Hudson(32)

I was still inside her when the bedroom door flew open.

Automatically, my face turned to see who our audience was. My eyes connected with familiar blues—Celia.

Could my night get any better? I’d thought the whole plan had ended perfectly before, but this was the real icing on the cake. Now, in this moment, Celia would realize that I didn’t actually feel the emotions that I’d led her to believe I’d felt. I’d thought I’d have to have a conversation about it. But, oh, do actions speak louder than words.

Celia froze in her spot. Her eyes darted from me to Christina and back to me. It all seemed to take minutes, but in reality, only a few quick seconds passed before her hands flew to cover her eyes. “Oh, my God.”

It was only then that Christina noticed our intruder. “Fuck! Celia.” She moved to get out from under me, but I held her in place.

“I’m sorry.” Celia’s voice cracked. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

She spun and headed out the way she’d come in.

I could have gone another round—I was hard again from Celia’s interruption—and the last thing my cock wanted to do was withdraw from its warm cocoon. But I was desperate to draw more reaction from Celia. This was the final stage of the experiment—the recording of results. I had to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling. What she thought she was feeling.

Without cleaning up, I stuffed myself in my pants and gave directions to Christina. “Take off your skirt and panties and wait for me here. Next time I won’t be so gentle.”

She scrambled to obey as I left her. My cock throbbed, yelling at me to stay. My heart, on the other hand, beat wildly at the thrilling outcome of my experiment. The adrenaline and an ability to guess where Celia would go—to her car—allowed me to make up for the distance she’d put between us, though I didn’t spot her until I was outside.

“Celia, wait,” I called across the front lawn. I tried to sound urgent and panicked. I feared I sounded delighted.

She didn’t turn to me but acknowledged me with her middle finger. “Fuck you, Hudson.”

“Come on, wait.” I ran to catch up. When I was close enough, I reached for her arm.

She snapped out of my grasp then spun around to face me. “What? What do you want from me?” Tears fell in torrents down her cheeks. Her voice was surprisingly steady considering. The look though, was off-putting. Her obvious heartache tugged at something in my gut, something I had no familiarity with.

I ran a hand through my hair, a bit thrown. A breath later, I managed to say something. “We were going to talk. I came here tonight to talk.”

She laughed, her expression in complete contradiction to the flowing stream from her eyes. “That’s f**king hilarious. You came here to talk to me and what? You couldn’t find me so you talked to Christina instead?”

This was excellent. Her emotion was pure, raw. It intoxicated me in a way that very little else could. I wanted to bottle it, inhale it, take it in and process her feelings in depth. Since none of that was possible, I wanted to draw out as much as I could before she walked away.

I stepped toward her. She stepped back.

“What is it that I did wrong, Celia?” My voice was steady and controlled, in stark opposition to hers. “You act as though I owe you something. What exactly do you think is going on between us?”

A sob escaped her lips and she wiped at her tears with her hand. “I told you I loved you, Hudson. You kissed me.”

Another step toward her. “You kissed me.”

“And you insinuated that the only reason you stopped was because I had a boyfriend.”

Ah, her side. The details of my cruel setup cited back to me like a melody I’d orchestrated but was only now hearing. It was beautiful.

I looked at my feet, hiding the corners of a smile. “No. No, Ceeley.” I lifted my eyes to hers. “I’m truly sorry if you got the wrong impression. I was simply reminding you not to throw away your relationship with Dirk simply because you remembered how you once felt for me.”

“How I felt for…?” Her eyes flared with incredulity. “That is not what happened. You were feeling things for me too.”

“No. I wasn’t.” Here was the highlight of my act. My joy in performing it was a testament to my sadistic nature. I softened my expression. “I mean, I care for you. A great deal. I always have, I always will. I know that’s probably hard to hear, but that’s all I’ve ever felt regarding you.”

I was good. I knew it. I felt it.

Except Celia didn’t break the way I’d expected. In fact, her tears slowed and her brows furrowed in confusion. “What…what are you doing, Hudson?”

The way she looked at me, the way her gaze pierced through me—did she know? Had she figured out it was all an act? There was no way she could know. Who would guess that?

I paused too long before answering. “I’m trying to straighten out this misunderstanding.”

She studied me. “No, you’re not. You’re running away.” Her shoulders, which had sagged only a moment before, squared with renewed strength. She was the one who took a step toward me this time.

I was the one who stepped back.

“You’re convinced that you shouldn’t be allowed to feel anything or that having emotions will make you weak or something equally as ridiculous, and so you’re pushing me away.”