Page 62 of Paper Horses

Stop thinking about it.

“Eh, I’m sure wearing those cute puppy socks would help you close deals.” I picked my boot up, pulling it on. “Do you close deals? Or is that your brother?” Both owned the company, even if their father had intended it to go to him. With their revenge, it had become hers, too.

As I put the other boot on, I thought about that. Her brother had protected her for years, taking her punishments, but had he protected her more than she knew? Buying out their father ensured their business owned the assets, and he had built their company with her having an equal share. Redistributing the business’ worth between them and not just in his hands.

“I like to let him deal with most of that. Of course, it sounds like he handed that over to Tori on this deal.”

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts out and giving her a nod. “True. If I’d known it was him, I would have turned it down.”

She lowered her glass of water, and I refrained from teasing her about drinking tap water again. Her expression had turned serious. “Do you regret saying yes?”

My brows furrowed, and I stared at her. “I know you didn’t just ask me that.”

“Why? I’m a distraction to your everyday life. An annoyance. A problem you now have to solve.”

I stalked over to her, wrapping my hand around her neck and turning her body to me like she was nothing more than a rag doll.

“You’ve been a distraction since the day I met you, Olivia Icinda. And when you broke my heart, you remained one, stirring those splinters of pain constantly so I never got over you. A constant distraction I couldn’t remove. You were an annoyance with your expensive bag and clothes, your fancy nails⁠—”

“I broke one, and that’s annoying.”

I scowled at her. “Don’t interrupt me when I’m being sweet.”

“This is sweet? You’re holding me like I’m a kitten and growling at me.”

Tugging her close, I lowered my face to her ear. “I don’t growl, and you are the sweetest-tasting pussy.”

“God, you’re so dirty.” She scrunched her nose, and I let out a laugh.

“I am, and you love it. Now let me finish,” I scolded. “You are not a problem. Our situation is a problem. One we’ll deal with when you have to return to the city. But you are not a problem. You are the solution to the cloud that has hung over me since the day you left me, and I don’t care what we face when you leave because I’m not letting you go again, Olivia.”

A sexy inhale shook her chest, and I leaned over, giving her a crushing kiss before I released her and walked back to the door, adjusting the strain in my pants. I put my rain jacket on, leaving my hat this time and tugging the hood over my head instead.

“When I’m done, you’re going to take care of the discomfort you just caused me.”

“I caused? I beg to differ.”

The rain rushed into the house when I threw the door open. This was going to be miserable. The front of the yard looked like a pond with rapids churning through it.

“Either way, I expect you to alleviate it.”

I slammed the door behind me, but not before I heard her huff. Smiling at the sound, I lowered my head to the sheets of rain pelting me and thought of how the day had turned. How Olivia Icinda had returned to my life and, somehow in the span of two days, glued my jagged pieces back together.

Chapter 16

Liv

The leather melded to my skin, soft and warm as I took a seat on the couch. I brought the collar of Hudson’s T-shirt to my nose, inhaling his scent as I closed my eyes and thought of what he’d done to my body. Restaking his claim and lighting it on fire. In a matter of hours, I had peeled back layers of myself that I had placed over too many years, expecting they would guard me for life. Never had I thought Hudson would be back in it, or that safe in his presence, those layers would fall away to leave me exposed and there for him to destroy if he wanted.

But he hadn’t. He’d gathered me up and reassured me that the safety he’d always provided was still there. He was like a warm fire that melted away the frostbite. A fireproof vault fighting flames that threatened to turn it to ash. A hand stretched out to catch me when I fell.

That’s what he had always been to me, and he hadn’t changed. I rested my head back, ready to scold myself for breaking down, for letting him see tears I’d caged since childhood, but I couldn’t because if anyone understood the weight of those tears, it was Hudson.

Outside, the storm continued to batter the house, and I rose from the couch to look out the window. The barn stood in the distance; the door closed as water rushed past it. I didn't see Hudson, so he must have made it inside. There was no way I was going back out there. He didn’t want me to, and I would respect his wish this time. I wasn’t about to take another swim. As if in answer, the wound on my arm throbbed. I touched my cheek where the bruise had formed, noting how neither it nor my arm had hurt while Hudson had made love to me. I wasn’t so certain that was the term for what we’d done. It seemed more frenzied, like years of need released in one explosive event that transformed me. But there had been moments of softness, hushed proclamations of love.

He still loved me after all these years, after all I’d done to him. The future threatened to taint the thought, crouching in my periphery ready to strike, but I shoved it away, just like he’d said to. He was right, and as much as the thought had paralyzed me earlier, I would pretend separation didn’t loom ahead of us, that our blissful bubble would remain forever. Only, just like the rain that would cease at some point, the future would present itself in a text from Gabe saying the plane was coming to pick me up.

I tucked the thought away, rummaging through Hudson’s stash of movies and finding one that wasn’t as gory. A historical documentary that would likely put me to sleep. As I popped it into the DVD player and started watching it, I questioned how he could watch these things.