For the Love of Gracie (The Southern Devotion Series) Read online

  For the

  Love of

  Gracie

  The Southern Devotion Series

  Book #1

  © Copyright Amy K McClung

  Written by Amy K McClung

  Copyright 2013

  Edited by: MaryAnn Inabinet of MAI Editing Services

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  Cover Design by: Cover Lust

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  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please respect the work of this author by not copying or reproducing their work.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or people living or dead is coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark of products or people used in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication use of these trademarks is not associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Prologue

  From the outside looking in, it can seem a person has everything they need for happiness. Many unconsciously ignore the age old cliché of 'don't judge a book by its cover'. We don’t all go through life meaning to judge people by looks or stereotypes, though inevitably we all do at some point, whether we realize it or not.

  Someone may have several friends surrounding them at all times, yet can feel utterly alone. Life isn’t always perfect. Regrets are inevitable for most, some are greater than others. We live life in the hopes that it will be easy and that we will be happy and never have anything bad happen to us. For some, that is their reality and they are the lucky few. For others, they have to fight for every ounce of happiness in their life.

  Chapter One

  The delicious smell of waffles drifted through the air. "Mmm," I groaned, reaching my arms above my head, stretching my stiff muscles. Placing my feet on the hardwood floor, I flexed my toes, cringing from the cold sensation that nipped at the soles of my feet. My legs lifted back up on reflex. I reached over to the drawer next to the bed and grabbed a pair of wool socks. When I looked down and realized I was wearing socks with panties and nothing else, I felt silly. I chuckled softly at myself.

  Hudson's favorite t-shirt was sitting within reach. It was a black, Five Finger Death Punch, t-shirt that he had obtained at the only concert of theirs he’d attended. They were his favorite band, and more like an obsession than anything else. It hung loosely on my body, covering me to my knees. My long auburn hair was hopeless at the moment. Bed-head? Definitely.

  Hudson and I had only met a few weeks ago; we had spent most of our time in bed since. I twirled my hair into a bun and stuck a pen in it to keep it slightly contained. I checked my face in the bathroom mirror. My hazel eyes were shot with red lines from lack of sleep. Underneath my lashes, my skin was streaked where my eyeliner had run from sweating so much. "Waterproof, my ass," I mumbled, as I cleaned my face. I criticized my reflection, "Gracie Walker, you're a hot mess. It's a wonder someone as hot as Hudson James wants you."

  The bedroom door creaked as I opened it, stopping to let the smell of syrup assault my senses. Hudson James was fantastic at everything, and I mean everything. I grinned at the memory of our night spent together.

  His tan muscular back was the first thing I saw when I stepped into the kitchen. He had a large dragon tattoo over his left shoulder that screamed 'bad boy'. His dark blonde hair was shaggy and I loved nothing more than running my fingers through it. I propped myself against the door frame, staring at him as he worked on waffles. He was softly singing to himself a song by, whom else, Five Finger Death Punch.

  His boxer briefs made his ass look so delicious; I just wanted to take a bite out of it. The beads of sweat running down his back, made me suck my bottom lip between my teeth. My heart sped up and my excitement heightened, as I watched him. Unconsciously, I let out a low moan. The noise alerted him to my presence.

  He smiled as he licked his lips. He turned the oven off and said, "Good morning, hot stuff." Sauntering over, he placed his hand on my hip, moving my shirt up. His lips slowly met mine as he began to tease me with his tongue and while one hand worked its way down my body to press against my core. His erection pressed firmly against my belly. His other hand snaked up inside my shirt, cupping my breast. Hudson removed his hand from fondling me, only long enough to slide my panties to the floor.

  He lifted me effortlessly and set me down on the table. I lay back as he clambered up on the table with me, moving up until we were face to face. He groaned, "Gracie, girl you make me crazy," right as he plunged into my moist depths. I moaned again as he began to move, slow at first, then faster as I held on to the edges of the table for support. He thrust one final time as we both came, shuddering together. He lifted himself up and away from me as I turned to face him and licked my lips.

  Hudson casually picked my panties up off the floor and tossed them at me.

  He smirked. "I need to finish breakfast now."

  I smiled, "Sorry didn’t mean to distract you."

  He grabbed a handful of my hair that had slipped from the bun, and gently pulled me in for a kiss, which caused the spot between my legs to ache for him again already.

  "Never apologize for what you just did there. And you look so sexy in my shirt."

  Hudson and I met at a club a few weeks ago where we were both hanging out with friends. I had just broken up with a jerk, and it seemed that all I ever dated were jerks. I had never had a really romantic relationship, like the ones you saw in movies. I had begun to think those relationships didn’t exist, but this one seemed like it might be different.

  Hudson was standing across the club and our eyes met. He strolled over to me and used a cheesy pick up line to get my attention. "Hi, my name is Milk. I'll do your body good."

  My response was beer coming out of my nose from laughter. Apparently, that was a turn on for him. Two hours later, we were in my car making out, his hand was up my shirt and he was quickly on his way to second base.

  Since that night, I had practically been living at his place. I had my own house, but we hadn’t kept our hands off of each other long enough for me to go home. Hudson pulled me from my thoughts when he brought a plate of waffles to the table. I slathered butter and syrup on them and began shoving forkfuls into my mouth. He laughed heartily, "Damn, Gracie. You hungry?"

  I smiled, my mouthed stuffed with food, and said “Sorry, I worked up an appetite."

  He chuckled and said, "As long as you don’t get fat, eat as much as you want."

  Ouch, that was the first crude thing he'd said to me. The thing was, I used to be overweight and hated my body. His words made me put the fork down and wipe my mouth. "That was rude," I said.

  Hudson snickered, "What? I like your body the way it is. That's a bad thing?"

  I scoffed, "Next time, say it a little nicer."

  He shrugged it off as no big deal.

  The song "Whip it" interrupted the moment. I reached for my phone, but Hudson grabbed it first. He glanced at the name. "Who's Cam?"

  I snatched the phone from him. "That's Cameron." I answered before he could say anything else, "Hey Cam, what's up babe?" I giggled and Hudson's jaw clenched. Strolling out of the room, I plopped myself down on his couch, and continued my conversation with Cam, ignoring the glares I was getting.

  After thirty minutes of torturing Hudson, I got off the phone. "I'm going to go grab a shower," I sa
id, as I moved toward the bedroom. He grabbed my arm, yanking me back to him. "Ouch, let go of me."

  He released me and said, "Sorry, didn’t mean to pull so hard. Who's Cameron?"

  With my hands on my hips, I said, "My best friend."

  He sighed with relief. "So it's a chick?"

  I shook my head. "No, he's a guy. We've been friends since we were kids. What's the big deal?"

  "The big deal is I don’t like you talking to other guys like you just did," he said, with a note of anger in his tone.

  I laughed, "Are you jealous? After what we just did, you think you have something to worry about? That’s too cute."

  He grabbed my hand when I went to pat his cheek. He twisted my wrist roughly and I cringed in pain as he laughed.

  "Not so cute now, is it. Get a shower and we'll talk about this when you get out." He shoved me toward the door and walked away.

  What the hell was that?

  For the first time, Hudson's behavior scared me, slightly. He didn't normally act so erratic. I'd only known him a few weeks; he'd always been pretty charming though. I was to blame for how he reacted; I should have explained who Cameron was instead of trying to egg him on.

  Cameron and I had been friends since we were five. We met in kindergarten and hit it off right away. We used to get into trouble for talking during nap time. One time, we got in trouble because we shared a mat. He told the teacher that he had to protect me because I didn’t have a daddy. The teacher thought it was sweet, but still separated us.

  In grade school, there was rarely a moment you didn’t find us together. My mom let him sleep over every weekend until we were twelve and then worried about puberty and inappropriate things. Cameron ‘came out’ to me when we were in high school. By then, I was totally in love with him. What girl didn't fall in love with her best guy friend?

  It had crushed me that he wouldn’t ever return my feelings, but I never felt any different about him. Deep down, I always knew he was gay and I was sure he knew it too. I felt honored that I was the first person he had trusted to tell. He had it rough though. His parents were supportive and encouraged him to not be afraid to be himself. The encouragement was great for family life, but when he came out at school, he was bullied by a lot of girls and guys.

  We had a close group of friends, and we did our best to protect him from the bullies. Unfortunately, there were a few times that the bullies got the best of him. He had taken more than one beating during our high school years. Once we got into college, things got a little better for him. We took turns between the gay bars and the straight bars each weekend so that everyone felt included in our group.

  When I stepped out of the shower, Hudson was standing there in the room staring at me. I grabbed a towel and covered myself.

  "What the hell?" I exclaimed, as I secured the towel around my body, tucking the end into the top to tighten it.

  He laughed, "Nothing I haven’t seen before. I wanted to finish our talk."

  I backed away from him with my hands in the air. "A little privacy would be nice. Look, there is no reason to worry about Cam. There is nothing going on with us."

  His hand shot forward and I flinched back.

  Hudson looked upset at my recoil. Gently, he placed his hand on my cheek and said, "Did you think I was going to hit you? I'd never hurt you, Gracie."

  I rolled my eyes. "You just did, a few minutes ago." I held up my wrist to show him the bruise that was beginning to form.

  His eyes became sad; he took hold of my wrist and kissed the bruise softly. "I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I've had a rough week and I shouldn't take that out on you. I'm sorry, baby"

  He stepped closer and pushed my hair back off my shoulders. His mouth lightly kissed my shoulder, and then moved to my neck. He nibbled on my earlobe and whispered, "You make me so crazy, Gracie. How do you make me so crazy?"

  His hand moved to loosen the towel and I let it fall from my body. After we spent several hours exploring each other again, I decided I had to make an appearance at home.

  "Will I see you tonight?" he asked, as I stood at the door.

  I shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see." I winked at him and when I turned, he smacked my bottom. I glanced back at him and he was staring at me as I walked away. Hudson James, even his name oozed sexiness and he was into me, Gracie Walker. I'd never believed I could land a guy so dreamy.

  Chapter Two

  My keys were in the door, when it was yanked open and I found my friend Angel standing there. "Well, look who remembered where she lives!" she teased as I pushed by her into the house. "How's Hudson? Have you ever seen him standing up or are you guys always horizontal?"

  Angel and Mary Jane had been my roommates for three years now, ever since we graduated high school and had started college life.

  We lived in Nashville, Tennessee where we attended college in a nearby town. Angel was originally from Florida. She was Hispanic, five four, with long black hair, and deep brown eyes. We envied her because she had a small waist, but a 'badonkadonk' butt that the guys went crazy for, plus enough of an accent to make her sound exotic and sexy.

  Mary Jane was from Kentucky. She was five eight, with blonde hair, and pale green eyes. She was considered plus-sized because she was a size eighteen. I personally thought she was the hottest of the three of us. I sometimes found myself envious of her soft curves. She had a wonderful country twang that guys seemed to go crazy for, the whole farm girl persona.

  Angel's family moved here when she was twelve and Mary Jane's moved when she was ten. The three of us had been inseparable since we met in Junior High. Only men seemed interrupt our time together, lately.

  "Yes, I've seen him standing. We do it vertically too." I nudged her and she laughed.

  She turned and yelled up the stairs, "Yo, MJ, come down and see who made an appearance!"

  Mary Jane, or MJ as we liked to call her, came stumbling down the stairs, two at a time. She grinned at me and said, "Nice bed-head."

  I gave her a one finger salute.

  "What are the plans for tonight? Are we meeting Cam and the guys?" I asked, as I set my purse down on the counter.

  "Yep, we have about three hours to get ready. Come on upstairs. I have the cutest top you have to wear."

  Eagerly, I followed her up the stairs to her bedroom. Angel brought a red spaghetti strap shirt out of her closet with diamond studs all over the top half. "Try this one. It will make your boobs stand out."

  I laughed, "For where we're going, do I really need that?"

  She nodded. "Of course, it always helps to dress up the girls."

  I slid on some black jeans and pulled the spaghetti strap shirt over my head. It really did make them stand out.

  A few years ago, I had gone through a depression stage and gained a lot of weight. I had lost over sixty pounds since then and had worked hard to get to this point. I was proud of showing my body off now. Angel and I could share tops easily enough, but pants weren't as easy to exchange. I had curvy hips, but nothing compared to Angel's.

  Angel pointed to a chair, demanding I sit. She used a straightener to do my hair, most days I kept it wavy. When she was finished, it hung straight down my back, only inches from my waist. She handed me some diamond studded hoops to wear in my ears.

  She ran to the closet and came back with a pair of red, suede, four-inch heels.

  "Those are some wicked shoes!" I exclaimed. Angel nodded in agreement.

  I slid them on, securing the strap across my foot. I stood and held my arms out and spun in a circle.

  Angel whistled. "You look sexy, chica!"

  Tonight, I didn’t care about towering over the guys. I wasn’t looking for a date, and I wouldn’t find one where we were going. I was dressed up simply to make myself happy tonight.

  We had used up the full three hours getting ready and were on the verge of being late to meet our other friends.

  The doorbell rang. "Gracie, it's for you!" yelled Mary Jane from the bottom of the
stairs. She looked up, smiled and said, "Look at you, hot momma."

  I grinned. "Thanks, babe." Standing at the door was Hudson with a dozen red roses. "Um, hi. I wasn’t expecting you."

  His smile faded as he looked me up and down. "Who were you expecting?" he asked, in an accusatory tone.

  Mary Jane reached for my hand. "You want him to leave? I'll gladly slam the door."

  I laughed at her over-protectiveness. "It's all good, girl. He didn’t mean anything." I turned my attention to Hudson, "I'm going out with my friends tonight. Are those for me?"

  Hudson kept a hold of the flowers and scowled, "You sure look pretty hot to be going out with just friends."

  I decided to ignore his jealousy and focus on the compliment. I pressed myself against him. "You think I look hot?" I kissed his lips, letting my tongue snake out, and lick his bottom lip. He groaned and pulled me in for a deeper kiss.

  Mary Jane was still behind us; she cleared her throat and said, "Get a room."

  I laughed and invited Hudson to come inside. He held the flowers out to me; I took his hand, instead, and led him to the kitchen.

  He placed the flowers on the kitchen counter as I bent over to grab a vase from under the sink. His hands grabbed at my waist and he pressed himself against me as he groaned.

  I stood and he turned me around, pulling me into a kiss again. I felt his excitement pressed up against my stomach. Good grief, this man was insatiable.

  My phone buzzed. I pushed him away and answered it. "Hey, babe. Yep, we're leaving here shortly and we'll see you there. Love you too." Hudson's eyebrow rose with curiosity. "That was Cameron; we're meeting him at a club." Hudson's jaw stiffened and his face became green with jealousy, again.

  In an attempt to appease him, I said, "Come with us, baby."