Page 111 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

“Growth.”

He almost smiled. “I thought we should have a few moments that aren’t medical, legal, or interrupted by family or food.”

“Both are needed.”

He gave me a grin. “So are lawyers. Of which, Mateus and Pax are coming for dinner.”

“Pax, that’s your brother?”

“Yeah. Otherwise known as Paxton when my mother is disappointed. Pax to everyone else.”

“And Mateus?”

“A friend. A very good lawyer. He works with Pax when the case has too many moving parts and not enough sensible people.”

“Like me.”

Hudson stopped walking.

I got two steps ahead before I realized and turned back. “What?”

“Not you.” The firmness in his voice made my throat tighten.

“I was joking.”

“I know.”

“Then you’re supposed to laugh.”

“Not when the joke is mean to you.”

I folded my arms, then regretted it because my breasts were sore. “You’re kind,” I muttered.

“I’ve been told.”

We walked again.

His hand brushed mine once, lightly. I stared ahead for three whole seconds then I took his hand. His fingers closed around mine. It was warm and steady, and holding mine as we walked beneath bare-branched trees while Sienna pretended not to be aggressively giving us privacy from fifteen feet away.

“I’m not good at this,” I said.

“At walking?”

“At being courted.”

“Neither am I.”

“You seem alarmingly competent.”

“I’m trying. That’s not the same thing.”

I looked at our hands. “What do you want from me?”

His thumb moved once over my knuckles. “Everything.”

“That’s a lot.”

He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “We can start with a little.”