The Invitation

My palms started to sweat, because I knew what I needed to do. I also knew that if I walked into my room and started overthinking things, I might chicken out. So it had to be now.

Right now.

I dropped the boxes on the floor in front of my door and rushed back to Hudson’s room. Standing in front of his door, my first instinct was to take a moment and pull myself together. But doing that would give me time to lose my nerve. So I forced myself to just do it and knock—though with all of the adrenaline and nerves rushing through me, my knock came out more like a bang, a very loud and fast pounding.

Hudson whipped open the door. His face was angry, but at the sight of me, he jumped into protective mode.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He took a step out of his room and looked down the hall, first to the right and then the left. “Stella, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fi…”

I forgot what I was saying mid sentence. When he’d whipped open the door and startled me, all I saw was an angry face. But now…

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

My Lord.

Hudson’s dress shirt was unbuttoned. His belt was open, and the zipper to his pants was down, revealing dark boxer briefs. But it wasn’t his state of undress that had me unable to form words, it was what was underneath the clothes.

I knew from our talks that he exercised, so I’d expected him to be in good shape. But Hudson was so much more. He was…magnificent. Beautiful smooth, tan skin, carved pecs, and an eight-pack of rippled muscles. A thin line of hair led from his belly button down into his boxers, the sight of which made me salivate.

“Stella? Are you okay?”

Hearing the concern in his voice, I blinked a few times.

“Oh…yeah. I’m fine.” Though not as fine as you.

“You banged on my door like there was a fire or something.”

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I was just anxious.”

“Anxious about what? The shoot tomorrow?”

“No…yes…no…well, I am anxious about the shoot tomorrow, but that’s not what I was anxious about when I knocked on your door.”

Hudson still looked confused.

But of course, why wouldn’t he when I was babbling like an idiot? So I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

“I…I…would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?”

“Dinner?”

I nodded and swallowed. “Yeah…like a date?”

All the confusion and anger disappeared from his face. He shook his head. “It’s about fucking time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be all cocky about it. Do you want to or not?”

He smiled. “Yes, I’d very much like to go out with you, Stella.”

My belly did a little somersault. I suddenly felt like I was in middle school and the most popular boy had told me he liked me back. Nervous, I looked down. “Okay, so tomorrow then? After the shoot. We’ll have dinner or something?”

Hudson looked amused. “Yes, that’s how it usually works—dinner or something.”

I scowled at him. “This isn’t easy, you know. You don’t have to make it even more difficult by being a jerk.”

His eyes sparkled. “I’ll work on that.”

“Good.” I’d never asked a man out in my life, so I wasn’t sure what came next. But when I caught myself grabbing for the ring I always twisted when I felt nervous, I figured the best thing would be to say goodnight. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

I went to walk away, but Hudson stepped out of his room and grabbed my hand. “Hang on a second. You forgot something.”

My brows dipped. “What?”

He yanked my hand so I stumbled and fell against his chest. Then in one quick swoop, he leaned down, lifted me up, and turned us so my back was up against the door to his room. My legs wrapped around his waist, and Hudson pushed into me, pinning me with his body. He cupped my cheeks and looked into my eyes.

“This, sweetheart, you forgot this.”

Hudson’s mouth crashed down on mine. The gasp that had been halfway through my lips was swallowed, along with any shyness I’d felt a minute ago. I threaded my fingers through his thick hair and tugged, wanting him even closer.

Hudson groaned. He tilted my head to deepen the kiss, and our tongues frantically collided. All hell broke loose after that. Hudson grinded between my legs as one of his hands snaked around to the back of my head where he grabbed a fistful of my hair. The roughness of his actions coupled with the feel of his warm, hard body pushing against me brought a moan from somewhere deep inside me.

“Fuck,” Hudson growled as his mouth moved to my neck. He sucked along my pulse line before kissing his way back to my lips. “Do that again. Make that sound again.”