He blinks at me a few times, his gray-blue eyes full of wonder, before another smile slowly takes over his face. “Holy shit, Adrian, this is really nice. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to get rid of me.”
As if I want him to leave.
Be cool, I remind myself.Don’t tell him he can stay forever, and while he’s at it, my room is actually even nicer, just stay in there with me.
“No rush, but I’m sure you’ll get bored of me in no time,” I say with a shrug. Yeah, we get along, but we’re not close friends. I’m confident if he stayed here long enough to get to know me, he’d get bored and forget all about our casual teasing and flirting exchanges at work.
Hudson sits down on the bed, looking like a fucking model with his perfectly styled brown hair, short beard, and stylish game-day suit still on. He turns to look right at me with his megawatt smile before he responds, and this whole moment issurreal. “I could never get bored of you, Charming. You’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.”
Fucking swoon.
Calm down.He said “interesting.” That doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing. It’s probably the mystery because he doesn’t know that much about me.
A nervous chuckle escapes my throat before I ask—because I can’t help myself—“Is interesting good? Or are we talking more of an ‘I can’t look away from that car crash’ interesting.”
Hudson bursts out laughing before reassuring me. “Interesting is very good.”
And then he fucking winks.
Hudson winks while sitting on my bed.
Well, it’s my guest bed, but it’s still a bed I own in my apartment.
What is happening?
Nothing. Nothing is happening. Hudson is just being his normal, friendly self, probably distracting himself from everything that happened tonight. And if he needs to flirt with me to not focus on his divorce and how shitty his soon to be ex-wife is, then I will gladly let him.
Except therearea few details I need to update him on…
“Well, good. I would hate to find out you think I’m boring,” I finally joke before I quickly move on, not wanting him to notice that I might be less confident than I want to be. “I obviously don’t have any clothes that would fit you, but I spoke to Shelby, and she agreed to let me come over first thing tomorrow to pack up your belongings. So, hopefully, you’ll be able to get through one night without extra clothes.”
“Yeah, I sleep naked anyway,” he says dismissively.
And I did not need that visual while he’son my bed.
“But wait, how did you already talk to her? Or convince her to let you inthe house? On the phone earlier it sounded like she’d planned to throw me out without any of my things.”
“I have all the WAGs numbers and most of them love me,” I remind him. “I called her while I drove over here. I didn’t tell her you’d be staying with me, but I did say I’d heard about your situation and informed her that the team was not happy with the public nature of her having the papers served the way they were. I might have reminded her that you’re a beloved star player with a multimillion-dollar contract and a giant organization behind you, and that it was in her best interest to cooperate and make your transition smoother to avoid involving the team lawyers.”
Hudson smirks. “See, I knew you’d know what to do. You always do. I hadn’t even really thought about my things, and you’ve already made and confirmed a plan. You’re amazing.”
“Well, I’m happy to help. Especially if you keep reminding me how great I am,” I tease, proud of how confident I sound when his words are making me feel like I could float away with how happy they make me. “If you want to give me a list of everything you need, it’s probably better if I go while you’re at your morning skate. I have a friend that offered to help if there’s any heavy lifting needed.”
Hudson pushes off the bed, standing to his full height. “God Adrian, you really are the best.” Then he walks right over to me and wraps me up in his big professional athlete arms, and I have to cough to cover a whimper. We might joke around a lot, but Hudson has never hugged me before. Never surrounded me with his warmth and muscles and intoxicating woodsy cologne like this.
I can’t help it; I sink into his embrace as I wrap my arms around his trim waist. I have no idea if this will ever happen again, so I might as well enjoy the moment.
“Thanks again for everything. I don’t know what I would havedone without you tonight,” he says into the top of my head, squeezing me even tighter.
“Don’t mention it. I’m sure anyone on the team would have done the same.”
“Well, I’m glad it was you,” he adds earnestly.
Can I die from swooning too many times? God, I wish that there were cameras in here to record this perfect moment. Pretty sure my heart stopped there for a second. And how does breathing work again? Right, okay. Focus. In. Out. I’m a responsible adult man fully capable of not freaking out at that comment.
“Me too,” I manage to get out, sounding mostly casual.Go me.
We finally break apart from the best hug of my life, and Hudson smiles at me. It’s too much. My heart can’t take any more compliments from him tonight. I would actually drop dead.
