The Fixed Trilogy(Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You)(139)

My mouth tasted sour. “I thought this wasn’t blackmail.”

“Not yet, it isn’t.” He leveled his gaze at me. “Does it need to be?”

A chill ran down my spine. I was trapped, as I’d known I was earlier, and I knew it even more definitively now. “Fine, Paul. I’ll do the deal but on the terms I listed.” Over his shoulder I saw Hudson striding our way. “I’m walking away now. Smile and head the other direction.”

I didn’t know if he did what I said because I left him, striding to meet Hudson before he came any nearer. “Hey.” I felt breathy and lightheaded and not in a good way.

“Did you find the restroom?”

“Um, no.” Thank god I hadn’t really needed to go. “It’s okay. I can wait until we get home.”

I tried to turn him toward the exit, but Hudson looked questionably back toward where Paul was retreating.

Thinking fast, I filled him in with a story before he had a chance to ask. “That was one of the event workers. I was trying to get the dirt on Party Planners from him.”

He raised a brow. “It seemed to be a rather animated discussion.”

“Yeah, he was passionate about what he was saying.” Then I realized it was probably me who had seemed animated. “I guess it got me riled up too. He says they’re a great company all around. I’m more excited than ever to work with them.” The lie felt heavy on my tongue, my gut twisting with the acid of it. It made me wonder how I’d spent so many years lying and manipulating people so I could be close to men who didn’t want me. It had been so easy then. Now, with the man who did want me, it felt gross and disgusting.

Hudson bought my act, which made me feel all the worse for it. “That’s excellent.” He drew me into his side. “Want to know what I’m more excited than ever about? Getting home. More specifically, getting you home. Or, at least to the car.”

“Me, too.” Whatever he planned to do to me would take me away from everything else in the world. It would distract me from my secrets and the blackmail and the promises I’d broken. At least, I hoped it would.





Chapter Eight



We were still curled up together when Hudson’s alarm woke us the next morning. He kissed me breathless before pulling me with him out of the bed.

“You start the shower,” he ordered. “I’ll start the coffee.”

Grinning, I did as instructed, traipsing to the bathroom to pee first. Then I turned on the shower, waiting until the water was nice and hot before stepping in.

This. Was. Awesome.

Not only the double oversized nozzles that sprayed down on me, relaxing my sex-sore muscles, but the entire routine. Making love in the middle of the night, waking with my lover, preparing the shower for him, for us—I could do this every day.

I sighed softly at the idea, letting the too-soon fantasy of living with Hudson take me away for the briefest of moments.

“Well, the look on your face says you might not need me anymore for pleasure.” Hudson stepped into the stall, immediately tugging me into his arms, as if he wanted to be in constant contact the way I did.

“This shower is amazeballs,” I said, my eyes drawn immediately to the semi-erection pressed between us. Could I never get enough of seeing him naked?

“Amazeballs?”

“But it can never compare to what you do to me.” My hand closed around his divine penis, my mouth watering as always at the size and shape of him.

He moaned, turning harder in my hand. “What if I did amazeballs things to you while we’re in the amazeballs shower?”

It was hard not to giggle at his use of urban vernacular. It was so foreign, so unlike him. So absolutely irresistible. “There’s not even a word for how amazeballs that would be.”



After our shower, we went about getting ready for our day. Hudson named one of the sinks as mine, and side-by-side he shaved and I powdered, each of us wearing only a towel. Again, I thought how easy it would be to fall into this life. How natural.

He finished in the bathroom first and by the time I came out, he was dressed in a two-piece black suit that made my thighs twitch. God, the man was the yummiest thing on the planet.

“Hungry?”

Could he read my mind? “Oh, for breakfast?”

“Yes, for breakfast. Get your mind out of the gutter, precious. I’ve already spent more time than I allotted on you this morning.”

I shivered at the memory of being pressed against the shower wall, his dick inside me. “Well, I’m glad to know there was an allotment.”

“There was.” He walked past me toward the bedroom door and I caught the scent of his aftershave. “Toast and grapefruit okay?”