Starstruck - Book Two (10 page)

“Nope,” he said. “From Milwaukee. Just stopping through on
my way to Winner, South Dakota.”

“Well, welcome to Rock River,” I said. “You stopped at the
best diner in the area, so you’re in luck.”

He stared at me like I was some sort of idiot. I was simply
trying to be friendly.

“Would you care for some tea or pop or water?” I asked.

He sighed. “Coffee.”

“Alright,” I said. “Be right back.”

I ran back and filled up a carafe with coffee, grabbed the
creamer set, and a mug and saucer and returned them to him.

“Miss are you going to check on our food?” the family of six
called after me. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes since I’d put in
their order.

I smiled. “Yes, will do.”

I ran back to the kitchen. Their ticket was third in line.
It was going to be a while. I dreaded my walk to their table.

“It’s just going to be a little while longer,” I told them.

“Are you serious?” I heard the mom say to the dad.

I wanted to tell them this wasn’t McDonald’s and that if
they wanted to go to a sit down restaurant, order six meals, and expect their
food to be ready in five minutes, they were at the wrong establishment.
Instead, I bit my tongue and walked away.

“Ma’am, you haven’t taken my order yet,” the middle aged man
called after me.

I ran up to his table and whipped out my pen and paper. “So
whatcha having tonight?”

“Is the beef stroganoff any good?” he asked. “I’m not a huge
mushroom person.”

I wanted to tell him not to order it if he didn’t like
mushrooms, but we were trained to say that everything was good. We weren’t
allowed to tell people what to order. That had gotten us in trouble too many
times, and Marge did not like to give away free food.

“It’s good, but there are mushrooms in the sauce, sir,” I
said. “We have a really good fried chicken dinner. It comes with a roll and two
sides.”

I pointed to the menu to show him where it was.

“I hate chicken,” he said.

“Okay, can I recommend our baked cavatelli?” I suggested.
“It comes with garlic bread.”

“Yeah, whatever, I guess,” he said as he closed his menu and
shoved it towards me.

I tried to wrap my head around all of it. The last few weeks
I’d been waited on hand and foot, pampered, and treated like a queen. I’d
thrown it all away and come back to wait tables for minimal tips and to be
treated like shit from people like him. I couldn’t make a smart decision to
safe my life.

I spun around and put his order in immediately. The last
thing I wanted was for him to short my tip because the food took too long.
People like that, especially the out of towners, were notorious for doing that.

As I put in the order, Sarah noticed I wasn’t quite myself.

“You okay, Brynn?” she asked as she put her arm on my
shoulder.

My eyes were a little teary, but I tried to smile to make
them go away.

“Talk to me,” she said.

“I can’t wait tables the rest of my life, Sarah,” I said. I
hoped she didn’t hate me for saying that. She was in her thirties and had
waited tables most of her adult life. She wasn’t going anywhere. This was her
career.

“Rude customers?” she asked. “Don’t let them ruin your
night.”

“Don’t you ever think about doing something else?” I asked
her. “There are other options for us.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been here so long,” she said. “And this job
plus child support pays all my bills. I don’t need a lot.”

“I should probably go check on my tables,” I said. “They’re
impatient tonight and I need all the tips I can get.”

The bell dinged and the food was ready for the obnoxious
family of six.

“Thank God,” I muttered as I loaded up my tray and ran
everything out to them.

“It’s about time!” one of the snot-nosed little girls said
to me with her hand on her hip. She was trying to be cute, but I didn’t have
the energy. I sat down their food, refilled their drinks, and checked on the
man from Milwaukee.

“Ma’am, what is taking so long with the cavatelli?” he asked.
“Do you make the pasta by hand?”

“No,” I said. “Let me check on it for you.”

I staved off tears once again as I ran back to check on his
dinner. He was next. It wasn’t going to be much longer.

“Brynn, there’s a guy out there requesting you,” Sarah said
as she bit her lip. The twinkle in her eye said it all, and I instantly knew.

I straightened my apron and smoothed my hair as I walked
back out to the floor. Behind an enormous bouquet of exotic florals sat Hudson
Smith. He peeked his head out from around the ridiculous display and smiled
with a bit of apprehension.

“Hudson,” I said. I was suddenly thrilled to see him, though
I wasn’t going to let him know that.

“Brynn,” he said.

“I was not expecting to see you,” I said.

“I know,” he replied with a sexy smile.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’ve come to take you home,” he said. “You’re coming back
home with me, Brynn. Where you belong.”

“Ma’am,” the Milwaukee guy yelled. “My cavatelli?”

“It’ll be ready soon,” I called back to him. He looked
pissed, but I didn’t care. He didn’t get to talk to me that way.

“You don’t need to work,” Hudson said. “You don’t need to be
here. You don’t need to be talked to like that.”

He glared at the cavatelli guy.

“Hudson, stop,” I said. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

“No, it’s not okay,” he said. “I’m going to get you out of
here.”

“I had to beg Marge for my job back,” I said with an eye
roll. “She told me never to leave her hanging ever again. I’m supposed to work
the next two days.”

Hudson shook his head. “Plans change.”

“I have to keep my word,” I said.

I heard the ding of the bell and began to walk off, but
Hudson grabbed me gently by the wrist.

“Let me get that guy’s food,” I mumbled as I nodded to the
customer who’d been shooting daggers our way. “I’ll be right back.”

My feet couldn’t carry me fast enough to the kitchen where a
plate of steaming pasta and garlic bread sat under the heat lamp. I rushed them
out to the grumpy man who didn’t seem pleased at all.

“This looks like mush,” he said with a scowl. “I can’t eat this.”

He shoved the dish away and it nearly fell off the other
side of the booth. Hudson was watching the entire thing.

“Do you want me to put in another order for you? Our
meatloaf is good,” I said. “It’s homemade. Secret family recipe.”

The man glared up at me. “I can’t eat meatloaf. I don’t eat
dog shit.”

“Do you even want to try your pasta?” I said. “I’ve had it
before. I promise it’s good.”

The man covered his face with his hands, dragging and
pulling on his lose skin until I could see the undersides of his bloodshot eye
balls. He was about to snap at me, I could feel it. He stood up and walked over
to me as I took several steps backwards. I couldn’t believe he was going to
yell at me because he didn’t like how the food looked.

I closed my eyes and waited for him to start up, but all I
heard was a thud. I opened my eyes to see the grumpy man lying on the floor
rubbing his jaw and Hudson standing next to me rubbing his clenched fist.
Hudson had punched the guy who was about to get in my face.

The entire restaurant erupted into a fit of applause, even
the crazy family of six, as the Milwaukee man scrambled to get on his feet and
get the hell out of there. By then he had to have known he was acting
inappropriately. He about assaulted me. If he had an ounce of intelligence, he
wasn’t going to go the cops about any of that.

“Hey, isn’t that Hudson Smith?” someone called out.

“Yeah,” another person replied. “What’s he doing in town?”

“Uh, oh,” I said with a laugh. “You’ve been spotted.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Hudson said, ignoring everyone
around us. Amidst all the chaos and bullshit, it was still just him and me.

I thought about my promise to Marge. She’d given me a second
chance, and with her, there were never any third chances. I glanced over at
Sarah, who was smiling in the corner, watching Hudson wrap his arms around me.
I thought about Luke, and Piper, and my mom, and everything that had changed,
including myself. I couldn’t work another minute in that hell hole, and I
couldn’t stay another day in Rock River.

“Let’s go,” I said with a smile as I untied my apron and
flung it over the back of a counter stool. I waved bye to Sarah as Hudson and I
ran out the door and hopped into my car. We high tailed it to my apartment
where we ran up the stairs and took refuge in my living room. Heaving and out
of breath, we both fell down in a fit of laughter.

“That was insane,” I said. “I’ve never seen that place get
so nuts before!”

I sprawled out on the floor, giggling over what had just
happened, as Hudson crawled over towards me, placing his hand on my hip and
pulling me closer.

“You made the right choice, Brynn,” he said. “Leaving with
me.”

“I hope so,” I said. I knew I’d never be entirely sure about
any of my choices.

“I’ll make sure you never regret it,” he promised. “I just
want to make you happy. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

He leaned down and placed his perfect, soft lips against
mine, and I was once again putty in his hands.

“I can’t keep my hands off of you,” he breathed into my ear
as his hand slipped up my shirt. “I can’t get you out of my head. I’m
constantly thinking about you.”

I smiled, not knowing what to say. A small part of me didn’t
believe it was possible for him to be so smitten with me.

He nuzzled my ear then nibbled my ear lobe before working
his way down my neck, trailing soft kisses the entire way.

“I had to come out here,” he said. “I had to see you. I had
to convince you to come back.”

“I see that,” I whispered.

“I don’t think you realize how much I like you,” he breathed.
“You’re different from anyone else I’ve ever known, Brynn.”

“As are you,” I giggled. He was much better with words than
I ever could be.

His hand slipped down and unbuckled my pants, slipping under
the waistband of my panties. His fingers slipped between my slit as he began to
massage me hungrily.

Moans and sighs escaped my mouth as his fingers worked their
magic. His hot mouth covered my neck as I arched my back. We were still lying
on the hard floor of my apartment, but I didn’t care. When I closed my eyes,
all that mattered was that Hudson’s hands were all over my body once again.

He slipped my pants and panties down and began unzipping his
jeans. I ripped off my t-shirt and unhooked my bra, flinging them as far away
as possible. I stared up into his eyes and saw something I’d never seen before.
He was hungry for me, and he wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted.

Hudson grabbed me by the hips as he positioned himself
between my thighs. He pulled me closer to him, my back sliding against the
hardwood floor beneath me. He pulled a rubber from his pocket and wasted no
time putting it on and placing his cock right at my entrance. He wasn’t going
to wait another second. There would be no teasing this time. Just us.
Connected.

As he shoved himself inside of me, a release washed over my
body. Our hips moved in tandem, thrust for thrust, as we made love. Three days
apart had been three days too many, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed his
touch until that moment, on the floor of my apartment in Rock River.

As we were one, Hudson’s eyes never left mine. I reached my
hand up and stroked the side of his face, tracing the outline of his lips
before he kissed mine on his way down. I’d never felt so connected to anyone
before and certainly sex with other guys was never this passionate.

Hudson buried his face in my neck once again as he continued
plunging himself deep into me. I loved the way our skin felt when it touched.
It was almost electric and otherworldly.

Without any sort of warning, he slowly pulled himself out of
me and walked over to the sofa, motioning for me to follow him. He sat down,
legs spread, and patted his lap. I sauntered over to him, straddling his lap
like he wanted, and placed myself upon his still-throbbing cock. As I slid
down, shivers went down my spine. I tossed my head back as I began to rock on
him, up and down, back and forth. His hand reached down and rubbed my clit as I
worked my hips and grinded harder and faster.

I didn’t want it to end, but I could feel it coming. My
orgasm was just seconds away, and I couldn’t fight it. Hudson’s hand on my
lower back, guiding my movements, was all it took to send me over the edge.