As his orgasm tore through him it spurred mine to higher heights until my head was spinning and my vision blinded. I fell forward on the couch, panting and euphoric. Hudson collapsed on top of me, holding me tight for several beautiful moments while our breathing became regular.
The minute he pulled off and out of me, I straightened and turned into his arms. He welcomed me, tilting my mouth to his. He locked my upper lip in a hard kiss, holding me in place with his hand behind my head. It was different from any kiss we’d shared—our mouths not moving, our bodies held together in a desperate union , as we breathed in and out in tandem.
When we finally broke apart, I wrapped my hands tightly around his neck and kissed along his jaw. “Oh god, I miss you. I miss you so much.”
“Précieux…mon amour…ma chérie…” He ran his hands down my face, caressing my skin with sweet sweeps of his thumb.
He was tender and perfect, and though I was afraid to break the moment, I was more afraid to miss out on the power of our junction. Barely above a whisper, I voiced the question I desperately needed to ask. “When are you coming home?”
He leaned his forehead against mine with a sigh and settled his hands at my neck. “I have to go to L.A. for the weekend.” He tilted his wrist to glance at his watch. “I’m set to leave in about twenty minutes, in fact.”
If it was possible to be both elated and disappointed at once, that’s what I was. He wasn’t pushing me away as he had been the last few days, but if he was coming back, it wouldn’t be tonight.
I proceeded with caution, pressing him to let me in without scaring him off. “Part of your big business thing? With Norma?”
It wouldn’t bother me if she were going. Well, not as much as it would have before I’d spoken to her. I just needed to know the answer.
Hudson stroked my nose with the tip of his. “Yes, with Norma. And after this, if all goes well, we’ll be done.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled him. So close…we were so close to working everything out…I felt it in my heart, felt it in my bones. Would we lose it all because he was leaving now?
Invite me to go with you. I willed him to say the words, Come with me.
He didn’t.
With what felt like great reluctance, he pushed me away. He tucked himself in, zipped up his pants, and stood to face me, his fist on his hip as if trying to decide what to do about a problem that had arose unexpectedly.
It was surprising that I could still be hurt when I was already in so much pain. Wasn’t there a limit? Where the ache would become so unbearable and my spirit would simply cease to go on? If there was a threshold, I hadn’t met it yet. Because that look on his face—it pushed me further into the depth of the hell that I was in. It crushed me.
I didn’t want to be his problem. I wanted to be his life. After all, he was mine.
Then, all of a sudden, everything changed. He dropped his hand to his side and his expression melted and transformed, and for the first time in days, the look in his eyes said I was the center of his world again. The crux of his universe. The core of his existence.
He reached for me, and instantly I was back in his arms. He clutched me tightly to him, with determined devotion. “God, Alayna, I can’t do this anymore.” It was almost a sob. “I can’t bear to be apart from you. I miss you so terribly.”
“You do?” I leaned back to look into his eyes, to see if they told the same story.
He settled his hand at my jaw, his thumb tracing the line of my lower lip. “Of course, I do, precious.” His tone was uneven but sincere. “You’re my everything. I love you. I love you so much.”
My heart thudded in my ears and the world closed in around me as if there were only Hudson and me and nothing else.
He’d said it. He’d said it twice. Said it, and meant it. I felt the sincerity in every cell of my body.
And with just those three little words, the darkness scattered and the sky cleared. The heaviness that had cocooned me for days fell away, and I was left new and beautiful in its place. It was he who’d finally taken the step, had metamorphosed enough to deliver what I needed to hear, but it was me who was now the butterfly—me who could finally soar.
And still, as I was already flying, I needed to be sure. “W-w-what?”
His lips fell into an easy smile. “You heard me.”
“I want to hear it again.” I held my breath, afraid that if I stirred at all that the spell would be broken and I’d be alone in our bed at the penthouse, that all of this would be a dream.
But it wasn’t a dream. And I wasn’t alone. And I was in the arms of the man who was saying once again, “I love you.”