With obvious reluctance, Kenna slid out of the Jeep before slamming the door a little harder than necessary. Hudson stepped back and studied her as she trudged toward him, her eyes focusing on everything but him. Or the cabin, now that he really paid attention. Was this the first time she’d been out here too? His momma hadn’t ever mentioned Kenna coming to the place, but he’d assumed she had. It’d been nearly as much of her second home as it was his.
He was so focused on Kenna that it took him a moment to realize a rumble of an engine had started again.
“Well, would you look at that?” Edna said. “Got it started back up. Must’ve overheated or something.” She locked eyes with Hudson and gestured toward where Kenna stood, her mouth agape. “Would you mind bringin’ her on back into town? She doesn’t wanna be an accessory to breakin’ and enterin’. Again.” Without another word, she waved, then sped off down the dirt road that led to his cabin.
“You traitor!” Kenna yelled toward Edna’s retreating taillights. She huffed out a breath and crossed her arms, clearly not happy about being stuck out here.
Hudson’s lips quirked at the corner. “I have one question.”
“What is it?” she asked, distrust burning in her narrowed eyes.
“‘Again’? You and Edna do a lot of breakin’ and enterin’, do you?”
She sighed and shook her head, dropping her arms to her sides. “I swear that woman didn’t get loved enough as a child or something. She needs attention all the time. She’s a senior-citizen replica of Nat.”
This time, Hudson didn’t try to stifle his laugh. It rolled out of him as he remembered all the times he and Kenna had had to go pick up her rebellious younger sister and keep her from getting into trouble—or bail her out of it after she was already knee-deep into it.
“How’s Nat doing? She still like that?”
Kenna shook her head. “Worse. Except now, I just get the details of her death-defyin’ antics after the fact.”
“Where’s she at now?”
“Whereisn’tshe? She’s got an apartment in Portland, but she’s rarely there. She’s a globe-trotter, like you.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Yesterday, she was in Greece, according to her Snapchat.”
“Greece, huh? Wow. I think Momma mentioned she was a photographer.”
“Yep. Published and award-winning, if you can believe it.”
“Everyone has things they’re good at, I guess. I’m glad she found hers.”
“Yeah,” Kenna said, her voice hollow and flat. “Me too.”
In the span of thirty seconds, she’d done a 180 from the fiery, irritated Kenna he knew and loved to this sullen, unsure Kenna he’d never seen before. She wasn’t the kind of person to begrudge someone their successes—and definitely not one of her sisters—so it had to be something else.
He’d dig into that later. Right now, they were alone for the foreseeable future, and he wanted to work through some of those scenarios he’d thought of earlier.
“What’re your plans now that you’re stranded out here?” He stepped closer, dipping his head toward hers. Near enough for her breath to caress his face. They locked gazes, and there was no denying the heat burning in her eyes. He licked his lips, his eyes flicking down to her mouth. “’Cause I have a few ideas.”
It lookedlike Mac was going to end up in jail today after all. Because the next time she saw Edna, she was going to kill her. She couldn’t believe that old witch would just…abandonher. Completely desert her in the one place she had absolutely no business being.
Being at the cabin where everything had happened was bad enough, but add in the mix an extremely gorgeous Hudson, with his worn jeans and T-shirt that was too tight to be legal and his new delectable tattoos begging to be touched, and she was a goner. A damngoner.
She glanced down at Hudson’s mouth, so close to her own, and had to force herself not to lean forward. Not to just melt into him and let his lips break her fall.
“Looks like you’ve got some ideas, too,” Hudson said, his voice thick and rough.
“No ideas here,” she whispered, but her gaze belied the words because she couldn’t drag her eyes away from his mouth. She wanted it. Wanted to feel it against her own, wanted to feel it trailing down her neck, over her breasts…between her thighs. And every other inch of her body that hadn’t been touched like that in so long.
She jerked back as if she’d been electrocuted and averted her gaze, bouncing it to the cabin, then the shed, then the hammock hanging between the two huge trees in the yard. She wasn’t sure if it was the same one from years ago or not, but the sentiment still remained. One awful memory didn’t taint all the good ones she’d shared here with Hud. When they’d been young and had their whole lives ahead of them. When she’d known what she wanted out of life. When she hadn’t been such a failure.
Without a word, she walked over and sat down in the hammock, leaning back to let it cradle her. She’d unintentionally left room for Hudson to her right, and she wasn’t surprised in the least when he relaxed into place next to her. With their feet on the ground, they pushed back and forth in a slow rhythm, both their gazes locked on the lake and the kaleidoscope of fall colors surrounding it.
The sight brought a pang to her chest, an overwhelming longing sweeping into her bones. She’d missed this place. It’d been as much a part of her childhood as her own home had been, and after she and Hudson had said their goodbyes on that fateful weekend so long ago, she’d never looked back. Never once come out here. She couldn’t. Not without Hudson.
They sat and rocked slowly, their bodies lined up perfectly, pinkies interlocked—when had that happened?—and shoulders pressed together. Her entire right side was lit up from the inside out, sparking at every touch of his skin against hers. She’d missed this, yes, and she’d missed him. But she’d also missed this casual affection from her once-best friend that she hadn’t been able to replace. Hadn’ttriedto.
After long minutes of nothing but the call of a buzzard and the wind through the trees, Hudson asked, “You ever think about the pact?”
