I rolled my eyes. Considering my panties got wet at a mere look from him, that certainly wasn’t a problem. “You know that’s not the issue.”
“So, what is?”
I heaved a deep sigh and rolled my head in his direction. “It’s the same thing as before. I don’t want to start something we can’t finish. And I don’t want your mind elsewhere when your life and the lives of your crew are on the line.”
“I’m not a kid anymore, Kenna. I know how to do my job, and I know how to do it well. I’m good at it. I’ve got my damn master aviator badge.” He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “And as much as I’ll be wantin’ to be back here with you every second I’m gone, I’m not gonna lose focus or get myself or my crew injured. Besides that, knowing you’re here waitin’ for me? That’d be the best motivation I could possibly have to come back home.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of voodoo he was working on me, but I could feel my walls cracking. Scenarios of what our future could be like playing out in my mind.
“Play house with me, Kenna.” His lips quirked, making his dimples pop and melting my defenses even more. “I’ll even do the dishes and cleaning like when we were kids.”
I breathed out a laugh, but my heart still ached. I wanted this so bad, but I was absolutely terrified to go after it. “That’s the thing, Hud. We’re not kids anymore, and I don’t wannaplayanything. Because in the end, when you leave, my heart won’t pretend break.”
He reached out and cupped my face, his thumb brushing along my jaw. “It doesn’t have to end when I go back.Wedon’t have to end when I leave.”
And leave, he would. Just like last time, and I’d be left picking up the pieces of a life I didn’t recognize without him.
It’d taken me a long damn time to come into my own. To learn how to be Mackenna without the “and Hudson” tacked on to the end of my name. We’d been a unit nearly my whole life, and I’d spent the past ten years traversing this new path on my own. To go through that all over again? I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to do it a second time.
“I’m gonna have to play hardball, aren’t I?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
“A bet, obviously. What do you say to a nod to the last one we made out here—whoever catches the most fish wins.”
I swallowed down the butterflies trying to escape from my stomach, remembering what that last bet had led to. “Name your terms.”
“Two hours. Most fish—by quantity—wins.”
“Thanks for the clarification. Glad to see you won’t try to cheat like last time.”
His mouth kicked up on the side, and I felt an answering tug in my stomach.
I swallowed down my nerves and licked my lips, forcing myself not to stare at his mouth. “What do you want if you win?”
“You know what I want,” he said, his voice laced with desire he didn’t bother trying to hide.
I felt that heat from my head to my toes and all the neglected parts in between. “And if I win?”
“You could bet me a million dollars, and it wouldn’t matter. I’m not losing, Kenna. Not when it’s you on the line.”
CHAPTER TEN
MAC
Turnedout Hudson had been right—he didn’t lose the bet he’d made with me. In fact, he’d positively obliterated me. I’d never admit to it, but I hadn’t exactly put in one-hundred-percent effort. Or even seventy-percent effort. Because deep down, I wanted it too.
I wanted to spend time with Hud, exactly how he was suggesting, and…see. Just see what could come of it. See if our explosive chemistry—both in and out of the bedroom—could develop into…something. And somehow, having that bet there as my safety net made it a hell of a lot easier for me to accept.
Iwasn’t engaging in this reckless behavior that had the possibility of annihilating my heart.Iwasn’t fucking up again. When everything inevitably fell down around me, it wouldn’t be because of my failure. It was all because of the bet.
I followed the familiar path that led to Rory’s place from the small guesthouse I lived in on our parents’ property. The stars had aligned after Rory’s divorce, when Old Man Marley’s house had been put up for sale just a couple weeks prior, and she’d been able to purchase it.
The home had been in desperate need of repair, but the property included an acre of land that just happened to back upto the Havens’ sweeping estate. Sweeping enough that this golf cart I had won off an idiot who thought betting me was a good idea was a godsend for getting around everywhere.
I skidded to a stop along the side of Rory’s house, dust from the driveway billowing up around me, and honked the horn twice. Three seconds later, both my nieces came flying out the front door and down the porch steps, calling bye to their momma, obviously quite ready to get their Sunday ritual started.
“Y’all supposed to be doin’ chores, or what?” I asked dryly as soon as they plopped on their seats. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you fly out here so fast.”
