She was frantic for his touch. She wanted to see what was under that gentleness. She wanted to make him lose control.
“Not here, Rosie.”
“Yes!” If she hadn’t been so damn horny, she might have been embarrassed by the whine in her voice. “Hudson!”
He kissed her again, but she couldn’t pry his hand away from her hip no matter how hard she tried. She stood on her tiptoes and rubbed her aching pussy directly against his erection. It brought a low groan from his throat, and excitement rushed through her. His hand tightened on her hip, and she rubbed against him again.
“Please.” She licked his mouth and his low growl sent a wave of lust through her. She licked his mouth again and scratched her nails across his lower back. “Please.”
His second growl was louder. Hungrier. He kissed her hard just as the door to Porter’s office opened.
“Hudson, are you… shit.”
Hudson pulled away from her and she staggered back against the desk. She stared wide-eyed at Judd standing in the doorway.
“You can’t do this in here, man. Porter’s a good guy, but he’ll fire you for fucking a human in his office,” Judd said.
“We weren’t, he wasn’t…” Rosalie touched her swollen mouth as Hudson made a sound of frustration.
The three of them stood in silence before Rosalie straightened her back. “I have to go.”
“Rosalie, don’t let the lion shifter touch you.” Hudson said.
She turned to him, ready to let loose with a barrage of indignant and well-deserved retorts about how he didn’t have the right to tell her who she could or couldn’t touch. The look of intensity on his face shut her mouth with a snap. She nodded mutely.
“Promise me,” he said.
“I promise,” she whispered before pushing past Judd and walking rapidly down the hallway and back into the bar. She needed to find Maggie and get the hell out of here before Koren tried to touch her. If Hudson saw Koren touching her, he’d kill him. She was sure of it.
Don’t be stupid, Rosalie. Hudson wouldn’t kill a guy just for touching you. God, you really think you’re all that, don’t you?
She almost laughed when she saw Koren. Her fear had been for nothing. The lion shifter was back standing at the bar and he was already flirting with another woman.
“Rosalie? What the hell is going on?” Maggie was suddenly standing next to her and Rosalie grabbed her hand.
“I want to leave. Please, can we leave?”
Maggie studied her face. “Your mouth is swollen. Oh my God, did Koren hurt you? Did he -”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Rosalie said. “Something’s happened and I need to talk – can we go somewhere more private?”
“Of course.” Maggie squeezed her hand, and Rosalie followed her out of the bar.
Chapter Nine
“You’re shaking, Rosalie.” Maggie gave her a look of concern.
“Just feeling a little chilled.” She sipped at her coffee before glancing around the coffee shop. It was about half-full, but Maggie had snagged them a table in a quiet corner. “So, this is where you work, huh?”
Maggie nodded. “Tell me what happened back at the bar, honey.”
Rosalie sighed. “I kissed Hudson.”
Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “You kissed Hudson? Polar bear shifter Hudson?”
“Yeah.”
“When? Why? How? I mean, I know how, but… why?” Maggie asked. “I thought you guys were just friends.”
“We are just friends. I mean, I think we are… shit, I don’t know.” Rosalie wrapped her cold fingers around her coffee cup. “Koren went to use the men’s room. Hudson went down the hallway after him and I – I don’t know, I just had this bad feeling, you know? I was right. When I got to the hallway, Hudson had Koren up against the wall and was choking him.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I told Hudson to let him go and he did, but when I tried to leave with Koren, he wouldn’t let me. He said I needed to stay away from him and that I couldn’t touch him.”
Maggie frowned. “That’s weird.”
“No, what’s weird is that I made out with Hudson in Porter’s office!” Her voice was rising and a guy in a knitted cap and reading an iPad glanced over at them.
Rosalie took a deep breath and another sip of coffee. “Hudson and I went into Porter’s office and he was mad that I was hitting on Koren. He kept asking why I even wanted to sleep with him and acting like he was in charge of me, and I finally just lost my temper and told him the truth.”
“Uh oh,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, only slightly humiliating,” Rosalie said. “Only, Hudson didn’t… I mean, he outright told me I wasn’t allowed to sleep with other shifters to learn how to be kinky. When I told him it wasn’t his decision to make and that I’d sleep with any shifter I wanted, he said he’d teach me to be kinky in bed.”
“Oh.” Maggie sat back in her chair. “I was not expecting that.”
“Me either,” Rosalie said. “He doesn’t even like to be touched by me… ever.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows and Rosalie said, “It’s true. Normally if I get close to him or touch him, he practically flinches. But tonight, he…”
“He what?”
“He had an erection,” Rosalie whispered. “When he said he’d teach me, I thought it was a joke. Only, he-he licked me and then he pulled me up against him and I could feel his… and then he started kissing me.”
“And then what?” Maggie asked when she didn’t say anything else.
“Then I kind of lost my mind,” Rosalie said. “He’s a really good kisser.”
She stared at her coffee. She knew she sounded stupid, but she was utterly and completely disarmed by what had just happened with Hudson. She touched her lips, they were still a little swollen, and could feel her cheeks heating up. She’d begged Hudson to kiss her, had tried to make him touch her tits, and rubbed up against him like a cat in heat.
“Oh my God,” she groaned and dropped her head into her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked.
“What’s wrong?” Rosalie raised her head and gave Maggie a look of disbelief. “I kissed Hudson. I kissed him, and I tried to make him touch me, and then I rubbed myself up against his dick like a-a whore.”
“Wait, I thought Hudson kissed you.”
“He did, but I… I tried to take it further, right there in Porter’s office, Maggie. If Judd hadn’t interrupted, I probably would have started begging Hudson to bang me.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing air in and out of her lungs in long slow breaths. Her heart was pumping too fast, adrenaline was shooting through her veins, and she felt like she was on the edge of hyperventilating.
“Better?” Maggie asked after a few minutes.
Rosalie nodded and opened her eyes. “Sorry. I’m kind of freaking out here.”
“It’s okay. But, Rosalie, why are you freaking out? The way I see it, this is actually a good thing. You and Hudson are friends, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, why not let him teach you to be kinky? It’s better than just sleeping with some random shifter. Honestly, I was never really comfortable with you sleeping with guys you didn’t know but I wanted to be supportive and, well you’re an adult so you can make your own choices. But still… I’d feel a lot better if you were learning to get your kink on with someone you know.”
“Maggie, I can’t have sex with Hudson.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s Hudson! Because he hates it when I touch him. Because he’s not attracted to me.”
“Yeah, I think tonight established that he is attracted to you.” Maggie glanced around before lowering her voice. “Most guys don’t get a full-on erection just from licking a woman, Rosalie.”
Rosalie blushed furiously. “Maybe it was just some weird random blip. Like, he was acting strange before I even talked to him. Maybe something else had happene
d and it just made him…”
“Start kissing you?” Maggie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“It could be,” Rosalie insisted. “Maggie, you don’t know Hudson the way I do. This is just so weird of him. Why would he kiss me? Why would he offer to teach me to be kinky? This isn’t him.”
“You haven’t known him for that long,” Maggie said, “and didn’t you tell me before, that you just started to talk more. Maybe he’s been attracted to you all along and you just didn’t know it.”
“Nope,” Rosalie said immediately. “He wasn’t – isn’t – attracted to me. I guarantee you that he’s already regretting what happened in Porter’s office. He just had a moment of insanity and I’ll be lucky if he even talks to me after this. In fact -”
Her cell phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket, her eyes widening. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Hudson just texted me.”
“What did he say?”
Rosalie swallowed heavily. “That we-we’d have our first lesson tomorrow night, and I’m to meet him at his place at seven.”
“Huh,” Maggie sipped delicately at her coffee before smiling at Rosalie. “Guess it’s not quite a moment of insanity, after all.”
Rosalie didn’t reply. She was texting furiously and when she was finished, Maggie said, “What did you text back?”
“That we needed to talk and he could come by my place tomorrow afternoon.”
Her phone buzzed, and Maggie grinned. “Well?”
“He just said okay,” Rosalie replied.
“That’s good. You can discuss ground rules and find out if Hudson is even kinky. I mean, no point in having him teach you how to be naughty in bed if his idea of kink is, I dunno… doggie style sex or something.”
Rosalie blushed furiously. “Maggie!”
“What?”
“I’m not doing this with Hudson. I can’t do this with him.”
“Why not?”
“I told you!”
“Tell me the real reason,” Maggie said.
Rosalie stared at her for a moment before her shoulders slumped. “Fine, you want the truth? I don’t have many friends. In fact, I have two friends – you and Hudson – and I don’t want to lose him as a friend. And, I’m still not convinced that he’s just not high on something and tomorrow when he’s back to normal, he’s gonna freak out.”
Maggie shrugged. “I don’t think Hudson is the type to do drugs. But, your point about not losing him as a friend is valid so I understand. Still, I think when you talk to him tomorrow and he’s still interested in helping, you should seriously consider it. Hudson knows you’re in love with Lincoln, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, for him, it’s probably just about getting to have sex without any strings attached.”
Rosalie flinched, and Maggie frowned. “Does that bother you? I thought that’s what you were looking for.”
“It is,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me, it just… I didn’t think Hudson was the kind of guy who was into casual sex.”
“I’m not judging him,” she said hastily when Maggie didn’t reply. “I’m really not. I mean, I’m basically looking for the same thing, right? So, I’m not judging him. I just don’t want to lose his friendship.”
“So, tell him that. Be very, very clear about it, and if for any reason either of you think you can’t remain friends, you don’t do it.”
Rosalie hesitated. Maybe this would work. She needed someone to teach her and why couldn’t it be Hudson? Truth be told, she’d never really felt very comfortable at the idea of sleeping with shifters she didn’t even know. If it wasn’t for how badly she wanted to be with Lincoln, she would never just sleep with a random guy.
Rosalie, it’s Hudson. He isn’t attracted to you. You’re trying to make a decision about something that will never happen. Relax, would you? Tomorrow you’ll get a text from Hudson explaining that he was drunk or high or something, and you’ll go back to the way it was with him.
“Rosalie?”
She smiled at Maggie. “You know what? It doesn’t even matter. Tomorrow when whatever he’s on wears off, he’ll either have forgotten about what happened or he’ll apologize, and we’ll move on.”
Maggie cocked her head at her. “Okay, if that’s what you want to believe, I’ll go with that. So, it’s not that late. Do you want to go to another club or something and find a lion shifter?”
Rosalie shook her head. “Uh, no, I don’t think so. I’m pretty tired and it’s been a weird night. I’m on vacation now so I’ll just try again tomorrow night at the shifter bar. Hudson doesn’t work Sundays, so I won’t have to, um, worry that he’s gonna get weird again.”
“I’m working tomorrow night,” Maggie said.
Rosalie smiled at her. “I’ll be fine by myself.”
Maggie frowned. “I’ll ask Porter to make sure that any shifter you talk to is a good guy, okay?”
Rosalie blushed. “I don’t really want him knowing what I’m doing.”
“I won’t tell him. I’ll just let him know that you’re going to be there and ask him to tell you if a shifter you’re talking to is a… wanker.”
Rosalie smiled a little. “Okay, thank you, Maggie.”
“You’re welcome, honey. Just, be careful tomorrow night. All right?”
“I will.”
“And for God’s sake, text me and let me know what happens with Hudson tomorrow. I’ll be on pins and needles waiting.”
* * *
Hudson knocked on Rosalie’s door at promptly two o’clock. He didn’t get nervous, but if his father was here, he’d take one look at Hudson and announce that he was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
His father would be right.
His back was sweating, his legs felt weirdly weak, and the sandwiches he’d eaten for lunch were threatening to come back up. If Rosalie didn’t agree to this, his polar bear would lose its fucking mind. He’d have no choice but to pack up and haul ass out of the city.
No! His polar bear nearly howled with rage. I will not leave my mate.
She’s not your mate. Stop saying that.
She’s mine. She’s mine and I’ll kill anyone who touches her.
He clenched his hands into fists. His polar bear might think Rosalie was his mate, but it was wrong. He couldn’t make Rosalie his mate.
Then why are you going to have sex with her?
Because there was no way in hell he was letting some other fucking shifter touch her. If Rosalie was insistent on learning how to be kinky for that goddamn lion shifter, then he would be the one to teach her. Letting her sleep with some random shifter she didn’t know was not happening.
You’re putting her in danger.
No, he wasn’t. In fact, this was his way to get what he wanted without putting Rosalie in danger. He could finally sleep with her, finally know what she tasted like, how she looked when she had his cock in her, and not have to worry that she would want more.
He’d been wrong about her not being attracted to him. He’d realized that the moment he’d licked her. Her arousal had been strong and instant. If Judd hadn’t walked in on them, Hudson would have given in to her demands and fucked her right there. He’d been almost as giddy as a teenager when he’d smelled her lust.
Still, just because she was attracted to him didn’t mean she loved him. She was in love with the lion shifter and that was a good thing. She wouldn’t ask Hudson for anything more than a few lessons in sex, and he wouldn’t have to worry about her falling for him.
Corden wanted revenge for the death of his son and he wouldn’t hesitate to use Rosalie as leverage, but that would only work if Corden thought Hudson cared for her. If he wanted to keep Rosalie safe, he could never have a relationship with her, but a few meaningless nights of sex were fine.
What about when you’re done? When she decides she’s learned enough from you and takes all her new knowledge and seduces the lion
shifter, what then?
She’s my mate, his polar bear snarled immediately. She’s mine and no one else can have her.
The door opened, and he tuned out his polar bear’s insistent growls. When Rosalie was finished with him, he’d leave the city and start over again. Simple as that.
“What are you doing here?” She asked.
She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that hugged her breasts. He tried not to stare at her chest. Hell, why hadn’t he at least touched her breasts last night? She’d wanted him to and if she didn’t agree to this, he’d never get the chance to touch them.
He wiped his sweaty palms on his denim-clad thighs. “You told me to come over this afternoon to talk.”
“I know, but I…”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you would.”
He frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t …” she glanced around the neighbourhood before stepping back. “Come in.”
He shut the door behind him and followed her into the kitchen. He sat in his usual seat and petted the cat when it jumped into his lap. Rosalie was standing by the counter and chewing on her bottom lip, and she jumped when the tea kettle whistled on the stove.
She shut off the burner and when he saw the way her hand was trembling, he stood. “Rosalie, sit down. I’ll make the tea.”
“I hate tea. I was just going to have some, uh, honey and lemon in hot water.” She pointed to the jar of lemon flavoured honey sitting next to her mug.
“Sit down. I’ll make it.”
She sat, and he grabbed another mug and poured hot water in both before adding a few teaspoons of the honey to each mug. He stirred them and then brought the mugs to the table, setting one in front of her.
He sat down, and she took a sip before smiling faintly at him. “It’s good. Thank you.”
“Are you all right, Rosalie?”
He heard the click in her throat when she swallowed. “Yes, I… do you remember what happened last night?”
He frowned at her. “Of course I remember. Why?”
“I thought maybe you were drunk or high on something.”
Rosalie Undone (Book Six) Page 13
