“Yes.” She cleared empty mugs from the counter where several people had vacated. “My schedule’s done up for the next two weeks already.”
“When do you work?”
“Days vary, but I come in at four, and I’m here till midnight, usually. Sometimes later.”
“Breakfast, then. Lunch. You can’t work all day. Hell, Kenna, I’ll even take a coffee date, so long as I can spend some time with you. Let me.”
Gah—how was she supposed to say no when he was so enticing? How was she supposed to keep her head on and her heart protected when he was so damn compelling? So irresistible.
“She’s free tomorrow night!” Will called from her perch on the stool across the bar.
When Mac sent her awhat the ever-loving fuck are you doingglare, Will gritted her teeth in what barely passed as a smile.
“Finn would behappyto cover so y’all can…hang out.”
Mac stared at her sister, her lips tight and hands fisted, communicating without words that she needed to knock this nonsense off right now. Will communicated right back, telling Mac all her worries amounted to a pile of shit and to get the hell out of her own way.
Except there was no way to get out of because there wasno wayanything was going to happen between her and Hudson. She’d already decided it, and that made it so.
“Well, sounds like it’s settled, then,” Hudson said, a smile tipping up his lips. “I get you for supper tomorrow night. And since your whole day just got freed up, how about breakfast, lunch,andcoffee?”
Her stomach somersaulted at the thought of that much uninterrupted Hudson time. “Greedy, aren’t you?”
He leaned toward her, so close she had to hold her breath just so she wouldn’t breathe him in. “When it comes to you? Always.”
Hudson was more nervous than he’d been the first time Kenna had let him put his hand up her shirt. At sixteen, he’d cupped and flicked and squeezed her breasts like they were goddamn stress balls, acting like a bumbling, fumbling idiot. Which was…pretty much exactly how he felt now, banging around the kitchen, his hands and body too big for the space his five-foot-nothing mom worked in. His nerves tested more than they were when he was in his final phase of SERE school.
His mom and Lilah were both at The Sweet Spot, though his momma would be home in a few hours, since she’d opened at o’dark thirty that morning, readying everything for the pre-workday rush. He’d been home less than forty-eight hours, but it was comforting and a little scary how quickly he fell right back into the familiar rhythm the three of them had shared.
True, it was a little different now that Lilah had moved out. Once Nash King, prior tenant and current rehabber of The Sweet Spot, vacated the small apartment above the bakery, Lilah had snatched it up. Though, Hudson didn’t blame her. She was twenty-six and had never lived away from home. Hadn’t even gone off to college. She’d taken a few business classes at the community college but was otherwise content to stay in Havenbrook and make sure everything ran smoothly for their family.
Something Hudson didn’t know a damn thing about.
He tried not to feel guilty for that. Tried and failed miserably. Yes, he sent money home to help with any bills that might come up. And yes, he was funding this rehab whether his momma liked it or not, but it still didn’t feel like enough.
For so long, he hadn’t felt like enough.
All those years ago when he’d made the hardest decision of his life, he’d been torn on what to do, his head and heart in a constant battle as he’d tried to reconcile them both. Either stay enrolled in college like his momma—and Kenna—had wanted, eventually come back to Havenbrook, find a boring, nine-to-five job, and settle down… Or follow his heart—and his dad’s footsteps—and enlist in the army. Become a pilot. Live the greatest adventure of his life—away from Havenbrook and his family and the only girl who’d ever owned his heart. And sure, his family had his money, but he knew firsthand money didn’t atone for all absences.
He was exactly the selfish bastard his sister had accused him of being all those years ago when he’d first left. It was no wonder Kenna had pulled back from him. She might’ve been the one to put on the brakes, but he knew damn well it’d been him who’d shoved a continent-sized wedge between them. And he hadn’t ever forgiven himself for it.
“Knock, knock,” Kenna called through the screen door before opening it and stepping into the house.
Shit, he still wasn’t used to seeing her in person. To being able to run his eyes over every inch of her, from her beat-up Chucks, to the ratty hem of her well-worn jeans and how they molded oh-so-perfectly to every shapely curve of her legs, to the off-the-shoulder sweatshirt that absolutely shouldn’t have been sexy. Shouldn’t have been, but fuck if he wasn’t half hard imagining his lips brushing over that delicate slope and curve. It’d been so long… Would her skin still smell the same? Taste the same?
“Did the army equip you with X-ray vision or what? Quit pervin’.”
He breathed out a laugh and dropped his head, shaking it a little. “Sadly, no X-ray vision.” Lifting his head, he tapped his temple and winked. “But memories have served me very well.”
Without waiting for her response, he strode to her in two giant steps and swept her up in a hug, squeezing her to him and breathing her in.
“This how we’re greetin’ each other now?” she asked, her words muffled, her face lost somewhere in his chest, her arms finally, reluctantly, going around his waist.
If he had his choice, he wouldn’t go a day without feeling her in his arms, so yeah. While he was home, he sure as hell was going to try to get his fill. Soak up every ounce of her so he had something to keep him company when he was back on base.
“Guess so.” He squeezed her once more before setting her back on her feet. Damn, she was a little thing, her head not even reaching his chin. He wasn’t sure if he’d grown that much since the last time he’d seen her, or if he’d just forgotten how petite she was. Or maybe it was that her personality always seemed to add a couple inches to her, so it was easy to forget her stature.
She shot him a tentative smile—that was new…there’d never been anything tentative between them—then focused on the spread of ingredients on the counter. “You do know I’m not gonna be actually bakin’ any of these, right? The bet was foryouto fill my freezer. I’m just here to provide sarcastic remarks and look pretty.”
