Page 7 of Stealthy Seduction
But she had to.
She forced herself to roll away from Hudson.
In the faint light, she took in his long, muscled body…and his cock that was still half stiff.
She sucked in a deep breath. “I need to go home.”
“I’ll take you.”
They cleaned up and dressed, taking their time while tossing each other glances. When he led her through the quiet house to the front door, he told her to wait for him. A moment later he returned carrying the black hood.
“I need you to wear this.”
She stared up at him. “Seriously? I can’t be trusted after what we just did?”
He gave her a small shake of his head. “It’s the rules.”
“Fine.” She pulled in another deep breath, fortifying herself to draw the hood over her head.
He led her by the hand out of the house. She took in the grating sound of her shoes on stone, felt the edges of the pavers underfoot. The warm snap of late autumn wrapped around her.
When he guided her into a car, she gripped the edges of the leather seat while he strapped the seatbelt across her.
Though she couldn’t pick up smells through the hood, the scent of Hudson’s skin was still swirling through her head.
As soon as she heard the driver’s door close, Hudson spoke. “Give me your address. I’ll put it in my phone.”
“I can give you directions.”
“No you can’t. You don’t know where we are.”
She recited her address, and a moment later, the car was rolling. After a short spell, he said, “You can take off the hood.”
She ripped it off. Her hair was wild after their romp, but now it held static electricity too. She smoothed her hands over it and swept a look at the street and dark buildings around them.
Hudson sent her a look, the angles of his handsome face more chiseled in the blue lights of the dashboard. “Okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her insides were still tumbling from the two orgasms.
He held out his phone. “Enter your contact info.”
She looked at the device on his big palm. “If you wanted my digits, you could have just asked.”
He shot her another look but his lips twitched at the corner.
She took his phone and made a new contact for herself.
She hit save and handed his phone back, her fingers brushing his. Even that tiny contact sent another spark through her already overstimulated body, and she hated how much she wanted him to grab her again, to drag her back into that reckless, consuming heat.
Instead, Steele set the phone in the cup holder. The engine’s low rumble filled the silence, grounding them in a reality far less thrilling than the one they’d created together.
Her chest squeezed as she turned to the window. Neon signs glowed in the distance, casting fractured color over the street. Darkened shops, cracked sidewalks, and the echo of some drunk yelling in the night reminded her she wasn’t in the safe cocoon of Steele’s arms anymore.
She was back in her world—the one where life could change in a blink, where shadows lurked in every alley. And in her experience, shadows meant fear.
The high from Steele’s touch ebbed, leaving behind an ache she didn’t know how to name. She’d fought so hard to get her career back, to prove she wasn’t broken after Syria. But the truth hit her like a sucker punch—she would never feel safe in her own world again.
Her reflection in the glass looked hollow, eyes too wide, hair wild from his hands. Her skin still burned from his kiss, but beneath the warmth was a shiver that wouldn’t let go.
