A deep growl escaped his mouth as he found the damp lace between her thighs. “I want this,” he murmured. Moving the fabric aside, he slid his fingers over her slick skin. “And so do you. You’re wet for me.” He pushed two fingers inside her and she gasped. Like a bullet shooting out of a steel barrel, he crushed his mouth to hers, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as his fingers worked her sex.

Moaning, Allie arched into him, giving herself over to what he knew was going to be raw fucking. She grinded herself against his hand, rocking her hips at the same time her fingers reached for his fly. The belt came undone and the zipper was just as accommodating. And then his cock, his rock-hard, aching cock, sprung from his hips and fell heavy into her palm. The moan he let out could’ve probably been heard through the metal doors ofthe elevator but he was too far gone to muzzle his response. He wanted to leave his mark on her, and by the time he was through he was going to be all over her, inside and out.

With a sharp tug he turned her lace panties into nothing more than shredded artwork, then grabbed her by the hips and tilted them to the angle he wanted. Her thighs obeyed before an acquiescence could move past her lips. His palm shifted between her spread legs, grasping one and curling it around his hip. In a white-hot possession he pushed into her on a solid stroke. When he started to move, she grabbed his shoulders, bracing herself against his relentless drives. It was complete domination, his body pumping in and out, his hips rolling in a sensuous motion that became faster and faster until he felt like his balls were going to explode. And to top it off, at any moment Chicago’s 911 could yank the doors open with their jaws of life and catch him fucking her as if his life depended on it.

Her hands slipped under the lapels of his jacket and her nails raked across his skin. He felt the bite of pain through the fabric of his shirt, but it quickly faded into a sweet utopia that carried him deeper into an ulterior universe. A universe where the past was permanently pitched into oblivion. A cosmic motherfucking do-over.

He wished.

Hudson’s fingers dug into the supple flesh of her ass as he slid her up and down, working her along the length of his thick erection. “God, Allie, I’ve missed being inside you.”

“No talking,” she groaned.

“You love it when I talk dirty.”

Allie shoved her hands into his dark waves and dragged his mouth to hers. “Shut up and kiss me.” With a raw need, his tongue thrust inside her mouth, mirroring the driving strokes of his cock. All the while her hips met him thrust for thrust and her breathless moans whispered across his neck. “Don’t stop,” she murmured again and again. Her words took him to the next level and he pounded her bare ass against the oak-paneled interior until the elevator walls vibrated.

Mine.

The word volleyed around his skull.

Fucking mine.

He wanted to say it out loud, but it would’ve been a buzzkill on a moment he was hell-bent on making last forever. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the feel of his cock going in and out of her. The sensation of her impending orgasm pulsing around him nearly wiped out his vision.

Her hand gripped the collar of his shirt and with an involuntary yank the top button was sent airborne as her body seized against his. He glanced down to where they were joined, watching the head of his cock slip out before driving deep again, and he was done for.

“Fucking hell.” He cranked his eyes shut and buried his face into her neck as his orgasm broke free. There was no way of holding back, and the feel of her own climax gripping his cock like a vise was a direct sucker punch to the gut. Bastard that he was, he wanted to ricochet her into one orgasm after another, until she was crying out his name as if it were a benediction.

But like everything else between them, the moment was only temporary. And as he pulled out and the cool air hit his cock in a rush, he felt like he was leaving his goddamn fucking heart with her. She was the only woman that gave it another function other than beating behind his rib cage.

He lowered her leg to the floor and she stepped away. His belt clanked as he tucked himself and his shirttails back into his pants, while across the elevator Allie yanked her skirt down and swept her massacred panties off the floor. Hudson lifted his gaze from his fly to her eyes. He didn’t know what to say.

The elevator filled with a heavy silence.

She just stared at him. She didn’t look away; she didn’t even flinch. But those eyes, those fucking eyes of hers were obliterating him with a slow, resenting burn. And yet the way he still wanted her just about stalled out his lungs.

“Allie . . . I—”

“Don’t.” She yanked the key out of the panel and let it drop to the floor. The doors slid open on the thirtieth floor, and without another word she was gone.

Chapter Nine

Allie stepped off the elevator and her legs nearly gave out beneath her. Her mind was racing as fast as her pulse, but she couldn’t even let herself think about what had just happened until she was safely behind closed doors.

Hudson didn’t follow. And when the elevator doors whispered shut behind her, she didn’t look back. The haunted look in his eyes when she’d left him that morning at his penthouse was already ingrained in her memory. The last thing she needed was to see that sadness and confusion again, especially since now it would be a mirror reflection of her own.

So instead she moved as quickly as unsteady legs on four-inch heels would allow, praying she could make it to her office unseen.

The thirtieth floor was usually a hotbed of activity. All day long assistants, mail clerks, clients, even reporters, would zigzag through the hallways. But as Allie rounded the corner, she was relieved to discover there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Unfortunately, that relief was short-lived.

When she pushed through the glass doors that lead to the executive offices, her steps faltered. Colin was seated at his desk just outside her office door. Judging by the deep crease between his brows, he was concentrating hard on whatever was displayed on his computer monitor. Even so, Allie knew he’d look up and greet her as she approached, just as he had every other time over the past three days. Only this time she knew she had the look of someone who’d just been thoroughly well-fucked. Colin had a keen eye, and in the short time he’d worked for her had proven quite adept at reading her expressions. But in this case no special intuition would be needed. One look at her disheveled hair, smeared lipstick, and rumpled clothes and he’d know exactly what she’d been up to.

“Hey there, boss lady,” he said as she blew past his desk.

She kept her head down, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to not only restore some order, but in the hopes of hiding her flushed face as well. “Hold my calls, please, Colin.”

“Sure thing,” she heard him reply as she closed her office door.

Dazed, she stumbled to her private bathroom, where she sank to the ground and dropped her head in her hands. With a heavy exhale the tears began to fall. Tears of grief, sadness, regret. But most of all, anger. What the hell had she been thinking? She’d been doing so well keeping Hudson Chase at arm’s length. And while yes, it was partly to punish him for the lies and deceit, it was also to protect her heart. But instead of telling him to go to hell when he’d pinned her against the elevator wall, she’d let him fuck her. And at Ingram headquarters, no less.