered
as we were halfway through dinner.

“Get used to it,” he said as he rolled
his eyes. “Welcome to my world.”

“How do you get used to it?” I asked. Two
days in and I was already struggling with the loss of anonymity that came with
being Hudson Smith’s girl.

He shrugged as he continued to chew his
food with his gorgeous mouth. “You don’t really. You just learn to ignore it.
Everyone wants a reaction out of you. Just don’t give it to them.”

We finished our dinner with full bellies,
and I had a pleasant little buzz going on from the blush wine. I didn’t want to
leave our cozy little cocoon, but I knew we couldn’t stay there forever. Hudson
had plans. He had things he wanted to do to me that night, and I wasn’t going
to miss out on any of that.

“Get ready,” Hudson said the valet pulled
his Range Rover up and he opened the front door. The vultures were still there
and in full force.

I lowered my eyes as the flashes nearly
blinded me and we ran to his car. They were still yelling things and taking
pictures of us, but I did what Hudson told me to and tuned them out.

He pulled out into the busy street and
headed back to Brentwood.

“Uh, oh,” he said.

“What
?!
” I
asked. I felt around, fearing for a split second that I’d left my purse back at
the restaurant.

“I think we’re being followed,” he
laughed. “This is going to be fun. You buckled in?”

I nodded. Hudson clearly thought this was
some sort of game, but all I could think about were all the tabloid articles
I’d seen about young starlets getting into car accidents after being chased by
paparazzi.

I gripped onto the side of the door as he
gunned the gas pedal. We went flying forward, weaving in and out of traffic.

“It’s that white Subaru,” he said.
“They’re still on our tail.”

“Hudson,” I said with a quiver in my
voice. “Is this really worth it?”

He said nothing as we continued to weave
through traffic. I squeezed my eyes tight as my stomach churned and I tried not
to throw up.

“Ha! Caught at a red light, asshole!” he
said with a victorious tone. “And shit, he just blew through it. God damn it. I
hate when they do that.”

“Why are they so hell bent on chasing
you?” I asked. “What do you have that they want? Isn’t a picture of you driving
pretty lame?”

He was quiet for a minute as his eyes
checked the rear view.

“I think it’s you,” he said.

“What?” I asked. “But you said they
couldn’t sell my pictures because no one knows me.”

“Well, I’m guessing they want to know who
you are,” he said.

“Why?” I asked, still confused.

“Because you’re gorgeous and you’re
dating me,” he said as his hands clenched the steering wheel and his eyes
focused forward. “Hang on.”

He gunned it as we blew through a yellow
light and took three right turns. I glanced back every five seconds until the
Subaru was long out of sight. It must have gotten stuck behind turning traffic
a few blocks back.

“Lost him,” Hudson said as he pulled into
his driveway and opened the privacy gate. “And we’re home. Safe and sound.”

My heart pounded hard and deep inside my
chest. After all of that, I found myself oddly aroused. Hudson fled the
paparazzi all because of
me,
because he wanted to
protect me, and that was the sexiest thing any man had ever done for me.

We rushed inside, as if they were still
out to get us, and threw ourselves heaving and giggling over the marble island
in the kitchen. The house was dark, except for the pale light above the kitchen
sink on the other side of the room and the lights from the grotto area that
spilled in through the sliding glass doors.

As I hurried to catch my breath, I suddenly
felt Hudson come up behind me and pin me against the island. I couldn’t move as
his hand slipped down my hip and traced down my thigh until it reached the
bottom of the hem of my skirt. His hand traveled underneath my skirt until it
reached my panties, whereupon he began to yank them down slowly, teasing me
second by second.

I braced myself against the chilled
marble island as he took his sweet time. His other hand traveled up the side of
my waist and landed over top of my right breast, squeezing it gently. As he
worked my panties down past my thighs, they fell to the ground. A faint moan
escaped my lips as he spun me around to face him.

I glanced up into his penetrating eyes as
he pressed himself up against my hips and I could feel his arousal. He placed a
single hungry kiss on my lips as he lifted me up and sat me on top of the
counter. I leaned back against my elbows as he hoisted my skirt up to my waist,
spreading my thighs and revealing my wetness.

A single finger slipped inside me
followed by the sensation of his hot breath on my flesh and his skilled tongue
slipping and sliding around my clit. I let my head fall back between my
shoulder blades as I enjoyed every lick, swirl, and suck. The counter was hard
beneath me, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want him to stop.

As my body began to shiver and convulse
with little, mini orgasms, I tried to fight them off. I didn’t want to go yet.
I wasn’t ready. The night was young, and there were so many things I wanted him
to do to me still.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he said as he stopped. “Not
yet.”

He reached up and pulled my hand towards
him, pulling me off the counter and leading me back to his bedroom. I lifted my
dress up over my head and sat it carefully down on top of an
arm
chair
next to the bed as Hudson feverishly ripped off his clothes. He
couldn’t take them off fast enough, and his eyes never left my body as I
unhooked my bra and threw it at him.

He dove at me like some kind of animal
and pinned me beneath him on the middle of the king sized bed. I felt his hardness
against my thigh and wanted nothing more than for him to be inside me right
then and there.

“Please,” I begged him as I looked into
his deep, brown eyes. I kissed his neck as I dug my fingernails into his back.
His muscles rippled beneath them as he situated himself over top of me.

We were touching and he was so close to
putting himself inside me, raw and naked, but then he stopped to grab a condom.
If he
wasn’t
who he was, it would’ve killed the mood.

As soon as he was wrapped and ready, he
placed his engorged manhood into position, plunging it all inside me with one,
hard thrust.

He let out the sexiest moan my ears had
ever heard as he began thrusting. He filled up every inch of my insides,
pressing against every wall and stimulating every nerve and muscle I had. His
cock was a work of art, a prize to be treasured, and he knew exactly how to use
it.

I bit my lip as I stifled a few moans. I
was worried he’d think I was too loud in bed. I had never been very vocal with
other guys before, but there was something about Hudson that made me want to
scream at the top of my lungs with every movement.

His hot mouth kissed my neck, his 5
o’clock shadow tickling my soft skin, and he worked his way down to my breasts,
taking his time sucking, nipping and biting each one.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all night,”
he whispered. “You’re so beautiful, Brynn.”

I smiled but said nothing. He had to have
known I felt the same way.

“I love that everyone was staring at you
tonight,” he said as he slipped a hand under my ass and brought us closer
together. “I love having you on my arm.”

It was hard to believe that someone like
Hudson felt that way about someone like me, but it only turned me on even more.
He wanted me. He wanted me bad. And that was fucking hot.

I stared at his beautiful face as it
twisted and contorted into various expressions of pleasure, and I soon realized
he was trying to fight it off. He wanted to stay in me just as long as he
could, and that was fine, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could last.

“Give yourself to me,” he sighed into my
ear. “I want your pleasure. I want to make you feel good. Just let go.”

I relaxed my entire body and did as he
instructed. I let go. Soon the most intense waves of desire washed over me. My
mind went blank as my body went buck wild under the weight of his body.

His face was twisted for a bit and then
completely relaxed as he thrusted a few more times and then collapsed on top of
me. Our bodies melded together in one sweaty heap on top of his ridiculously
luxurious comforter in the darkness of his master bedroom.

“Oh, god,” he sighed. “That was fucking
amazing.”

I smiled as I kissed his lips. “Yes, it
was.”

He rolled off of me and sprawled out next
to me, keeping a safe distance as he tried to cool off and catch his breath.

“I could go all night,” I said as I
rolled onto my side and traced his ripped abs with my fingertips.

His lips curled into a smile. “I like the
way you think, but I’m spent.”

I didn’t know whether he was just being
honest or if I should have been offended, but I forced myself not to overthink
it. I climbed up and walked into his closet. He had carved out a small section
for my things, and I’d hung up everything I owned, including my pajamas. I
emerged wearing a comfy, jersey tank top and some faded, yellow pajama bottoms.
I was very much the frumpiest thing in his entire room, maybe even his entire
house.

I climbed under the covers and positioned
the pillows behind my head.

“You going to bed already?” he asked.

“Oh,” I said. “Did you have other plans?”

“No,” he said. “Not really. It’s just
kind of early.”

The clock on the nightstand read just a
hair past eight.

“It’s my bedtime in Iowa,” I said.

“You go to bed at ten?” he laughed.

I shrugged. “Nothing good ever happens
after ten o’clock. At least that’s what my dad always told me.”

“That’s cute,” he said as he got up and
stretched. His full manhood still somewhat engorged and hanging in plain sight.
“I’m going to go jump in the shower.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, half hoping for an
invitation.

I watched as his hot little ass trekked
towards the master bathroom and he shut the door. Within seconds, the water was
running. I reached over and grabbed the remote to his T.V. and flipped it on in
hopes of finding something mindless to lull me to sleep.

Some sort of entertainment tabloid show
happened to catch my attention as I channel surfed. An unmistakable blonde with
a big-toothed smile filled the screen as
she was being
interviewed by an entertainment anchor
. It was Ava Fox.

“So Ava, what’s new with you?” the bubbly,
male anchor with the too-tan face asked.

“I’ve just been on this journey,” she
said. “Just trying to find happiness in the little things, you know? Like I
wasted so much time investing my happiness in other people and it just didn’t
pay off. I’ve got a few weeks off from shooting, and I’m really just focusing
on myself.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and
read between the lines,” the anchor said.

Ava did a cutesy eye-roll, and I could
tell she knew what he was going to ask next. She was almost begging for it.

“As we all know, you and Hudson Smith had
a pretty intense romantic relationship going for a while,” he said. “We were
all rooting for you. We all loved following up on you. And then out of nowhere
things ended. I think half of America was a little devastated by that.”

He laughed the worst fake laugh I’d ever
heard as she crossed her legs and leaned into him. I could tell she wanted to
discuss it. Her smile lit up her face, but her eyes had a fire lit behind them
like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“We did end things a few months ago,” she
said, maintaining the huge smile across her face as if the break up didn’t
faze
her one bit. “That’s life, you know? That’s just what
happens, especially in this industry.”

“Have you spoken to Hudson since the
break up?” the anchor asked. “Are you still friends?”

She licked her glossed lips and took her
time before responding. “We haven’t spoken, no. He’s reached out to me a few
times, but I’m just not interested in a reconciliation of any kind.”

She was such a fucking liar. Hudson was
right. She was crazy.

“Ooh, ouch,” the anchor laughed.
“Hudson’s loss!”

She laughed as she swatted her hand
towards him. “Oh, stop.”

“So what’s going to happen when you two
start shooting the sequel to Heavenly Love next month?” he asked. “You’re both
starring opposite one another in one of the most highly anticipated sequels of
the year.”

Heavenly Love, I racked my brain. It
sounded so familiar. I suddenly remembered seeing it a couple years ago with
Luke. I had to beg him to watch it with me, and I was pretty sure he fell
asleep during the last half of it.

If I remembered correctly, that was the
movie where Hudson and Ava met on set and fell in love, beginning their fire
and ice romance. I had no idea there was a sequel coming out. That must have
been the movie Hudson mentioned having to film in a few weeks.

I couldn’t help but
wonder
when (or if) he was going to even tell
me he was shooting it with Ava. I
couldn’t take anymore. I had to flip the channel before I got any more worked
up over the situation.
 

***

“I have to meet up with my manager for a
bit,” Hudson whispered as he woke me early the next morning. “I’ll be back in a
couple hours. Make yourself at home. Flor can make you breakfast if you want.
I’ll see you soon, okay?”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead
before tiptoeing out of his room. I tossed and turned for a bit, trying to fall
back asleep, but I was up. It was sweet that he wanted to tell me goodbye, but
a note on the pillow would’ve sufficed.

I yanked myself out of his warm bed and
shuffled down towards the kitchen. My stomach was growling like crazy. A basket
of fresh, still-warm blueberry muffins sat in the middle of the kitchen island
and several feet from that were my panties from the night before, folded nice
and neat.

I instantly covered my hands with my
mouth and hoped that it was Hudson who had found them and not Flor, but I knew
better. I quickly grabbed them and shoved them into the pockets of my pajama
bottoms.

I peeled the paper off one of the muffins
and took a bite as I ransacked his refrigerator for something to drink. There
was pretty much nothing he didn’t have: fancy bottled waters, a carafe of
freshly squeezed orange juice, a pitcher of Flor’s lemonade, a gallon of
organic skim milk, a few glass bottles of soda, and some energy drinks all
lined the shelves like some sort of convenience store display.

“Ahem,” I heard a woman say behind me,
startling the muffin right out of my hand.

“Shoot!” I yelled out.

Before I had time to pick up the remnants
of my muffin and all its crumbs, Flor was right there with a
dish
rag
wiping it up at my feet.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I said.
“Really. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drop it.”

“It’s my job,” she said. She didn’t seem
annoyed with me, thank goodness. I still felt bad though. “Are you thirsty?”

I nodded, almost afraid to help myself.
The kitchen was clearly her turf.

“Why don’t you go have a seat by the
grotto? I’ll bring you something,” she offered with a small smile. I could
sense she was still a little leery of me, but I couldn’t blame her for being
protective of the man who signed her paychecks and treated her so well. “Would
you like me to make you some breakfast?”

“You’d do that?” I asked. I wasn’t used
to having anyone else cook for me besides the occasional short stack of
pancakes when I worked mornings at the diner back home.

She nodded as if I had asked the dumbest
question on earth.

“Scrambled eggs?” I asked. “Orange juice?
Toast with butter?”

“You got it,” she said as she spun on her
heel and began pulling items from the refrigerator.

I quickly moved out of her way and
tiptoed outside to the patio area near the grotto, grabbing my phone off the
charger in the kitchen first. I knew it was still early back home, but I had to
talk to Piper. It had been almost three days, and I didn’t want her to think
I’d forgotten about her.