Six
Skylar
“Skylar, this is Hudson, Darcy’s son.” My father’s words ran like a speeding train through my head.
How had this happened?
Why was God punishing me?
I was pretty sure I was being punished for something at this point.
How was it possible that the man I’d been sleeping with, the man who’d given me the very best orgasms of my life, was actually my new stepbrother. Clearly, God had one helluva sense of humor, and right now, his attention was aimed at me.
“So, did you just meet here, or…?” Hudson’s mom asked politely, eyes circling from her son to me and back again. I frowned, thinking there was no way out of this one, before Hudson saved me.
“Met up last night, actually, in town at one of the local watering holes.”
“Ah, so that’s where you were last night.” Darcy smiled, before realization seemed to dawn and her eyes grew wide as dinner plates. “Um, Mark, honey, can I have a word with you?” She hooked my father’s hand in hers then hauled him down the hallway and out of view.
“Fuck.” Hudson shot a hand through his hair, eyes turning to me. “Didn’t see that one coming.”
I stood speechless, the last few terrifying minutes cycling in my head. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Hudson’s grin split a little wider, his hand locking with mine and pulling me against his body. “Fucking your stepbrother now—I knew you liked it kinky.”
My mouth shot open, horror and anger and every other conflicting emotion playing on my face. “That’s not true! What—” I huffed, frustration dripping out of every pore. “You’re incredible.”
“You already told me that last night.” He nuzzled into my neck, tongue darting out to lick along the crease.
“Stop, now is definitely not the place—”
“Overthinking again.” He covered my mouth with his in a deep kiss, shutting me up and turning me to putty in the same instant. Hudson had a superpower, I was sure of it. “I think we’ve done our due diligence. I need you alone now.” He took my hand and hauled me right back out of the door we’d come in, striding to his bike, which, funnily enough, was parked only a few spots away from my car. We’d missed each other earlier by just a few tick marks, but we had each other now, and if his grip was any indication, he wouldn’t be letting go.
“Leave the car here. I’m thinking we’ve both got the same thing we’ve got to be at tomorrow, so I’ll bring you.”
“Bring me?” I gasped as he hauled me onto his bike. “Is that…allowed?”
“A man can bring his little step-sis to the wedding, right? I’m pretty sure that makes me a gentleman.”
“Oh my God, there aren’t even any words to describe how vile you are.”
“The way you scream my name when my head is between your thighs is a good start.” He revved the engine to life with a wink.
“I don't know if I’m making the best decision of my life or the worst going home with you right now.”
“Got news for you, precious. The time for decisions was last night. Today, you’re all mine. Tomorrow too. There’s no turning this train around. You’re stuck with me.”
I huffed out a breath, enjoying the feeling of butterflies battering my insides at his words. “Looks like I’m stuck with you even more than I realized.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He grinned that crooked grin, eyes sparkling before he tore out of the parking lot and down the street, aiming straight for my house. He’d already weaseled his way into my heart; so what if our parents had just dropped a bomb? I was living recklessly, feeling and not thinking, and we weren’t related anyway, so it’s not like there was anything awkward about it.
Or there shouldn’t be.
Until I thought of Christmas dinners and summer barbecues and what would happen if Hudson and I didn’t work out. What if he was a raging lunatic asshole who was going to trample all over my heart and leave it bleeding in the dust?
I gripped at his waist, holding on a little tighter, before he took one hand off the handlebars and covered mine.
Just that small touch had my body loosening, my anxiety easing, and the sense that this was right -- and so was he -- growing strong again.
We’d face tomorrow however it needed facing. But right now, it was just him and me on the back of his bike, and I kind of loved it.
* * *
Later that night, long after the shock had worn off—and Hudson had given me four mind-bending orgasms—I burrowed into the haven of his arms, a sense of dread taking root in my belly. “Tomorrow is the wedding.”
“Yup,” he breathed, fingertips tracing circles around my nipple.
“Tomorrow, you leave?”
“Yeah.” The word escaped his lips on a soft puff of air.
“I hate tomorrow already.”
“Me too.” The words stretched between us, unspoken thoughts hanging heavy. “Being lost in you is something spiritual, Sky. I’m not the same man when I’m with you. I’m better.” His words were like a wringer to my heart. How had we found ourselves here? Riding the impossible high of stolen first moments right into the inevitable crash and burn of impossible love. “I never saw you coming, precious. You completely blindsided me.”
I curled into his body, unable to take the loss of this man just yet. Tears pricked at my eyelids as he tucked me under his heavy arm, stroking my hair with his callused fingers and whispering sweet nothings in my ear. Everything he did was meant to make me feel better, but somehow it made it worse. It made everything worse because tomorrow he was leaving, and the simple fact was we should just go back to our real lives and forget this ever happened. Now more than ever.
We couldn’t show up to family gatherings hand in hand. We couldn’t live under the guise of love when so much dysfunction surrounded our coupling.
I stroked his chest, wishing more than anything that today hadn’t happened so we could go back to just being us, Skylar and Hudson, two strangers who met in a bar and fucked one night.
But we would never just be that anymore. We were now the stepsiblings who’d fucked, who’d filled in all the missing pieces, who loved each other? Was that true? Did he love me? Because I was starting to think I could love him, just when it was all being stolen away.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Just overthinking again,” I muttered, trying to control the cracks from shattering my voice.
“We’ve got to train that out of you,” he whispered softly, emotion flowing through his words as much as mine.
“Yeah.” I frowned, trying desperately not to crumble in his arms.
“Sky?” he murmured against my skin.
“Yeah?”
His fingers laced with mine as he took his time replying. “I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone. I just want you to know that.”
My throat ached with the lump I was trying to squash, until finally the levees burst, and I let a few stubborn tears trickle down my cheeks. I tried to hide it, but I didn’t do a very good job when the salty wetness on his chest drew his attention to my face.
He pulled me closer, hands in my hair as he kissed away the trails of tears.
Hudson had turned my world upside down then soothed away the tight feeling that clenched my heart whenever I thought of him leaving. He knew my soul inside and out, and letting go of him tomorrow would be the hardest thing I’d ever have to do.