Chapter 29

29

Hudson

Hudson’s Luck:

When I finally get Charlie into bed, my brother is in the next room.

I felt like a complete ass. The way I’d behaved in the club had been subhuman. I’d never understood the caveman-type guy who felt like he needed to bang fists to chest and roar at anyone coming near his woman. But there I’d been in the club ready to take anyone down who dared mess with Charlie.

To make matters worse, I’d tried to imply a claim on him where there was none. And he’d given me plenty of opportunities to have that claim.

So not only was I the idiot caveman, but I also pulled the immature “I don’t want you, but I don’t want anyone else to have you either” bullshit. I was mortified by my behavior. And to top it all off, I’d shown physical affection to him in front of my family.

And the looks I’d gotten… I wasn’t sure if West’s face had held more confusion or hurt. He’d tried to ask me about it in the car on the way back to Saint’s apartment, but I’d begged him to leave it alone for the time being. Thankfully, Nico had reached over to squeeze West’s hand in silent warning to respect my wishes.

I lay there with Charlie’s slender form curled against me and struggled with what I wanted to say to him. It needed to start with an apology at the very least, but I also realized with absolute certainty I wanted to ask him to give me another chance. A chance at… something with him.

Because, who was I to decide what was right for him? If he wanted a casual hookup with me while he was in Hobie on this project, maybe that was perfect for both of us. Maybe that was exactly what we both wanted and needed.

Of course, I was fooling myself. There was nothing casual about my feelings for Charlie. A casual hookup would leave me completely gutted when he left to return to Ireland. But was it worth it to have him in the short term?

My eyes were still closed in thought when I felt him shift against me. Just the feel of his warm body against mine already had my dick raging for attention. I’d gotten up half an hour before to sneak to the bathroom for a pee and toothbrushing in an effort not to bowl him over with ineffective morning wood and foul morning breath.

After I’d returned to the bed and slid my arm back underneath his body, one of his hands had found its way onto my skin and moved south to rest on my inner thigh. I’d almost swallowed my tongue. I shifted a little to press my hard-on against his hand instead. Fuck I wanted him to touch me.

We’d both slept in underwear and T-shirts which, for me, meant an undershirt and boxer briefs, but for him meant a tight designer tee and a tiny pair of black briefs that made me want to strip them off with my teeth.

It had been too dark to see much of them the night before, but when I’d returned from the morning bathroom visit, I’d made sure to take a very good look under the sheets.

The man was just as gorgeous as I’d remembered. Creamy skin and slim, shapely muscles. Tiny spatters of freckles in places that begged attention from my tongue. Dark auburn eyelashes, thick and shiny just like his hair. Every single thing about him made me insane with desire.

I turned and wrapped my other arm around him, pulling us closer together face-to-face. He arched his own morning wood into my belly.

“Wake up and play with me,” I whispered into his ear.

Charlie’s eyes opened in surprise. He looked noticeably awake for having been dead asleep a moment before, the little faker.

“But,” he said in a hoarse morning voice, “you didn’t want…”

“I was an idiot, and I owe you an apology,” I admitted. “I shouldn’t have acted like a possessive boyfriend when I have no claim on you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” he agreed. His neck began to turn pink. “But I have to admit I kind of loved it. I only wish it had been real. And you were right to get me out of there when I was too drunk to make good decisions. That was my own stupidity. You did what any good friend would have done.”

There were sleep creases on his cheek and little lines of worry across his forehead. I reached a thumb out to smooth them over.

“I’d like it to be real…” I pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. “At least… as real as it can be considering our temporary circumstances.”

“What exactly are you saying here?” he asked. “Because I’ve got to point out you’re a bit up and down about this.”

“I know. And that’s not fair to you. But I really want you, Charlie. I want to… be with you. Like this. I mean, in bed.”

Could I sound more idiotic?

I groaned and rolled onto my back. Charlie grinned and rested his chin on his hands over my chest. “That was clear as mud. Try again.”

I let out a soft growl of frustration. “You’re going to make me spell this out?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. That. What you said. Go on.”

“Fuck. I want to touch you. To kiss you… I want to sleep naked with you and suck you off and explore your body and make you smile and hear your laugh and—”

“And not fight?” he interjected.

“And not fight.”

“And what about your family? Are you going to be out to them about this?”

I froze. It was a fair question.

“There will be so many questions. So much teasing.” I groaned. “Is it a deal breaker?”

Charlie seemed to consider it. “No. Not really. I mean, I’m not staying in Texas forever, so it’s not like we’re going to be dating.”

Something about the way he said that rubbed me the wrong way. I pressed the center of my chest with my thumb where the tightness was.

He continued. “But I think if your family found out you were questioning things or trying stuff on, they’d support you. You have an amazing family, Hudson.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m lucky.”

“Damned right you’re lucky. You’re the only person I know who’s actually come to Ireland and found a four-leaf clover,” he said with a smirk.

I snorted. “Shut up. I was tongue-tied around you that night. I couldn’t help it.”

“I liked it,” he said. “It was cute as hell.”

I thought of something. “If we… if we spend personal time together, we can’t let Bruce Ames find out about us.”

Charlie’s smile faded. “Yeah, okay.”

I could tell I’d hurt his feelings and soured the mood. “No, it’s not… fuck. It’s my job, Charlie. I’m getting a big promotion, and if he finds out I’m sleeping with a coworker, he’ll lose respect for me. It’s one of the reasons I tried to stay away from you. It’s inappropriate and unprofessional. And… and there’s more going on there than you know. I just… need to keep things on the up-and-up.”

His eyes narrowed and he pulled away from me to sit up. Before he could build up a solid head of steam, I reached out and cupped his cheek. “Stop. Please don’t get mad at me. I’ve worked a long time for this promotion, and I don’t want to do anything to fuck it up. I swear this has nothing to do with me not wanting people to know about you. It’s one thing for my family to find out. It’s another for my boss to find out. Plus, what if he yanked me off the project? Then I’d have to go back to Dallas sooner rather than later.”

As soon as I said it, I felt that same tug in my chest. The one that made my life itch and feel off somehow. I’d never regretted settling in Dallas before, but knowing Charlie was in Hobie made me sure I wanted to stick around a while longer, at least while he was in town.

Charlie’s face softened. “Okay. I get it. You’re right. All either of us needs is judgment from the resident homophobe anyway.”

I combed my fingers through his hair to brush it away from his face. “Can we close out the negotiation portion of this deal and get to the good stuff?”

His grin was back and he had a wicked twinkle in his eye as his lithe body slithered fully onto mine. Just as he was opening his lips to suck one of my nipples into his hot mouth, the door opened.

Before West peeked around the open door, Charlie hit the floor on the other side of the bed with a loud thunk.

I was fairly sure I hadn’t chucked him off me, but I was equally unsure of how he’d come to hit the ground.

“Uh, is everything okay in here?” West asked, craning his neck to see over the mattress.

I sat up and hugged my knees in hopes of disguising the quickly deflating tent in my shorts.

Charlie popped up from the floor with a grin. “Yep! You just startled me, that’s all. Sorry.”

My brother’s eyes took in the slim beauty before us. Charlie’s black briefs rode low and his tight tee had risen up to expose his flat belly and delectable happy trail. The shapely muscles of his pale thighs stood out against the dark fabric of his briefs, and I thought West might actually pull out his phone and take a photo.

“Do you mind?” I growled at my brother. “Charlie, put some pants on before West winds up divorced.”

West’s eyes snapped to me, and he shook himself. “Just appreciating a fine example of healthy quads and abs, brother. Clearly the man takes care of himself. It’s my duty as a physician to assess—”

I stood up and slammed the door in his face, punching the button lock on the handle and turning to scowl at Charlie.

“Was that necessary?”

“What?”

“The preening. You might as well have stripped for him.”

Charlie’s questioning glance turned devious, and his hands moved to the hem of his tee. As he worked the tight fabric higher over his chest, he made a show of running his palms against smooth skin and long fingers across dusky nipples.

“Motherfucker,” I breathed.

“Mm,” he teased, pulling the shirt the rest of the way off and running his fingers through his long hair. “Like that?”

I crawled across the mattress until my face was in front of his stomach. I dropped openmouthed kisses along the trail of ginger hair leading from his navel to his low briefs. His cock hardened behind the dark fabric, and I mouthed that as well, dampening the cotton and inhaling the scent of him.

Charlie’s fingers dropped into my hair as he let out a shaky breath. “We don’t have time. Your brother’s waiting for us.”

I shook my head and reached up to peel his tiny briefs down his legs. His dick jutted out as soon as it was free from its confines, and I immediately grasped it in one hand so I could taste it.

Charlie’s hand tightened in my hair, and his other hand landed on my shoulder as if to keep his balance.

“Fuck, Hudson. Feels good,” he murmured.

I looked up at him through my lashes and saw the red blotches of heat on his chest and neck. His bottom lip was caught in his top teeth, and his eyes were closed, thick lashes spilling across freckled skin.

I pulled off his cock long enough to tell him how beautiful he was.

Charlie’s eyes opened halfway, and his hands cupped the sides of my face. I continued to lick and suck and pull while our eyes locked together. We’d done this before, back in Cork in my hotel room, only this time things between us were very different.

We’d known each other for months instead of days. We’d worked side by side for weeks. I’d seen him naked and soaked up the feel of his bare skin against mine halfway around the world. I knew more of his hopes and fears now than I had then and held them in my heart in a way I hadn’t before.

This time might have included the same sex act, but it was eons away from a quick one-nighter. It meant something… at least, to me it meant something. I had no way of knowing what our coming together meant to Charlie, but I could at least tell by the way he stared at me, it wasn’t completely casual or transactional.

I ran a free hand up his flat abdomen to his chest, feeling the bumps of muscle beneath his skin. The salt of his precum gave me a taste of things to come, and I redoubled my efforts to please him. I pulled against his hard length with my tongue on the upstroke and sucked in my cheeks on the downstroke. I felt the heaving breaths under my palm on his chest and heard his attempts to stifle his gasps and moans. As he neared his climax, his fist shot up to his mouth to muffle the cry as he shot long and hot into my throat.

Watching Charlie Murray lose himself to an orgasm was glorious. His entire face bloomed pink, his eyes squeezed closed, and his chest heaved even more with stuttered breaths. I smoothed my hands over his hips and around to cup his lovely ass cheeks as I gently licked up any trace of his ejaculate left behind.

After he’d caught his breath, he looked down at me in wonder.

“I wasn’t expecting that, to be honest.”

I couldn’t hold back the grin. “What do you know? It’s your lucky day. Mine too, come to think of it.”

“Mm, a little luck o’ the Irish in ya, is that right?” Charlie’s eyes sparkled with teasing.

“I guess so, although I wouldn’t mind having a bigger luck of the Irish in me later,” I said brazenly, glancing back down at his spent cock.

Charlie looked shocked. “Surely you jest.”

I felt my own face heat up and tried to ignore my still-pounding dick. “I’ve been thinking about it. Don’t know if I could take you, but I’d like to try sometime.” I couldn’t quite meet his eyes as I said it. “Or not. I don’t know what you prefer.”

Charlie reached down and tilted my chin up until I was forced to meet his eyes. They were almost full black with just the slightest mossy-green ring around the pupils.

“Oh, I’d prefer it all right. My cock in your virgin arse? Christ, Hudson. Just the thought of it is getting me hard again already.”

His voice was a sexy low rumble that went straight to my own seriously pissed-off erection. My ass clenched at the thought of him breaching me, and I felt the sudden nerves I might somehow disappoint him.

“Can I spend the night with you in the bunkhouse tonight?” I asked, trying desperately not to get my hopes up.

“Unless you want to explain to Darci why there is a naked Irishman in your cabin, I think that would be a good idea.”

I mentally thanked my four-leaf clover for the incredible luck of meeting Charlie Murray.