“Good at what?”
He tipped his head toward the two patrons who were now the best of friends. “Diplomacy.”
“That’s a soldier word if I’ve ever heard one. Around here, we just call it not bein’ an asshole.”
“Yeah, well. You’re good at gettin’ people not to be assholes, then.”
I lifted a single shoulder. “Sometimes.”
He stared at me, his eyes darting between mine. Dropping only once to my lips before snapping back up. I felt that drop all the way to my toes. “Come to supper with me tomorrow.”
“I can’t,” I said without hesitation, grateful I had the excuse of my shift at The Willow Tree to fall back on because I still wasn’t ready for this.
At least with the pact we’d made, I’d had time to prepare. I’d have been able to work myself up and figure out a game plan as to how it’d go when I saw him again. But this? This impromptu drop-in after a decade was too damn much for my brain—not to mention my heart—to handle.
“Plans again?”
“Yes.” I 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 I supposed to say no when he was so enticing? How was I supposed to keep my head on and my 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 I 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.”
I stared at my sister, my lips tight and hands fisted, communicating without words that she needed to knock this nonsense off right now. Will communicated right back, telling me all my worries amounted to a pile of shit and to get the hell out of my own way.
Except there was no way to get out of because there wasno wayanything was going to happen between me and Hudson. I’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?”
My stomach somersaulted at the thought of that much uninterrupted Hudson time. “Greedy, aren’t you?”
He leaned toward me, so close I had to hold my breath just so I wouldn’t breathe him in. “When it comes to you? Always.”
CHAPTER FIVE
HUDSON
I was morenervous than I’d been the first time Kenna had let me put my hand up her shirt. At sixteen, I’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 I felt now, banging around the kitchen, my hands and body too big for the space my five-foot-nothing mom worked in. My nerves tested more than they were when I was in my final phase of SERE school.
My mom and Lilah were both at The Sweet Spot, though my 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. I’d been home less than forty-eight hours, but it was comforting and a little scary how quickly I fell right back into the familiar rhythm the three of us 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, I 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 communitycollege but was otherwise content to stay in Havenbrook and make sure everything ran smoothly for our family.
Something I didn’t know a damn thing about.
I tried not to feel guilty for that. Tried and failed miserably. Yes, I sent money home to help with any bills that might come up. And yes, I was funding this rehab whether my momma liked it or not, but it still didn’t feel like enough.
For so long, I hadn’t felt like enough.
