Page 1 of Roughing It

CHAPTER ONE

blakely

I am so totally screwed.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I stare at the flickering fireplace.Shit.How did this happen?

Of all the things I expected and hoped for when I started this adventure, love wasn’t anywhere on the list. So how did I fall head over heels for a man like Hudson Brooks, a man built for small towns and a quiet life? A man who’s everything I’m not.

My trek into the northern New Mexico mountains was supposed to show the internet trolls I’m more than a pretty face.

No. That’s a lie.

It was my chance to escape the oppressive loneliness of the city and the toxic faux-friendships around me.

But love—I never saw it coming. My brain spirals, thinking of all the ways Hudson and I differ. All the reasons I should go. All the reasons I should stay.

Then my handsome outdoorsman steps up behind me—the heat from the fireplace nothing compared to that of hisbody—and I melt into his touch. He draws me closer, large hands brushing over my back and side, thumbs glancing the underside of my breasts before settling on my hips.

His gruff voice rumbles in my ear. “It’s your last night. Tomorrow you leave. No more tiny one-room cabin for you, Princess. Unless?—”

Spinning, I press my fingertips to his lips, shivering when he nips them. I don’t want to talk. Think. Instead, I want to relish his calloused touch, his weight on top of me, his scent. I need to imprint this,him, in my mind. If I can’t be brave, at least I can take the beautiful memories of the last thirty days with me to Austin.

I’ll need them.

Hudson frowns, his lips turning down behind my fingers, the faint wrinkles in his brow becoming more prominent. He’s waiting for me to say something. Anything. I open my mouth, then shut it because, for the first time in my life, words fail me.

“I’ve tried to figure out how to get you to stop talking for the last month, and now you go silent on me?” His voice is playfully grumpy but tinged with sadness. He doesn’t want this to end any more than I do.

Giving him a small smile, I press my forehead against his chest and sigh. “Don’t call me Princess.” Then, without another word, I unbutton his shirt, relishing the sensation of the flannel as I tug it off his broad shoulders. My lips trail over his warm skin, stopping at his heart. I rest my ear there, the steady, strong beat of his pulse thumping in my head, matched only by the growing throb between my legs. It’s ridiculous, the effect this man has on me.

I reach lower, unbuttoning his pants. Sliding them down his hips, skimming his powerful thighs. Then I ghost over his thick cock, and the hunger in me sharpens. I long to take him into my mouth, my body.

Hudson takes his time undressing me, stopping as he removes an item of clothing to kiss me, caress me, stare at me as if he’s committing each curve to memory.

“Stay.” He whispers the word against my neck between well-placed kisses.

My eyelids flutter, and I swallow hard, a lump tightening in my throat. “It’s not fair to say that while your lips are on my body, Bear.”

He chuckles, his warm breath against my skin igniting every nerve. The urge to erase any distance between us takes hold, and I lead him to the bed we’ve made ours over the last twenty-nine days.

Hudson drapes himself over me, his weight a comfort I never expected to crave. A comfort I didn’t know I was missing.

The significance of our last night together hangs over us, but then Hudson kisses me, a deep, bruising kiss that curls my toes, and my worries cease. I part my lips, letting the taste of him wash over me. With a soft curse, he pulls away, blazing a trail down my jaw to my neck, the rough edges of his teeth grazing against my skin, making me shudder.

His molten mouth moves lower, taking one of my sensitive nipples, worrying it with his tongue and teeth until I’m arching on the bed. At the moment I need it most, he switches to the other side and repeats his sensual onslaught.

“Fuck me, Blakely, you have the best tits.” He cups my breasts in his calloused hands and pushes them together, nuzzling his face against my already hardened peaks. While he toys with my breasts, he pushes his knee against me, and I work myself against him, chasing the friction I yearn for.

A gentletskis the only warning Hudson gives me before pulling his knee back, and the high I’m pursuing slips away.

“So eager. We have all night. Need you to be patient.”

Like a petulant child, I shake my head and pout.

“My bratty Blakely, you better watch that lip, or someone’s gonna bite it.”

At his words, I push my bottom lip out further and stomp my foot into the mattress for good measure.

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