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As I bitched, Hudson’s eyes grew wider until I thought they might bug right out of his head.
“Charlie,” he began, his voice low and calm as usual. “I only wanted to offer to hold the railing while you screwed in the bracket. I thought it would make it easier with two pairs of hands.”
I glanced at the long brass bar I’d been struggling with and let out a sigh. He was right. It would take me half as long to mount it if someone held the other end while I used the screwdriver.
“Fine. Hold it there,” I muttered.
While I concentrated on getting the bracket mounted, I sensed Hudson sneaking glances at me. Finally he caved.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
I made sure the bracket was the straightest fastener that had ever been fastened.
“Because you’ve either iced me out or bitched at me for the past two days. I want to know why. Did I do something?”
Yes. You kissed me and then walked away. You reunited with a woman, which proves what happened between us was truly just an experiment.
You rejected me like everyone else I’ve ever been with has done.
“No.”
He sighed and stopped asking. The tension between us was hideous and only served to make my muscles tense up to the point of pain.
Hudson couldn’t handle the silence. “For god’s sake, Charlie. Will you at least talk to me?”
“After you called me a bitch?” I snapped. “No, thanks.”
He threw his free hand up in the air. “Are you kidding? I didn’t call you a bitch. I said you were bitching at me. That’s not the same thing. Clearly I’ve done something to upset you, and if you won’t tell me what it is, I can’t fix it.”
I finished the bracket and moved to the next one down the rail. Hudson shuffled down a bit too, but we ended up closer than before. The crisp fabric of his pressed denim shirt brushed against the bare skin of my upper arm below the short sleeve of my T-shirt. I’d pulled off my hoodie after helping carry in loads of tables and chairs earlier when I’d gotten overheated, but now I was chilled again in the underheated space of the half-finished pub. I felt the warmth coming off Hudson’s larger body in comforting waves. I wanted to lean over and soak it in.
“It’s not you,” I lied. “I’m in a funk since the weekend. Ignore me.”
I could tell he was trying to puzzle it out, and the moment he thought he’d come to a conclusion, his eyes widened again.
“The club. In Dallas. What happened?”
I looked over at him in confusion. His eyes were narrowed and his lips pressed angrily together. The storm was clearly brewing in his expression.
“Charlie, did something happen? Did you… meet someone? Did it… go badly?”
He tripped over the words he wasn’t used to using. Clearly he meant to ask if I’d hooked up with someone and he wanted to know if they’d fucked me over somehow.
Hudson’s hand suddenly gripped my arm, and he pulled me around to face him. “Charlie, what happened this weekend? Why weren’t West and Nico there? And Saint?” At the mention of Saint’s name, Hudson’s face fell. “Did Saint… did you and Saint… did…?”
I rushed to correct him. “No. Nothing happened with me and Saint. There is no me and Saint.”
The relief on his face spun my heart around in circles until I didn’t know which end was up.
“Then what happened? Please talk to me. I know it can’t be easy being so far from home and from Cait.”
He was so thoughtful, I wanted to confide in him. If only my problem hadn’t been him, I might have.
I suddenly thought of an out. “I’m still upset about Mama. I know I shouldn’t be, but I feel guilty for leaving her with your grandfathers because now they feel responsible. And poor Stevie. I thought the bloke was going to pass out in the garden. I’m going to have to work hard to make it up to him,” I said with what I hoped was a chuckle.
“Oh, right. Will she be okay, do you think?”
I nodded. “Yes, as long as you all help me find good homes for the pups. Usually I don’t breed her until I already have her pups spoken for by farmers or trialers. I never want to be the cause of an unwanted pup.”
Hudson’s smile lit up the dim pub like a ray of Texas sunshine. “We’ll all help. And if we can’t find homes elsewhere, I know a couple of guys who have a ranch with plenty of space and love for extra dogs.”
I leaned my shoulder into his for the briefest moment. “Thanks. I’ll try to relax about it, then.”
We continued working together in companionable silence. I tried to put away my bratty attitude about his reconciliation with Darci because it was stupid and immature. If he was attracted to women, and if he was in love with this woman in particular, my silly crush on him needed to die a swift death.
