I look up. Hudson is staring at me, a question on hisface.
“I’m sorry for waking you,” Isay.
“I wasn’t asleep, baby. I’ve been waiting for you.” He smiles sweetly, and some of the pain he holds seems to fall away. Raising his hand to my face he rests his palm against my cheek, his thumb trailing over my now healed lips. He makes no move to kiss me. He just gazes at me, his beautiful green eyes and the gentle touch of his hand showing me how he feels way more than words could in this moment. The air around us is charged with something indescribable. It has been building here, between us all, since Bryce brought me back to their house over a weekago.
“Louisa, my butterfly. Can you feelthat.”
Under my palm his heart beats like the frantic wings of a bird trapped in a cage. He lowers his hand to my chest, resting it between mybreasts.
“Yes, you feel it too,” hesays.
“Hudson, I think I…”love you.I am prevented from saying the words as he presses a gentle finger against mylips.
“Hush, don’t say it. I don’t want you to utter those words until I can say it back. Believe me, baby, I want to, but there are things I must let go of first. Things that hurt me, that would hurt you if I don’t deal withthem.”
Mirroring his actions, I bring my hand up to meet his cheek. “It’s okay. We’ll mend each other, Hudson. There will be a day when it no longer hurts, and I’ll be here, waiting.” Sliding my hand around the back of his neck, I pull him close, grazing my lips against his. He is exceedingly gentle when he touches me, kisses me, when he trails his lips over every inch of my skin. He sets me alight, he draws out the pain of my past and dissolves it with his adoration. That’s the only way I can describe how he makes me feel. I am adored, like I am the only woman he has ever loved. These broken pieces of me, they have cut my heart to pieces over the years, but now with these men, the cuts are not so deep. We make love, for this is what it is. There is no denying the rawness of the unfamiliar emotions that he and I both feel in this moment. I return his tenderness with my own, letting him in, mirroring every touch, every kiss, every slide of my lips across the warmth of his skin. I blaze a trail direct to his heart, showing him how much I care, giving him every single piece of me. I crack open my heart, allowing the last shards of ice to melt away. When Hudson finally slides inside me, his chest pressed against my back, his arm around my waist, his mouth hot against my neck, I know without any doubt that I am now complete. That Hudson, Bryce and Max have settled themselves inside my heartpermanently.