Starstruck - Book Four (3 page)

“Wow,” I said, mesmerized. “Thank you so much.”

I leaned over and gave him the most tender kiss I could
muster until I had to go back and stare at my beautiful bracelet some more.

“Dinner,” Flor said as she came out from the slider. “Here
you go.”

She sat two plates in front of us. Some sort of chicken and
vegetable dish with some interesting colored sauce. I didn’t know what it was.
I just knew I was starving and it smelled amazing and I was going to eat it no
matter what.

“Thank you, Flor,” I said to her. I couldn’t help but notice
her eyes locked on the yellow diamonds that hung around my wrist.

“Yes, another delicious meal. Thank you, Flor,” Hudson
echoed.

She said nothing as she turned to go back inside.

The diamonds on my wrist couldn’t help but remind me of
Ava’s comment about the ring. It was killing me that she knew about something
so private and personal between Hudson and me.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Hudson said a few minutes later.

I was determined to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t want to
ruin dinner. I didn’t want to ruin the special night Hudson had set up for us.
I didn’t want to bring up Ava after Hudson had just gifted me with a beautiful
token of his love and affection for me. She didn’t get to have the privilege of
ruining our romantic little evening together.

I smiled as I chewed my food. “Just eating.”

He stared at me, not buying it.

“Did you have a nice afternoon?” he asked.

I nodded as I continued to eat my dinner.

A few, long minutes of silence filled the space between us.

“You’re really being quiet tonight,” he said. He wasn’t
going to let it go. “What’s on your mind? I can’t get a read on you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right here,” I said, giving
in. He wasn’t going to stop asking until he knew what it was.

“Ah, so there is something,” he said as he sat his fork down
and sat back in his seat.

“It’s not worth bringing up right now,” I assured him.

I waited for him to return to his food, but he never did. He
just sat up with his gorgeous, chocolate eyes fixated on me.

“Stop staring,” I said with a half-laugh. “You’re making me
nervous.”

“Brynn, whatever it is,” he said. “Just say it.”

I forced myself to make eye contact, and part of me wondered
if he thought something had happened back home. He looked at me like he was
about to lose me. Like I was going to leave him and never look back.

“I-I,” I stammered. “I just want to know how Ava knew about
my ring.”

Hudson clenched his jaw and began to rub his temple.

“I don’t know why you can’t let the Ava thing go,” he said,
nearly seething. “I told you I’m handling it. All you have to do is focus on me
and you. That’s all that matters. Not Ava. Not any of the bullshit back in
Iowa.”

“Who said anything about Iowa?” I said with a scrunched
face.

“I just assumed,” he said. “We didn’t really talk that much
about what happened. I thought maybe you were still preoccupied with the Luke
and Piper thing.”

“They can have each other,” I said with furrowed brows. It
wasn’t that it didn’t hurt anymore, it just wasn’t relevant in that moment. Ava
was my number one issue, and I wasn’t going to rest until she was out of our
life for good.

“I don’t know how Ava found out about the ring,” he said.
“She has her ways. I told you she’s a little nutty.”

“A little?” I snorted.

“Did you tell Alec about it?” he asked. “Alec tends to have
a big mouth.”

I instantly felt sick about spilling my guts to Alec earlier
that day. I didn’t realize he had such a big mouth and knew so many people, but
it only made sense given his line of work and his social aptitude. He had more
people in his phone contacts than I’d ever met in my entire life. Alec knew everyone,
and if he didn’t know someone, chances were he knew someone that did know them.

“I did tell Alec,” I said.

“Then maybe Alec told someone and it got back to Ava?”
Hudson proposed. “There you go. There’s your answer.”

I thought about my conversation with Alec earlier. I figured
he would’ve told me if he’d spilled the beans to someone about the ring, but
then again, maybe not. Like he said, people lied to get whatever they wanted,
and it was in his best interest professionally not to screw things up with
Hudson.

“Why does it matter anyway?” Hudson asked, his eyes
squinting as he tried to understand where I was coming from. “Does it change
the meaning of the ring for you?”

I didn’t want to tell him that I’d feared the worst. I was
worried he was the one who had told Ava. I lowered my eyes, unable to meet his
stare, as I imagined them lying in his hotel bed together and him laughing at
how he’d given me a ring with some sort of cheesy symbol attached to it so I
wouldn’t suspect a thing. I’d clearly been watching too many Lifetime movies
lately.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Okay, Brynn,” he said as he threw his napkin over his
plate. He’d barely touched his food.

He stood up to walk back inside.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Inside,” he said, annoyed at me. Though was probably more
angry than anything else.

I stood up and ran after him, catching him halfway down the
hall towards his bedroom. He turned to face me, his face twisted into a
disgusted glare. I’d never forget the look he gave me in a million years, and I
never wanted to see that look ever again.

“Hudson,” I said as I placed my hand over his beating heart.
“I’m sorry.”

He breathed hard through his nostrils as he stared down at
me, his expression still hard and unforgiving.

“Why do you fixate on these things?” he asked. “You take
these little, stupid things and you obsess over them and nitpick and you don’t
let them go until we have a fight about them.”

“I know, I know,” I said as I continued trying to calm him
down. He was right, but it still didn’t change the way I felt. I couldn’t
ignore my feelings. “I’m sorry.”

“I feel like you’re looking for an out,” he said. “You’re
looking for a reason that this won’t work out. You’re dooming us from the
start, Brynn.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He was
right. I was so fixated on him cheating on me or us not working out, that I was
already hurting our chances.

“You’re right,” I said as I locked eyes with him. “You’re
absolutely right. I just want this to work.”

“Me too,” he said. “And it will work. But you have to stop
this. Stop assuming the worst all the time.”

“I know,” I said. I couldn’t promise not to get worked up
anymore, but I knew I’d have to be better at putting on a happy face when
things were bothering me. I didn’t want to fight with him anymore. He always
won.

I reached down and interlaced my fingers in his, and his
face began to soften. His anger began to dissipate right before me and his eyes
became familiar again.

“Let’s make things right again,” I cooed as I nuzzled into
the crook of his neck and laid three delicate kisses onto his scruffy skin.

He tossed his head back as he savored the tiny sensations
before ushering me back to his bedroom. We took our time disrobing, leaving a
trail of clothing and undergarments down the hallway. By the time we arrived in
his master suite, we were naked as the day we came and unable to keep our hands
off each other. In the midst of all the chaos, it felt good knowing our passion
was still as crazy as ever.

His warm, ripped body against my soft delicate skin was the
best remedy for my busy mind. When we touched, the world around us stopped.

Hudson hoisted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his hips.
He pressed me up against the wall as a hungry look overcame his face. It wasn’t
going to be a tender little romp in the sack. He wanted to fuck me hard, and I
wanted him to fuck me hard. I needed him inside me, deep inside me.

With one hand wrapped around my lower back and the other
massaging my right breast, I clenched my legs around his hips and kissed his
amazing mouth. I loved the way he tasted, and I loved the way he looked at me.
When he touched me like that, I had no idea how I could ever doubt his
intentions. There was no way anyone else could have what we had. I refused to
believe it.

After a few seconds, he reached his hand down and positioned
his throbbing cock at my entrance, pressing himself inside me with reckless
abandon.

“Ah,” I sighed as it went in. It was just what I needed.

With my back pressed firmly against the wall and his hands
at my hips, Hudson began thrusting his powerful hips back and forth. It wasn’t
too fast or too slow, but it was just right.

Occasionally he’d trace the outline of my jaw with his
finger before slipping a finger tip inside my mouth. I’d suck his finger tip
for a bit before leaning forward and nibbling on his ear and digging my finger
nails into the smooth skin of his back. He loved the mix of pleasure and pain.
Every scratch and every nibble would always manage to elicit some kind of moan
or groan from his gorgeous mouth.

The pressure of his pulsing cock against my swollen clit
told me only one thing was just around the corner. I didn’t want to fight it. I
wanted it to take over my entire being. I needed to ride the waves of pleasure.
I needed the release.

He whispered into my ear. “Just let go.”

I never understood how he always seemed to read my mind, but
I wasn’t about to try to figure it out. We were so in tune. That was all that
mattered. And just as he instructed, I let go. I let the pulsing and the
writhing and the pleasure wash over me as I clung for dear life onto his sweaty
shoulders.

By the time we were both done, we were stuck together, melded
into one. My hair was stuck to my face, and I pushed it back so I could get a
good look at him. His lips twisted into an accomplished smile, and I knew we
were headed back on track.

“Shower?” I offered.

He nodded, breathless, and followed me towards the bathroom.

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Hudson said Wednesday morning as he kissed
me and then jetted out the door for a meeting. “Can’t wait to see you tonight.”

Hudson had spent most of the week out and about, leaving me
at home to come up with creative ways to fill my time. It was Wednesday. It was
too soon to ask Alec to hang out again. I didn’t want him thinking was too
lonely and pathetic.

Hudson was on another media blitz tour; something about
reviving his career and doing some early promotional work for Heavenly Love 2.
He’d mentioned a few local interviews for some entertainment shows, and I’d
heard his radio interview that morning, but that was about all I knew. Again, I
hated prying even though I was secretly his number one fan.

In a fit of mid-morning boredom, I switched on the TV and
tuned it to a local entertainment channel. I wanted to see him in action. It
admittedly turned me on to see this movie God on TV, the one who was crazy
about me, the one I’d never thought I’d be with in a million years, do his
thing. I could remember fantasizing about what it would be like to be with him,
and somehow the stars aligned and my insanely unrealistic fantasy became a
reality.

By some stroke of luck on my end, Hudson’s interview was
just starting. He was sitting across from a teeny, tiny, tan and blonde anchor
who seemed overly flirty and a little too excited to be in his presence. I
immediately felt a small twinge of jealousy and then stuffed it deep down where
I’d never find it again.

He’s with me, he’s with me, I chanted to myself. Calm down.

“So, Hudson,” the anchor said. “Everyone has been talking
about the upcoming release of Heavenly Love 2, the sequel to the hit romantic
comedy, Heavenly Love, which started you alongside the beautiful Miss Ava Fox.”

“Yes,” Hudson said as he clasped his hands in his lap and
flashed his megawatt smile.

“So tell me what it was like filming this sequel,” she said.
“I mean, people thought it was going to happen and then it was called off and
then it was called back on.”

“We certainly had a lot of hoops to jump through. A lot of
red tape,” he answered. “Sometimes these projects just have so many people
involved and they don’t all see eye to eye. It takes a little time for them to
come together, but we made it happen and the movie is coming out at the end of
next month. We can’t wait.”

“Now, everyone knows that for a few years there, you and Ava
Fox were the big ticket Hollywood couple,” the anchor said. “And then you broke
up last year. We were all so sad.”

The anchor seemed so fake. I wanted to punch her, but I knew
she was just doing her job.