Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 260

Before she could even process it, a large hand clamped violently around her wrist.

Splash!

In the very next second, her world spun wildly, water flying everywhere.

Nora let out a startled gasp, instinctively grabbing his shoulders. She ended up straddling him, chest-to-chest, her knees framing his waist in a scandalously intimate position.

Water spilled over the rim of the tub, splashing heavily onto the floor tiles.

She opened her eyes, immediately meeting Hudson's dark, predatory gaze.

The man's voice was gravelly and devastatingly deep. "Honey, what exactly are you trying to do? Are you really that desperate for me to absolutely destroy you tonight?"

Nora's face flushed a brilliant scarlet.

She tried to scramble off him, but his arm was locked around her waist like a steel band, making it impossible to move an inch.

"Tell the truth."

Hudson narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Lie to me, and you won't be leaving this bed tomorrow..."

Nora frantically babbled out exactly what Dr. Leona Dalton had told her.

"I just... wanted to try... to see if my Intimacy Anxiety was really gone."

Hudson lifted a brow.

His gaze dragged slowly down from her flushed face.

Nora naturally had luminous, porcelain skin that looked almost translucent under the lights, and wearing that specific piece of lingerie...

There wasn't a man alive who could resist this kind of temptation.

Hudson's Adam's apple bobbed heavily.

"So you dressed up like this just to bait me?"

Nora stayed silent, her cheeks burning.

Hudson suddenly laughed.

He took her small hand and pressed it flat against his bare chest.

The moment her palm made contact, Nora felt the furious, heavy pounding of his heart. It hammered against her skin like a trapped beast slamming against a cage, ready to tear its way out.

"Honey."

His voice dropped to a low, helpless murmur, laced with a dark chuckle. "You don't need bait to catch me. I bite the hook on my own."

It was as if his heart had been dunked in honey, only to be slowly sliced open by a sharp blade.

The sweeter it was, the more agonizing it felt.

Nora continued to murmur sleepily for a few more minutes until her voice finally faded out, replaced by soft, even breathing.

Hudson looked down at her.

In the dim lighting, her profile was soft and peaceful, her long lashes casting delicate shadows over her cheeks.

He gently brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"Nora," he whispered, his voice as quiet as a ghost.

"I'm sorry," he rasped, the sound barely audible. "I can't be cured."

What he had wasn't a sickness.

It was a poison.

It had seeped into his bones, rotted his lungs, and consumed his soul.

There was no cure.