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“Want to join me in the shower, Loverboy?” I ask as I take off one of my shoes in the garage. Already got red clay in his truck. Don’t need to be traipsing more into his house.
“You know it, baby. You read my mind.” He picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, pulls off the other shoe and throws it on the floor as he carries me to the master bathroom. “In you go.” He drops me on the shower bench and flips on the water.
“Hey! That’s cold and I’m still dressed!” I tried to get out of the way of the water, unsuccessfully.
“Let me fix that.” He reaches for my shirt as he climbs into the shower with me.
We’ve just arrived at Hooplas, and Riley and Grace have outdone themselves. There are booths everywhere, decorations saying, ‘We’re with you Kate’ and ‘Bean and Bagel 2.0 Coming Soon’. It’s all overwhelming.
Hudson takes me by the hand, “Kate. I’d like for you to meet my partners in Hooplas.” Hudson brings me over to a booth where there are four massively beautiful men standing together. Of course, none of them hold a candle to Hudson, but still. The eye candy over here is pretty sweet.
“This is Reid, Jax, and Kane. You’ve already met Declan. He was at your shop the other night.” He points to each one as he introduces them.
“Hi. I’m Kate.” I shake hands with Reid, Jax, and Declan. “I already know you, Kane. You’re the cinnamon raisin bagel with black coffee guy.”
He laughs. “Right on the money. Nice to see you again, Kate.”
“I always make sure there are enough of those bagels in the bags on the Sundays that you work. A few of the other guys on your shift like them, too. Don’t want any fighting, now, do we?” I joke.
“No ma’am, we don’t.”
In a serious tone, I look at each of these men. “Look, I want to thank each of you for doing this for me. I don’t know how I will repay you all for your generosity. Thank you.”
“There will be none of that. You do a lot for this community, Kate. We’re glad we could help.” Declan says with a big smile.
“Besides, you’re one of us now. So, what’s ours is yours.” Jax says.
“One of us?” I question. What is he talking about?
“You belong to Hudson. He’s one of us, so naturally, so are you.” Declan says, but is distracted by something just past me.
I turn around to see what he’s looking at and notice that Riley is trying to put up a banner all by herself and it keeps falling down on top of her head.
“Excuse me.” Declan says and walks over to help Riley out.
“What my partner was trying to say before he became rude and walked away is that you are family now.” Kane explains and then pulls me into a hug.
I can hear the growling coming from Hudson, but I don’t care. I hug him back. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. Really.”
“Okay. That’s enough.” Hudson pulls me from Kane’s arms, and I laugh at his jealousy. “Let me introduce you to some other friends of mine before my partner tries to win you away from me.”
“Never gonna happen.” I look at him adoringly and then kiss him on the lips.
“Hey.” Kane interrupts us and his tone is serious. “Heads up. She’s here, and she sees you.” Kane’s head points behind Hudson.
Hudson nods, “Thanks. Excuse us.”
“Who’s here?” I ask, looking behind us, but Hudson doesn’t answer me. Instead, he pulls me by the hand inside of the bar and then to the office behind the bar. “What’s going on, Hudson?”
“Listen, I want to talk to you without an audience.”
“Okay. Well, there’s no one here but us. What’s going on?”
“Renee is here, and she might cause a problem. I was hoping she wouldn’t show up, but she did.”
“Why would she cause a problem? Is there something still going on between the two of you?” My heart drops just thinking about it, and honestly, we’ve spent so much time together this week. I don’t know when he would have had time if there was. I know it’s just my insecurities getting the better of me, but I want to be sure I’m not treading on someone else’s turf.
“Kate. Look at me.” He bends at the knees and waits until we’re eye to eye. “I love you. I want you to move in with me, and eventually I’m going to propose to you. Don’t freak out.” He smooths my flyaway hair and kisses me on the forehead.
