“Oh no, baby, not yet,” he murmured. His breath fanned over her warm, wet skin and she moaned. Her fingers wound through his hair, trying to hold his mouth to her, but he kept her on the brink, changing rhythm whenever her body began to quiver.

“Please, Hudson,” she whimpered.

There was nothing gradual or gentle about the way his arms circled her hips, pulling her onto his thrusting tongue. She rocked against him, her hips moving restlessly in a desperate need for release.

“That’s it, come for me.” His deep drawl vibrated against her and she cried out, splintering apart in a mind-blowing orgasm.

Hudson stood in a rush with her leg still draped over his shoulder. She heard the sound of a buckle and glanced down to see him yank open his fly. Her body still trembled with aftershocks but the sight of his erection springing free had her clenching with need once more. Gripping the back of Allie’s thigh, he lifted her other leg over his shoulders and surged forward, entering her on a solid stroke.

His breath hissed between his teeth. “Fuck.”

Her hands gathered the white linen as her fingers curled around the edge of the table, holding herself in place against Hudson’s relentless drives. He leaned closer, bending her legs under him as he worked his length in and out with each possessive thrust. Her grip on the edge of the table tightened and a moan escaped her lips. She felt herself climbing higher and higher. Hudson’s pace quickened and her head arched back as an orgasm rolled through her body, obliterating everything else around her and numbing her senses.

“Christ, I’m going to come so hard.” His hips jerked in powerful, unforgiving thrusts as he rode out his release. He shouted her name on an explosive breath and then collapsed on top of her, his head resting against her chest.

She cradled his head in her arms and felt the pounding beat of his heart keeping time with hers. They lay like that for a long time, neither one speaking as their collective breathing slowed. Allie closed her eyes, memorizing the feel of his body draped across hers. She wanted to freeze the moment in time. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew two weeks with this man would never be enough. And when he finally lifted his head and smiled, her heart twisted at the thought of saying good-bye.

Chapter Twenty-two

All eyes were on Hudson as he flipped the pages of the contract his lawyers had drafted that afternoon. He could sense their collective flinching with each stroke of his red felt tip. The thing was a fucking mess. It was taking every ounce of restraint to keep from hurling the POS with enough force to defy the laws of physics, making his legal team play 150-page pickup.

In his peripheral vision, the skirts and suits shifted in their seats as if their asses were in a frying pan. The striped tie checked his watch, the gray skirt her cell phone. His jaw tightened. He was in no mood for bullshit. And it wasn’t just the scrap in his hands that was frustrating the hell out of him, but his personal life as well. As if picking up on his vibe, gray skirt carefully set the phone front and center.

Good call.

Reaching the last page, he tossed the phone book–size contract down the length of the glossy conference table. The thing looked like it was bleeding to death as it skidded to a stop in the center. Hudson’s tone was clipped and impatient as he rose out of his chair.

“I need the amended contract by morning.”

His lawyer glanced down at the carnage. “Those changes will take hours. Even if I keep the whole department—”

Hudson cut off the whining. “I don’t care if they’re here till dawn.” This acquisition, more like an assault, would launch Chase Industries to the top. No one was leaving until he was satisfied.

He leaned forward and planted his palms on the mahogany. “You’re not going soft on me, are you?” He’d hired the guy because he had a pair. But since he’d gotten married he seemed to have handed his nuts over to his wife and tucked his dick between his legs.

“We’ve been at it for over forty-eight hours, Mr. Chase . . .”

Hudson’s blue eyes narrowed. Lawyer guy seemed to relocate his brain and snapped his mouth shut. Riding a crest of aggression, Hudson pivoted away. With his back to the door and his muscles coiled tight, everything about him resonated get-the-fuck-out. “You have work to do.”

In the window, Hudson watched his lawyer’s reflection as he grabbed the decimated file from the center of the table and fled with the rest of his staff. When the room was empty he went over to the bar, poured himself a few fingers of scotch, and loosened his tie. Making his way back to his desk, he eased into his chair and swiveled toward the tireless view. He gripped the glass and stared out the window at a city that was his for the taking. The move to Chicago was proving beneficial. The deal that had brought him here was ahead of schedule, his name was blasted into stone on the goddamn building, and the press couldn’t keep their lips off his ass. Hell, he’d even pushed Rahm off the front page of Crain’s.

But when he thought of Allie, he felt like his life was spinning out of control.

That woman was a distraction that left him perpetually hard. And he had no time for distractions when a multibillion-dollar deal was on the line. But fuck, he wanted to see her, and the fact that she was attending a pretentious gathering her mother was throwing in the name of charity was riding him raw.

Of course she couldn’t take him with her. Not that he’d wanted to subject himself to another glad-hand event, although he would have. To see her in her element. To watch the secret blush color her cheeks when he whispered all the ways he wanted to possess and pleasure her. To stand beside her and support her. He wanted that privilege.

This was his time with her. A fucking two-week window to prove their connection extended far beyond the bedroom.

The ultimatum he almost gave her when she broke the news of her mother’s little party would have laid it all on the line. He’d been so tempted to put an end to this bullshit and make her choose. But he’d made the conscious decision at the start of this to wait the two weeks.

And timing was everything.

So he choked on his words to avoid ruining a night that started with dinner and ended with her for dessert. She’d been so beautiful spread out on his dining room table, her skin flushed with arousal and her body bowing off the surface. He tossed the rest of his drink back and the liquid slid sinuously over his tongue and down his throat. As it did, he thought of how his tongue had teased her swollen flesh and pulsed inside her as she came against his mouth.

Hudson let out a curse and tugged his shirttails out of his pants. With his free hand he reached for the phone and dialed Allie’s number, waiting to hear her voice before his palm fused to his cock.

Chapter Twenty-three

Only Allie’s mother could convince Chicago’s A-list to drive all the way to Lake Forest on a Tuesday night, let alone get the weather to cooperate. But when Victoria Sinclair decided to throw a party at Mayflower Place, no one dared decline. Not even Mother Nature.

She’d determined a gathering was in order—“something intimate, a dinner perhaps”—when the final numbers revealed that the museum gala had far exceeded expectations. The target of a spring groundbreaking was all but guaranteed and Allie’s mother thought the board of directors at Better Start should be thanked for their efforts.

What had begun as a simple affair for the board and a few key staff members had turned into a full-blown event. Valets greeted guests as they rounded the fountain court. Tuxedo-clad waiters passed hors d’oeuvres on silver trays. And a string quartet played under the glow of tiny lights strung above the limestone terrace.