Remind Me

by Ann Marie Walker

  Allie came to her rescue. “Two Sucker Punches, please.” As soon as he was out of earshot she jumped on the chance to tease her tongue-tied friend. “Harper Hayes, speechless. Never thought I’d see the day.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Harper grumbled. Her cheeks were rosy pink as she reached for her glass. “He just caught me off guard, that’s all. They should tell him not to sneak up on people like that.” She finished off the rest of her cocktail and plucked the strawberry garnish from the edge of the glass. Allie could almost see the wheels turning as Harper regained her composure. “I’m going to give him my number,” she announced.

  The waiter returned a few minutes later with two oversize hurricane glasses on his tray. The size alone assured Allie the drinks would live up to their name, but when she tried a sip she knew she was in trouble. The fruity concoction was far too delicious considering the pleasant buzz she was already feeling. She stirred the drink with her straw, watching in awe as Harper jotted her number on a napkin and slipped it into the waiter’s hand. Allie shook her head. She could never be as daring as Harper. Then again, she’d had a pretty daring afternoon.

  Images filtered through her mind. Hudson’s body pinning hers against the mirror . . . his warm breath fanning out across her neck . . . his fingers teasing and taunting before sending her spiraling over the edge . . .

  “So what’s the real scoop with you and Mr. Hottie from the party?” Harper asked as if reading her wayward thoughts.

  Allie tried to hide her blush behind her glass, needing a moment to regroup before once again denying any interest in the man who’d brought her to orgasm during her lunch hour. In a dressing room. At Macy’s. Dear lord. She tipped the glass higher, practically gulping her cocktail.

  “He seems like a man who knows his way around a bedroom and would be more than happy to give you a tour.”

  Allie choked on her drink.

  Harper sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh my God, you slept with him.” It was a statement, not a question, and one Allie knew there was no point in denying. The proof was all over her face, not to mention spilled halfway down her blouse.

  She wiped her chin with the back of her hand. “A little louder, Harper. I don’t think the valet heard you.”

  “Sorry. It’s just . . . I don’t know, you’ve always been so reserved. You’re not exactly the type to get down and dirty with someone you just met.”

  “We didn’t just meet.”

  Harper paused with her drink in midair. “Come again?”

  “We knew each other a long time ago, when we were teenagers.”

  “I thought he grew up in Michigan?”

  Allie raised a brow. Clearly she wasn’t the only one who’d done a bit of research on Mr. Chase.

  “What?” Harper feigned innocence. “I was curious.”

  “My parents and a few of their friends rented houses up on Lake Charlevoix the summer before I left for college. I met Hudson on the water taxi the day we arrived.”

  “Summer romance at the yacht club?”

  Already feeling a bit warm and fuzzy, Allie reached for her drink. “Hardly. Hudson worked at the pier. He drove the water taxi.”

  “And Dick and Vicky were okay with their daughter dating the hired help?”

  “They never knew.”

  “You were able to keep it a secret?”

  Allie nodded as she sipped on her straw. “From everyone. We spent the whole summer together and no one ever knew. Well, except for his little brother.”

  “That is so romantic, like Romeo and Juliet,” Harper said.

  “You do know they died in the end, don’t you?”

  Harper frowned. “You know what I mean. So how did it start? Did he slip you a note or something?”

  “A note? Seriously?” Allie shook her head. Harper had to stop reading so many Nicholas Sparks novels.

  “Whatever. Finish the story.”

  “I saw him again that night. My friends had heard about a bonfire at one of the mainland beaches and Hudson was there with a few of the other townies. At first I thought he was a cocky little jerk just like the rest of them. They were awful. It started out simple enough, a few whistles, some rude comments from behind beer bottles. But after awhile one of them started to hassle us. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, started pawing at me. Hudson knocked him on his ass.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “We ended up talking for hours that night, just walking on the beach.” She smiled at the memory. “I’d never met anyone like him.”

  “So what happened?”

  “The last time I saw him was on the water taxi. I was stuck playing tour guide to some kid whose dad was doing business with mine. Hudson got the wrong idea, thought I’d chosen the yacht club guy over him.”

  “Why didn’t you just explain the sitch?”

  “At the time, I didn’t know that’s what he’d assumed. But that’s only half of it. My parents were on the boat that night, too. I was so scared they’d find out about us. I thought if I even looked at him, my mother would see right through me.” Allie took a deep breath. “I ignored him completely. Acted like I didn’t even know him.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I wanted to apologize, but I never got the chance. The next day my dad had some crisis at work and we headed back to Chicago a week early.” Allie’s throat tightened. “I never saw him again.”

  Harper got a wistful look in her eye. “And now here you are, ten years later, like it was meant to be.” Her dreamlike state, no doubt the result of reading far too many romance novels, baffled Allie. This wasn’t a Lifetime movie. It was her life. A life, she might add, that included wedding invitations that were already in the mail. It was too late to start wondering “what if.”

  When Harper finally snapped out of her trance, a wicked smile spread across her face. “He was good, wasn’t he? Like, multiple orgasm good.”

  “Harper!”

  “Don’t bother denying it. I’d bet my next paycheck that man knows “ladies first” isn’t just something you say when holding a door open.”

  Allie’s face heated. “No comment.”

  “He’s probably a little kinky, too.” Harper leaned forward. “Did he tie you up?”

  Allie’s mouth dropped open in shock. So much for Nicholas Sparks, she’d gone right to Fifty Shades. “We are so not having this discussion.”

  “Oh, c’mon! At least tell me if it was worth the wait. Shit, after ten years of foreplay you two must have been ready to combust.”

  Allie couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s just say if I’d known what I was missing back then, I might not have spent so much time saying no.”

  “I knew it!” Harper grinned. “Although I gotta say, didn’t think you had it in you to take on two men at once.”

  “I’m not . . .” Allie lowered her voice. “I’m not taking on two men. I haven’t been with Julian since he got back from New York.”

  “Really? How’d you managed to keep the Count at arm’s length?”

  “Julian,” she said, emphasizing his actual name, “stayed at his hotel all week.”

  “He seems to be doing that a lot lately.”

  “I may have given him the impression my period started a few days early,” Allie muttered into her glass.

  “And let me guess, Prince Prissy Pants has a problem with a little blood?”

  Realizing that correcting Harper was a waste of time, she ignored the term of endearment. “He thinks women are too emotional to begin with. Can’t deal with all the drama.”

  “What you see in that man besides his great hair is beyond me.”

  The waiter appeared at the table, his gazed trained on Harper. “Would you like another Sucker Punch?” he asked. “Or maybe a Screaming Orgasm?”

  Oh. My. God. He had to be kidding. Although judging by the way Harper was batting her eyelashes at him, the lame pickup line was actually working. Quite well.

  “Just the check, please,” Allie said, meeting Harper’s scowl as th
e waiter turned to leave. “Don’t look at me like that. We both have work tomorrow.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  Allie dug through her purse, looking for her wallet. “Pay the bill and put us each in a cab.”

  “I mean about the Tempting Tycoon.”

  Honest to God, the nicknames! Allie opened her mouth, intending to change the subject with some pithy reply, but then closed it again. She considered her answer for a long moment, and in the end, simply spoke the truth. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  And there it was, the doubt she’d been denying since Hudson first kissed her in his office. Apparently two lemon drop martinis and something called a Sucker Punch were all it took to shine a big old spotlight on the truth. She almost laughed in spite of herself. If Hudson only knew. Then again, he did a pretty good job of breaking down her defenses without the help of three lethal cocktails.

  Harper was suddenly serious. It was almost unnerving. “Are you going to see him again?

  “He wants me to come to his penthouse tomorrow night, but I haven’t made up my mind.”

  “Look, Julian is in France for the next two weeks. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to sort this whole mess out. But I’ve got news for you: you’ll never be able to do that until you figure out what’s going on between you and Hudson. You need to talk.” She raised a brow. “And I don’t mean horizontally.”

  Allie chewed on her bottom lip. “So you think I should go tomorrow?”

  “What I think is that this thing with Julian happened really fast. You owe it to yourself to be sure. You’re not married yet, Alessandra, and if that message was any indication, the Duke of Bullshit sure as hell knows it.”

  Allie sipped the last of her cocktail while considering her friend’s advice. She hated to admit it, but Harper was right. The only way she was going to be able to move forward was to resolve her feelings for Hudson Chase. Once and for all.

  She stared into her empty glass. Her mind buzzed with scattered thoughts and unanswered questions, but one thing was clear: she had to see him again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hudson watched Allie move through his living room. His every sense heightened; his hands fisted with a growing, never sated desire. Despite his fear that she would destroy him again, his body ached with a craving that beat out any idea of self-preservation. It was taking everything he had to not drag that beautiful body down to the floor and fuck her with every bit of primal instinct to make her his.

  His gaze slid over every inch of her, noting the way her dress clung to his favorite curves, before finally settling on the back of her neck as she arched over the Fazioli piano. She let her fingers skate over the ivories, then looked up, meeting his stare reflected in the window. The predator in him awoke, stretching, unfurling its muscles with graceful fluidity. He wet his lips and locked his eyes to hers as he leisurely stalked toward her. “I thought you’d never get here.”

  Allie turned to face him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes luminous. “I wasn’t sure I was going to come.”

  He came to a stop in front of her and swept her hair off her shoulder. “Oh, I hope so.” He dipped his head and pressed his lips to the curve of her neck. “If you’ll let me, I’ll show you a hundred ways, if not more.” He brushed his nose along her throat to her ear. “I want to learn what pleases you.” His lips trailed along her jaw until his mouth hovered over hers. “Will you let me do that?”

  Lust pulsed between them. Allie grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head down and crushing his mouth against hers. With a growl that was more animal than man, his hand locked to the base of her neck and his tongue shot between her lips, taking her mouth like he was going to take the rest of her; hard and deep.

  There was no denying what he wanted. He’d never stopped wanting her. He couldn’t stop. He’d only pushed his feelings for her to the darkest recesses of his mind where they’d rolled around like a grenade with its pin out.

  Hudson backed her against the glass wall, the Chicago rush-hour traffic whizzing below them. His hands slid down her arms, lifting them above her head. He cuffed her wrists with one hand, pinning them to the glass as the other moved between her legs. His fingers brushed over her panties before tearing through the lace with deft fingers, shredding them from the place that was his to claim. Only his.

  Her head thudded back and her body arched against his chest as his fingers slid through the slickness, spreading the moisture over her sex. “I’ve barely touched you. See how your body responds to me, Alessandra.” Mouth-to-mouth tight, his breath fanned across her lips. “So wet. So ready.”

  Her hips tilted into his sensuous strokes. “It’s not fair what you do to me.”

  Sinking a finger inside her, he felt her clench helplessly around him. “Who said anything about being fair?” In a deliberate move, he palmed her ass and urged her legs around his waist. A groan vibrated up his throat from the pressure of her making his cock punch to its full length.

  Hudson ground his mouth against hers, marking his territory in a possessive kiss, swallowing her moans as their tongues slid over each other. He stepped away from the wall and the heel of her shoe dug into his ass with a satisfying lick of pain. She rocked against his now pounding erection and he hissed.

  Faltering, he threw an arm out, catching himself on the piano. His hand gripped Allie’s waist as her ass hit the keys in a jarring chord. “I’m dying to be inside you.”

  “Yes,” she said, more breath than voice as he dragged his open mouth down her throat. “Now, Hudson. I want you.”

  His name sounded perfect rolling off her tongue. He shoved the skirt of her dress around her waist and with dexterous fingers ripped open his button fly. He stretched her leg up and the sight of her, glistening and open for him, had his cock twitching on the edge of an orgasm.

  “I want to take my time, but I can’t wait.” Curling the end of his spine, he thrust into her hard and fast, pushing her back against the piano.

  Allie’s head fell back on a cry. “Yes.”

  He pulled out, his body straining as pleasure coursed through him, then pushed into her again, rotating his hips and sinking deeper. “Fuck . . . Allie.” His fingers dug into her thigh as he glanced down to where they were joined. He could see himself moving in and out of her, watching the head of his cock make an appearance before pushing deep again.

  Allie’s body writhed against him with each possessive thrust. Her legs began to tremble and her hands clutched wildly at the keys. Disjointed notes vibrated beneath her, mingling with the sounds of his hunger as the spasms of her orgasm squeezed him in an alternating rhythm. Her knees buckled and Hudson banded an arm around her as she slipped off the piano and into his lap.

  “I have more for you,” he rasped over her lips. Still buried inside her, he laid Allie out on the wood floor. “You’re going to come for me again.” With that he arched over her, fusing their mouths together as he pounded into her in relentless, measured drives.

  “I want to feel you.” She slipped her hands under his T-shirt, running her fingers over the muscles flexing beneath his skin.

  Hudson’s tempo slowed. Rearing up, he fisted the back of his shirt, yanked it over his head, and tossed it aside. He came back down over Allie, her legs wrapping around him as she shoved her hands under the waistband of his jeans to grip his flexing ass.

  “Don’t stop,” she said, rocking her hips up to meet his thrusts.

  “Not a chance in hell.” He was a man undone, too impassioned to be gentle. His fingers tightened in her hair, holding her in place as he stroked in and out. Bracing his feet, and with a lithe surge, he leveraged against the floor as his body rolled over hers.

  He took her again in a bruising kiss, his tongue filling her mouth. One hand curled around the nape of her neck while the other fell to the back of her thigh. His movements became faster, thrusts more powerful, as they slid together as one across the polished floor.

  “Come on, Allie, give it to me,” he sa
id, each word punctuated on a breath.

  Her thighs tightened around him as her climax plowed through her. A groan vibrated up the back of Hudson’s throat, mixing with Allie’s cries as his hips powered into her. “Ah, God, Allie.” He pressed his forehead against her as he came hard and long.

  They lay nose-to-nose as their collective breathing slowed. After a moment, Allie craned her neck and he followed her gaze to find the couch rising like a wall behind her. She looked back at him and started to laugh.

  Hudson tossed a lingering stare over his shoulder at the piano, then smirked down at her. “Thoroughly fucked across the room, Miss Sinclair.”

  “Beautiful piano. How long have you played?”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then why do you have one?”

  “Because that’s what rich people do. Buy things they don’t need.” He sat up in a fluid movement and cradled Allie between his legs.

  She looked up at him incredulously. “So you have a Fazioli grand piano in your home that has never been played?”

  “Except by your ass.”

  Her brow arched. “That’s a very expensive piano to have only been played by my ass.”

  “Worth every fucking cent.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hudson knew he was in a dream, because for a split second he was happy. Then the gun went off. And all he saw was red. The horror of the nightmare unfolded before him, clear as the first time he’d had it as a child and every time since. He fell to his knees, the threads of his jeans drinking the crimson liquid as it spread around him. He couldn’t move, and in his body’s paralysis, fear ripped through him. Someone was screaming.

  No, crying.

  Nick’s tearstained face contorted in terror as hands pulled him out of Hudson’s reach, his shoes squeaking on the floor as they dragged him away.

  Hudson curled his fists and punched them into the mattress as he shot up. His breathing was ragged. Shit, his heart was pounding so hard against his chest. He whipped the sheets away from his naked body; there was nothing red staining his knees. He bent his legs toward his chest, planted his elbows on his knees, and dropped his head into his hands, wishing like hell this panicked, helpless feeling would go away. This attachment to his guilt and the familiar litany of shame sank bone deep.