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He thrust his cock into my stomach. “I forgot to tell you. I have a meeting in Dallas early tomorrow morning.”
I stopped feeling him up and stared at him.
“Again? Why?”
His eyes skittered away, and immediately I knew something was off.
“Hudson, what’s going on? Is it a problem with the project? Do I need to come with you?”
He looked back at me. “No. No problem with the pub. I promise it has nothing to do with Fig and Bramble.”
I was reassured, but I still wondered what he wasn’t telling me. “Is everything okay with your job? The situation with Darci hasn’t put your position in any jeopardy, has it?”
Hudson’s hand reached out to brush hair away from my forehead. He loved doing that, and I loved it even more.
“No. Quite the opposite. Things are going well. I’m just disappointed I’m not going to get to sleep with you tonight,” he said softly. “It’s my new favorite thing.”
His weirdness had been because of me. My heart squeezed tight with the sentiment, but I didn’t trust myself to respond without hearing my voice rise up several octaves. So I kissed him thoroughly before going down on him.
By the time we drove into work, I was officially dehydrated but overwhelmingly relaxed and happy. I spent the entire day flirting with Hudson and counting how many times I could make him blush. When a carpet installer came by to fix a spot in the office, I asked him how to treat rug burn. I thought Hudson was going to faint right then and there, but he surprised me.
“Babe, I told you. My hands and knees feel fine. Stop bothering the nice man.”
And when Stevie stopped by to get us to try his new nut bar, Hudson beat me to the punch.
“I’ve got all the nuts I can handle from this guy already, Stevie. But thanks.” Hudson took a swat at my bum as I walked past him.
“What the hell has gotten into you, freshie?” I asked with a laugh.
“I’m happy. You make me happy.”
Stevie froze for a beat before squealing. “Oh mah gawd, what is happening right now? Do my eyes deceive me?” Stevie’s melodrama was back, and it reminded us we’d just inadvertently revealed Hobie’s biggest secret to Hobie’s worst secret-keeper. “Did someone finally turn him? Did anyone else see what I just saw? Is this for realsies?” He looked around comically only to discover we were the only three people in the building.
“You didn’t see anything,” I said.
Hudson walked right over and took my face between his hands, kissing me full on the lips until I was dizzy. When he pulled away, Stevie had a boner.
And he wasn’t the only one.
“You can’t tell anyone,” Hudson said with a straight face.
Stevie was practically hyperventilating. “I can’t… I can’t… what?”
“My family doesn’t know. You have to give me time to tell them without everyone in Hobie finding out. Promise me, Stevie.”
Stevie’s eyes fluttered from Hudson to me and back again. “Maybe you’re not gay. Maybe you should kiss me like you did Charlie as some kind of test just to be sure.”
Hudson chuckled, stepping forward as if to do as Stevie had suggested. I grabbed the back of his belt and hauled him against my front.
“Easy fella,” I growled against his ear. “Back over here. No need for tests. And if there were, I do the tests. He doesn’t do the tests.”
Stevie’s face softened into mush. “Aw, that is the sweetest thing ever. You two are totes adorbs. Can I take your picture with my phone? I won’t show anyone, I promise.”
Hudson shot me a look that clearly called Stevie a liar.
“Not today, Stevie. We need to get back to work,” I said with a laugh before walking the man out of the pub. Once I was out front, I saw a few people in front of Augie’s shop clearly admiring the display in the window. Needless to say, I hadn’t seen my collie in a while.
I wandered over to Augie’s shop to retrieve her before leading her back to the pub.
“Where’d you go?” Hudson asked before catching sight of Mama and leaning down to croon at her. “Oh, never mind. That cat has you wrapped around his little finger, huh? I know how you feel. Just want to spend the whole day wrapped up in him with nothing else to worry about, don’t you?”
As he continued to murmur sweet words to my girl, I fell even harder for him.
33
Hudson
Hudson’s Revelation:
When being with someone feels this right, there’s no need to second-guess showing affection.
That day at the pub was the most fun I’d ever had during a workday. I reveled in the freedom to flirt with Charlie on and off all day as we worked together. Every time I looked over at him and saw his sweet smile or heard his laughter across the room, I felt lighter and freer than I’d ever felt before. He was so easy to be around. I didn’t feel like I needed to be anyone other than myself when I was with him, and that was a gift I hadn’t realized I’d needed.
