My sweet, sweet slumber was disturbed Tuesday morning by the sound of a phone vibrating on the nightstand next to me. For a second, I’d forgotten that I wasn’t at home in my apartment. I wasn’t in my own bed. I was sleeping next to Hudson Smith. And I wasn’t just sleeping next to him, I was lying in his arms, naked, under the covers.
“Hudson,” I whispered. “Your phone.”
His pried his eyes open and pulled his arm out from underneath me, turning towards the nightstand to grab his phone.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Really? Oh, okay. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
I pulled the covers up over my naked breasts, suddenly feeling insecure about what I’d done, and backed up a bit.
“I guess filming is resuming today,” he said. “They got the permit stuff figured out, so they need me as soon as possible.”
I couldn’t hide the disappointment on my face. I said nothing in fear of him getting a single whiff of my not-so-delicate morning breath.
He climbed out from under the covers, his gorgeous bare ass taking center stage as he stood up and stretched.
“If you want to stick around and sleep in a bit, feel free,” he said.
I couldn’t peel my eyes off his ass.
“Get some more sleep, shower if you want, take your time,” he added. He turned around, leaned down, and kissed my forehead before heading to the bathroom to shower. I laid my head back down on the pillow and settled in for a little more rest. Hudson had worn me out last night and I needed all the sleep I could get.
“Okay, I’m out of here,” he said a few minutes later.
“That was a fast shower,” I replied as I peeked up at him through my half-closed eyes.
He shrugged and smiled. His hair was still soaking wet, and I could smell his cologne permeating off his still damp skin. I looked him up and down. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, but they hugged him in all the right places. I was sure he was professionally styled but damn. He looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of a magazine.
“I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” he said as he turned and shoved his keys and wallet into his jeans pockets. With that, he was gone and I was all alone in Hudson Smith’s hotel room.
When the reality of what had happened hit me, I was instantly awake. I couldn’t sleep any longer. I wanted to think about it. I wanted to relive it. I wanted to replay every hot, steamy second of our sexual tryst in my head over and over again.
In two more days, he would leave Rock River forever and all that would remain would be memories. I climbed out of bed and sauntered to the shower. Thinking about Hudson and the things he did to me were getting me so worked up, I needed to cool down.
I stepped under the running water of the showerhead and let the beads trickle down my hair and back. Lined up in the corner of the shower was an arsenal of high end bath and body products, most of which I’d never even heard of before. One by one, I flipped their caps and smelled them. They were mostly masculine and earthy and organic smelling, but they all smelled like him.
I squeezed a small handful of some sort of mossy shampoo into my palm and began lathering up my thick, dark hair. I followed with a handful of some sort of minty conditioner before rubbing a bar of French milled soap all over every crevice of my body. Breathing in the cocktail of Hudson’s scents, the kinds of scents I never knew existed, further reiterated to me that there was life outside Rock River.
That life of predictability and isolation that had once sounded so safe and secure, now made me feel sick to my stomach. I couldn’t help but wonder what else was out there.
As I stepped out of the shower and toweled off, I spotted another arsenal of moisturizers and lotions and eye creams stacked along the bathroom sink. These were the kinds of things guys around here would never touch with a ten foot pole, but looking good was Hudson’s job. He had a lot of competition, and I loved that he took care of himself.
I opened a couple jars of some sort of facial cream and tested them out on my face. They glided on like whipped cream and settled deep into my skin, bringing out some sort of surreal glow. I thought about making a note as to what these products were, but I knew they were probably way out of my price range anyway.
As much as I hated to leave Hudson’s hotel, I knew I had no choice. I couldn’t stick around forever, and in just a few hours, my shift at the diner was going to start. I slipped on my clothes from the night before and braced myself for my walk of shame.
I trekked down the hall, rode down the elevator, and hung my head as I walked through the lobby, praying that I wouldn’t see anyone I knew. The last thing I needed was for this to get back to Luke. Once I made it to my car unseen, I pulled out my phone to check it out of habit.
I half hoped to have a missed call from Luke or at the very least a text message with a question mark. We were going on four days now of nothing. No contact between us. We’d never gone more than a day or so without talking before. Panic immediately spread throughout my body as I wondered if he’d driven by and seen my car parked at the hotel. Suddenly the high I was floating on propelled me back down to earth as the magnitude of what I’d just done hit me.
I’d slept with Hudson, and I’d potentially ruined the sliver of a chance I had with Luke.
My mouth went dry and my face went numb. I wanted to throw up. How could I have let myself get so caught up? Hudson was a movie star. He was an actor. He could’ve been feeding me lines. He always seemed to know what to say. How could I have been so stupid? Luke was my best friend. The man I loved and pined after for the last seven years.
I started my car and headed straight to the local coffee shop to talk to Piper.