Page 38 of Sundown Somewhere

Hux drops my hand, pushing past me. I spin around, trying to follow, even more confused than before.

“Hux…”

“No more settling.”

“Hux.”

He grabs his wallet off the nightstand, slipping it in his pocket, then heads toward the door, pausing only long enough to kiss me chastely on the forehead.

“Hux!”

He stops, stalking back inside, pulling his wallet out and handing me his credit card. “Today’s plan was retail therapy. For you it still is. I have something else to take care of. Take this, use it, and abuse it. I’ll be back by five, and I expect to see you in something new, ready for whatever awaits us.”

One more chaste forehead kiss and he’s gone, the echo of the heavy hotel door reverberating through the room. I stand in the same spot for a moment, still dumbfounded, holding Hux’s card.

Maybe it’s the hangover, but my brain is having a hard time figuring out how we got here. And where exactly he’s off to. Although one thing is clear—I’ve been given my marching orders.

And if his declaration from earlier is to be believed, I better make this something worth remembering.

11

DOLLY

My heart leaps, thumb stopping its doomscroll through social media as the quaint white house fills my screen. This one, much like the others I have saved, has a big, beautiful, covered porch, dormers, and planter boxes. The addition of an old-fashioned well out front—working or not—catches my eye, as do the black shutters used as accents. I swoon, staring at it for a long moment.

Add it to the folder…

Hux’s voice rings out in my head, his instructions the same telepathically as they would be if he were standing right here. He’s been uttering those five words for more than a decade, almost on autopilot, every time I see a new one that I’m instantly head over heels for.

Sighing, I click and save, thankful for the short distraction from the emotional ping-pong game my heart is taking part in. As if it were the little white ball, frantically bouncing between nervous and excited, my pulse unsure if it should speed up or slow down with each one of my breaths as I sit here and wait. At least my headache is gone.

Knock! Knock!

“Eeep!”

The rapping against the door makes me jump, my phone making a heavy thud as it hits the floor. Good job, Dolly.

“It’s fine, you got this,” I tell myself out loud, picking up my phone and giving myself one last once-over in the mirror. My floor-length, pink floral print dress is the perfect combination of happy and sexy—the last part thanks to the peek-a-boo sides held together with black ribbon—and I was head over heels for it the second I walked into the boutique and saw it on the mannequin. “It’s just Hux.”

I suck in another deep breath, reminding myself it’s just my best friend on the other side of that door. So what if we had the world’s weirdest conversation this morning? It doesn’t matter that I’ve spent all day—including a few hours trying on clothes to wear for him that I paid for with his credit card—thinking about how he offered to fuck me until I walked funny the next day. This is still the same Huxley Hayes I’ve been besties with since the third grade.

I think.

Just like I think I want to take him up on his offer.

Maybe.

I throw open the door and my heart stops. Standing on the other side is Hux, dressed in dark jeans and black button-down, the sleeves rolled up, showing off his tattooed forearms.

Fuck me…

“Hey, Beautiful,” he says, the corner of his mouth quirking upward into a smirk.

My insides melt, my brain frying as it tries to compute him greeting me this way. As if I’m his date.

Oh, wait…

“Hi.”