: Chapter 23

“I can’t believe you surprised me with a fake proposal. I honestly didn’t see that coming, almost felt like a real proposal,” I say as I hang on Hudson’s arm as we walk through Hyde Park. “It was so magical.”

“Very magical,” Hudson says.

“And they offered us so many free things. That’s why you have to bring it down to a human level, you know? People who shop local, live local, not looking to capitalize on tourists but rather interact with them on a human level, those are the people you need to surround yourself with. They truly cared about our love in there.”

“They really did. You could feel it.”

“I’m glad they were the ones we could end this quest with.” I sigh and lean my head against his shoulder. “And the tea set they gave us too? I mean the scones were great enough, but the addition of the tea set, that was unexpected.”

“I think they just saw how committed we were to each other and thought it could be a celebratory tea set.”

“Our anniversary set. We must drink tea from it every…” I pause and then laugh, because…duh, there is no anniversary. “Oh wait, we’re not going to have an anniversary. Hmm, well, maybe every year we can get together on the day we divorce and cheers to a job well done.”

Hudson grows tense next to me.

“That’s unless you want to be married to me forever.” I look up at his clenched jaw and poke it. “Hey, what’s the tension for?”

“I just don’t like it when you talk about divorce. It’s not necessary.”

“Okay,” I say, caught off guard. “Didn’t know that bothered you.”

“You’re my wife, Sloane, of course it fucking bothers me.”

“But like…not a real wife.”

“It’s as real as it will ever get, and until it’s not, I don’t want to hear about divorce.”

Yikes, okay. Once again, he could not be more confusing.

“I’m sorry, Husband. No more divorce talk. What do you want to talk about then?”

“Condoms.”

“Uh, what?” I ask on a chuckle, totally not expecting him to say that.

“I want to talk about condoms.”

“Okay. Interesting topic, but we can go there. When was the first time you ever tried to put one on?”

“Not like that,” he says in exasperation. “We’re not using them, Sloane.”

“Ah, right, I have noticed your penis has been quite liberated in my vagina.”

“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, but I can see the humor on his lips.

“Tell me it’s not true. Your old dilly dong has been running loose in there, filling me up with your strong seed.” I fist pump the air, and he lowers my fist down with his hand.

“Can you, for the love of God, not say ‘strong seed’?”

“Would you prefer ‘milky white pearls’?”

“I would prefer none. Christ, Sloane.” This time he chuckles. “Dealing with you feels like herding cats a lot of the time. It’s hard to get you to focus and not act like a…”

“Like a what?” I ask, staring up at him.

“I don’t know…an annoying asshole fresh from college.”

“How dare you.” I feign insult.

We both laugh, and he frees himself from my grasp but then wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Fuck, you’re frustrating.”

“Ahh, but you like it.”

He shakes his head. “I do, which means there is something really wrong with me.”

“It’s called the Sloane Effect. I’ve sucked you in. Now you’re trying to find a way to deal with it, but you’re feeling all discombobulated. It’s okay, you’ll get there.” I slip my hand around his waist as we slowly walk through the park, a light breeze dusting up the very few leaves that have fallen.

“Don’t think I will, but back to the condoms.”

“Right. Was there something particular you wanted to discuss or just point out that we’re not using them because I’m well aware. Sex has never felt this good, and I was thinking about it earlier and whether it was because of the lack of condoms or if it was because of you, and I came to the conclusion that you have absolutely nothing to do with it and it’s all about the condoms.”

He stops and turns to look at me, that death look in his eyes that makes me laugh way too hard.

“God, the look on your face.”

“Not funny, Sloane.”

I chuckle some more and then fully turn toward him as he moves us to the side and out of the way. I press my hands to his chest, over his thick pecs, and say, “I’m kidding. I know the reason why I’m screaming your name at night is because of you, not the lack of condoms. All you.”

“Why do you sound like you’re kidding when you say that?” His hands smooth down my back and to my ass.

Oooh, yes please.

“I’m not kidding. I’m very serious. You rock my world, Husband.”

“Mm-hmm, say it more seriously.”

I slide my hand behind his neck and bring him in closer as I say, “I can’t stop thinking about the way you make me feel when you’re deep inside me, thrusting. When you hover over me, your abs firing off as your cock swells and you fill me with your cum. I crave it, Hudson. I need it. I know that no one will ever make me spiral into pleasure the way that you do. No one.”

He wets his lips as he nods. “Good girl.”

I smile and stand on my toes to kiss him. It’s short, sweet, and nothing too deep because I know if I do anything more than that, we’ll find ourselves in a predicament in the park.

“Call me that again and we’re going to have to race back to the hotel.”

“Patience,” he says with a squeeze to my ass.

I kiss him one more time and then more seriously ask, “Why did you want to talk about condoms?”

He tucks a stray piece of hair that flies over my face behind my ear as he says, “Because we aren’t using them, and I want to make sure you’re protected, that you’re okay with that.”

I nod. “I’m on birth control if that’s what you mean. And yes, I’m okay with that. I’ve been checked. You have nothing to worry about.”

“You don’t either,” he says softly, dragging his thumb over my cheek as he stares lovingly down at me. “If you want me to use them, though, I can.”

I shake my head. “I don’t. I don’t want anything between us.”

“I don’t want anything either.”

“Good, glad we had this talk.”

I kiss him one more time and we keep walking until we reach a bench. We both take a seat, and I slide in next to him, cuddling in close as he wraps his arm around me and places his hand on my hip.

“Despite your phone almost being stolen, this was a really fun day.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“I like you like this,” I say as I play with the fabric of his shirt. “Loose, fun, willing to do things.”

“I’m always like that.”

I scoff…loudly. “Please, Hudson. Your general mood can be defined as uptight and rigid. Usually not pleasant to be around. But when you do have your moments of levity, like today, it’s hard not to get attached to you, to not want to feed off your energy. I’ve had a lot of fun today, even when you were grumpy over the proposals.”

“I mean, you can only do it so many times.”

“I don’t know, seems like a tradition was formed today.”

“I’m not proposing again.”

“You say that now, but when I make a slideshow of our pictures and videos, I know you’re going to want to add to it.”

“Not happening.”

“Maybe you can propose at dance lessons tomorrow.”

“Uh, no, we’re supposed to be married at dance lessons.”

“Oh, right.” I chuckle. “Hard to keep up. I took my ring off so many times today, can’t remember if I’m attached or not.”

He gives me that not so pleased look.

“You know I’m kidding.”

“You better be,” he says, clearly unamused.

“You know it’s okay to joke, right?”

“I’ll joke when I find something humorous. You talking about whether we are married or not is not humorous to me.”

“I see, and what exactly would be humorous to you? Because you didn’t find the ripping of the pants and the poking of the bare balls in the club humorous either, but when I look back at it now, wow. What a sight. To be a fly on the wall for that ordeal.”

“Still not funny.”

“The split pants or the bare-balls poking?”

“Both.”

“Hmm, shame. I feel like we could have gotten some good laughs out of it. Okay, if we can’t find the humor in it just yet, what do you find funny?”

He thinks on it for a moment, and I watch his handsome face recollect his past, his jaw working back and forth. He really is such an attractive man, even when he’s pensive.

“Most recently, I would have to say when Brody was scared shitless by the snake branch. I can still think about that and laugh.”

“Same,” I say on a chuckle. “That was good. The poor guy could not catch a break that entire trip.”

“Also when he nearly got his dick speared off by my dad. That was good.”

“Yes, and wasn’t he high on seasickness medication?”

“Something like that.” Hudson chuckles.

“See?” I say, patting his chest. “This is what I’m talking about. You can let your hair down and laugh.”

“I know I can. I just choose to focus on more important things.” He sighs and runs his hand over his shoulder. “Which seems pointless now that I think about it. What a waste of time and energy. All for what? For it to be snatched away. Money sure as fuck can’t buy you happiness. It just buys you complications.”

“Do you really think it’s all going to be taken away from you?”

“I don’t know,” he answers, sounding hopeless. “If it is, there are a lot of people who are going to be fucked. You know, it’s not just about me. It’s about my brother, your brother, my sister, the Cane brothers, Maggie and Brody, Everly. There is so much connected to us that, if my father takes it over, I know he will destroy it out of spite.”

I stare out at the park, wishing there was something I could do, something smart I could say, but I truly feel helpless in this moment. I don’t feel like I have anything I can offer him of value and that makes me upset.

“What’s that look on your face?” he asks.

“What look?”

“A disappointed look.”

“Oh, I was just thinking about how I can’t really help you in this situation. Like, I don’t know what to say or do. I have zero advice, zero ideas. Feels kind of helpless, you know?”

“You’re not, though.” He links our hands together. “You’re here, and that counts.”

“Great. I’m here. That’s reassuring.”

He chuckles. “Do you know what I would be doing right now if I were alone and you weren’t here?”

“No.”

“I would be in my hotel room, not a single light on, drunk off my ass. No one would be able to get in touch with me. I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone. I would sulk. I would destroy myself because that’s how I would feel, like everything is collapsing around me and I would just let it happen.” He tangles our fingers together. “But I’m not doing that, not with you here.”

This feels intimate.

This feels much deeper than a marriage deal.

This feels like he’s crossing over to something so much more.

And I shouldn’t allow the conversation to keep going because that’s not what we do, but I can’t help it. I’m curious.

“Why not?” I ask.

His eyes meet mine. “Because I don’t want you to see me like that.”

“Why not?” I ask again, pushing him to give me the truth.

He glances away for a moment and then says, “Because I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, shielding you. Not the other way around.”

“I would though,” I say. “I would protect you, Hudson. I would help you, comfort you, be there for you. You don’t always have to put on a front like everything will be okay. If you want to drink, if you want to sulk, I can be there for you. We don’t have to be sitting in a park, fresh air all around us, trying to put on a happy face. If you want, I will be there for you for whatever mood you need to be in.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t want that.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You,” he says.

“All of me?” I ask.

He wets his lips and nods. “Yes, all of you.” He’s so confusing, but in this moment, I can only imagine he’s not talking about forever. But for now, I can commit to him and only him.

“Well, I’m yours, Hudson.”

“All of you?”

“All of me,” I answer.

As long as I don’t fall in love with you and give you my heart.

I walk out to the living room, fresh from the shower, wrapped in my robe as I look around the living room. Hudson took a phone call, so I told him I wanted to wash up from the day and took my time to give him privacy.

I listen intently to see if he’s still on the phone, and when I don’t hear him, I move through the suite until I notice the terrace door is partially open. I hesitate for a moment, waiting to see if he’s on the phone, but when I don’t hear anything still, I walk outside to find him sitting on a chair, a glass of amber liquid in hand, staring off into the distance.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

He glances in my direction and shakes his head. “No.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No,” he answers again.

“Was that Hardy?”

He nods and holds his hand out to me. I take it and he pulls me down onto his lap. I straddle his legs, facing him while his hand smooths up my bare thigh.

“Any news?”

“Just that they’ve combed through the documents, and it says clear as day that he has partial ownership over whatever we invest in.” Hudson drags his hand over his face. “I can’t believe we missed that.”

“That does seem odd, that you would miss that,” I say. “I’ve seen you read over documents.” I look off to the side. “What document is he referring to?”

“The trust documents that I had to sign when I took the money.”

“And you looked through them?”

“Yes,” he answers. “Hired my own lawyer as well.”

“And those are the documents that the lawyer is looking at now?”

“He’s looking through the papers that were sent to us, yes,” he says, his voice questioning. “What are you after, Sloane?”

“Well, I feel like this is going to sound stupid, but you’re looking over the documents he sent you. Did you consider looking at the document you signed?”

“It’s the same, Sloane.”

“Are you sure though?” I ask, feeling him grow tense. “I mean, I don’t really know what I’m talking about, but what I do know is that your dad is not the best human. Wouldn’t it be convenient if he just…tampered with things to go his way?”

“That’s fraud.”

I shrug, feeling stupid. “Sorry I brought it up. I just thought that maybe⁠—”

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and punches around on it before bringing it up to his ear. Wanting to give him some privacy, I start to move, but he grips my hip, keeping me in place.

“Have you looked at our trust documents?” Hudson says, not even offering Hardy a hello.

I faintly hear him on the other line. “Yes, that’s what we’ve been looking at.”

“No, the ones that we signed, that we keep in the safety deposit box at the bank.”

“No, just the ones that were sent over as reference.”

“I need you to go to the bank and pull the ones that we signed and compare the documents.”

“Why? Do you think they tampered with the agreement?”

“I don’t know,” Hudson says. “But I think it’s worth checking. I think we would have flagged that kind of wording and tried to work around it.”

“Okay, I can head over there when it opens.”

“Call me immediately.”

“Got it.”

Hudson hangs up and sets his phone down on the ground before tilting his head back and pressing his hand into his eyes.

“Fuck,” he roars, startling me.

I attempt to get off his lap again, but he keeps me in place. His eyes land on mine and I can see something dark behind his pupils. He’s not the same man I was just with at the park or the man bouncing around London proposing.

This is the man who I would find in the office day in and day out, huffing and puffing about getting work done.

In a deep, husky voice, he says, “Strip.”

“What?” I ask.

“I want you naked, Sloane. Strip.”

The tone is dark, almost twisted. And if this was anyone else, I would get up right now and leave. But this is Hudson—no matter how angry he is, I know he’s not going to hurt me.

He needs this.

He needs this release.

He needs a form of escape, and if that’s me, I’m more than willing to give it to him.

I slip the knot of my robe loose and let it fall open.

Hudson brings his hands to my shoulders and slides the robe down, over my arms and off my body, leaving me naked on top of him.

He wets his lips and sits forward to pull his shirt up and over his head. He drops the fabric to the side and says, “Make me hard.”

Accepting his challenge, I scoot off his legs—this time he lets me—and I undo his jeans. He assists me in taking them off by lifting up while I slide them down over his hips. Once he’s free of them, I spread his legs and move up his body, my hands gliding over his thighs, up his stomach to his chest. I drag my breasts along the way, letting my hard nipples press against his skin. He bites on his lower lip as he stares down at me. I shift and take a seat on his lap, right over his already-hardening erection. With my back pressed against his chest, I slip my hand back behind me, around his neck and hold on as I slowly make circles with my ass over his lap.

“You’re so big,” I say as I feel him continue to grow. “I love how thick you are.”

His hands find my hips, slowly guiding my motions, but I want more, so I take his hands in mine and slide them up to my breasts, stopping just under them. I don’t let him touch them just yet; I just let the bottoms get brushed by his hands while I move over his cock.

“I want you inside me, Hudson. I want you filling me up.”

His hand splays out over my stomach while he speaks directly into my ear. “I want to fuck you. Hard. I need this, Sloane. I need you.”

Three words, they are my unraveling.

The pain I feel coming from him.

The aching for this nightmare he’s living through to be over—it is set to the side as he finds solace in me.

And for someone who has never felt needed like this, it fills me to the point of feeling complete.

Whole.

“Good,” I whisper. “Because I expect nothing less.”

Then to my surprise, he pushes up and out of the seat, taking me with him. He turns us around, bends me over at the waist so my hands are resting on the seat he was just sitting in, and he slaps my ass, spanking me out of complete shock.

A gasp falls out of my mouth just as he does it again.

“Oh fuck,” I cry, not expecting to be this turned on.

He smooths his hand over the sore spot and whispers, “You okay?”

“Perfect,” I say.

“Good.” And then he spanks me again before taking his cock out of his briefs and positioning it at my entrance. “You wet?”

“Drenched,” I answer.

He rubs the tip of his cock over my arousal and growls when he finds out I wasn’t lying.

“Such a good girl,” he says as he spanks me again.

“Mmmmmm,” I moan as my breath starts to hitch in my chest. “Again.”

“That’s my girl,” he says as he spanks me one more time and slips his cock inside, in one solid thrust, feeling the way I contract from his hand to my ass. “Christ, this cunt.” He grips my hips and digs his fingers into my ass as he leisurely pumps into me. “So tight. So perfect.”

He slams in hard, then pulls out slow.

“I want to wreck you,” he says, pulling out and slamming in again. “Destroy you.” Slam, hitting me in that spot that will make me reach my orgasm faster. “Make you worthless to any other man.” He thrusts so hard, the chair beneath my hands shifts.

I’m already worthless for other men.

Hudson pounds into me over and over again, making me so full that I can’t do anything other than feel his cock slide in and out of me, pulsing, thrusting. It feels so good. So freaking good that every nerve ending in my body is shot, racing to the end goal, to the point of no return, where I break out into an acute sweat and the feeling of sweet bliss surges through me.

“Yes,” I moan. “Yes, Hudson. More. Harder.”

He spanks my ass again, eliciting a long moan from my lips. “Oh God. Again.”

He listens so well, spanking me over and over until I’m crying out his name, my orgasm on the verge.

“I’m there. Oh God.”

“Come on my cock,” he roars, his hand finding my ass one last time before I tip over the edge and start convulsing around him while white-hot pleasure rips through me, nearly making my vision go black.

He pulls out of me and turns me around, where he sits me down to the chair. His hand rocking over his cock, he moves in close. “Suck me off.”

Still in a daze, I bring my mouth to his tip and open wide, letting him thrust to the back of my throat.

“Jesus fuck,” he roars as he holds my head and he does it again. I gag this time, and he loves it. He pulls out, giving me a second to breathe before he thrusts again and again and again. “So close. So goddamn close.”

I take his balls in my hand and start massaging them as I watch his eyes roll in pleasure while I suck him in one more time before he stills, body trembling, and then he’s coming in my mouth, groaning out in pleasure.

He pulls out and strokes his cock, letting the rest of his cum land on my breasts.

Once he’s done, he lets out a deep breath.

“Go get in bed. I’m not done with you.”

Excitement pulses through me because that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Because I’m not done with you either, Husband.