Buns (Hudson Valley #3)

“Hold still,” he growled, as he tilted my hips forward, angling them upward as his tongue licked at my clit. We both moaned as he touched me this way for the first time, his mouth surrounding me, working me, sucking and fucking. The cold tile pressed against my breasts as his hot mouth devoured me as I rocked my hips against his face. His groans were as guttural as mine as I came in his mouth, on his tongue, seeing stars and splashing water everywhere as I came apart for him once more.

He splashed plenty of water of his own as he rose up behind me, put me on all fours properly and drove into me hard from behind.

“The water,” I panted, his hand slipping across my back and sliding under me, tweaking a nipple on his way to my shoulder to hang on tight, moving me back against him. “The water is . . . fuck off that’s good . . . the water is going everywhere!”

With his left hand he swept a pile of towels off the shelf and onto the floor exactly where it had started to puddle, then slipped his hand down along my back, ending with a resounding wet smack on my ass.

“Let me worry about the water, Bossy, you just concentrate on how this feels.”

And I did. I gave over and threw back my head, arching my back, arching into him, letting everything I was feeling run wild across my body as his groans became deeper and more animal by the second, using my body, hot and wet and slippery and right exactly . . . there.



“I’m spoiled now, you realize this?”

“Spoiled?”

“Mm-hmm,” I murmured as his hand traced a path down my shoulder, along my elbow, slipping down to my hip, smoothing across my bottom and back up again. His hand made this trip over and over again, while the other one held my breast. Curled around me almost entirely, we lay like spoons in a drawer. A very cozy, warm, contented drawer. After refilling the tub and enjoying an actual bath we’d retreated to my bed, exhausted and waterlogged but still unable to stop touching each other. Before retreating, however, Archie took a few moments to build a fire and the result was spectacular. With the room lit solely by firelight, everything seemed softer somehow. Corners were rounded, edges were blurred, even the very air seemed gentle. It was quiet and comfortable, and just feeling his hands on my body felt soothing, grounding somehow.

“All of this. The fire, the bed, the gorgeous.” I kissed his forearm, nuzzling against it. “My bed won’t feel quite the same now without you in it. I’ve been spoiled.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to stay in it as long as possible,” he replied, kissing me just behind my ear and bumping his hips into mine. Everywhere we could be touching, we were. Skin to skin, contoured and full snuggle.

As much as I was loving the full snuggle, the reality of what had happened, what had been happening for weeks now, was unavoidable.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hmm?” I asked.

He kissed behind my ear again. “You sighed. Almost like you were deflating.”

I shrugged. “Just thinking about what happens next. How do we handle this? What do we do?”

“I’d like to think we’d have another go, but you’ve exhausted me. I’m not complaining, just exhausted.”

“Not about that.” I laughed, flipping over so I could see him. The sheet nudged down, uncovering my bare bottom. I was thrilled to see his eyes wander, his pupils dilate, his breathing change. He might be exhausted, but there was no doubt he’d be having another go before the night was through. But for now . . . “I mean, about us. This was amazing, you’re amazing, but what the hell are we doing? Like, seriously, what are we doing?”

“I don’t really think it’s up to me,” he said, keeping his eyes on my body and not meeting my gaze, “is it?” And now his eyes were on mine, searching, wondering.

“I’m leaving.” My body went cold even saying the words out loud, to say nothing of the light that dimmed in his gaze. “I mean, not right now, not tomorrow, not even next week. But I am leaving. Eventually.”

“I know.” I ran my hand through his hair, and just like that very first time he leaned into it, hungry for my touch. “I could lock you up in the attic like a little stowaway, tie you up, latch you to the bedpost.”

“I feel like this conversation has taken a turn.”

“Best possible turn. Lonely hotelier can’t stand the thought of his tiny sex goddess leaving him, so he hides her away from the world. Makes her dress up like Princess Leia or the woman from Flashdance.”

“What’s happening here?”

“Hey, you’re leaving, I might as well get all my fetishes out on the table now, right?” His tone was teasing. Mostly.

I kissed him. “I wish I could promise you more, but I just can’t right now. My life, my world, is swooping in and fixing things and then swooping out to help someone else. I’m like a luxury-brand Mary Poppins.”

“First of all, thanks for putting the idea in my head of you dressed up like a Victorian governess, that’ll be impossible for me to ignore the next time you call me Mr. Bryant. Second of all, why did this happen? Tonight. What changed?”

I bit my lip, thinking. Then spoke from the heart. “Today was hard for me. I don’t do holidays. Or family gatherings.” I shook my head. “They aren’t really my thing. I tend to avoid. But today, being with everyone, and being with you, it was . . . what’s the word . . .”

“Incredible? Awesome? Super-terrific?”

“I didn’t vomit.”

He frowned. “That’s three words. And not what I was expecting.”

“If you knew me, really knew me, then you’d know today was a victory. I mean, I did panic and I did run away, but I didn’t tell you to go and to tell you the truth, before, when we were all together, when I wasn’t freaking out, and I wasn’t focusing so hard on getting through it, I actually enjoyed myself. And when you showed up, looking ridiculously cute, it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized if I only have this little bit of time with you, then I want you. It’s unprofessional, it’s scandalous, it’s literally the worst thing I could possibly do, sleep with the guy I’m here to work with.”

“Just to be clear, I’m the guy, right?”

I grinned, but went on. “But in the end, there were a hundred reasons to run like hell today, and only one reason to stay. And you’re the reason, Archie.” He closed his eyes, and smiled. “I’ll have to go away one day. And I don’t know what will happen then, which makes me so fucking selfish for saying this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I want you. For as long as I can have you.”

He stared into my eyes, and I felt like he wanted to know more. To ask more, to dig deeper and find out what was really going on under the surface. But maybe he also saw in my eyes that I’d said all I could tonight, and it was more than I’d shared in a very long time. Maybe he thought I was selfish, but wanted to be selfish too. God knows if there was ever a man who deserved a moment or two of pure carnal bliss free of obligation it was Archie. In the end he said nothing. He rolled me over, slowly, until he was on top of me once more. My legs slipped around his hips as naturally as can be, no thought needed.

I needed to say one more thing. “We have to keep it quiet, though, okay? No one can know.”

He nodded.