“Three years ago.”
This time, I squeeze his hand. It’s comforting to hold hands across the table, but I have no idea what it means, if it means anything at all. Are we two people comforting each other? Or are we a man and a woman stuck in a cabin together with nothing else to do but suck grease off each other’s fingers and almost kiss?
And which do I want it to be? And why am I even thinking about kissing him when he’s opening up to me about his personal life?
I try to focus, but Hudson starts sliding the top of his thumb over my wrist, and it’s sending a distracting heat up my arm.
Something Hudson told me jogs my memory.
“Is that why you left the SEALs? You said you’d been out for three years.”
He makes no move to release my hand, so I relax and enjoy the warm feeling spreading through my body and wrapping around my chest.
“Kind of. My sister got pregnant around the same time. Mom had just died, we hadn’t heard from our dad in years, and the father was a no show.” His thumb freezes, and his grip tightens.
There’s more to this story, and it sounds juicy. “I thought Ryan was the dad. I’ve seen them around the center.”
He releases the vice-like grip on my hand. “It’s a long story.”
I pull my hand out and shake out the fingers from where he squeezed them too tight in his giant paw.
“So you left the SEALs for your sister?”
“She had no one else.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal to leave the most elite trained forces in the world. “Family first.”
Our eyes lock, and a new understanding passes between us. Despite our differences, there’s one thing we can agree on. “Family first.”
Twenty minutes later, I’ve got my hands in the sink washing the dishes while Hudson goes around straightening up the already tidy cabin. I can’t stop thinking about Hudson and what he gave up for his sister. It turns out we’re not too dissimilar after all, even if he does keep things far too tidy. My admiration of the man jumps up a notch.
I also can’t stop thinking about my hands in his and the way he stroked my wrist and all the tiny explosions his touch sets off inside me. He’s the best distraction in this situation and one I want to explore more.
I watch him straighten the books on the shelf next to the fireplace. He pulls one out and sets it back into a new position a few books down, and I realize he’s arranging them in height order.
My lips quirk up in a smile. Everything in his life has to be ordered, and I love disrupting that. I’m the one thing he can’t make sense of, and the brat in me wants to play up to it. I could do with some of Hudson’s order in my life, and Lord knows the man could do with a little wildness.
I need a distraction, and he needs a little chaos in his life. And I know the perfect way to do it. It’s time to get in the hot tub.
16
HUDSON
While Willow clears up the dishes, I tidy up the cabin and then put in a call to Marcus. There’s nothing new to report. They’re still trying to pinpoint Tyler’s location.
The bigger problem is how to deal with the Street Kings. If what Willow said is true, and I don’t doubt her, it sounds like they have some friends on the inside. Local coppers on their payroll. The only way to take them down and release Willow for good is with solid evidence. Enough evidence to attract attention at the federal level so it can’t be brushed over.
Most importantly, whatever we do needs to ensure Willow and her brother will be left alone, so it has to come from a source other than them, such as a group of ex-Navy SEALs that they won’t want to fuck with.
I’m mulling over the problem in my mind when I hear the door bang.
“Just getting some air,” Willow calls as she closes it behind her.
I already checked the sensors for the night, but I don’t like her being out there alone. I send off a final message to Marcus and then grab my jacket and head outside.
The moon is full and bright, and its light cuts through the trees straight onto Willow as she pulls her sweatpants down, exposing the white cotton panties she seems to favor.
“What are you doing?”
When she spins around, her eyes dance with mischief. “Getting in the hot tub. You want to join me?”
