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“What is this, a blitz? Back off.”
She muscled away from them, but they followed her into the kitchen. “Okay, what?”
“We saw an Instagram picture of you and him in Greece,” Yannick said.
She pulled out a drawer, searching for a fork. “Yeah, well, we…happened to be there. At the same…time. Where is the silverware!”
Zach reached over to a drying rack, where silverware poked out of a slot. Grabbed a fork. “The macaroni needs salt. And at the same hotel?”
She swiped the fork from him. “Fine. Okay. We…there was…” Her mouth tightened. “Can’t a lady have a few secrets?”
“Not if it’s going to disqualify her from the crew. Listen, even cheerleaders have a no-dating policy, and that’s when they’re on the same team,” Yannick said.
“I’m not dating him!” Her voice rose, and she wanted to jerk it back when she spotted Hudson standing at the door.
He didn’t flinch, however. Just came in, crowding the room even more, his hands in his pockets. “She’s right. We’re not dating. We’re barely friends. But we did run into a bit of trouble together.”
She stared at him.
“We have a mutual friend that…was in trouble, and we both ended up in Greece, helping her out.”
Oh, that was a long stretch from the truth, but it had shades, so she nodded. “Yes. And then…we…”
“Ended up on a boat in the Aegean sea—sort of an excursion. And…it—”
“Ran out of gas. And we were adrift?” She met Hud’s gaze. One side of his mouth quirked up.
“Yes, adrift. And then we washed up on shore in Santorini and came straight here. You could say we were sort of like hapless travel companions. Like Steve Martin and John Candy.”
Yannick frowned at him.
“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” Zach said. “My parents love that movie.”
“It’s a classic,” Hud said, and smiled. “Those aren’t pillows.”
And then it was okay. He’d sort of charmed away all Yannick’s snarl, and somehow, in the next moment, had Zach laughing at his pillow reference.
What. Ever.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have some macaroni to rescue,” Hud said and moved away. Yannick turned back to her, as did Zach, but she spotted Hud in the doorway, glancing again at her. And then he lifted his hand and made a finger walking motion.
As in, he was leaving?
Oh. Uh.
Right.
Probably that was for the best, right?
But she couldn’t ignore the hollowness in her stomach. Sheesh, she’d come to depend on him way too much.
Just. Friends. Although she didn’t know what he meant bybarely friends.
Okay, maybe that had been true a week ago. She could barely stand the arrogant wide receiver before that moment on the bridge.
Sort of hard to remember, really, the way she’d hated his swagger, the way he’d acted like the whole world belonged to him. The way that, ever so briefly, she’d believed the lie that he could be a traitor.
“So, you’re ready to come back, right?” Yannick said as she downed the macaroni and cheese.
