I pressed a hand to my cheek. “Do I have something on my face?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s just hard to want to look anywhere but at you.”
The compliment caused a small bark of incredulous laughter. “I don’t know whether you’re feeding me lines or if you’re being genuine. Unbelievably, I think you’re being genuine.”
Hudson scowled. “I already told you I’m not feeding you a line and I thought after our kiss today you understood where we’re at.”
“Our kiss?”
His eyes narrowed. “You can’t deny the chemistry between us, angel.”
“I’m not trying to.” I sighed and it sounded shaky. “I’m sorry. I’m… I’m not used to men complimenting me just because they want to and not because they’re hoping it will lead somewhere.”
Understanding crossed his expression. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
Needing the conversation to turn to something I could deal with, I gestured toward the town. “So you grew up in Copper Cliffs?”
“Yeah. My family has lived there for generations.”
“Big family?”
“Pretty big. Immediate family it’s only my parents and my brother Jake. But we have cousins and aunts and uncles who have lived here for generations, too, so it’s never really felt like just the four of us.”
“Is Jake in construction?”
Hudson grinned like I’d said something funny. “Not even close. My brother is a professional snowboarder, so he travels a lot.”
“Wow, that’s cool. You like skiing but it’s not your profession… so are you and Jake very different then?”
“Yes and no.” He shrugged. “Different personalities but same values. Hard not to grow up with the same values in the Ward family. Even when we’re not together, we’re close. Got a good family. I’m lucky.”
Hudsonwaslucky. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to grow up in such a loving family. I know I was lucky to have Killian, but it would have been nice for us both to have that kind of support outside of each other. The wistfulness I felt must have shown in my eyes because Hudson’s filled with questions. Guessing what they were likely to be and not ready to answer them, I continued to guide the conversation. “And Rae?” I said, referring to the woman Dara had mentioned earlier in the day.
He leaned forward, bracing his crossed arms on the table, his expression casual. I searched for pain or anger in his eyes but saw nothing but calm. “My ex-fiancée.”
Whoa. Okay.Fiancée. Why did that cause a painful twist in my chest?
“We broke up nearly a year ago. We’d been together five years. She proposed to me.” He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t like it. I know that probably makes me a macho man dick in your eyes but I didn’t want to be proposed to. It was up to me to do the proposing.”
I shrugged, not bothered by this in the least, because frankly, as a romantic, I’d want to be proposed to. “You’re a traditionalist.”
“Yeah, when it comes to that shit I am. I said yes because I loved her and I didn’t want to hurt her. But over the years I managed to somehow put her off anytime she broached the subject of wedding planning. Finally everything came to a head. She pushed for me to set a date and I finally realized I loved her but the connection wasn’t there. We broke it off.Ibroke it off.”
Oh wow. I suddenly felt sorry for Rae.
“I felt like shit about it, for not knowing my own mind, but looking back I know there was a part of me deep down that knew she wasn’t the one. I just couldn’t admit that to myself, or her, for a really long time.”
I tilted my head in contemplation because I was surprised by the information he’d just imparted. “You believe in ‘the one’?”
Hudson swallowed, almost as if he was nervous. “I do now.”
The air around us grew still at what he’d just implied.
Holy …
“Hudson,” I whispered, not knowing what to say.
I found I loved what he was implying but it scared the absolute bejesus out of me, too.
