Sinner (Shelter Harbor #1)

by Aubrey Irons

  I can feel my blush spreading up my cheeks as the thought hits me. The kind of blush that I hate because it makes my cheeks pink, which looks weird and not in a cute way if you’ve got red hair like mine. He’s grinning at me though with that totally charming and utterly disarming smile, and those piercing blue eyes are flashing and it’s like I’m under some kind of spell.

  …You know, the kind of spell where I apparently can’t say anything without sounding like a total weirdo. “So, how do you- I mean, how did you get-”

  Wow, was I really about to ask ‘how did you get invited?’ I shake my head. “Uh, sorry. I guess I meant to ask your name, not, you know, accuse you of party crashing or something.”

  He laughs, and the sound is like warm silk and smoke, which makes something tingle inside of me. “Oh, yeah sorry, I never even got to that part.”

  God that smile is freaking criminal it’s so attractive, it’s like I just want to-

  “Hudson,” My heart skips a beat. “Hudson Banks.”

  Shit. And just like that, I’m over it.

  “I work with-”

  “You work with my Dad.” I say evenly. Ok, spark gone. Mystery butterflies dead.

  Hudson freaking Banks.

  I can’t believe I haven’t recognized him from the corporate gala event Dad threw a year or so back. Of course, back then I was too busy hating our Dad for dragging us to his stupid event and too busy sulking in the corner with a book to bother being introduced to anyone.

  Anyone like Hudson Banks. One of “The Guys” my father is always palling around with in whatever conflict zone he’s in this week. The charm suddenly looks more like smugness to me. The cool confidence now arrogance as I realize that this is one of the people it seems my father would rather spend time with than his own family at his own home.

  Hudson frowns a little, seeing the way my smile falls from my face, and he opens his perfect mouth to say something when suddenly something blonde and loud crashes into him. “Heeey baaabe.”

  I can see him wince, and see his jaw tense up, and I almost have to grin at his discomfort. I mean I thought my dress was a little too flirty for the occasion, but this girl looks like she might be a stripper.

  “Hiii, I’m Chastity.” She says, sticking out a hand covered in tacky looking jewelry with big fake nails.

  Ok, I take it back, this girl is definitely a stripper. I can’t even help but let the grin spread across my cheeks as I see the frown deepen on his. Whatever charm he was trying to work on me - and I refuse to admit that it was; working, that is - is now being totally shattered by this bimbo, and that thought is extremely amusing to me in that moment.

  Hudson clears his throat. “So, uh, you’re going to be in New York for college in the fall I hear?”

  I’m momentarily confused how he knows that, but I nod. “Yeah, Columbia. It was that or Cornell, but I really liked the idea of being in the city-”

  “Oh my God.” Hudson’s stripper-date has her mouth wide open, her eyes glazed as she shakes her head at me. “I totally gave up corn too. It has so many carbs it’s like crazy, am I right?”

  Wow.

  I can see Hudson’s eyes flash as he cringes, and it only makes me grin even more and nod enthusiastically at her. “That’s, uh, yeah that’s terrific. Good for you-”

  “Chastity.” She says with a smile, holding out her hand as if we didn’t just do this thirty seconds before. “Like the virtue.”

  I almost lose it completely. You just can’t make this stuff up, folks.

  Hudson clears his throat again, as if trying to clear how awkward an encounter this is. “Well, I’m in the city too you know, and I’d be happy to show you around sometime.”

  Oh, yeah, definitely, I think to myself Maybe we could go watch Chastity’s pole routine or something.

  What are you, jealous? I frown, quickly burying the voice in my head and the totally ludicrous notion that I could possibly feel jealousy involving a guy I’ve just met, who I already sort of hate just on principle.

  “Babe, I’m gonna go powder my nose, ok?” Chastity makes an exaggerated pantomime that even I get as a cocaine reference despite having never done drugs, before she giggles. “Oh, can I get my phone?”

  Hudson grits his teeth, clearly totally uncomfortable with this whole scenario as he slips his hand into his jacket pocket and pulls out her cellphone. It’s when the two little nip bottles of scotch fall out and hit the grass under our feet that his face falls, he groans.

  “That’s, uh, that’s not what it-” He looks up at me, his gorgeous blue eyes darting around my face as if they’re searching for something, and for the briefest of moments, I want to be that something.

  But this is Hudson Banks for crying out loud. Despite that charm and those eyes and that cocky, winning smile, this is the very last man on Earth I need to be anything for or with.

  “It was nice to meet you Hudson.” I say with a thin smile. He opens his mouth again, but I’m already walking quickly away, trying to convince myself not to turn around.

  P R E S E N T

  My heart is pounding as I slam the door shut to my room. I’m pacing the floor, the blood roaring in my ears and hot across my face as I bring one of my fingers to my lips and chew at the cuticle. A habit I’ve been trying to kick since I was a kid.

  Shit. I just walked in on Hudson totally naked with those absolutely insane abs, those grooved muscles of his hips and that holy-fucking-shit HUGE cock. I can feel the blush bloom hotter through my face as I think of that particular part of him again. The part that had me staring and frozen like I was under a spell of some kind. It’s the part of him that has me wetter than I’ve ever been as the mental image of it sears itself into my brain.

  I’m used to living alone, but I can’t believe I just barged in through a closed bathroom door. And I stayed! Why on earth hadn’t I just turned on my heels and bolted as soon as I’d seen him, instead of staring at him and his- his cock like I was some sort of sex-starved, tongue-tied weirdo! And what was I thinking letting him get that close to me, so close that I actually felt him against my thigh like that.

  ‘Say the word, Reagan’

  My breath comes shaking as the desire floods through me, and I stop pacing to lean my forehead against the door. I have no idea where I possibly found the ability to say no, and as I feel my pulse throbbing in my ears and between my legs, I almost wish I could go back in time and try a different answer.

  “Reagan.”

  The knock at my door makes me jump, makes my heart leap into my throat. “Go away, Hudson.” I croak out. It takes every ounce of my control to keep my voice level and not betray the quaver I’m trying so hard to contain. “And learn to lock the damn door!”

  I can hear him growl in the hallway. “Will you just open this one and we can ta-”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.” My eyes are clenched tightly, my fingers digging into my palms as I chew at my lip, not sure if I want to will him to walk away or break the door down and take me right here and now. I can hear him swear under his breath on the other side of the door and then I jump at the sound of a palm slamming flat against the doorframe.

  “Damnit, Reagan, open-”

  “There’s nothing to talk about, Hudson.” I saw quietly. “Just lock the door next time.”

  Please don’t ask me to open this door again or I know I will, I think, chewing at my lip with my eyes closed tight. I’m so close to the edge that I know if he asks me again, there’s no way I’ll be able to say no. I clench my eyes closed even tighter, feeling my body shiver with desire and feeling the heat pulsing between my legs. Please, ask me-

  The door to the guest room slamming shut down the hallway makes me jump, and I let my breath out suddenly, realizing I’ve been holding it. I count to three, and then ten, and then fifty before I open my door. I poke my head out to see that the hallways is clear, before I slip out and pad barefoot to the bathroom.

  It’s still steamy in here from him, though I gue
ss he never got a chance to take a shower before I barged in. There’s a bottle of aftershave lying on the sink next to a razor, and before I can stop myself, I’m holding the bottle to my nose and smelling his scent. Letting it fill my senses as the steam of the room swirls around me.

  His aftershave hasn’t changed, and the smell instantly has me back there, back where we came so close. His hands are on me again, pushing me against the stone behind us as he kisses me. His hardness pressing hotly against my thigh through his pants.

  I blush crimson, knowing that as of seven minutes ago, I know exactly what that hardness looks like.

  I shake my head to clear it as I reach to turn on the water, trying to shake him out of my thoughts. The aftershave hasn’t changed, and as much as I want to think the man who wears it has with this whole new sober, healthy, helpful and positive Hudson, I know it’s just a new facade. People don’t change, not like that.

  But when I step under the hot spray of the water, he’s still in my head. All of him. And as much as I want him gone from my thoughts, as the water teases electrically over my skin, the vivid image of his rock-hard body and his big cock standing a foot away from where I stand now invade every corner of my brain.

  I’m wet. Far wetter than I’d be just from standing under a shower head, and before I can stop it, I’m pushing my hands down over my hips and over my stomach, and sliding them lower. My fingers roll over my aching clit, making me gasp quietly as I lean my forehead against the tile wall. A moan as soft as the steam rising around me escapes my lips as I rub myself there, picturing Hudson standing hot and ripped and naked right in front of me, so close that I can feel the heat from his body, and then closer still as I feel the throbbing heat of his erection press against my thigh.

  I picture myself letting him go further then, instead of pushing him away like I did. His mouth is on mine, sliding down to suck one of my nipples into his mouth before he slides lower still until he’s sliding his tongue deep into my wetness as I buck against his mouth. I moan again, louder this time as I slide a finger over my entrance and push it inside. I’m squeezing my eyes shut tight, already feeling myself start to tumble as I rock my hips to grind my clit against the palm of my hand as I picture Hudson wrapping my legs around his muscled waist and sliding that big, hard-

  The bathroom door slams open. “Is my toothbrush-”

  “Hudson!” But it’s not a cry of anger or shock, or even surprise. It’s me crying out his name as I come. And gasping out his name as my body begins to shatter pushes me tumbling over that sweet edge as my climax explodes through me.

  “I- uh-” His voice is choked, and as I look up through the semi-frosted clear shower curtain, I see him staring at me as he backs out of the room. “Sorry.”

  The door shuts, and I slump against the wall, feeling like I want to turn to liquid and let the water pelting down on top of me carry me right down the drain along with it.

  It’s a frosted shower curtain, so- no, there’s no way-

  The water and the steam swirl around me as I slide to my knees in the tub and curl my legs up to my chin as I rock myself. He couldn’t have. God he couldn't have.

  Chapter Ten

  Hudson

  P A S T

  “Here, drink up.”

  Rob from accounting slides me a glass of amber liquid, and I wonder for the ninth time why the fuck I came out to a damn club tonight. To blend in, I guess? To go out with some of the ‘guys from the office’ and be a normal person maybe? In any case, this is going from a stupid to a terrible idea really fast as I find myself staring at the glass in front of me with the hunger of a man who hasn’t eaten in a year.

  Some people keep a medallion of some kind around like some sort of stupid talisman or lucky charm that they can attach themselves to when they start to feel weak about relapsing.

  I carry the bullet they pulled out of my shoulder in my pocket.

  I smile at Rob and Hiro, and some guy who’s name I’m pretty sure is Mike. “Naw, I’m good, thanks though man.”

  Hiro frowns at me. “You did see the year on that bottle this shit came out of right?”

  I force out a laugh. “Yeah, looks like good stuff.” It looks like mana from the Gods and I want to guzzle the whole fucking bottle, but I can’t do that you fucking pricks.

  Rob looks at me quizzically. “Wait, are you really not gonna drink it? Seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously. Thanks though.”

  “Dude, just have a fuckin drink.” Probably-Mike says, sipping on the scotch in his hand.

  “I said fucking no, ok?” I clench my fists, feeling the rage hit me harder than I was thinking it would. I need some new fucking friends.

  They all give me strange looks and I shake my head. “Sorry, I’ve just got a long day tomorrow at work.”

  That seems to be the magic word as Rob nods empathetically. “Old Man Archer got you working on the West Side Highway project huh?”

  No, actually I’m just distracted by the fact that I can’t get Old Man Archer’s DAUGHTER out of my fucking head for even a second.

  “Mhmm, yeah, it’s a doozy.”

  There’s a tap on my shoulder, and I turn to see one-hundred-twenty pounds of sex just staring at me with dark brown eyes and a hot pink dress. “Hey, you wanna dance?”

  She’s hot, she’s dressed up, she’s smiling at me like that and batting those eyes. Why not? Hey, a man’s gotta have some vices, and it’s not drinking, right?

  “Uh, sure.”

  And then we’re out in the heat and the sweat of the throngs of peoples dancing and moving to the thumping bass on the dance floor, and I’m just not feeling it. She’s all over me, her hands on my biceps as she tries to grind on me, and instead of getting turned on it’s just putting me off in a major way.

  “Look, just stop.”

  She looks at me like doesn’t hear what I said and leans in to try and kiss me. I push her back and hold her there with my hands on her arms. “I said stop.”

  She pouts. “Awww, you’re no fun.”

  “Ok.” I turn and start to push my way through the crowd when she grabs my hand. “Hey, lets just get out of here instead. I’ve got plenty to drink at my place.”

  Ok, this girl is seriously asking me to come home with her, I’m seriously about to say no, and I’m starting to wonder if there is seriously something wrong with me. “No, thanks.”

  She looks at me like I’m totally nuts, which I can’t exactly disagree with her on at that particular junction. “Well fuck you then, prick.”

  Yeah, fuck me, right?

  The guys I came with are out trying to score on the dance floor, so I just pay their tab as a goodbye before I just leave.

  Out on the street, I breathe, fingering the metal slug in my pocket and feeling the sharp tug of the addiction demons grabbing at my fucking throat. Me, Hudson Banks, turning down no-strings sex with a hot girl. Something is definitely throwing the world and reality as we know it out of whack.

  I take out my phone and scroll through my contacts until I see her name. This is why the world is off it’s axis, I think as I stare at Reagan Archer’s number.

  Fuck, this is a bad idea.

  P R E S E N T

  It’s hours later, and I’m still rock hard. All I can think about - the only possible real thought going through my head at all actually - is the memory of her calling my name like that.

  Jesus. I mean I couldn't totally see through the curtain, but I could enough that I can assume what she was doing, and assuming is enough to have me going out of my mind right now. It’s not just the way she said my name like that either, it’s knowing what she was doing, naked with that hot water steaming over her perfect skin, trickling over her hot body when she did say it.

  It’s knowing that she was uttering my name when she came, and that thought has kept me hard for hours since.

  I tried fixing the situation myself - by hand, if you will. I tried wrapping my hand around my throbbing hard cock and stroking it
as I imagined Reagan’s perfect pouty lips wrapping around my dick. I tried to imagine that insane body of hers sliding down onto me, my cock sliding hotly through her wetness as she came for me - on me - calling my name.

  But it wasn't the same, not by a damn mile, and I just couldn't do it with being pissed at it not being the real thing.

  The apartment, completely unsurprisingly, has been silent since; like, pin-drop quiet. And I’m willing to bet she’d down the hall doing the exact same thing I am - sitting on a bed staring at a wall trying to get thoughts together enough to think about what the hell we do now.

  What we had before? Yeah, they call that sexual tension. Now? I don’t think they have a name for whatever the fuck falls between sexual tension and fucking, but Goddamn if it isn’t so damn tense that I feel like I’m about to snap.

  I’m on my feet in a second. I can’t just stay in this tiny fucking guest room anymore. Her door is still closed when I go to the living room and turn on some mindless movie, though I think I hear the quietest intake of breath in the world as I walk past her door.

  I want to leave, well, sort of. I want to give her space is more accurate. I don’t want to leave at all, but something tells me Reagan will stay in her room indefinitely until I do. I whip out my phone and text my office to get two of my guys to come watch the place tonight so I can get the fuck out of here. So I can clear the air of whatever just happened back there.

  “Sorry for walking in on you.”

  Her voice makes me jump, and I’m amazed at how I never heard her coming. “Reagan-”

  “I’m sorry for walking in on you.” She repeats herself, her voice level and quite, her face neutral, as if she never said it the first time at all.

  “I- I’m sorry too, for, walking in on-”

  For walking in on you with your fingers buried in that sweet pussy that I’d love to cover with my mouth and lick until you couldn’t see straight is what I want to say. I don’t obviously, but it doesn’t stop me from congratulating myself on being such a smooth talker.