Accidental Abduction (Masked Men of Sage Springs #1)

Chapter Fifteen

Hudson

The sound of running water lingered somewhere in my subconscious as I stretched against the sheets beneath me, reaching across the mattress for her warm body. My fingers were met with cold cotton, the only proof that I went to bed wrapped around a beautiful woman was the scent of her lingering on the pillow beside my face. She must have gotten a new shampoo, and the scent just made me hungrier to lose myself in her soft, curvy body again.

Blinking, my blind search was confirmed when I opened my eyes to empty sheets next to me, a sliver of bright light streaming around the edge of the curtains and illuminating the dim room. The sound of the generator hummed outside, and I shifted across the mattress to pull open the curtains.

White stretched as far as my eyes could see, snow covered tree trunks sprouting out from the fresh untouched powder. There had to be at least a foot covering the ground, if not more, and I was thankful I’d had the foresight to stock the cabin in case we couldn’t leave. Because the last time we got a foot up here, I had to dig the gravel driveway out by hand once we knew the main road had been cleared.

It was early for this much snow, so the county wouldn’t necessarily have the best response with plowing. Especially when I know I saw most of the plow drivers at the bar last night tying one on. I doubted they’d be too motivated to get around to plowing this far up the mountain until tomorrow…or maybe even the next day. They tried to get all the streets in town cleared before they headed up the treacherous mountain pass.

The knowledge we’d be trapped here for days with limited electricity had filthy scenarios wandering through my brain, imagining all the ways I could use her body to bring us both pleasure.

Her submission to my lead had been completely unexpected, and it was freeing to let all the fleeting intrusive thoughts I’d previously had during sex take the wheel. This whole role-play situation may not have been my idea initially, but I was embracing the sense of freedom that had blossomed inside me.

The way our bodies moved together, and how she responded to me was completely different than before. I was afraid that in the light of day, the changes between us would fade away and we would be right back where we were a few days ago. Not knowing where to move forward from this.

Phenomenally dirty sex wasn’t going to solve the problems, but hopefully, it’d show the path forward.

The pipes squealed as the water turned off, gentle feminine humming carrying through the mostly closed door. I smiled at the sound, knowing that my performance last night might be the cause of her good mood.

Rising from the bed, I padded across the cold wooden floor and rested my hand against the door. I didn’t want to disturb her morning routine, but I also wasn’t sure if she knew to look under the sink for the emergency lantern, so she wouldn’t have to be in there in the dark.

After listening to her happily hum for a few more moments, the sudden need to touch her overcame me, and I pushed lightly, the door slowly creaking open.

“Shit!” she shrieked, my hand immediately meeting resistance as she pushed back against me.

“Are you alright?” I chuckled, wanting her to let me in so I could wrap her in my arms and drag her back to bed with me.

“Fine! I’m fine!” she yelled; her voice pitched high. The door clicked shut and the sound of the lock engaging made me laugh .

“You don’t need to lock me out, I’ve seen it all before.” My comment was met with silence, so I continued on. “And I’d like to see it again. Don’t bother getting dressed, I don’t want anything getting in my way.”

After no response, I sat down on the edge of the bed, bracing my forearms on my thighs as I waited for her to come out.

“Did you fall in?” I yelled, expecting her to charge through the door with her hands on her hips, but that was not what happened.

The lock disengaged and the door slowly swung open. It was nearly pitch-black inside, but I could see the shadowy outline of the lantern on the counter.

She stood there in the shadows, her face not visible, but the thin strip of light from the window showed her nervously shifting her legs together.

“Everything okay?”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up when she didn’t respond, and I almost expected her to lunge at me like this was the beginning of a bad zombie apocalypse movie.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” I whispered, recalling how rough I’d been with her once we’d gotten to the cabin.

“No.” Her voice was a soft, but there was something about it that had me sitting up straighter and pulling the corner of the blanket over my lap.

Before she even took one step, I knew my life was going to be forever changed from this moment forward.

“It looks worse than it is.”

Guilt crashed through me as she took a step into the sliver of light, pinkish red scratches winding up her shins and skating across her knees. Another step and her wrists were visible, angry marks marring her skin.

I was so busy cataloging each new mark that I was caught off guard when her face came into view.

“Holy fuck!” I shouted, scooting away from her, up the mattress, pulling the comforter across my crotch. It would have been understandable for my morning wood to wither at the sight of my little sister’s best friend standing there in nothing but a worn T-shirt, but it taunted me beneath the material while I was freaking the fuck out. “What the fuck are you doing here? Did you and Hazel follow us up here last night? Why are you in my bathroom?”

She paused, her mouth hanging open, my traitorous cock practically waving at her from beneath the covers. This was bad. This was so fucking bad.

“I think you know who brought me up here,” she said quietly, but my eyes still widened at the way the corner of her mouth turned up. I’d seen that smirk aimed at me countless times across a worn bar top, but never while she was only wearing my shirt, covered in bruises that I’d left on her skin in a moment of passion so intense I was afraid I imagined it.

“Why aren’t you wearing more clothes?” I yelled, knowing that her flimsy costume was currently in a pile on the floor next to my bed and on the floor in the kitchen where I’d...

“Because your shirt was the easiest thing for me to grab.”

“Go find some fucking clothes, Char! For fuck’s sake. Don’t just stand there half naked!”

Her chest shook as she watched me scramble to pull the blankets to cover more of my naked body. I tried not to ogle her, but she looked so sensuous standing there with her hair down in chaotic blonde waves, tipped with teal dye.

“I thought your hair was fucking purple?”

She bent over at the waist as she let out a laugh, and I slapped my hand over my eyes when I got an eyeful of her naked tits through the neckline of my V-neck shirt.

“Go!” I shouted, pointing blindly in the direction of the door. “Go find something to cover that up. You’re practically fucking naked. Fuck!”

“I don’t have anything but my costume to wear,” she responded, her voice calm, but I could tell she was entertained by my panic.

“Hazel has shit in her room. Hell, go find something of mom’s and put it on. The more skin covered, the better.”

“Like you said,” she teased. “You’ve seen all of it before. ”

“For fuck’s sake, Charley. Now is not the time to make jokes. Just go. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

Once I’ve appropriately freaked the fuck out.

I pulled down my hand and watched her scurry out the door, my shirt riding high on the backs of her thighs, a bruise in the shape of my teeth peeking out the bottom. It took all my self-control not to follow her. Not to pin her to the wall and demand answers. But I couldn’t be in the same fucking room with her right now.

Once I heard the door down the hallway close, I yanked off the covers, my fingers flexing as I tried to ignore the problem that hadn’t abated below my waist.

I should have been worried that I’d clearly just fucked my little sister’s best friend and then spent the night wrapped around her naked body because of Vivienne, but honestly that wasn’t why I was so thrown.

And I should have felt guilty, but I didn’t. Because when it came down to it, I’d gone to that party as a single man. And I’d pursued a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman I probably should have never laid my hands on. But now that I had...

I wasn’t sure if I could ever look at her the same way again. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Charley had been in my life off and on for over a decade. She was my little sister’s best friend. I shouldn’t know what she looked like with her lips wrapped around my cock.

I shouldn’t know what the sexy whimpers that she couldn’t hold back while her pussy was milking my fingers sounded like. I shouldn’t know what it felt like to have her tits in my hands and her hard nipples between my fingers and pressing against my tongue.

I shouldn’t know what it felt like to slide into her body and know that it’d never ever once felt that good to be inside a woman.

And I sure as fuck shouldn’t know that there was a deep, hungry, primal part of myself that wanted to do it all again.

My cock flexed as I walked into the bathroom, and I glared at the traitorous appendage. “This is your fault. ”

The emergency lantern cast ominous shadows across the small room, the mirror still covered in the condensation that had built up while Charley had been in the shower. Naked. Wet. Running her fingers over the marks I’d left on her body because I’d craved seeing a fleeting reminder of what it felt like to touch her last night like some craved the high of a drug.

“Fucking hell,” I cursed as I used my palm to clear the mirror, staring into my face.

While my mind felt overwhelmed, my face looked relaxed, the bags that were usually dark underneath my eyes softened and my eyes looking brighter than I’d seen them in months.

Running my hand through my chaotic hair, I tried to resist the urge to turn. But I failed, taking in the long scratches that covered my lower back from her nails. And I also failed to block out the way it’d felt to have her hands on me, to have her lips on me—just as hungry for me as I was for her.

That kind of animalistic attraction was rare, and if I was completely honest with myself. I’d never felt it before...not until last night.

Even when I’d pulled her against me on the dance floor, I felt the electric spark, and it’d just built exponentially with every touch until I’d filled the condom—I’d thankfully put on last night—with my cum.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Charley, but the last thing I needed right now was to accidentally kidnap my sister’s best friend and then get her pregnant.

Even though I wanted to turn the water on hot enough to scald my skin, I settled for a more tepid temperature, knowing that I needed to conserve the amount of electricity the hot water heater used from the generator.

Closing my eyes under the spray of the water, unbidden images of last night flashed through my mind. And the more that I recalled, the more I realized I should have known from the start that it was Charley I was touching .

Maybe some hidden part of myself had known and done it anyway. Maybe the attraction that I’d denied to Reid was real. Maybe I’d been unknowingly watching her for months, wanting to touch her. Maybe this attraction had started the first time I heard the creak of the bed that’d once been mine in the room above my office. And maybe I’d burned with jealousy when I heard some other man coaxing moans out of her.

Knowing I had to finish up and go face Charley, who I was going to be trapped with for the next few days, I washed my body quickly, avoiding the part of myself that was throbbing.

But the lure was too great, and I stroked myself with a desperation I couldn’t control. And when I came, it was to the thought that before we left, I wanted to come inside her again, I wanted it to be bare, and I wanted to look into her eyes when it happened—knowing it was her.

Guilt consumed me as I dried myself, only growing as I pulled open the drawers of my dresser, cursing when I realized I hadn’t replaced the clothes in it since I was in high school. After rifling through the drawers, I realized there wasn’t anything that’d fit me except for a pair of flannel pajama pants.

Knowing I’d stalled long enough, I grabbed the rumpled clothing off the floor beside my bed, and made my way to the laundry room, tossing Charley’s clothing into the washer. I passed Hazel’s bedroom on the way down the hallway, searching for my shirt on the floor, but I had a feeling Charley was still wearing it.

My suspicion was confirmed when I paused at the open kitchen door, watching her turn a pancake over on the griddle covering the gas stovetop. A full pot of coffee sat on the counter beside her with two mugs, and she already had a covered plate full of what smelled like bacon.

“Do you want chocolate chips?” she asked, not looking in my direction. I wondered if she felt the same sensation whenever I was near that I’d noticed over the last few months.

“I didn’t buy any,” I replied, leaning against the doorframe to watch her work .

She turned in my direction, flashing me a teasing wink. “I know where the secret stash is kept.”

Her eyes drifted to my bare chest, lingering in a way that I knew would turn me on if she wasn’t careful. “I thought we needed to cover up. Walking around shirtless, clearly not wearing underwear doesn’t seem like accomplishing that goal, Hudson.”

“The only T-shirts in my drawers are too tight. And I wasn’t exactly in the mood for an ugly sweater.” I was avoiding the missing underwear, because I’d wrenched it off after I’d tugged it on, deciding if she didn’t need to wear any, neither did I.

“We both know you would have put it on if you were so determined to hide from me.”

Changing the subject before I needed to hide something else from her, I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You didn’t have to cook for me.” And now I felt guilty that I hadn’t thought to feed her. It was the least I could do after what I put her through last night. But I hadn’t slept that hard in years.

“We both need to eat. Seemed selfish to only make myself something. And I wanted to.” She averted her eyes back to the pancakes, but there was no disguising the blush on her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” My voice was low, but I knew she heard me when her body stiffened, her hands dropping to grip the edge of the counter.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

In the bright sunlight streaming through the windows facing the woods behind the cabin, I scanned her body, each new visible mark adding to my guilt. “I hurt you.”

Charley ignored my comment as she transferred the pancakes to a plate, turned off the burner, slammed the spatula against the counter and turned toward me with a glare.

“Let’s get this out of the way now. I’m the one who should be apologizing for what happened. And I don’t regret a single mark you left on me last night. So, you need to quit freaking out about this because I don’t want to spend the entire weekend with you apologizing to me when you didn’t do anything wrong. ”

“Fuck. Of course I’m freaking out Char, I assaulted my little sister’s best friend.”

She reached for the plates perched on the corner of the kitchen table and my eyes widened as I noticed the condom wrapper and the broken zip ties lying in the middle of the table.

Reaching past her to grab the incriminating evidence, I balled it inside my fist, the plastic biting into my palm like it must have bitten into the fragile skin of her wrists.

She laid her hand on my bare shoulder, her touch scalding me. “Hudson. Stop. You did not assault me.”

“But I did. I thought you were…” My voice cut off abruptly, and I lowered my voice, turning in her direction. “But you weren’t, and I never asked for consent or…”

“Do you honestly think I would’ve run into the woods behind the bar and let just anyone chase me?” she asked, her fingers lingering on my skin before she pulled her hand away.

“But you didn’t know it was me. And now Hazel is going to think someone kidnapped you and call the police. Then they’re going to arrest me and…”

“Take a fucking breath, Hudson. Hazel knows I’m with you. I texted her last night when you went back into the bar. I saw the mask in the backpack on your desk when I dropped off my tips. I knew it was you from the beginning. And it’s not like the tattoos on your hands wouldn’t have been a dead giveaway.”

“You knew it was me?” A part of me was relieved, that she hadn’t been that naive to put herself into a potentially dangerous situation like that. But the other part of me was floored. Why hadn’t she said anything?

“Duh. That’s what I just said. Keep up.” Her teasing grin shouldn’t have made my pulse race, but it did.

“And you didn’t stop me?”

She sighed as she stared down at the table, her chest rising and falling underneath my shirt before she looked back up again.

“No, at first I was a little startled, but I was also really turned on when you started whispering in my ear. ”

Arousal flooded my system, my mind immediately going to a fantasy where I grasped her waist and propped her up on the table we’d already defiled, stripping every last piece of clothing off her...

“I turned you on?” That was the part that was throwing me off. While I’d had fleeting inappropriate thoughts about her, I never imagined she would be experiencing the same thing.

“Wasn’t the first time. And hopefully won’t be the last.”

“Wait, what? I’ve turned you on before? When?”

“You’re gonna need to get me a notepad. It’s kind of a long list,” she teased, turning around and plating the food she’d made. She extended a plate in my direction like she’d just told me the weather and not that last night wasn’t the first time I’d turned her on.

I just stood there dumbfounded, refusing to fully face her because I knew the unruly appendage in my pants would give me away. “What?”

“Take this, and let’s go sit down.” Her eyes lingered on the chair I’d had her fucking zip tied to last night, my cock twitching at the memory. “On one of the couches. I don’t think my ass would like me if I sat in one of those.”

When I didn’t move, she laughed, pushing the edge of my plate into my chest. “Come on.”

Her shoulder brushed my chest as she stepped around me to walk through the door, and I suddenly had the urge to throw myself into the snow outside the back door. Because I was so hard I was afraid that my cock would never go down.