Текст книги "Release Me"

Автор книги: Ann Marie Walker

Соавторы: Amy K. Rogers
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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

“How is it?” she asked.

“Excellent, which bodes well not only for the evening, but for the investment.” His voice was so level she actually wondered if he’d forgotten that he’d told her to take her panties off. It was just as well. For now. Her earlier thoughts were weighing on her, and although she didn’t want to spoil the mood, the conversation she’d started before the waiter arrived needed to happen sooner rather than later. Might as well get it out of the way so they could enjoy the rest of the night.

After a few more bites she broached the topic again. “Hudson, there’s something we need to discuss.”

He paused with a forkful of risotto midair. “Judging by your tone, I’m assuming the topic is not your current lack of undergarments.”

So he did remember. “No.” She smiled. “Although we should address that as well.”

His fingertips brushed the hem of her skirt. The unexpected touch made her jump.

“You were saying?” he asked, his fingers pushing the fabric of her pencil skirt higher. He continued eating with his right hand, his expression curious and sincere and giving no indication as to what his left hand was doing under the table.

“We need to talk about Ingram.”

Hudson lifted a dark brow. Below the table he began tracing circles on her knee. “You really want to discuss business now?”

“Not business per se. More us. And how this,” she motioned between the two of them, “will affect business.”

“I don’t see as how this should have any effect on the business.” He smirked. “Well, aside from the obvious perks.”

“Perks?”

His fingers stroked the underside of her knee. “Hmm, working late at the office will certainly be more enjoyable.”

He was missing the point. Allie took a deep breath and went for it. “I’m not letting you sell the newspaper, Hudson. No matter how many times you make me come.”

The hand below the table pushed her skirt even higher, letting cool air rush against her overheated skin. “I would expect nothing less.”

Allie covered his hand with hers, halting its smooth glide up her thigh. “I’m serious, Hudson. I know I’m not qualified for this job, and most of them see me as just some spoiled heiress who should be happy cutting ribbons and playing tennis, but I’m trying really hard to learn everything I can about Ingram, and in the process maybe earn a little respect from the board. I can’t have our relationship undermine that.”

Hudson’s gaze softened and the hand below the table squeezed hers. “Allie, I assure you I would never do anything to undermine you, either in the bedroom or the boardroom. And while I wouldn’t call you unqualified, you were certainly dropped into this position through unusual, not to mention stressful, circumstances. Yet you’ve flourished. The sheer volume of material you’ve had to absorb over the past month would overwhelm even the most seasoned executive, and you’ve not only risen to the occasion but managed to best me in the process, something that doesn’t happen often.” His lips curved in a ghost of a smile. “But it was clear you’d done your homework. You presented a case based on nostalgia but backed with hard facts. And your revenue replacement plan was cutting edge. It didn’t surprise me in the least when you were able to sway the necessary votes your direction. And while I certainly hope to lay you out on that conference table some night when the two of us are burning the midnight oil, I am nearly as intrigued by the idea of facing off on the multitude of topics on which I’m sure we will disagree.” He raised their linked hands to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to her wrist. “I am in love with you, Alessandra, and impressed by you more often than you know.”

Allie didn’t think she could ever love him more than she did at that moment.

“Did that address your concerns?” he asked. His tone was gentle and warm, perfectly matching the look in his eyes.

She nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

“Very well.” He smiled, then checked his watch. “Then for now, Madam CEO, I’d like to make a motion that we table any discussions pertaining to business. I have a surprise for you and it’s set to begin any minute.”

He stood, and with their hands still clasped, led her to the window. When they reached the glass he tugged her to stand in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist. As if on cue, two rockets of light soared into the air, exploding in a canopy of red and gold over Navy Pier.

Allie gasped. “Fireworks?”

“Do you like them?”

She turned in his arms. “I love them.”

Hudson dropped a soft kiss on her lips. “Then watch,” he said, nodding toward the glass. His hand splayed across her belly, pulling her tight against him, his erection prodding her backside.

“You’re hard for me,” she said.

“Always,” he murmured, his lips drifting up her neck. When he reached her ear he nipped at the lobe. “And you, are you wet for me, Allie?”

“Maybe you should feel for yourself.” Her soft voice sounded desperate and needy, but she didn’t care. His breath in her ear, his lips on her skin . . . it was too much after hours of foreplay and dinner sans panties. She needed his hands on her and she didn’t care who might walk in and see them.

His left hand slipped into the open V of her wrap blouse, kneading her breast, while the right slid down the front of her skirt. A low, sexy sound vibrated through his chest when his fingers encountered her slick flesh. “You’re soaked for me and I haven’t even touched you yet.” He teased her, tugging her hardened nipple between the fingers of one hand while circling her quivering opening with the other. “Do you want me inside you, Allie? Are you aching to feel my fingers and my cock?”

“God yes,” she moaned. She wanted him to take her right there, to fuck her hard from behind with her bare breasts pressed against the cold glass.

“You’re a naughty girl, Alessandra.”

“Only for you,” she panted, her breath fogging the glass in front of her. “Only for you.” It was true. For her entire life she’d been the quintessential good girl. But being with Hudson brought out a side of her she never knew existed. With him she was wild and wanton. No one could elicit the reaction from her body that he did. They were made for each other.

He eased a finger inside. “You’re so ready for me.”

She was. She was on fire for him, her body responding to every skillful stroke of his finger. But it wasn’t enough. Turning her head, she pressed her cheek to his. “More. I need more.”

He squeezed her swollen breast and added a second finger. “Is this what you need?”

“Yes,” she hissed. She was so close. Her hips churned, riding his hand as she chased the orgasm building inside her.

On the other side of the glass, sparkling canopies of blue-and-green light reflected over the dark lake. While inside the room her body trembled, clenching around his fingers as he pumped them in and out of her, again and again.

The buzz from the champagne mixed with her overwhelming desire. In front of her, the finale began. One explosion after the other filling the night sky with a kaleidoscope of color. She leaned her head against Hudson’s shoulder, surrendering to the rhythm of his unrelenting fingers.

His teeth grazed her neck. “Don’t come,” he breathed against her ear. “I want to be inside you when you do.” The sky above the lake grew dark as his movements slowed, bringing her back from the brink. When his hand fell away she nearly whimpered. “I think it’s time I take you home.”

The man was evil. Pure, sexy as hell, evil.

But she knew he was just as turned on as she was, and as she retied her blouse, she wondered if they’d actually make it back to his penthouse. In the elevator, with their fingers entwined as they undressed each other with their eyes, she was pretty sure they wouldn’t. And when the limo door swung shut, cocooning them in total darkness, she knew they didn’t stand a chance.

Before she’d even settled in on the seat, his mouth was on hers, kissing her fiercely. As if he had to. As if the past few hours had been excruciating to endure. She loved it when he was like this, so raw and untamed in his lust for her. It made every cell in her body come alive. She moaned, and when her lips parted he deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking hers with expert skill.

As far as Allie was concerned, all bets were off. She climbed into Hudson’s lap, pulling her skirt high enough to straddle him and revealing her garters in the process. His hands smoothed up her thighs while hers ran down the contours of his chest. She could feel the hard ridges of his abs beneath his dress shirt and the urge to have his bare skin sliding against hers was more than she could bear.

The traffic on Michigan Avenue flowed around them, cars and pedestrians alike, but it didn’t matter. In that limo, nothing else existed but the two of them, their lust, their need. And what Allie needed more than anything was to feel the connection she’d longed for all night.

But when her hands dropped to his belt, he caught her wrists. “I thought we agreed to wait until we got home,” he murmured against her lips.

She kissed and sucked a path along his stubbled jaw. “That was before you turned me into a quivering mess during dinner.”

Hudson wrenched open her blouse and dipped his finger into the lace cup of her bra, freeing her breast. “It’s only two blocks. Surely you can make it that far,” he teased, just before sucking her nipple into his mouth. She swore she felt him smile against her skin.

Bastard.

“Enough is enough, Hudson. You’ve wined me and dined me, now fuck me . . . please.”

He chuckled. “Ever the romantic, Miss Sinclair.”

Allie took his face between her hands and lifted his head to look at her. The light from a passing car flashed across his blue eyes. They flickered with amusement but reflected the same carnal intent she felt. “This has been the most romantic night of my life, Hudson. And I promise, we can make love till the sun comes up. But I need you inside me. Right here, right now.”

As if to make her point, she rocked against him, his breath hissing as she stroked herself along his hardened length. This time when her fingers went to his buckle he didn’t stop her. He merely reached for the button on the panel above them.

“Take the long way home, Max.”

“Sir?” came the reply. Allie looked out the window. The limo was half a block from the Palmolive Building. No wonder he was confused.

“He thinks you’ve lost your mind,” Allie whispered.

“Not far from it,” Hudson muttered under his breath before hitting the intercom button again. “Take us up Lake Shore. To the end and back, please.”

The light turned green and the car sped past Hudson’s building. “Seems I’m all yours for the next fifty-eight blocks and back.” He smirked. “Whatever will you do with me?”

Allie bit down on her lip. “I can think of a few things,” she said, lowering his zipper and freeing him from the confines of his boxers. He groaned as she caressed him, velvet soft and yet hard as stone. His hips flexed against her hand and instinctively she tightened her grip, stroking him from root to tip. Her thumb brushed over his sensitive head, collecting the evidence of his arousal. Holding his gaze, she brought her thumb to her lips, slowly licking his taste from her skin.

“Fuck, Allie. Put me inside you. I want to feel you riding my cock.”

Rising up on her knees, she positioned him at her entrance. Her body ached for him, but she took her time, wanting to make the moment last. Wrapping her hand around his length, she rubbed him back and forth between her slick folds, teasing them both as she coated him with her wetness.

“Go slow,” he ground out, his voice thick with restraint. “I want to feel you taking every inch.”

Just the thought of him filling and stretching her made her body quiver. Then his thick head penetrated her, spreading her open, and she gasped. His hands went to her hips, guiding her descent at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Her gaze never left his. She watched him, his lips parting and his chest expanding on heavy breaths, as she lowered her body onto his. This was the connection she’d missed. This is what she’d craved all those lonely nights. When they were together like this, nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing could touch them.

His head pressed back into the seat when she’d taken him fully. He was so deep, she thought she might come from the fullness alone. Then he shifted, his hips flexing, and she knew she needed more. More friction, more of him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rose up and down in fluid movements that started slow but grew more frantic with every stroke.

“Fuck, you feel so good.” His mouth was on her, leaving a trail of searing kisses as he worked his way down her neck.

She groaned and her head fell back, offering him her aching breasts. Her hands went to his hair, her fingers twisting in the wavy locks, holding him to her as his teeth closed around her nipple. She gasped as he bit down, then soothed her with laps of his tongue. Then his hand slipped between their bodies, his thumb rubbing her in circles that had her core clenching around his cock.

“Yes, like that, make me come.” The words had no sooner left her mouth when a massive orgasm overtook her body in a dizzying rush. It went on and on, pulsing through her like waves as his hips pumped up, riding out the spasms of his own release.

Allie collapsed against the heavy rise and fall of Hudson’s chest. “Sorry about that,” she said. Her breathing was as erratic as his.

Hudson’s hand stroked up and down her back. “Sorry?”

“For jumping you the minute we got in the car.” She peeked up at him. “I sort of derailed your plan.”

A chuckle rumbled deep within him. “It’s quite all right. Besides, if memory serves, there were certain promises made.” He smirked. “Till the sun comes up, if I’m not mistaken.”

She couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread across her face. “Planning to keep me up all night, Mr. Chase?”

“Indeed I am, Miss Sinclair.” He lifted his head from the back of the seat and looked out the window. The limo had reached the end of Lake Shore Drive and was turning around. “But for now . . .” The arm banded around her waist tightened. Without breaking their connection, Hudson rose and in one swift move had her beneath him on the leather bench. “We still have the ride home.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hudson woke to the sensation of a soft hand sliding around his waist and a smooth leg hooking over his thigh.

“Play hooky with me,” Allie said.

“Sounds like an offer I can’t refuse. What did you have in mind?” He hitched her higher on his chest and pressed his lips to her temple. Her curves fit perfectly against the hard edges of his muscles. He couldn’t contain the hum of a content and happy man that vibrated in his chest as his long fingers caressed up and down Allie’s naked spine.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged and her soft skin shifted against his, instantly waking his body and shooting the blood feeding his brain cells straight down to his cock. “We have a lot of wasted time to make up for. Maybe we could spend the weekend together.” Allie moved her leg up his thigh, her knee making direct contact with the head of his hard on. “Starting now.”

Hudson hissed and rolled her beneath him. “I’d love nothing more than to be locked up with you all weekend.” He leaned down and brushed his lips along her jaw. “But I have plans with Nick after his AA meeting tonight.”

“I didn’t realize he was out of rehab.”

“Just this week.” Hudson met her stare, his eyes tracing the delicate contours of her face. “I would cancel, but it’s the first time we’re getting together since they sprung him.”

“Don’t be silly. Nick has to come first right now.” Her gaze softened. “How’s he doing?” With any other woman he might have registered disappointment in her expression or tone, but with Allie there was nothing but sincerity and genuine interest.

“So far so good. He seems to be taking to the program. Although I think he’s concerned about the holidays, called them a trigger. Not that they were ever a big deal growing up.” Hudson’s brow furrowed and a frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Then again, maybe that’s why . . .”

With a hard slam, the steel gates opened and memories of the holidays he and Nick had shared were unleashed like a criminal out of jail. Most adults loved to recount their holiday traditions, but Hudson wasn’t one of them. For him there were no happy memories of singing the Twelve-fucking-Days-of-Christmas, or of opening presents the morning of rather than Christmas Eve. And there certainly wasn’t a mother in the kitchen, frying bacon as her smiling kids played with the toys she’d labored over selecting.

In the early days things had been different, but those memories were blurred and faded to the point that sometimes he wondered if they were just a figment of his imagination. After his father died everything had changed, and those were the images that filled his mind when he thought of the holidays: his mother, counting the days of Christmas by the number of pills she had left in the bottle; Nick, begging him to get them a tree and being thrilled with the discarded Charlie Brown version Hudson would drag home from some dumpster; or him, scraping enough cash together to buy Nick something to open the morning other kids would wake to a living room full of toys. These were the memories he couldn’t shake. They were like the black mold that crept up a wall and slowly took over.

Allie framed his face with her hands, anchoring him in the moment. “You know, they have meetings you can go to as well. Family support groups.”

“Your concern is one of the things I love about you.” Hudson’s lips curved sinfully before he dropped his head to her neck, sucking the sensitive skin. “But I’d like to know more about this hooky idea.”

Her fingers threaded into his hair, her nails raking against his scalp. Goddamn it, she knew all his trigger points.

Allie gasped and yanked his head up. “Let’s go Christmas shopping,” she said, her face lighting up with a smile that was her fucking Hail Mary.

“I have people who do that.” He lowered his head again, his tongue flickering over the hollow of her throat.

“Don’t be such a Grinch. It’s not Christmas without a trip to Macy’s on State Street.”

Hudson smiled against her skin. “Ah, I do enjoy Macy’s.”

She laughed. “I wasn’t talking about the dressing rooms.”

“Damn.” His fingers flexed as he shoved the thirteen-million-thread sheet count down, exposing her body.

“I meant the Walnut Room, lunch under the giant tree . . . Oh! Let’s get a tree.”

He palmed her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple. “I don’t usually decorate the penthouse.” He exchanged his thumb for his index finger, stroking until her nipple hardened under his touch.”There’s a service that does that at the office. I could call them.”

“What fun would that be?”

Hudson didn’t reply. Instead he claimed her nipple with a gentle bite.

Her hands shot to his face, and his lips tugged free of her breast. “I want to do this, Hudson. I want to make this special forNick.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Besides, this will be the first holiday without my family.” Her eyes were haunted by both the reality of being alone and the gruesome scene continually on replay. But as he stared at her he saw hope flicker in their depths, igniting her to move forward and create new memories. Memories with him in it.

Just like that, Allie had located the crack in the foundation of his hardened heart, the tiny fissure that allowed her to squeeze her way past his dark memories that were the antithesis of a Norman Rockwell painting. Hudson’s perspective shifted as he realized he couldn’t see beyond the two people who were his life. He couldn’t imagine living out his days in the darkness that shadowed him like the Grim-fucking-Reaper. But like death, his memories were always there, lingering in the background, waiting for the opportunity to slam him into a brick wall.

Shaking off the residual feelings from his trip into Christmas past, Hudson engaged himself in Christmas present. Allie need him, needed the distraction of throwing herself headlong into the holidays. And fuck him, he’d wear a goddamn Santa suit if it would keep a smile on her face.

“Okay.” He brushed his lips against hers, then teased her with slow flicks of his tongue.

Allie smiled broadly against his mouth. “And when we’re done shopping we can swing by Daley Plaza . . .” She rambled as he dipped his head and his tongue did a slow sweep across her collarbone. “The Christkindlmarket is open.”

“The what?” He moved lower, his tongue curling around her nipple, his mouth enveloping the taught peak, then sucking.

“The Christmas village. The tents are all set up. We can get a tree there, I think . . .” When her nipple tightened and swelled in his mouth, he shifted to give her other breast the same attention. “And maybe pick out an ornament,” she continued, carrying on a conversation with herself.

“Jesus Christ, woman. I’m hard as a rock here. Can we talk about this shit later?” He moved down her stomach, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake.

“I wonder if they can deliver it this weekend?”

He flattened his tongue and licked leisurely through her slick lips. As he circled her opening, Allie’s breath hitched and a soft moan rushed out of her mouth. “Oh . . . okay . . .”

Jackpot.

He felt her muscles tighten around his tongue as he tormented her tender flesh, completely seduced by her taste.

“That’s it . . .” He glanced up from between her legs, across all that perfect female skin. He wanted to see her face, but her back was arched and all he could see was the tips of her nipples as her chest heaved.

“Don’t stop,” Allie begged. Her fingers twisted almost painfully in his hair.

“Wouldn’t even if I could, baby,” he said, smiling to himself as he hooked her leg over his shoulder.