Hudson

The next morning, I showed up at Stella’s door at seven thirty.

She opened it wrapped in a towel. “Hey. You’re early.”

My eyes dragged up and down a shitload of creamy, exposed skin. I shook my head. “Looks like I came at the perfect time.”

She giggled, and I swear the sound might’ve been even better than the view, and the view was pretty fucking spectacular.

Stella stepped inside. “The hair and makeup people are coming at eight, so I waited to take a shower so my hair would still be damp.”

Being inside her suite felt completely different than it had when I was here just yesterday. For example, now I could do this…

The moment the door shut, I took her in my arms and crushed my lips to hers. Last night I’d fallen asleep thinking about the way she tasted, and this morning I’d awakened starving. The soft moan that almost did me in yesterday made an appearance again—it crossed from her lips to mine and traveled straight down to my cock.

Fuck.

She probably wouldn’t stop me if I slipped the towel from around her, though that would only make things worse. If just a kiss made me feel like a savage, there was no way in hell seeing all of her would be enough. So I wrenched my mouth from hers.

Stella lifted her hand and rubbed two fingers along her bottom lip. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt what was going on in someone’s mind from just kissing them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your kisses. They say so much. Whether it’s a sweet peck on the lips or what just happened, I just know what’s going on in your head when our lips meet.”

“Oh yeah?” I said. “What was going on in my head just now?”

“You wanted to take off my towel, but you knew that wasn’t a good idea because people will be here any minute.”

My brows shot up. “How the hell did you know that?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just did.”

“That’s dangerous—for me.”

She smiled and adjusted the tucked-in corner of her towel. “I should go get dressed before people start arriving.”

As much as I hated to see her cover up, there’s no way I wanted to share the way she looked with anyone—especially the asshat photographer. I nodded. “Go.”

Stella walked away, but at the bedroom doorway she yelled back.

“Hudson?”

“Yeah?”

She let the towel drop to the floor.

I groaned. This was going to be one long day.

Before Stella finished getting dressed, the first person arrived. Dig—at least I was pretty sure that’s what he’d grumbled when he introduced himself—was a stylist. He rolled in a trunk on wheels and looked around for where to set up.

A minute later the makeup person knocked, followed by three guys delivering rented furniture, room service, a lighting technician, and some random guy whose accent was so strong I had no idea what the hell he said he did. They all pounced on Stella as soon as she emerged from the bathroom.

After forty-five minutes being surrounded by a team of people primping, she looked a little overwhelmed. So I made a plate with some fruit and a croissant from the breakfast spread and set it down in front of her.

“Did you eat yet?”

Stella shook her head.

I looked at the hairdresser who had just wrapped her entire head in rollers and then at the two guys flanking her on both sides. “Could you give her five minutes, please?”

“Oh…of course.”

I nodded my head toward the trays of food. “Why don’t you help yourselves to something to eat? There’s a table outside on the patio.”

Once she wasn’t being prodded anymore, Stella let out a big exhale. “Thanks. How did you know I needed a break?”

I shrugged. “Same way you knew I was about two seconds from ripping your towel off during that kiss earlier.”

She smiled and picked up the banana I’d put on her plate. As she went to peel it, she caught my scribble and read out loud.

“I can’t wait to show you my banana. Ooh…” She giggled. “I think I’m going to like these notes much better now.”

I smiled, but pointed to her plate. “Eat. They’re going to be back in here painting shit on your face in a few minutes.”

“On second thought, I’m going to save this for later.” Stella set down the banana and picked up a piece of melon. “So what are we going to do tonight for our date? I know I asked you out, but it’s my first time in California.”

“I figured I’d feed you and show you around LA, since you’ve never been.”

“Oh, that sounds awesome.” She bit into the cantaloupe and made an Mmmmm sound. “This is really good melon.”

“I have a call at four this afternoon that I couldn’t postpone, but if we wrap things up here early enough, I can always do that from the road.”

“If you’re too busy to go out later…” She smirked. “I can always ask Phoenix to show me around.”

My eyes narrowed. Stella lifted the piece of cantaloupe toward her lips for another bite, but I caught her wrist and redirected the fruit to my own mouth, nipping at her fingers as I took it.

“Oww…”

“You’re lucky we have a crowd and I can’t put you over my knee and smack your ass for that comment.”

She giggled. “We could go in the other room…”

“Don’t tempt me, sweetheart.” My eyes dropped to her lips. “I’ll absolutely clear this suite if you want to play that game.”

Stella’s eyes sparkled, daring me to make good on my threat. But a knock at the door interrupted our little chat.

It was an effort not to scowl, finding Phoenix on the other side. Yet I welcomed him with a curt nod. “Morning.”

The fucker walked right to Stella without even acknowledging me.

Shutting the door behind him, I grumbled, “Good to see you, too.”

Deciding it probably wasn’t good to act like a jealous boyfriend before the first date, I thought I’d go see what was going on outside. The furniture and prop people had been working on the patio since they arrived.

The small outdoor area had been transformed into a scene from Bill Nye: The Science Guy, with the addition of some estrogen. There was a lab table set up with beakers and equipment, but also jars of bright red rose petals, sand, and various colorful flowers. The front of the table had been outfitted with the Signature Scent logo, and a mirrored tray displayed all the different bottles the perfume came in.

Dig walked over and wiped sweat from his forehead. “What do you think?”

“It looks great.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what the hell it was going to look like from the list of stuff we were instructed to pull together. Seemed like a strange combination. But I get it now, especially once the model is in the shot.”

I knew my sister would be awake and appreciate seeing everything set up, so I snapped a few shots and texted them to her.

Olivia: It looks awesome! I’m a genius.

I chuckled and texted back.

Hudson: A modest one.

Olivia: Where’s Stella? I want to see how she looks.

I glanced back inside and saw the hair person taking out the rollers while a woman painted more shit on her face.