“Go slow,” he ground out, his voice thick with restraint. “I want to feel you taking every inch.”

Just the thought of him filling and stretching her made her body quiver. Then his thick head penetrated her, spreading her open, and she gasped. His hands went to her hips, guiding her descent at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Her gaze never left his. She watched him, his lips parting and his chest expanding on heavy breaths, as she lowered her body onto his. This was the connection she’d missed. This is what she’d craved all those lonely nights. When they were together like this, nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing could touch them.

His head pressed back into the seat when she’d taken him fully. He was so deep, she thought she might come from the fullness alone. Then he shifted, his hips flexing, and she knew she needed more. More friction, more of him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rose up and down in fluid movements that started slow but grew more frantic with every stroke.

“Fuck, you feel so good.” His mouth was on her, leaving a trail of searing kisses as he worked his way down her neck.

She groaned and her head fell back, offering him her aching breasts. Her hands went to his hair, her fingers twisting in the wavy locks, holding him to her as his teeth closed around her nipple. She gasped as he bit down, then soothed her with laps of his tongue. Then his hand slipped between their bodies, his thumb rubbing her in circles that had her core clenching around his cock.

“Yes, like that, make me come.” The words had no sooner left her mouth when a massive orgasm overtook her body in a dizzying rush. It went on and on, pulsing through her like waves as his hips pumped up, riding out the spasms of his own release.

Allie collapsed against the heavy rise and fall of Hudson’s chest. “Sorry about that,” she said. Her breathing was as erratic as his.

Hudson’s hand stroked up and down her back. “Sorry?”

“For jumping you the minute we got in the car.” She peeked up at him. “I sort of derailed your plan.”

A chuckle rumbled deep within him. “It’s quite all right. Besides, if memory serves, there were certain promises made.” He smirked. “Till the sun comes up, if I’m not mistaken.”

She couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread across her face. “Planning to keep me up all night, Mr. Chase?”

“Indeed I am, Miss Sinclair.” He lifted his head from the back of the seat and looked out the window. The limo had reached the end of Lake Shore Drive and was turning around. “But for now . . .” The arm banded around her waist tightened. Without breaking their connection, Hudson rose and in one swift move had her beneath him on the leather bench. “We still have the ride home.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hudson woke to the sensation of a soft hand sliding around his waist and a smooth leg hooking over his thigh.

“Play hooky with me,” Allie said.

“Sounds like an offer I can’t refuse. What did you have in mind?” He hitched her higher on his chest and pressed his lips to her temple. Her curves fit perfectly against the hard edges of his muscles. He couldn’t contain the hum of a content and happy man that vibrated in his chest as his long fingers caressed up and down Allie’s naked spine.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged and her soft skin shifted against his, instantly waking his body and shooting the blood feeding his brain cells straight down to his cock. “We have a lot of wasted time to make up for. Maybe we could spend the weekend together.” Allie moved her leg up his thigh, her knee making direct contact with the head of his hard on. “Starting now.”

Hudson hissed and rolled her beneath him. “I’d love nothing more than to be locked up with you all weekend.” He leaned down and brushed his lips along her jaw. “But I have plans with Nick after his AA meeting tonight.”

“I didn’t realize he was out of rehab.”

“Just this week.” Hudson met her stare, his eyes tracing the delicate contours of her face. “I would cancel, but it’s the first time we’re getting together since they sprung him.”

“Don’t be silly. Nick has to come first right now.” Her gaze softened. “How’s he doing?” With any other woman he might have registered disappointment in her expression or tone, but with Allie there was nothing but sincerity and genuine interest.

“So far so good. He seems to be taking to the program. Although I think he’s concerned about the holidays, called them a trigger. Not that they were ever a big deal growing up.” Hudson’s brow furrowed and a frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Then again, maybe that’s why . . .”

With a hard slam, the steel gates opened and memories of the holidays he and Nick had shared were unleashed like a criminal out of jail. Most adults loved to recount their holiday traditions, but Hudson wasn’t one of them. For him there were no happy memories of singing the Twelve-fucking-Days-of-Christmas, or of opening presents the morning of rather than Christmas Eve. And there certainly wasn’t a mother in the kitchen, frying bacon as her smiling kids played with the toys she’d labored over selecting.

In the early days things had been different, but those memories were blurred and faded to the point that sometimes he wondered if they were just a figment of his imagination. After his father died everything had changed, and those were the images that filled his mind when he thought of the holidays: his mother, counting the days of Christmas by the number of pills she had left in the bottle; Nick, begging him to get them a tree and being thrilled with the discarded Charlie Brown version Hudson would drag home from some dumpster; or him, scraping enough cash together to buy Nick something to open the morning other kids would wake to a living room full of toys. These were the memories he couldn’t shake. They were like the black mold that crept up a wall and slowly took over.

Allie framed his face with her hands, anchoring him in the moment. “You know, they have meetings you can go to as well. Family support groups.”

“Your concern is one of the things I love about you.” Hudson’s lips curved sinfully before he dropped his head to her neck, sucking the sensitive skin. “But I’d like to know more about this hooky idea.”

Her fingers threaded into his hair, her nails raking against his scalp. Goddamn it, she knew all his trigger points.

Allie gasped and yanked his head up. “Let’s go Christmas shopping,” she said, her face lighting up with a smile that was her fucking Hail Mary.

“I have people who do that.” He lowered his head again, his tongue flickering over the hollow of her throat.

“Don’t be such a Grinch. It’s not Christmas without a trip to Macy’s on State Street.”

Hudson smiled against her skin. “Ah, I do enjoy Macy’s.”

She laughed. “I wasn’t talking about the dressing rooms.”

“Damn.” His fingers flexed as he shoved the thirteen-million-thread sheet count down, exposing her body.

“I meant the Walnut Room, lunch under the giant tree . . . Oh! Let’s get a tree.”

He palmed her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple. “I don’t usually decorate the penthouse.” He exchanged his thumb for his index finger, stroking until her nipple hardened under his touch.”There’s a service that does that at the office. I could call them.”

“What fun would that be?”

Hudson didn’t reply. Instead he claimed her nipple with a gentle bite.

Her hands shot to his face, and his lips tugged free of her breast. “I want to do this, Hudson. I want to make this special forNick.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Besides, this will be the first holiday without my family.” Her eyes were haunted by both the reality of being alone and the gruesome scene continually on replay. But as he stared at her he saw hope flicker in their depths, igniting her to move forward and create new memories. Memories with him in it.