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I wanted to touch her so badly that I feared my tongue might be hanging out like Max’s as I stared each night.
Randall’s eyebrows knitted together. “She doesn’t seem like that kind of girl.”
“I’m joking,” I muttered.Sort of.“But she is unavailable.”
“You’re confusing me. So, she has someone, or she doesn’t?”
“She’s off-limits! That’s what she is.”
He paused, hands in flour, and looked at me up and down.
I grabbed a bowl of potato soup and a plate with steak and baked potato. “I’m taking these out.”
“Why don’t you just put it in the window? Or is that for Eugene’s table? I notice you take her table’s food out for her whenever you get the chance.”
Ignoring Randall, I pushed the door with my back and headed toward the dining room. Eugene was smiling at someone in a booth, so I quickened my steps. She glanced my way. “Is that for table six? You could have put it in the window.”
Bringing out her orders was an excuse to see her. At least I was helping her out while I ogled her.
“It’s not a problem,” I said as she took the food from me.
Edwin popped his head out of the booth. “Ah, Hudson!”
Eugene shook her head at her brother before disappearing to tend to her tables.
“Hi, Cuz.” Francis waved as I stopped in front of them.
I tucked my hands into my front pockets. “I haven’t seen you two in a while.”
“Genie hasn’t visited us,” Francis said.
“If I don’t come to her, I’ll never see her,” Edwin complained. When I smirked, he tilted his head, and his eyes softened. “Thanks for letting her stay with you and letting her work here. She needed a change of scenery.”
Eugene eyed her brother as she walked by. “What are you saying to him?” She didn’t wait for his reply as she slipped around the tables toward the back.
“How is she?” Edwin asked, forcing my attention away from his sister.
“Clumsy,” I blurted out. “Well fed, and she hangs around the fireplace to read.”
Francis’s eyebrows raised as she grinned, while Edwin’s smile was slower to come. Did I say something wrong?
Francis added, “Does Genie seem okay emotionally?”
Emotionally? How would I honestly know that?
Sure, Eugene smiled a lot. She seemed happy, but was she really? It was only two weeks ago that she lost her things and cried over her books. Not to mention the situation with the lawyer. I hadn’t looked anything up online since I last checked, and she would never confide in me if something had developed about the case.
My chest burned and fucking ached like I had heartburn. Why did Francis have to ask? I thought I had been doing so well with Eugene. I’d bought her pajamas, got her working with me, and had her under my roof. She had even let me blow-dry her hair—something I planned to do every time she washed it. There was so much more I wanted to do to the little red head, but I was tiptoeing with my emotions. I knew how overbearing I could be when it came to what I desired. Eugene didn’t need me pushing whatIwanted on her, which was her. She’d been through a lot. I could charm her slowly. What the fuck did I know about moving slowly, though? My houseguest had no clue how lovely I thought she was. How much I wanted to consume her.
She was living with me. That was enough.For now.Wasn’t it? What if I was the creepy guy, staring all the time, who had no chance. It was easy to make Eugene blush, but those reddened cheeks didn’t mean interest. Shit. I needed some sort of fucking sign that I had a chance.
Realizing I stood there saying nothing, I cleared my throat. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s happy.”
And I would. Those days, it was clear for me. Her happiness was mine. I wanted all her smiles.
Somehow, the world dropped her, a precious jewel, into a disaster of a life. Edwin chose well sending her to me. No one was going to fuck with her life. Not with me around. She belonged with me. She was the color filling in my gray. I just had to show her how good I could be for her before she decided to leave me. I used to want all my free time to myself. Since Eugene, the idea of her not being in the cabin gutted me.
I was a total sucker for Eugene, and I was fucking okay with that.
