Her back arched as his hand cupped her breast, his thumb brushing her hardened nipple as it strained against the fabric of her T-shirt. He groaned into her mouth, then broke away, whipping her shirt over her head and lowering her onto the bed.

Hudson hovered over her. He dipped his head and took her lower lip between his teeth, tugging gently before kissing her long and hard. She welcomed his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and urging him closer. His body glided over hers until every inch of her skin was covered by him. And yet it wasn’t enough. She needed more. Desperate for friction, she lifted her hips only to have him shift to his side.

She whimpered at the loss of contact, then shivered as his hand slid down her stomach and under the delicate fabric of her panties. The ache between her legs spread throughout her body as his fingers pressed and released. He moved lower, pausing at her entrance. Circling, caressing . . . driving her wild.

She cried out as first one and then two fingers pushed inside her. His voice rasped in her ear, telling her how good it felt to have her lips around him and how badly he wanted to feel her body’s wet heat around him now. He accentuated his words by pressing his growing erection against her hip while his fingers continued their steady rhythm. Her muscles tightened around him, his fingers and words pushing her closer to the release she craved.

His tongue traced the edge of her ear and then his lips were on her neck, slowly kissing his way down her body. He traced leisurely circles around her taut nipple before scraping it with his teeth. She writhed beneath him, near mindless with need.

“Please, Hudson . . .”

She felt him smile against her stomach. “Oh no, baby, quid pro quo.”

“What?” Panting, she lifted her head. Hudson looked up at her from beneath dark lashes. His eyes were full of salacious intent as he dragged his tongue from one hip bone to the other.

“You were relentless in your pursuit, Alessandra.” His hands gripped the sides of her panties, easing them down as he worked his way lower. “Now it’s my turn.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

Allie yanked open the bathroom drawer and began gathering items by the handful. Toothpaste, makeup, lotion. She didn’t stop to sort through them, just tossed them into a cosmetic bag. The last thing she needed was for her mother to stop by unannounced and find her packing for a weekend getaway. And now that Victoria’s antenna was up, anything was possible. Of course she’d offer some perfectly logical excuse—I was in the neighborhood and just had to show you these swatches—but it would be nothing more than a pretense. The sooner she got Hudson out of her apartment, the better.

She’d tried to get him to wait in the car, offering a seemingly innocent, “No need to come up. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Yeah, that went well.

“The hell I’m waiting in the car,” he’d said.

Judging by his success in the corporate world, there wasn’t much that intimidated Hudson Chase. Not a ruthless competitor in the boardroom and certainly not an irate mother in a living room. What Hudson failed to understand was that if Victoria Ingram Sinclair felt her family’s image was at stake, there was no telling how far she’d go to protect it. On the surface her mother might have appeared the flighty socialite, but in reality, she was a shrewd and powerful player among Chicago’s elite. Allie’s reaction to tea with her mother had run far deeper than a simple mother/daughter test of wills. She also worried what would happen to Hudson if he became the target of her mother’s rage.

Allie shoved her hair dryer and hiking boots into the duffle bag and quickly zipped it closed. She hoisted the bag off the bed and carried it into the living room just in time to see Hudson putting his phone back in the breast pocket of his coat. Without even asking she knew he’d been calling his brother again.

They’d woken that morning to find Nick had left sometime before dawn, and Hudson had been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach him ever since. He’d even gone by Nick’s apartment while Allie was at work, but said from the looks of things, Nick hadn’t been there in days.

“Any luck?” she asked, dropping the overstuffed duffle bag on the couch.

Hudson ran a hand back through his hair before pulling his tie loose. “Voice mail again.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to cancel?” she asked him for at least the tenth time.

“I’m sure. Nick’s probably coming down. He’ll be sleeping his high off for a couple days.”

She considered his response for a moment. Part of her still thought they should postpone the trip so he could look for Nick, but Hudson was probably right in assuming he’d crashed somewhere. The poor kid looked exhausted. And besides, if Nick was ready to get help, he wouldn’t have snuck off in the middle of the night.

Hudson picked up Allie’s suitcase. “Ready?”

“Almost; let me just finish packing.”

His brow shot up. “You have more?” The amusement in his voice was obvious, and for the first time all day he cracked a smile. He’d been so quiet and withdrawn since discovering Nick had bailed on their deal. But now, as he looked at her in feigned dismay, his frown lines relaxed into a genuine smile that touched his blue eyes.

“Just two.” She turned back toward her bedroom and gazed at him over her shoulder, trying her best to look innocent as she held up two fingers. “They’re small.”

As she scurried back down the hall, she heard her duffle bag drop to the living room floor with a thud. A moment later Hudson was standing in the doorway of her room.

“Christ, Allie, we’re only going away for the weekend.”

Her hands settled on her hips as she surveyed the clothes spread out all over her bed. “I don’t know how many outfits I’ll need.”

Catching her by the waist, Hudson wrapped his arms around her and hauled her back against him. “I don’t plan on letting you stay dressed long enough to consider other outfits.” He nuzzled her hair. “I want this body ready for me at any time.”

His words were intoxicating, and everything below her waist suddenly clenched with need. If he kept up what he was doing—tracing her ear with his tongue, tugging the lobe between his teeth, oh yes, just like that—they were never going to leave her bedroom, much less Chicago.

“Hudson, I’m serious. I don’t know where we’re going or what we’ll be doing.” She wriggled out of his arms and into her walk-in closet. When she emerged a moment later with an armload of sweaters and jeans, she found Hudson lounging across her bed. He was leaning back on one elbow, wearing that sexy smirk of his, and looking all kinds of tempting. The sight of him stopped her in her tracks. She couldn’t help but picture the last time he’d lounged on that bed . . . naked . . . with the moon casting shadows across the hard contours of his chest as he moved over her . . . under her . . . inside her. . . .

“I think you know what we’ll be doing, Alessandra,” he said in a low drawl, interrupting her delicious memories as if reading her mind. “As for where? My bed, the hot tub—”

“Oh, hot tub! I need my swimsuit.” Allie dumped the pile of clothes on the bed and headed for the dresser. She pulled a bikini out of the bottom drawer and shoved it in her bag, only to have Hudson promptly pull it out and toss it to the side.

“You won’t be needing that. In fact, you won’t be needing half of this,” he said, pulling articles of clothing from her bag one at a time until something of interest caught his eye. “Is this what you envision wearing in the woods?” He sat up, a black lace garter stretched between his thumbs, and flashed a wicked grin. “It would look remarkable on the back of my bike.”