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And that’s another thing. Eli seems to be warming up to me. I hoped that our threesome on Connor’s kitchen island would have warmed him up to me right away, but he’s still been keeping his distance. But I appeared to be making strides with him today, and I hinted that I hoped he would join Connor and me in one of those nights again.
He didn’t shoot the idea down, and I grew excited at the prospect of the three of us together again. As much fun as I’m having with Connor, sneaking kisses, his ass grabs turning me on, I want the same relationship with Eli, too.
After today, looks like I’m going to get it.
I take my seat at the table, next to Hudson, who glances at me quickly.
“I hear you have some ideas,” he blurts out without any preamble.
I can’t help but laugh at his opening.
“I have several on different matters,” I reply, unfolding my napkin to put on my lap. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“I mean… about how to deal with—” He cuts himself off as Katherine enters the dining room, a huge platter in her hands.
In unison, all three men jump up to take it from her, and I feel a twinge in my heart that I don’t fully understand at the moment. There’s a melancholy in me, but it’s not all bad, a bittersweetness that I can’t quite grasp.
“Oh, sit down,” she squawks at them. “I’m not completely useless. I did make the darn thing, didn’t I?”
Hudson removes it from her knobby hands, anyway, and sets it on the table as I retreat to the kitchen to see what else needs to be brought out. But in the back of my mind, I wish he had finished asking what he had started at the table. I vow to get him alone before he leaves.
Katherine runs supper with the natural instincts of a matriarch, leading the conversation with her usual liveliness and charisma. But as I pick up the dishes and she tries to stop me, I can see the tiredness in her.
“You’ve been at this all afternoon,” I scold her gently. “Just let me do this.”
“I’ll help,” Hudson volunteers, shocking me.
Eli tries to smother a yawn unsuccessfully and coaxes one out of Connor in the process. Eli eyes us apologetically as he stands. “I’m beat,” he confesses. “
“Me, too.” Connor yawns again, not bothering to hide it. “And I should check in with my foreman before he heads out for the night.”
I chuckle but nod understandingly, my hands still full of plates.
“Thanks for all your help today, boys,” I tell them affectionately as they stand.
“Pleased to be of service, ma’am,” Connor jokes before whistling for his dogs.
Bounce and Silo jump up from their places under the table and follow after their human, tails wagging.
I find Hudson in the kitchen, already elbow-deep in suds, the front of his t-shirt soaked with water.
“You know the dishwasher doesn’t work, huh?” I comment, dropping my load beside him. “I had to find that out the hard way.”
He casts me a side-eye. “Why do I get the feeling that you live your life learning everything that way?”
The words should have made me bristle, but they make me laugh. As little as I know about Hudson, it’s becoming clear that he’s not big on small talk and flattery.
“I suppose you’re right,” I muse, drying as he washes, noting that he doesn’t miss a spot. He’s making much faster progress than I could have made with dishes. “I never really thought about it.”
“I guess you didn’t have much of a choice, given the hand you were dealt,” he adds.
Where is all this coming from? He’s talking to me like he knows something about my life.
A part of me wants to be defensive, but I can’t help but feel thrilled that he’s finally on board with assisting my grandmother. And that’s all that really matters—getting her property up and running.
He finishes the last of the dish load and wipes his hands on a checkered tea towel, hanging off the ancient stove. Hastily, I try to complete my task of drying as fast as I can, too, worried that he’s about to leave, but he surprises me again by offering coffee.
“I could use a bit of a pick-me-up,” he explains.
