“It’s Snow White’s cottage.”
“Yes. It’s paradise. I’m going to be so happy here.”
“I’m glad you found your happy ending,” he said. “In the end, you saved yourself.”
His arms held me close, and I buried my face in his chest. “I just let people into my life, that’s all. Good people. The best.”
“You mean Joe.”
I dropped my arms and stepped out of the embrace. “I mean you, Hudson. Why are you so hard on yourself? You’re perfect. I’ve never known anyone more perfect than you. You never take a wrong step. Even with Bitcoin.”
He walked past me and sat on the little couch in the living room. “I’m going to tell you something, and after I do, you’re never going to want to see me again,” he said.
“You already told me to eat egg whites, and I still want to see you again. I can’t imagine you saying anything worse than that.”
“I killed a man,” he whispered.
“What?”
I sat next to him on the couch. “You’re a Marine. You were at war. I would be surprised if you didn’t kill a man.”
“No. I killed one ofmymen.”
“What? No. Impossible. I saw you with your men. They idolize you. You’re a born leader. You would never…”
He grabbed my upper arms tight. “Listen, I killed one of my men. I couldn’t save him. We were under heavy fire and didn’t get to him in time. I didn’t try, and he died. Do you see?”
His face was distorted from pain. He was the picture of anguish, and I didn’t know how to help him. I wanted to take all the pain from him, to take it for myself and suffer instead of him. Anything to alleviate his hurt. It was torture to see him like that, overcome with the guilt of not saving his comrade-in-arms, and what was worse was not being able to help him. My eyes filled with tears, and then they began to roll down my cheeks.
“No,” I said. “You tried to help him. You did. But it was impossible. I know you, Hudson. I know that you would move heaven and earth to help one of your men. Look at what you’ve done for me. You put your own life on hold to make sure I was okay. You were under fire. If you had tried to help him, you would have died yourself. You tried. Sometimes, we’re powerless to help. Sometimes we fail. But it doesn’t make us bad people. It only makes us human.”
Hudson cradled my face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe the tears from under my eyes. “I’ve made you cry,” he said. “I’m sorry I did that.”
“You’re a good man,” I whispered. “You’re the best man.”
At that moment, Hudson conveyed all his emotions with a look. Gone was the playful banter. Gone was the age difference. In their place were two flawed, hurt people who had found each other despite all odds, and now they had crossed a point of no return. They couldn’t deny what they felt any longer, no matter how much they feared they didn’t deserve it.
Hudson cradled the back of my head with one hand, and after the barest moment of hesitation, touched my lips with his. His lips were warm and full, and my mouth opened for him. Our tongues touched, and Hudson groaned, sending me through the roof with desire. I snaked my arms around his neck, and his fingers found my waist, letting his fingers trail gently up under my shirt. The feeling of his hands on my bare skin made me moan, and I pressed more deeply into the kiss.
The kiss was deep and slow, neither of us in a hurry, like we were getting to know each other or just enjoying the moment so much that we didn’t want it to end. I felt dizzy. I felt like Alice spinning down the rabbit hole, not knowing which side was up or where I was going and not caring a bit.
I had never felt dizzy from a kiss. Never felt my body come alive like this. Was it possible for two people to fit so perfectly that a single kiss could make a person feel this way? It was almost too much for me to handle, the strength of the desire, the swarm of emotions. It was almost painful to experience such heightened pleasure. It was almost scary to allow my body to be in charge, to leave my mind, to not allow thoughts to come in except that this was where I wanted to be, here in this place with this man touching me, possessing me, loving me, wanting me, and that I wanted more of it. Much more.
Now that I discovered that this was even possible, I wanted it to continue.
Hudson didn’t disappoint. He came closer to me on the couch and laid me down gently, without ever breaking the kiss. It felt so good to be held, to have some of his weight on me.
His voice brushed against my lips, as he said my name. “Eliza. Eliza,” he said, as if he couldn’t believe this was happening, either. Couldn’t believe that thiscouldhappen.
I arched my back and tipped my head up with arousal. Hudson removed his lips from mine and trailed them along my neck, making me crazy with pleasure.
Suddenly, he was kissing my lips again and this time it was different. It became ferocious, his tongue thrusting in my mouth. My pulse raced, and my skin tingled, making me aware of every pore on my skin, along with every square inch of his body that touched mine.
It was all moving fast, and I didn’t care how fast. I parted my legs, and he shifted his weight to nestle between them. This was going to happen, and it was going to happen now on the little couch in the little living room in the little bungalow. It was like I was christening my new house.
There was a sound outside. Paul and Jenny were talking, and they sounded close by. Were they coming to bring another housewarming gift? I was pretty sure we hadn’t closed the front door, since we still had to go back to Hudson’s car to bring in the television and the bicycle.
Hudson heard them, too. He probably remembered about the open door just like I had. In any case. He stopped kissing me, and he dug his face into the couch cushion next to my face.
