This girl was trouble through and through.
And I was all for it.
CHAPTER 21
Valentina
“Woo hoo!” My squeal sounded way too happy considering the circumstances. However, there was no denying I’d enjoyed spending time with him.
Hudson hung his head, shaking it as he grumbled under his breath. When he finally admitted that I was the better dart player, I did a little jig in front of him. “You are a damn shark.”
“I told you I played to win.” I rubbed my folded fingers across my chest and blew on them. “Plus, you’re a terrible dart player.”
“I am not. You simply cheat.”
“How do you cheat in darts?”
“It’s all in the hand action.”
“You want some hand action, big boy?”
If I didn’t know better about the big he-man, I’d say I caught him in a moment of embarrassment. Just to be naughty, I slowly dropped my gaze to his crotch. Holy shit. He was hard as a rock.
My heart fluttered as it had done a few times during dinner. He’d been so stoic in court that I would have never guessed how charming he could be.
“You’re really asking me that question?”
“What if I am?” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and headed to the dartboard, sauntering by him and teasing him even more by brushing my hand across his chest. Every time he issued a delicious growl, which was certainly more often than any man I’d been with, a tiny shudder formed.
Without bothering to look at the dartboard, I threw one after the other.
“Damn.”
Hearing the gruffness in his voice or rather the extreme disappointment allowed a gleeful moment. I spun in a circle after seeing that I’d managed to hit the bullseye two out of three times. “No too shabby.”
“Maybe I need you on my team playing poker.”
“Oh, I kill in poker.”
“Then I take that back.”
I stared at him for a beat with a wicked smile on my face. Just to tease him. Tonight I’d learned quite a few things about the man looking entirely out of place in a pizza joint that had seen better days. At least he’d removed his suit jacket and had rolledup his sleeves, exposing the tattoos I still longed to trace with my tongue.
With his tie undone, buttons on his shirt unfastened, and a tumbler of whiskey in his hand, he had the appearance of one of those hot guys in liquor commercials seen on Netflix. The only aspect about his appearance that was missing was his hair was too perfect. It needed to be mussed up by my fingers. Mmm… Maybe I’d need to try that.
While I knew we were both playing at being carefree, I was grateful we were both amenable to shoving aside the nightmare. Although I’d thought about Camille and what she’d said to me and the way she’d talked about Hudson. She’d considered him her hero and he’d failed her.
The case he’d mentioned was very personal.
While my instinct screamed I knew the reason, as Tim had told me, it was one for him to tell.
The hard thump as Hudson slammed his glass on the table’s surface made me jump. And the way his lips twisted created a crazy desire to kiss them.
His eyes narrowed and he took a long stride toward me, grabbing me around the waist. Another squeal erupted into the pizza joint, but if anyone was bothered by my outburst, not only did I not notice, I didn’t care. As he swung me around in a circle, the look on his face was completely carnal.
Our laughter slowly faded as did the music coming from an old jukebox, the chatter in the room, and the clanging of utensils in the kitchen. There was no other sound but the wild thumping of our hearts. Slowly, he stopped moving altogether, his gaze lowering, concentrating on the way I was licking my lips.
I was constantly nervous around him and I wasn’t certain why. Maybe because he was older. Maybe because he was wiser. Or richer. Or the most handsome man I’d ever met. Or maybe it was simply because he’d made it his mission to protect me against all odds and pure evil.
