Personal Shopper (10 page)

“Brunch tomorrow?” Will said to him as the cabs pulled away.

“It seemed the polite thing to do.” Hudson shrugged. “Besides, I would imagine you don’t want to host another meal…”

“Ever again,” Will said.

Hudson laughed as he stepped over a pile of ice chippings, catching his arm in Will’s. “We can change our minds in the morning.”

“No – it’s a good idea. More family time, less liquor.” Will kissed his cheek, breathing in the scent of Hudson’s cologne. “You know, I sniffed you the first day, in the store? You smelled so damn good.”

“I have another confession to make in that case.”

Will pulled back slightly. “Yessss?”

“I might’ve been lost at first glance of you in this coat,” he whispered.

With an eye roll, Will gave him a poke in the ribs. It was like punching a marshmallow. “Liar. I look like a puffy Smurf in that thing.”

“Is that how I look now?” Hudson sounded vaguely concerned.

Will gave him a once over. “No, sorry. You’re still a hot ass.”

They walked into the building, arm in arm.

Hudson insisted they clean up the mess while Will campaigned strenuously for nudity and sex. The former won after a spectacularly convincing argument that involved making out against the fridge until Will forgot his name. He could for see some problems with ever getting anything his way again because he was apparently unable to speak when Hudson put his hands on his ass.

“Probably shouldn’t have told you that,” Will said as he tied off another bag of garbage.

“No, probably not. I have all the power now.” Hudson stacked the empty bottles into boxes, clinking and clattering around the loft.

“Crap.”

Will then proceeded to stalk the apartment with a bottle of cleaner and roll of paper towels as Hudson swept. Yet another Christmas CD hummed through the speakers and the lights from the tree made everything a whole lot more fun.

Or maybe that was Hudson’s rolled up sleeves and unconscious humming as he moved through Will’s home. There was a good chance that he missed a few spots due to watching his lover’s economical moves.

“You’re so serious about sweeping,” Will blurted out finally, and Hudson stopped with a start.

“Oh.” He laughed self-consciously. “I’ve not really done it before – cleaning and such. It’s a bit fun actually.”

“In that case, I’m introducing you to the joy of toilet cleaning first thing in the morning,” Will said dryly. He tossed the cleaning supplies on the counter. “Right – everything looks great. You finish up with your most fun sweeping and I’ll meet you in the bedroom.” He tried an eyebrow waggle but judging by Hudson’s snicker, it didn’t go very sexily.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Will wasn’t sure how he ended up here – in his bedroom, lighting the two fat white candles he’d received in a gift bag last year and forgot to regift. Or nervously rooting around for the spare key he kept in his watch box. Because right now he was about to give Hudson something he’d never considered giving anyone else before.

Access.

“Hey, all done,” Hudson said as he stepped around the divider. Will tried not to jump and whirl around as if he were stealing his own cufflinks.

“Thanks.” He turned, the key stuck in his clutched palm. “For you know – everything.”

Hudson shook his head, ducking his head as he began to unbutton his shirt. “I should thank you. We’ve not even known each other for three days and you’ve opened your home to me – in spite of everything.”

“I forgave you right after the cheese course and frankly – I’m opening my home to you and getting some great sex in return,” Will said, sweat starting to prickle at the back of his neck.

“Thank you for letting me have sex with you,” Hudson teased, stripping his shirt off. The white singlet and trousers look was starting to feel like Will’s ultimate downfall.

“Thank you for helping me make my sister happy,” Will blurted out.

Hudson shook his head, fingers on his belt buckle. “Roan is doing that.”

“You made your cousin happy.”

“That’s Veronica.”

“You gave up a lot, because you believe they’re in love.” Will took a few steps, paused, then nutted up and came to just outside of Hudson’s shadow.

“Hmmm. As I said to your mother, it appears I’m a closet romantic.” He peeked up, his gaze shy. “For a long time I knew our situation wasn’t ideal. Family is a wonderful thing but obligation and guilt shouldn’t be the deciding factor in how one lives their life. Perhaps he and I just hit our limits at the same time.”

“Love’ll do that to you,” Will said, casual as he could fake.

“Yes, yes it will.” Hudson stopped undressing and exhaled, long and a little shaky. “I didn’t imagine my life would be here when I stepped off that plane last week.”

“Believe me, I know.” The key’s teeth were starting to bite. Will took a tiny step forward.

“I came here to rescue Roan from the clutches of whirlwind romance and…” Hudson took a tiny step towards Will.

“Irony right? Jeeze.”

They both laughed.

Will leaned until their foreheads touched, a jump of nerves across his skin as Hudson’s breath hitched.

“You’re amazing. I know you’re going to deflect like crazy but you…you backing him…if I wasn’t already crazy about you Mr. Smith, I would have been a goner when I saw how relieved he was you were on his side. That’s my definition of family okay? You and Roan. And – okay, me and Veronica. Even Tom and Nancy.” He laughed nervously, sharing a burst of air with Hudson. “We didn’t do all that stuff today because of blood or obligation. We did it out of love.”

There was more – more of a heartfelt ramble but Will’s mouth was suddenly full of Hudson; his lips, his tongue. One hand curving against the back of his skull to hold him in place as his lover plundered his mouth. Will heard the ping of the key hitting the hardwood floor but it didn’t entirely register – his arms slid around Hudson’s torso and the kiss was suddenly all that mattered.

Will pulled away when oxygen became mandatory but stayed close – so close he felt like he was speaking against Hudson’s skin.

“So listen – whirlwind romance speaking here,” he murmured breathlessly. “Stay with me. Here in New York. Here in this apartment. Gut check and jump.”

Hudson closed his eyes, resting his mouth against Will’s cheek. His grip never waivered but the minutes seem to go on for far too long with only breathing and no words.

“Crazy,” he said softly. Will shivered. “Yes love – I’ll stay.”

Will let out a held breath and squeezed until Hudson made a little choked sound.

“Sorry.” But Will didn’t let go.

“Don’t be.” Hudson nosed at Will’s ear, the curve of his neck, inside the collar of his shirt. His hands stroked up and down his back until the generated heat began to simmer Will’s flesh. “If I don’t over think this, we might be okay.”

“I’ll handle the over thinking. Its time my therapist earned his keep. I’ve been lobbing him writer’s angst softballs for years.” Will felt his bones melt as Hudson’s big warm hands pressed against his ass. “Winner.”

Hudson kissed Will’s chin. “This is madness.”

“Completely.” Will widened his stance, felt his lover’s knee slide between his legs and stifled a moan. “Whirlwind romance is for suckers.”

A rumbling laugh shook them both as Hudson licked Will’s jaw line and nipped at his earlobe. “Was that a subliminal request for me to suck you off?”

“Um…yes. Even if it wasn’t.” With zero shame, Will rubbed off against Hudson’s obscenely firm thigh muscles, tipping his head back to encourage more of that wicked tongue.

~ * ~ * ~

“A key huh?” Hudson turned the little silver form in his fingers.

Will bumped their shoulders together. “If you stick around, I’ll buy you a key chain.”

“Well, that seals the deal.” He laughed, lying back down to rest his head on Will’s shoulder. “You know I’ll be finding a job as quickly as I can though – right?”

“Duh.”

“I mean it.”

“So do I – duh.” Will reached down and twined his hand with Hudson’s. “Stop worrying okay? I get it. You won’t be a freeloader. This isn’t a bad scenario that’s going to end up on People’s Court with me suing you for stealing my action figures.”

“I wouldn’t steal your action figures.”

“See? I totally already knew that.” Will sighed, squeezing their hands together. “Please don’t worry? I trust you.”

“Okay.” Hudson was quiet but he could hear the wheels churning and turning. “Actually…I have an idea of where to start.”

“There you go.”

“Don’t you want to know what the idea is?”

“Does it have to do with building manufacturing plants for aerospace contractors?”

Hudson snorted. “Yes.”

“Then – and let’s be frank here – I will have utterly no clue what you’re talking about and frankly my anti-war machine childhood makes me entirely ill-equipped to offer anything but hey man, make love not war!”

That earned Will another kiss. Right on his nose.

“You might just convince me to be a hippie yet.”

“Tom will be delighted to hear this.”

~ * ~ * ~

Will’s eyes shot open and judging by the pitch blackness of the bedroom, he could guess it wasn’t morning yet. He squinted as he rolled over – the numbers on the clown’s stomach said 3:02.

Behind him, Hudson breathed and rumbled in his sleep, buried under the stack of blankets they’d piled on the bed a few hours before. Will could barely make out the top of his head in the cocoon and took a spare moment to enjoy the warm feeling in the pit of his gut and a mental “ahhhh”.

His new boyfriend was stupid cute.

Unemployed, disowned and occasionally whiny about cold lofts but freaking adorable.

But Hudson wasn’t what woke Will up from a sound sleep. The Scotch, and the champagne and more champagne, put his snooze on and only the bright light of inspiration could get his ass out of bed in the middle of the night.

Sheriff Black was speaking to him.

Carefully, Will slid out of the bed, stifling a shout as his bare feet hit freezing floor. He bit his lip as he walked to the chair and grabbed his robe.

At his desk he turned on just the smallest light, booting up his computer with the other hand. The smell of coffee might disturb Hudson so Will went without. He sat down as the file opened on his screen and took a deep breath.

Black stepped out into the harsh sunlight, blinking through the haze of destruction and despair that clung to what remained of Destiny. No human movements caught his eye. No survivors rushing towards him with arms wide open, rejoicing in their salvation.

He was alone.

Will bit his lip. Could he do this? Really?

Blood caked in every crevice of his body. He could feel himself tottering on the edge of unconsciousness – beautiful, oblivious darkness which could carry him down into the depths.

He took another step, his gore covered boots crunching glass and God knew what.

Then he heard the helicopter.

For a second Black thought it was an auditory hallucination.

For a moment Black bubbled over with fury – where the hell were you an hour ago? A day ago? Back when this started.

And then something lurched inside Black, something he couldn’t identify.

Hope.

A delighted little laugh escaped Will’s throat. Oh God. He was going to do this.

A happy ending. A rough, must be fleshed out and rewritten to his standards happy ending but there it was – committed to screen.

At the other end of the loft, Hudson must have unearthed from the blanket fort because Will heard the unmistakable sounds of someone trying to disengage from his noisy bed and then footsteps.

“In here,” Will called softly, hitting “save” from his scroll down menu. It felt like a cementing of words.

“Everything all right?” Hudson said, all gravel and yawns as he shuffled over to Will’s desk. His hair was standing up, his boxers were crooked and he rubbed his eyes like a little kid.

Will had it bad. His heart did a thump/roll over.

“Working,” he said, reaching out to pull Hudson closer and right into his lap. His lover made a little sound of protest.

“Holiday’s over – no sitting in Father Christmas’ lap and asking for things.” Hudson gave a little shiver though and pulled Will’s arms around his waist.

“You can ask for whatever you want, little boy.” Will pressed his lips against the cool skin of Hudson’s back.

Hudson laughed, the vibrations transferring to Will. He liked it.

“I favor a warm bed so I think that’s where I’ll head back to. Don’t want to disturb you.”

“No disturbance occurring. The urge woke me and I had to obey the muse.”

“Mmmm.”

“What?” Will gave him a little poke.

“I was hoping to put in an application to be your muse. But I don’t recall poking you with any urges,” he teased.

“Ba-dum-dum.” Will tapped out a rim shot on Hudson’s abs. “You can be my muse, don’t worry.”

“Thank heavens. I don’t have a job otherwise.” It was light but Will hugged him tighter anyway.

“My benefits package is enormous.”

“Braggart.” Hudson laughed and Will felt accomplished.

“All that, a drafty loft and a crazy writer past deadline – I’m telling you, you’ve traded up baby.”

Hudson shifted on Will’s lap, something sexy and sweet at once. Like a cuddle with promise. “I did,” he said softly.

They were quiet for a few moments, Will absorbing Hudson’s bulk – comforting them both. This was a risk for both of them. It was fast and furious and scary to take a chance on someone in such a short period of time.

Will didn’t do crazy things generally. Hudson apparently had done one crazy thing in his life. Maybe that made it better. They were both running through this crazy field, hand in hand, taking the chance together.

Then Will considered his options – back to bed with
boyfriend
. Write. An obvious choice.

But Hudson made his decision for him. He stood up, still holding onto Will’s hands – and then let them drop as he turned around.

“Finish. You’ve been driving yourself mad over this story. I’ll be there in the morning.”

Thump. Twist. Smile.