20. Stella

Chapter Twenty

STELLA

Hudson’s eyes held mine as we rocked together. I was still startled, almost in awe of myself tonight. I felt free with Hudson. I wasn’t completely without experience, I had just never taken things all the way before because it was usually difficult for me to relax. I’d never felt the way I did with Hudson.

I wasn’t sure what came over me when I’d wanted to strip away his control, but it had felt empowering and helped me forget my anxiety about being a virgin. The burn of him filling me had passed. I was relieved. I hadn’t wanted it to be too painful and it hadn’t been. There’d been a burning sensation, an intense sense of stretching, and the feel of him filling me completely.

I was already chasing my release with the slick fusion of where we were joined. I wanted more, I wanted the relief. Pressure was building inside, a sense of tightness spinning faster and faster. At the very core of me, pleasure spun outward like a pinwheel shooting sparks.

I found myself begging, something I never could’ve imagined doing with any man. I felt raw and vulnerable with him.

“Hudson…” I gasped between broken breaths. “Please… I need…”

Hudson shifted slightly. For a breath, I missed all of him pressed against me. He reached between us and just as he drew back and filled me once again, he teased his fingers over my swollen clit. The pressure burst, pleasure breaking through me in a crashing wave, so intense my mind blanked. I distantly heard my ragged cry, followed by his name. On the heels of one more deep nudge inside of me, I felt him shiver all over as he held still before shuddering against me and rolling swiftly to the side when his weight came down almost heavily over me.

I was still reverberating from my climax. I collapsed against him. He adjusted me, carefully withdrawing. I felt as if I’d washed onto the shore after a storm. The sky was clear and bright now, the winds dying and the pleasure swirling through me in lazy eddies.

Hudson’s hand sifted through my curls before smoothing down my back in a slow pass and coming to rest just below the dip of my waist. He cleared his throat, asking, “How do you feel?”

I felt alive, almost brimming with energy. Still awash in pleasure, I shifted my weight, resting an elbow on his chest as I rose up slightly and settled my chin on the back of my palm. I could feel his heartbeat, strong and true. “Really good,” I said, unable to keep myself from smiling.

His eyes twinkled and I loved the way they crinkled a little bit at the corners with his slow smile. Even now, after all of that with my body sated and relaxed, my belly swooped a little. This man. Sweet hell.

“I can say the same,” he said.

I could’ve stayed there and smiled at him for hours, which was really kind of ridiculous.

“I don’t want to get up,” he eventually said. “But I need a quick bathroom break.”

Rather than waiting for him, I got up and padded into the bathroom with him. He tossed his condom into the trash.

Hudson studied me, and I took a moment to just appreciate the man. He was all rugged muscle. Not in a polished way, but in a lived-in way. His shoulders were broad, his chest muscled. My eyes trailed down over his strong thighs. “How’s your knee?” I asked.

“Good to go,” he said with a chuckle. “Physical therapy worked wonders and they cleared me about a month ago.”

He caught me by the hand and pulled me into the shower with him. He kissed me against the tiled wall. After that, we toweled off.

“I need to check on Butter,” he said.

“The very cat responsible for that knee problem. How come I haven’t met your cat” I asked.

Hudson chuckled and I could literally feel the sound of it reverberating along my nerve endings. “I had already dislocated it, but yeah, I’ve been keeping him downstairs since you moved in.”

“Well, you don’t have to do that. He can run free. He can even come up here.”

Next thing I knew, he took me down to meet Butter. I burst out laughing when I saw the cat. He was a soft blond cat, basically butter-colored.

Hudson lifted him into his arms and nuzzled him. “You sure you don’t mind him being all over the house?” he asked. I could hear the cat’s purr from several feet away.

“I’m positive. We can put the litter box on the center floor and he can roam.”

“Just so you know, the minute you leave the door open to the upstairs he’s going to explore,” Hudson warned.

“Let’s carry him up there now.”

He set the cat on the floor and Butter twined around my ankles, purring away when I stroked between his ears and under his chin.

“He’s a very friendly cat,” Hudson offered as we approached the stairs to my apartment.

When we’d walked down to Hudson’s apartment, we had left the door open to mine. Butter instantly raced up the stairs. After a quick tour of him investigating the space, he leaped onto my bed and sat in the middle of it, looking at us expectantly.

Even though Hudson and I had agreed there was no sleeping together, we broke that ground rule that very night. I blamed it on Butter.

We had to snuggle with him. We weren’t savages. We curled up under the covers while Butter purred contentedly. I meant to not fall asleep.

When I woke during the night, draped over Hudson with Butter purring at our feet, I felt my lips curling into a smile. A tiny corner of my mind was worried and my heart was a little anxious, but it felt good so I didn’t let myself dwell.