“That look he was giving you said he knows you pretty well.”She raised a brow.
I scoffed.“I’m sure he looks at a bunch of girls that way.”
“Uh, no, he really doesn’t,” she disagreed as Hudson stood at the counter placing his order while I tried desperately to keep my eyes off the most delicious backside I’d ever seen on a man.
Greta handed him a coffee, a healthy blush on her face that I doubted had anything to do with his fame.
As he moved toward the exit, he turned to me once more—that same smile quirking his full lips—before walking through the door and climbing back into his truck.
I visibly deflated as he pulled away, the effect he had on me equal parts exhausting and exhilarating.
Before I’d fully recovered, Greta was walking over with a bag of something.“For you,” she practically squealed as she handed it to me.
“What’s this?”I asked in confusion as I opened the bag, finding a chocolate brownie inside.
“Hudson bought it for you.”She was practically vibrating with excitement.“He said you looked like you needed something sweet.”
“OMG,” Katie breathed.
“Has he done this before?”I asked Greta, dumbfounded.
“Never.”She grinned.“You’re in trouble, girl.”
Trouble was right.
Chapter 3
Igrinned to myself, wishing I could have seen Lucy’s expression when Greta handed her the brownie.I marveled at my restraint in walking away.The woman had an effect on me I’d never known the likes of.
I’d scared her off the night before, and I clearly needed to go easy if I wanted her to say more than a few words to me.
And I wanted a hell of a lot more than that.
Christ, but the woman was beautiful with her long blonde hair, soft-as-hell looking mouth, and that cute button nose.But it was her butterscotch-colored eyes framed with dark lashes that slayed me.I’d never seen a more beautiful color, and when she looked at me with such openness mixed with an inner fire that shined from the inside out, the whole combination that was Lucy Kincaid hit me straight in the gut.
It hadn’t been hard to find out who she was—it was a small town after all.But all I knew were the details you could find on paper.I wanted to know so much more than that.I found myself wanting to know everything.
This desire that bordered on obsession was new, and frankly, it was a relief to discover that I had it at all.All these years of females throwing themselves at me, I’d taken what was easy—especially early in my career.Now, I was fucking bored with easy.And tired of being a conquest.The last time I’d fooled around with a woman, I’d caught her trying to record it, no doubt with the intention of sharing it on socials.That had been it for me.
My phone rang, my brother Riley’s number flashing on the screen.“Yeah,” I greeted as I navigated away from town toward Carter Construction headquarters.
“You comin’ or what?”he demanded by way of greeting.
One thing was for sure, if I ever came close to getting an ego about my fame, my family would bring me right back down to earth.
I loved the hell out of all of them.
“Yeah, Ri, you’re the one who wanted the girly-ass coffee.Took me longer than normal.”
“Fuck you,” he grumbled without malice.“Just meet me at the jobsite.I’m headed there now.”
“All right, see you in ten,” I replied, taking a left toward the development my brother and his crew had been working on for the last year.
From as early as I could remember, Riley had been passionate about the family business.We’d all worked for my dad through high school, but Riley did it willingly—enthusiastically even.It had always been clear which of us would take over when the time came, and it had never been an issue for us.
My youngest sibling, Haley, had her sights set on veterinary medicine.Griffin had always wanted to be a cop.And I’d had a guitar in my hand since I could walk.
But Riley had done more than just take over the business; he’d expanded it.I was damn proud of him.We all were.
