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“’At’s the one,” I slurred, catching eyes with a right bear of a man a few tables over. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and bit my lower lip at him. “Downright climbable.”
Hudson muttered a curse word into his beer.
“’Scuse me fellas,” I proclaimed. “Don’t wait up.”
I stood up and took one step toward the bear before being yanked down into Hudson’s lap.
“What?” I asked into the front of the most delicious-smelling shirt on earth.
“Time to go,” he snapped over my head to his brother. “Someone has passed the point of legal consent.”
I looked up at him. “’At means I don’t consent to leave with you.”
The look on his face changed from stern and angry to soft and sweet in the span of a heartbeat as he met my eyes. “If you think I’m leaving you here to get mauled by some stranger, you don’t know me very well.” He ran long fingers through my hair, leaving the lightest caress on my cheek as he did so. My stomach dissolved into an army of heart-eyed minions, every last one of them swooning and dizzy. “Let me put you to bed, Irish.”
He said “Irish” with the soft affection with which he’d have said “sweetheart” or “love,” and I drank it up like sweet summer wine.
“Hudson,” I breathed, locking eyes with him. Those fucking eyes, what they did to me. I would follow those fuckers off a cliff if he looked at me that way and asked politely.
A drunken patron stumbled nearby, bumping into us and shattering the moment. Hudson’s arms tightened around me protectively the same way he’d done on the dance floor. Within moments, he was leading me out of there tucked into his side to prevent any more jostling from strangers.
I didn’t remember much after that, only the warmth of a body next to mine in a vehicle, the indecipherable murmurs of conversation around me as we made our way into Saint’s apartment, and the bone-deep sense of relief when Hudson chose to share the guest bed with me rather than sleep on the sofa. I fell asleep curled up against his great furnace of a body and slept in the security of his embrace the whole night through.
When I awoke the following morning, I knew reality was going to rear its ugly little head and we were going to go back to being platonic friends at best and professional coworkers at worst.
So I took advantage of him while he slept and ran my hands over every bit of him.
29
Hudson
Hudson’s Luck:
When I finally get Charlie into bed, my brother is in the next room.
I felt like a complete ass. The way I’d behaved in the club had been subhuman. I’d never understood the caveman-type guy who felt like he needed to bang fists to chest and roar at anyone coming near his woman. But there I’d been in the club ready to take anyone down who dared mess with Charlie.
To make matters worse, I’d tried to imply a claim on him where there was none. And he’d given me plenty of opportunities to have that claim.
So not only was I the idiot caveman, but I also pulled the immature “I don’t want you, but I don’t want anyone else to have you either” bullshit. I was mortified by my behavior. And to top it all off, I’d shown physical affection to him in front of my family.
And the looks I’d gotten… I wasn’t sure if West’s face had held more confusion or hurt. He’d tried to ask me about it in the car on the way back to Saint’s apartment, but I’d begged him to leave it alone for the time being. Thankfully, Nico had reached over to squeeze West’s hand in silent warning to respect my wishes.
I lay there with Charlie’s slender form curled against me and struggled with what I wanted to say to him. It needed to start with an apology at the very least, but I also realized with absolute certainty I wanted to ask him to give me another chance. A chance at… something with him.
Because, who was I to decide what was right for him? If he wanted a casual hookup with me while he was in Hobie on this project, maybe that was perfect for both of us. Maybe that was exactly what we both wanted and needed.
Of course, I was fooling myself. There was nothing casual about my feelings for Charlie. A casual hookup would leave me completely gutted when he left to return to Ireland. But was it worth it to have him in the short term?
My eyes were still closed in thought when I felt him shift against me. Just the feel of his warm body against mine already had my dick raging for attention. I’d gotten up half an hour before to sneak to the bathroom for a pee and toothbrushing in an effort not to bowl him over with ineffective morning wood and foul morning breath.
