He’d made it his mission from that point forward to atone for his mistake, using his allowance to buy her a new marble whenever he could. Even now, all these years later, she ignored the flip of her stomach when she received a package from Hudson, sent from wherever he was stationed around the world and filled with two things—a short note and a marble. She had every color of the rainbow now, not to mention about two dozen tiger’s-eye marbles like the one from her granddad. And if she happened to keep every one of the notes tucked away in a box in the back of her closet, well… No one ever had to know.
Their second fight had been the weekend when everything had changed. When he’d told her he’d been keeping a secret from her for months and that he was enlisting. When all her plans shifted and her entire life’s trajectory went off course.
The cabin also held the not-so-innocent memories—their first kiss. Rounding the bases. Losing their virginity to each other. And then the weekend of their last fight, when they’d made up by getting lost in each other’s bodies.
This was the last place she should be now. Especially with Hudson’s kiss fresh on her mind and her lips.
She opened her mouth to tell Edna they needed to turn around. That she had an appointment she’d forgotten about or that she was about to pee her pants and needed a bathroom, stat. Something—anything—to get her the hell out of there.
But before she could say anything, the car sputtered and then died.
Directly in front of Hudson’s cabin.
Hudson drove the familiar path down winding back roads, surrounded by trees lit on fire with their orange and yellow and red leaves. He’d only been back in Havenbrook for three days, but he’d already fallen so easily right back into a rhythm that hadn’t ever quite left him.
He’d thought about traveling this path a thousand times while he’d been deployed. He loved flying his bird, loved the rush of returning to base with a mission complete, but he’d missed meandering through the back roads of Havenbrook in his beat-up truck, knowing exactly where he was going without even trying.
He’d missed home, plain and simple.
And more than that, he’d missed Kenna.
After she’d hightailed it out of his place yesterday like her ass was on fire, he figured he’d give her some time to get used to the idea that this attraction between them still burned as hot as a Mississippi summer, and it wasn’t going anywhere. Because there was no way he was stepping back. Not now that his memories of her taste had been refreshed and were currently taking up ninety-seven percent of his thinking ability.
“You’re really not gonna talk about this, huh?” Caleb said from the passenger’s seat, his gaze focused out the side window. Just because his attention was pointed elsewhere didn’t mean he wasn’t totally and completely in tune with every move Hudson made.
Which meant there was only one way to play this. “Talk about what?”
As if he had all the time in the world, Caleb turned his head and locked eyes with Hudson, one eyebrow raised.
Yeah, so, he’d avoided all talk of Kenna since she’d left yesterday. Since the only thing that had saved them from fucking right there amidst all the piecrusts was Caleb interrupting. If Hudson’s friend weren’t like a brother to him, he’d hate him a little bit for it. Okay, he still hated him a little bit for it, brother-bond or not.
He’d managed to distract and avert Caleb’s attention almost immediately yesterday and figured that was that. No talks to be had, no answers to come up with. He should’ve known better. Caleb was one of the most astute people he’d ever met—nothing got past him.
“I didn’t sleep with her,” Hudson said.
“I didn’t ask if you did.”
Hudson blew out a heavy sigh. “What do you wanna know? I’m not gonna give you a play-by-play.”
“Never asked you to. But considering how much I knew about Kenna before even meeting her, I figured you’d have a few things to say.” Caleb shrugged. “Maybe not.”
Silence hung in the cab, which was nothing new with them. If Caleb said fifty words over a three-hour span, he was running his mouth. But today it wore on Hudson, and he finally shook his head, gripping the steering wheel.
“I want her. Badly. And if I had any illusions that I’d somehow want her less while being here, those were all eviscerated yesterday in my momma’s kitchen just before you walked in.”
“And is Kenna on board with that?”
Hudson barked out a laugh. “Not even a little bit. She runs from things that are risky, and I’m the biggest risk of all.”
Caleb was quiet for long moments. That was it? He wasn’t going to impart some kind of magical wisdom that would show Hudson exactly how he should proceed? True, Caleb wasn’t much for talking, but when he did, Hudson had learned to listen.
Finally, Caleb said, “You know how we have to throttle down?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Maybe storming in full throttle isn’t your best bet with her.”
No, it probably wasn’t. But he didn’t have a lot of time to ease into things. He had two and a half weeks before he was due back on base, and he wanted to spend themwithKenna, not chasing her. He wanted every morning—and night and afternoon and all the hours in between—to be like yesterday. He wanted her in his arms and in his bed.
