The Fixed Trilogy: Fixed on You(15)

Hudson responded, moving his hands from my behind to my shoulders. Then he gently pushed me away, breaking our kiss, but leaving his hands on my shoulders as if trying to hold me at that distance.

My mouth felt empty and cold as I struggled to calm my breathing. Hudson’s breaths were equally ragged, and he panted in rhythm with me. As my brain returned from a state of blissful haze, I became uneasy, unable to understand his sudden retreat.

Recognizing my concern, Hudson moved his hand to brush my cheek. “Not here, precious. Not like this.” His other hand wrapped around my neck and he pressed his forehead against mine. “I will have you beneath me. In a bed. Where I can adore you properly.”


His statement was a promise. A sensual threat that had me itching to make it come to pass.

But I had to get to work. And he was right. A fast f*ck in the bubble room would not nearly be enough for what I wanted with Hudson. No, needed. Hudson was far from what I wanted. But I’d gone beyond that now. I had to have him, bad for me though he may be.

I closed my eyes as Hudson trailed a hand down to my bosom and reached inside. My eyes startled opened when, instead of feeling his fingers on my breast, I felt my phone being removed.

He unlocked the screen and dialed a number. A moment later I heard his phone ring. “Now we have each other’s numbers. I expect you to use it.” He replaced my phone inside my bra cup, his eyes lingering on my cleavage before pulling me in to brush his lips across mine. “Call me when you’re ready. Tomorrow.”

He kissed me swiftly and then was gone, leaving me to wonder if I’d be “ready” to call him as soon as tomorrow. And if I could wait that long.





Chapter Five


I woke up right before noon the next morning when I heard my phone buzz an incoming text. It was plugged in on the nightstand next to me, but I wasn’t ready to wake up, having gotten to bed after six.

Lying with my eyes closed, I grinned into my pillow and recalled the events of the night before. The things Hudson had said to me, the way he’d kissed me, touched me—my heart sped up at the memory. Had all of that really happened? My obsessive relationship disorder made it really easy for me to imagine that things happened between me and others that actually hadn’t. It had been several years since I had fallen into those old habits. Now, was I doing it again?

No, I wasn’t making it up. I couldn’t make up a kiss like that. It had happened. And I had wanted more to happen. But in the morning with distance and fresh eyes, I could see so much better how it shouldn’t happen. As much as I wanted him, I was already thinking about him way more than was healthy.

I went through the steps of recognizing unnatural fixation in my mind:

Did I think about Hudson to the point that it affected my work or daily life? I’d certainly thought about him a lot after he’d left the club, but I’d managed to work my shift without a problem.

Did I think he was the only one for me? No way. In fact, I suspected I shouldn’t be mixed up with him at all.

Did I believe I would never be happy if I didn’t see him again? I’d be disappointed, but not devastated. Well, probably not devastated. All right, I’d be devastated.

Did I call him or visit him obsessively to the point of stalking? I didn’t know where he lived or worked. If I was fixating, I’d have figured that out before I’d gone to bed that morning. I didn’t even have his number.

Oh, wait, I did. But I hadn’t used it. I was fine. For the moment.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why he wanted to be with me. Hudson Pierce held celebrity status. He could date supermodels and pedigreed women—why would he want me? The lack of an answer kept me doubting what had really occurred between him and me.

And then there was his ridiculous offer to pay off my student loans in exchange for hanging on him like arm candy. How on earth did I qualify for that? If I were another type of girl, one with dollar signs in the eyes, I’d be all over his—what did he call it?—proposition. Fortunately, money didn’t speak to me beyond what I needed for survival. The only temptation was the opportunity to spend more time with that delicious specimen of a man. But I’d already been through this—it was not a good idea.

Besides, if I’d understood him correctly, the option to spend time with him stood with or without accepting his job.

Not an option, Laynie!

It was a confusing idea anyway. Sleep with him without a relationship but pretend to have a relationship. Why not just have a relationship?

And there I was, already trying to make his offer more than it was.

I sighed and stretched my arms above my head. Clearly I wasn’t going back to sleep and Hudson was too much to contemplate without coffee. I turned over and grabbed my phone to read my text, secretly hoping it was from him.

It was from my brother. “Be there in twenty.”

I sat up, panicked. Did I forget a visit from Brian?

Scrolling through my texts I saw he’d sent one at seven in the morning. “Court cancelled. Taking a fast train to NYC. We need to have lunch.”

I threw my phone onto the bed next to me and groaned. As my only living relative, I loved Brian with extreme depth and neediness. But his role in my life had transformed from sibling to caretaker when I was sixteen after the death of my parents, and in an effort to compensate for all he knew I’d lost, he’d alienated me in many ways.