Down Came the Rain (NOW FREE!)

24

Chapter 24

Sitting alone in her kitchen, long after Myles left, Hudson gazed out the window, the night before stuck on repeat in her head. Her stomach twisted in delicious knots at the thought of them tangled between the bed sheets together. What she'd done—what had been done to her—playing over and over again.

Myles. So handsome and funny. So fucking sexy. She wanted him to see her ... to really see her. To see her inside and out. To tell him her secrets. To lose all self-control.

But that's the way it was supposed to be. Right? To get so caught up in the moment you forgot yourself. To give your lover all that you were. No holding back. Let loose and allow your body to take over. Instinct. Pure animal instinct.

Gentle when she needed him to be and more urgent when the timing was right. Fucking her. Harder. When she'd asked. And then slow. He'd been perfect, she knew he would be, and she'd done her best to show her appreciation. For everything he'd done for her and for the way he made her feel. She had given in to the sensations, to the lustful desires he'd brought to her surface. God only knew where they'd been hiding.

You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

She didn't know she could feel that way. That those sensual moves were buried deep inside of her, the words and noises cascading from her mouth. Like they'd belonged to someone else. Not to her. Not to a virgin.

He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

But she'd done and said the most sinful things with complete ease. As if she'd had sex hundreds of times before.

And now, sitting in her apartment with just her thoughts for company, she felt an inferno explode deep inside of her chest. Had she gotten too carried away? Should she have held back? What was Myles thinking in the cold, light of day? Had she been enough for him? Had she been too much?

Impossible! Myles made her crazy. A tingling sensation threatened to swallow her as she thought of him now. She wanted Myles, and she couldn't hide it. She wouldn't hide it. A gnawing need wouldn't let her.

Hudson pushed back the kitchen chair and walked to the refrigerator, grabbing Annie's last can of beer. It might still be morning but she needed a drink to calm her nerves. Her fingers tapped lightly for a moment against the frosted tin, then she pulled back the tab, the sound penetrating the quiet. Tipping the drink to her lips, she took a long swallow, marveling at how it pooled in the emptiness of her stomach. Myles had left first thing in the morning before she'd even gotten a chance to make breakfast. Just as well. She needed to stop by the store anyway. Her cabinets were looking rather bare.

Reaching for a stack of mail on the table, bills that had been sitting there for the past several days, Hudson walked back to her seat, but a loud knock at the door made her stop in her tracks.

"Hudson!" a voice called from the other side. "Are you in there?"

Annie.

Hudson let out a long breath. She was not in the mood for Annie. Not right now. She felt happy, or something close to it. Still riding that glorious high. If she opened the door it might ruin the moment.

She could stay quiet. Maybe Annie would think she wasn't home.

"Dammit, Hudson! I know you're in there. Open the fuckin' door."

How did she do that? How did she always know? Because Annie was right. Annie was always right. Even now, after all these years. Ana-I-Know-Fucking-Everything-Stasia. Her neighbor. Her best friend. Her worst enemy. Miss I-Know-You-Better-Than-You-Know-Yourself.