WORK HAD KICKED Hudson’s ass tonight.
Patrons flocked to Embue for a good time on a daily basis but some nights were crazy busy. Being the manager for Sydney’s hottest nightclub had its advantages. He counted the coolest celebrities and sports stars as friends, knew every up-and-comer in the city and had his pick of gorgeous women.
He should’ve been rapt that Australia’s biggest beauty pageant contingent had chosen Embue as their venue for an after-party tonight. Instead, as he watched countless stunning women swan by him wearing next to nothing, sporting bodies that could make a guy grovel, all he could think about was Makayla.
Was she regretting their earlier encounter?
Was she looking forward to the next?
Was she thinking about him at all?
He sure as hell couldn’t stop thinking about her.
He’d never expected to take things so far. He’d wanted to test himself, to see if he’d moved on from the past, to ensure that seeing her naked again wouldn’t resurrect the old feelings of repugnance; not against her, but for what seeing her naked the first time represented to him.
Thankfully, nothing but desire had filled him, pounding through his blood to a relentless beat he couldn’t ignore. He’d never been prone to impulsiveness but watching her soap and stroke herself had lit something within he couldn’t deny.
He had to prove—to both of them—that he saw her as a beautiful, desirable woman. That he’d left his reservations from the past behind. That he’d moved on, for both their sakes.
When he’d opened the shower stall, he’d had no idea what to do. Kiss her maybe. Touch her. But the look in her eyes had slayed him: as if she half expected his rejection all over again.
That realisation had gutted him and he’d known he had to give her pleasure and keep a tight rein on his.
Tasting her, hearing her tiny mewls of satisfaction, had been amazing. But he couldn’t forget that damn look in her eyes and the fact he’d put it there with his appalling treatment of her five years earlier.
Scowling, he made his umpteenth round of the club, doing impromptu spot checks on everything from the cleanliness of the cocktail glasses to dance-floor spills. Staff must’ve sensed his mood because they steered clear, ensuring their workstations were spotless, not giving him the usual grief.
His cell buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out, his heart giving a traitorous leap when Mak’s name flashed up on the screen.
She’d sent him a text. Short and sweet.
I’ve got 2 tix for show @ Opera House 2moro nite. U free?
He worked nights, but if Mak wanted to spend any time with him after what had happened earlier, it meant she didn’t want to castrate him for his boldness and was open to more.
Nothing could keep him away.
Spying Tanner near the sound booth, he crossed the club with determined strides, eager to give her an answer before she changed her mind or asked someone else to accompany her.
‘Hey, bozo, what are you putting in the drinks?’ Tanner gestured around. ‘This place is packed tonight.’
‘Word travels. That, and you’ve got the best manager in the business.’
‘Modest, much?’ Tanner leaned against the console, his white T-shirt fluorescent in the club lights. ‘What’s up?’
‘Speaking of being the best manager in the business, can I have tomorrow night off?’
Tanner’s eyebrows rose. ‘You never ask for time off. What gives?’
‘A show at the Opera House I want to check out.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Tanner tapped his temple, pretending to think. ‘Is this technically work? You checking out a show to get ideas for the show here?’
Hudson didn’t lie to his best friend. But he knew if he told the truth, he’d never hear the end of it.
‘Something like that,’ he said, the half-truth lodging in his throat.
‘Sure, go ahead. Knock yourself out.’ Tanner shrugged. ‘Say hi to Mak for me.’
‘What?’
Tanner guffawed and slapped him on the back. ‘Listen, dickhead, when a workaholic like you asks for a night off for the first time in five years it must involve a woman. And seeing as Mak had you in a spin after the audition, it has to be her. Correct?’
‘You’re full of shit,’ Hudson said, glad his friend knew him so well. ‘She has a spare ticket, she asked me to go, that’s it.’
‘Keep telling yourself that,’ Tanner said, grinning like a doofus. ‘Though you’ve heard the saying, right? Don’t screw the crew?’
‘Like you did with Abby?’
‘Touché, my smitten friend.’ Tanner shrugged. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Hudson flipped him the bird and stalked off, already tapping a response to Mak.
He didn’t need any warnings. He already knew that getting involved with Mak could lead to disaster.
But with relentless desire pounding through his body, making him want her with a mindless intensity he couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried, he knew that some things were worth the risk.