A breathy cry left her lips, and then her hand moved beneath his, rubbing her nipple in slow, light strokes.
“That’s it. Get yourself nice and hot.” He drew his hand back and breathed through his nose, trying to quell the arousal running rampant through his body. He absently ran his palm over his crotch, hoping the tiny bit of friction would help ease the ache, but the fleeting stroke only made his dick throb harder.
He picked up his glass instead and downed the rest of his tequila, hoping the burn of the alcohol would distract him from the burn down below. But then Hudson moaned, and he almost shot his load right then. She was almost there. He could see it in the tension of her body, hear it in her soft gasps, feel it in the trembling of her thigh against his chair.
Screw it. One taste. He just needed a taste.
Before he could stop himself, he leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers, swallowing her gasp of delight with his kiss. Except it couldn’t even be considered that. It was a hard slapping of mouths and a fast thrust of tongue, no tenderness or finesse, nothing but raw desperation.
Hudson came the moment their lips touched.
Connor wrenched his mouth away in time to see ecstasy darken her eyes and redden her cheeks as she rocked into her own hand and shuddered in orgasm.
It was fucking beautiful.
He couldn’t resist stealing another kiss, this time on the side of her throat. Her flesh was hot beneath his lips, quivering as he dragged his tongue over it.
When she finally grew still, her gaze came up to meet his, and there it was – those wide eyes again. Then she looked around, blushing harder when she realized she had an audience. Rylan was watching her from the couch, his companion gone and his cock in his hand.
“I… can’t believe I just did that.”
She sounded confused and dismayed, and the reaction was enough to confirm everything Connor had already suspected.
Without a word, he dropped his empty glass on the bar top and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Her gaze rested on the very obvious bulge in his pants.
Ignoring her, he sought out Pike and nodded at the other man, issuing an unspoken command for him to keep an eye on Hudson. As Pike made his way over, Connor took a step forward and surveyed the room until he found what he was looking for.
“If you need anything, ask Pike or Ry,” he muttered to Hudson.
Then he walked away.
Hudson battled a jolt of shock as Connor turned his back on her and strode across the room like he owned it. Every female head swung in his direction, but he ignored them all, moving with purpose toward a willowy redhead in a skintight black dress.
He didn’t look back in Hudson’s direction. Not even once.
The afterglow from the mind-shattering orgasm she’d given herself dispersed like a cloud of dust. She watched in disbelief as Connor murmured something in the redhead’s ear. The woman said something in return, eliciting a deep chuckle from Connor.
Hearing him laugh with another woman hurt.
Seeing him leave the room with another woman pissed her off.
But really, what did she have to be angry about? They weren’t together. They barely even knew each other. Which meant that Connor could have sex with whomever the hell he wanted and Hudson had no right to be mad.
Except… she wasn’t mad, she realized.
She was jealous.
She’d just experienced the most intense orgasm of her life in a roomful of people, and she wasn’t even close to being satisfied. She wanted more. She wanted to experience that heady rush again, only this time with Connor as the one bringing her to that edge.
“So who the hell are you?”
Hudson’s head jerked up, and she found herself looking at one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen. “What?” she stammered.
“Just wondering who you are,” the brunette drawled. “I’ve never seen Con show up here with a woman before.”
Hudson shot a quick glance at Pike, who stood at the end of the bar watching her like a hawk. But he didn’t seem concerned to see her chatting with the curvy brunette.
The woman studied Hudson with mesmerizing brown-black eyes that tilted upward slightly enough to give her an exotic look. Long chestnut-colored hair cascaded over one shoulder and hung over the black corset she wore.
“Are you with him?” the woman asked curiously.
Hudson gritted her teeth. “He left with someone else. Does it look like I’m with him?”
That got her a delighted laugh. “Oh, look at that. Kitty cat still has her claws.” A seductive hand caressed Hudson’s bare shoulder, making her flinch. “I’m Tamara.”
“Hudson,” she answered reluctantly.
Tamara leaned against the bar. “How do you know Con and the boys?”
“How do you know them?”
“I asked you first, kitty cat.”
She had to smile. “I ran into them a couple days ago,” she admitted.
Tamara’s gaze sharpened. “Are you staying with them?”
She knew better than to confide in a stranger, especially about the whereabouts of the men’s camp, so she shrugged and said, “Nah. They’ve been on the move since I met them. If they have a home base, I don’t know about it.”
The other woman relaxed. “Yeah,” she said ruefully. “I’ve been trying to pry the location outta them for more than a year, but the boys are very hush-hush about where they make camp.”
Hudson nodded and sipped her drink. As silence fell between them, her mind wandered back to Connor and the redhead. And the wicked things Connor was probably doing to the redhead.
On second thought, maybe she was pissed off. Because… well, the nerve of that bastard. How could he sit there and watch her tremble in orgasm and then abandon her so he could get off with some other woman?
As if reading her mind, Tamara laughed softly. “Ah, don’t let it get to you, honey. Connor is a hard man to land.” She lit a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke past Hudson’s face, then held out the cigarette pack in offering.
Hudson wasn’t much of a smoker, but at the moment she was so on edge, she welcomed the nicotine buzz. She brought the cigarette to her lips and leaned in so Tamara could light it for her.
“Honestly, you’d be amazed at the sheer volume of women that throw themselves at him,” Tamara said as she pocketed the silver lighter. “I ran into him at a bar out east once, and the second his fine ass walked into the room, every girl in the place was begging to ride on his dick. But he’s very selective. Oh, and he never fucks the same woman twice, so don’t worry, hon. That cute little redhead will be nothing but a distant memory in a matter of hours.”
Hudson took a drag and eyed Tamara pensively. “Have you ever… you know…?”
“With Connor? Nah. He’s smarter than that.” She grinned. “Connor knows I’d eat him alive. But him —” She tipped her chin at Rylan, who was tangled up with Jamie again. “He lets me do whatever I want to him. Doesn’t care how many bite marks I leave.”
This time, Hudson’s cheeks didn’t burst into flames when she turned to watch Rylan in action. His powerful buttocks flexed as he pounded into Jamie from behind, and yet Hudson didn’t even bat an eye. It was crazy how fast she’d grown desensitized to the lusty activities happening around her. The sex had become background noise.
Tamara followed Hudson’s gaze. “Trust me, the man knows how to use that cock of his. And that piercing? Fan-fucking-tastic.” She exhaled another puff of smoke, then gave a discreet nod toward Pike. “Now, if you’re looking for someone a little more intense, you can go with Pike. Or at least, you can try to. He’s even more elusive than Con. He’s also a mean bastard sometimes, but he’s your best bet if you’re in the mood for a rough ride.” Tamara’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “Every girl needs to be manhandled once in a while.”
“What about them?” Hudson gestured to the Kade-and-Xander sandwich across the room. “What do they have to offer?”
“
To me? Nothing. I fuck men, not boys.”
Tamara grinned again, and Hudson couldn’t help but grin back. Tamara’s boldness was kind of entertaining. Come to think of it, every other woman in the room was throwing off the same confident vibe. It was like they all recognized their own power. They weren’t servicing the men like the women who came to the Enforcer compound. They weren’t just giving pleasure – they were taking it. And damn if that wasn’t an exhilarating notion.
She was starting to understand this world now. The idea of living in the moment and taking what you wanted. Her whole life she’d done what her father had expected of her. She’d followed his rules. Dominik’s rules. The GC’s rules.
But there were no rules here, and she needed to remember that. She needed to forget about the world she’d lived in before and start living in the world she was in now.
She needed to start taking.
Hudson wasn’t surprised when Connor ordered her to ride in the Jeep with Rylan instead of taking her on the bike, and a part of her was grateful not to be plastered to his body right now. It was hard to think when Connor was around. Hard to block out her attraction to him and just breathe.
Luckily, Rylan didn’t push her to make conversation, at least not right away. They’d been driving for more than an hour before he finally glanced over with a teasing smile.
“What’s the matter, gorgeous? Someone who came as hard as you did tonight shouldn’t look so troubled.”
She blushed, but her embarrassment was overshadowed by the urgency she was still feeling, that overpowering need to take. Or rather, to learn how to take.
“C’mon. Tell me what’s wrong,” he urged.
She let out a sigh. “I’m not sure I know how to live in the moment,” she confessed.
The response seemed to intrigue him. “Why do you say that?”
Hudson paused, carefully considering how much information to reveal. “I like the people I’ve met since I left my other group. I like you.” She shifted awkwardly. “But I don’t fully grasp the whole live-in-the-moment mentality. I…”
Before she could second-guess herself, she slid closer and touched the hand he was resting on the gearshift. She dragged her palm over his knuckles, and she knew from the way his breath hitched that her touch had affected him.
Hudson drew a deep breath, ignoring the nervous sensation in her stomach. “I want you to teach me.”
Rylan’s voice thickened. “Teach you what?”
“How to let go. How to stop fighting and start feeling. How to take pleasure.”
Emboldened by her own words, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his neck. When he groaned softly, she took it as a promising sign and became even bolder, sliding her hand to his crotch and cupping him over his jeans.
“Teach me,” she whispered.
With a sigh, Rylan covered her hand with his, stilling her movements. “If that’s what you really want, I’d be happy to help you.” He gently removed her hand. “But I’m not the person you need to ask.”
She stiffened. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means it’s Connor’s say, not mine.”
Disbelief dripped from her tone. “Are you telling me he controls your cock? That you can’t sleep with a woman unless he gives you permission?”
“Sometimes. It all depends on whether or not he’s staked a claim.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. She couldn’t believe the sheer audacity of that statement.
She blew out an aggravated breath. “I am not a piece of land that he can claim.”
“No, but like it or not, you belong to him. He made the decision to take you in, and now he gets to decide what to do with you. Or who can touch you.”
“Bullshit.” She angrily raked her fingers through her hair. “I don’t belong to him.”
“We all belong to him,” Rylan said simply. Then he turned his gaze back to the road. “The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”
7
Connor never went to bed when there was still work to be done. Didn’t matter that it was two in the morning when they got back to base – the supplies from the raid couldn’t stay in the Jeep all night, which meant that someone needed to unload them.
But just because he happened to be an anal bastard didn’t mean he expected the same from his men.
“Get out of here,” he barked when he saw their weary faces. “I’ve got this.”
Xander, Kade¸ and Pike nodded in relief and strode off toward their respective cabins or, in Pike’s case, the run-down stables he’d claimed as his living quarters. Hudson and Rylan lingered, the former standing near the Jeep with a frown, the latter already reaching in the back to grab a crate of canned goods.
“Go to sleep, Hudson,” Connor muttered. “It’s late.”
“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”
“We’re good.”
Her tone sharpened. “Of course. Because you don’t need anything from me, right? You’ve got other people at your disposal to take care of your needs.”
She marched off before he could answer, summoning a chuckle from Rylan.
“She’s pissed at you.”
Connor shrugged. “She can be as pissed as she wants. Doesn’t bother me.”
Rylan set the crate on the steps of the lodge before heading back to the Jeep for another one. “Did you have to go off with Nell?” he asked cautiously. “You know Blondie would have done anything you wanted. Christ, did you see her face tonight? She wants it bad, brother.”
Connor didn’t answer. He knew damn well that Hudson would have willingly spread her legs for him tonight. He also knew that if he’d given in, it wouldn’t have been about sex for her. Hudson had wanted an initiation, an introduction to the kind of kinky pleasure that was readily available in the free land.
Well, for Connor, sex was sex and nothing more. Fortunately, Nell was in total agreement about that, which was why he’d taken her to that private room tonight and drilled her so hard he’d seen stars. Asshole that he was, he’d imagined he was screwing Hudson instead, but he knew Nell wouldn’t care if she found out who he’d been fantasizing about. As long as she had an orgasm, the woman was happy as a clam.
Hudson wanted more than an orgasm. She wanted an experience.
And he wasn’t ready to give that to her.
“She asked me to teach her.”
Connor’s hands froze on the barrel of kerosene he was about to lift. He drew his brows together and glanced over at Rylan. “Teach her what?”
“How to let go. How to take pleasure and not stress about the consequences.”
Yeah, he’d known that would happen. The outlaw lifestyle could be addictive. Sure, it was dangerous at times, definitely a hassle when you had to pick up and move at the drop of a hat, but the joys of the life were like a drug, hooking you in, tempting you to explore the dark urges that every human possessed even though they tried to pretend otherwise. Connor had given in to those urges two years ago, because after Maggie’s death there’d been no reason to keep fighting them. No reason to keep trying to be the kind of man she needed him to be.
His chest clenched at the memory. Maggie might have been born in the free land, but she’d never belonged there. She’d been too damn gentle to survive the outlaw life.
Hudson wasn’t gentle, and she sure as hell hadn’t shied away from his harsh words or crude suggestions.
“What did you tell her?”
Rylan grinned. “What do you think I told her? That as much as I’d love to make every dirty fantasy she has come true, it’s not my place.”
He nodded. Rylan was a smart man, smart enough to know exactly what it meant when Connor had brought Hudson to Lennox’s playroom.
Hell, that’s why he’d ordered Rylan to drive Hudson back. Connor had laid the groundwork at the whorehouse with his harsh, no-nonsense approach, but Rylan had a softer touch, a seductive way of coaxing the truth from someone instead of beating it out of them.
Connor had been hoping his friend would get some answers from Hudson during the drive, but Rylan’s next question squashed that hope.
“So, is she from the city?”
“Absolutely,” Connor answered.
They fell into step with each other, hauling the fuel around the side of the lodge in the direction of the large wooden shed where they stored hazardous supplies.
“What are we going to do with her, then?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Is she a threat?”