Hudson gave him a second to recover. “You good?”

“Yeah man, but who the hell pissed you off?”

“Clears my head.” Hudson spun and kicked his leg in the air, and his brother dropped low, dodging what would have been a direct hit. “Come on, Nicky, you’ve been in barroom brawls that rival the Octagon.”

“Hey, I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Hudson thought about what it would feel like to live a life short on responsibility, and for a brief moment he envied his brother’s freedom. “You must have some shit to work out.”

“Evidently you do.” Nick moved in fast with a hard punch forward, then threw out a combination that made Hudson step up his efforts with a left-right.

“I was dumped, Nick.” As the words left his mouth a pain rolled through his chest and twisted down to his gut. And to top it off it was a lie, a total fucking lie that cinched up his stomach hard core. The devil knew his closet was full of skeletons, but secrets between brothers was something he’d never subscribed to. Nick knew his past; hell, they’d lived it together, and the cause and effect of it had bonded them tighter than most. But some lies were spun out of necessity.

“I know. It’s a first for you. Shit, wait, third. Same girl, but still.”

“Not funny.” Hudson went at him in a meet-and-greet in the middle of the ring, force against force, with each of them trying to toss the other off like a set of magnets. Their biceps strained and the muscles in their forearms flexed.

Twisting himself free, Nick bounced back on his heels. His chest heaved and sweat ran down his temples. “Actually, I need your help with something.”

“Christ,” Hudson muttered under his breath as he threw out a roundhouse kick.

Nick caught him by the ankle. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He laughed at Hudson jumping on one foot like a pogo stick before finally dropping his leg.

“Because conversations beginning with ‘I need your help’ usually mean you’re in deep shit.”

“Nah, nothing like that. I need a tux.”

Hudson’s guard dropped and his brow shot up to his hairline. “A what?” he asked just as Nick popped him a solid one in the jaw.

“Ha! Bull’s-eye, motherfucker.”

Hudson shook off the blow that had left him momentarily dazed. “Goddamn, good right hook.”

“Thanks.” Nick’s mouth lifted into a broad grin. “And I need a tux.”

“For what?”

“That frilly charity event of yours. I’m going too.”

“For the love of God, Nicky. Allie and I broke up but I haven’t sworn off women. I can get a date.”

“Not with your sorry ass, dick. With Harper.”

“Come again?” Sweet hell, Nick was going for the heavyweight title of shockers.

Nick cleared his throat. “I’m escorting the fair maiden, Harper Hayes,” he said, trying to sound all regal.

“Quit talking like that. And ‘maiden’ and ‘fair’ aren’t adjectives that describe the redhead.” The woman was more of a wrecking crew with a bullhorn, but Hudson liked her. She didn’t take shit even from hotheaded assholes like himself. “More importantly, when the hell did this happen?”

“Since Mother Nature played matchmaker on Christmas Eve. We’ve been hanging out.”

“Hanging out?” Allie had given him a heads-up about his brother and Harper, but the news still . . . he ripped a glove off and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, she’s cool to talk to.”

“How often are the two of you just ‘hanging out’?” Hudson wanted his brother to be happy, but there were rules of the twelve-step variety that suggested getting into a relationship in the first months of sobriety wasn’t a good idea.

Nick shrugged. “A few times a week, I guess.” He glanced down at the gray mat sprinkled with droplets of their sweat. “I like her.”

“When were you planning on telling me this?”

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

“Only because you’ve had the fear of the tux put into you. Christ, Nicky.”

Nick flashed a cheesy grin. “So you’ll help me get all spiffy like my big bro?”

“Ass kisser.”

“Please.”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. Next week?”

“I’m out of town at the start of next week. But I’ll make a few calls.”

“Sweet.” Nick laughed. “Now get your glove back on so I can knock your ass across this mat for being a prick.”

Chapter Fourteen

A commotion in the hallway drew Allie’s attention from the e-mail on the monitor in front of her. Hudson was in the building. She felt his presence before she even heard his voice. The hair on her neck raised and her skin tightened in anticipation.

Through the open door she saw him round the corner, his jaw tight and his brow furrowed. “No, absolutely not,” he barked into the phone he held pressed to his ear. “I’m about to discuss it with her.” He turned his attention to Colin, his tone tight and clipped. “Hold her calls,” he instructed as he strode by his desk and into Allie’s office, closing the door behind him.

“God, you’re hot when you’re pissy.”

He lifted an amused brow. “That was for the benefit of the young Mr. James.” With a push of his thumb he powered his phone off before dropping it inside his suit jacket. “Not to mention the other dozen or so I passed in the hall. Nothing more than a show so I might steal a moment alone with you.”

“It was?”

“Hmm, but now I’m intrigued.” A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Hot when I’m pissy, eh? Let’s discuss.”

“It turns me on when you go all alpha male,” she said, shifting slightly in her chair.

Hudson’s eyes flared as his shrewd stare picked up on her subtle movement. “Is that so?”

“You know it does.” There was no denying it. Hudson had experienced her response to his more dominant side on numerous occasions. But the gleam in his eyes told her he was enjoying the turn in conversation far too much to let the subject drop just yet.

“I know you’ve had a taste of what it’s like when I’m in control.” He drew closer. “Let’s hypothetical here. Suppose I told you to touch yourself?”

“Hypothetically . . . are you watching me do this?”

“Of course I’m watching.”

“Then hypothetically . . . I would keep my eyes locked on yours and do what you asked.” There was a time when Allie would have found the idea of touching herself in front of a man far too embarrassing to even consider. But Hudson once told her it was a fantasy of his to watch her pleasure herself, and his unyielding desire gave her confidence. It made her feel wanton and sexy and awakened a side of her she never knew existed.

“And what if I waited until you were about to come, then stopped you?” He rounded the desk. “And told you that if you didn’t stop, you couldn’t have my cock.” In a swift move he spun her chair to face him. “How would that feel, being unable to release until I say?”

“I think I’d like that.” Her voice had turned breathy and needy, betraying the growing ache between her legs.

“Then suppose I told you to finger yourself until you were about to come again.” A rush of pleasure surged through her core and she pressed her thighs together in an effort to find some relief. But Hudson placed a hand on each of her knees and yanked them apart. “And then once again made you stop right before you slipped over the edge.” His thumbs moved in small circles on her skin. “Teasing you little by little.” His hands fell away and he straightened, his cock straining against the fabric of his suit. The conversation was affecting him as much as it was her, but he kept going, adding one more caveat to their little game. “And to be clear,” he added, “you’re not allowed to beg.”

Allie bit her lip to stifle a moan. “Hypothetically this is making me wet.”