The outfit I’ve chosen is nothing but straps. It barely covers the essentials and is super hot. And given the fun that we’ve had with straps over the past month, I think that Hudson will like it.

John looks surprised when he sees me, talking into his radio before I’ve even made it all the way to the door. “Upstairs,” he says. “In the private room.”

I nod. It’s the room that I last saw him in. I have a feeling that Hudson and I will have some things to say to each other, and it’s probably better if we don’t say them in the club. He has every right to be angry. I basically disappeared. I hadn’t planned on coming back. I think he knows that.

The room is quiet and empty when I get there. I kept my coat with me this time. I think a dramatic reveal might be appropriate for this outfit. The door opens and Hudson comes in. He doesn’t come to me. He’s angry. I can see it in his face and the way he’s holding himself, entirely tense.

“Hi,” I say.

“Why are you here?”

That’s not the question that I expected. “I’m not sure.”

“You disappeared. Not a word. You didn’t answer my calls. After a month of seeing each other—having sex with each other—almost every single day, I can only think that you were trying to break it off.”

“I was.”

The look on his face, the devastation, it hurts. “Why?”

“Because I thought it was better this way. I thought it was better if you didn’t get to know me outside the club.”

“That’s—” I hold up a hand to stop him.

“I’ve figured some stuff out in the last day. Some stuff about myself and my family. That how I see myself might not be…correct. And I realized that I wanted to come back. I wanted to be the person that I was here, that confident person that I was with you. I wanted to lose myself tonight. I shouldn’t have come, but I didn’t feel like I could stay away.”

“Yes, you should have come. You should never have left,” he says. “I want you. All of you. Not just this.”

“I’m not sure that I’m ready for that. But I am ready for you.” I pull open the coat and drop it, and his eyes go wide at the lingerie I’m wearing, that’s little more than nothing.

His gaze follows the straps down to where my pussy is wet for him and back up to my face. “I want to talk about this more, Christine.”

I take a step forward. “We can talk about it more. After.”

His face hardens, and I see that familiar look of lust on his face. “Fine. If I can’t convince you that we should go further, I can show you why you should stay with me here.” He tears off his clothes and I watch his perfect, glorious body appear. He scoops me up off the floor and tumbles me onto the bed, body coming down hard on top of me. The animal energy in him calls to me. I know that he’d never hurt me. All the same, we’re rough with each other. I scrape my nails down his back, and his teeth dig into my shoulder as he touches me. He turns me onto my stomach, pushing my legs open with his knees and I hear the familiar sound of foil.

Hudson shoves in roughly, and I groan because I’ve missed the feeling of him inside me. His body pushes mine into the mattress as he fucks me. That’s what it is. This isn’t just sex, it’s raw and powerful, and it shakes me to my core. I’m panting, wanting more. His hands are on my wrists holding me down as he pounds in, and as he takes me, I can hear his voice in my ear. “You can’t get this anywhere else, and you love it. You love me fucking you like you’re mine. And I love fucking you like this. How could you just disappear like that, without even giving me a chance.” His words disappear into what’s almost a growl, and he thrusts harder, faster.

The headboard is knocking against the wall, and an orgasm is gathering inside me, something wild and brutal and altogether different than anything I’ve felt before. I think that Hudson is deeper inside me than he’s ever been before. I can feel him everywhere, every stroke in every part of my body. He’s marking me, and I want it. He’s grunting with the effort and I can’t stop moaning, saying yes, and my voice rises with the tide of pleasure until I’m almost screaming.

Hudson screams out my name as he comes, fucking his way through his orgasm, and mine follows. It’s not just a wave, it’s a cascade, a tsunami, it crushes me with the sheer size of the sensation. My pussy clamps down onto him, holding on, never wanting this to end. It’s too big to hold, no person can have this much pleasure in their body at once. It’s impossible. He collapses on top of me, and I’m pinned beneath his heat, his cock still inside me as the orgasm wrings me out. I can’t move, he’s everywhere, around me and in me. Pulling out, he turns me over, kissing me hard. So hard I think it might bruise.

“If you’re going to leave again, tell me. I’d rather know than wake up to an empty bed.”

“I’m not leaving.”

His face is hard, like he doesn’t believe me. That’s fair. But I’m really not.

“If you’re not leaving, then tell me what your plans for the weekend are.”

A wash of cold goes through my body. My mother and my sister. Even if I know that they’ve been wrong, that I’ve been wrong about myself, I’m still not ready to jump from this to domestic bliss. “It’s not you,” I say. “But I’m not quite ready. I feel safe here. I don’t know if I’m ready for you to meet the real me. I like who I am here, and I couldn’t take it if you didn’t like me in the real world.”

“Please, Christine. I don’t care about that. I just want to know you.”

“Let’s just…go slowly.”

He sighs, but his face isn’t the hard and unyielding mask it was just a few minutes ago. “All right. As long as you promise not to disappear.”

“I promise,” I say, moving my hand up to my chest. “Cross my heart.”

“Good.” He kisses me hard again, and pulls back just long enough to replace the condom. “Now I have four days without you to make up for. When you leave you may not be able to walk.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Is that your promise?”

“Absolutely.”