Chapter 2
ADRIAN
“Welcome home,” I say as I swing open the door to my condo.
And, oh my god, why did I say that? This obviously isn’t his home. He’s crashing here for a few days while his life falls apart. Nothing more. It’ll probably be even less than that once he processes everything that happened tonight.
This man is a millionaire. I know with his salary, plus with all the endorsement deals he has, there is absolutely no reason he can’t get on the phone tomorrow and end up with a gorgeous new place that’s private and away from the media by the end of the day. Two days, tops.
No need for my imagination to run wild with his suggestion that it might take longer or the fact that he called us roommates. And I’m definitely ignoring the breathy way he sounded as he promised “whatever I need from him,” or that he’d be “the best I ever had.”
Nope. I am not thinking about that.
At all.
Only very innocent, completely PG thoughts happening as my dream man moves in with me.
Because, despite the fact that Hudson frequents my fantasies, and let’s be real, he is at the very top of my if-I-could-magically-make-anyone-gay-and-they’d-be-happy-about-it list, I know he does not think about me like that. He’s straight. And technically still married on top of that.
The flirting and calling me “Prince Charming” is just Hudson’s way of joking around with me. It doesn’t matter that when he does it butterflies swarm in my stomach even after all these years.
We’re coworkers, and barely even coworkers, that’s all. We work for the same team, we cross paths, and we’re friendly. I might intentionally make my path cross his more than necessary, but no one needs to know that, especially not him.
And I flirt with everyone. It’s harmless fun. It doesn’t mean anything when I do it with any of the other players. So what if Hudson has no idea I wish it could mean something when I do it with him? I’m going to ignore the crush I’ve had on this man since the day we met and chill the fuck out.
Because this is real life, not my fantasies.
I was pinching myself the entire ride home, convinced that Hudson would call me any second and say he’d changed his mind. But nope. He’s here, looking around my apartment, and it still hurts like hell when I pinch my wrist, so I think it’s actually happening.
Hudson fucking Roy is moving in with me.
And he’s single.
And I’m freaking out a completely appropriate amount about it.
“Wow, this place is awesome,” he comments, looking around as he heads further into the space.
“Down the hall we passed coming in are the two bedrooms. The bathroom in that hallway can be yours. There’s another off the kitchen, and the laundry room is small but right next to your bathroom.
That door is my office, and this is obviously the main living space,” I ramble, gesturing to the open concept kitchen, dining, and family room.
“I love it. Nothing is white,” he points out, sounding really excited about that for some reason.
“Uh, yeah, I guess I don’t love white either,” I agree, looking at the oak upper cabinets and the black stainless-steel appliances that blend in with the lower ones.
The island is a gray quartz, and all my furniture is similar cool wood or dark metal with some leather mixed in.
It’s modern and moody and each detail was carefully picked out by me.
“I know it’s popular, but I’ve always found white to be kind of boring.
I like my home to have a bit more character. ”
“I think I would too, but I’ve always been pretty bad at that sort of thing.
Shelby insisted on everything being white; she said it didn’t feel clean otherwise, but I hated how sterile it always seemed.
I used to joke that we’d have to redecorate before we had kids since they’ll obviously be messy, but I guess that won’t be happening now…
” He trails off, and his expression falls again.
I hate it.
Before tonight, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hudson without a smile on his handsome face, and how crushed he looks right now has my heart literally breaking.
Fuck Shelby and her stupid ex-supermodel perfect looks with zero personality.
I’ve always hated her. It had nothing to do with being jealous either—she was always way too cold for Hudson.
He lights up every room he’s in. He needs someone who can reflect his light back at him and make him just as happy as he makes everyone else, not a black hole that sucks it all in, taking and taking and never giving him anything in return.
I need to find a way to get that smile back.
“Well, I’ll be happy to help you decorate your new place however you’d like,” I promise, feeling like I’ve won something when the corners of his mouth lift at the suggestion. “You could color drench everything so that there’s no white at all.”
“What’s color drench mean?”
My god, has this man never seen HGTV? Been inside of a Home Depot?
I don’t expect him to own any design magazines, but still.
“If you’re sick of white, you’ll love it.
Come see.” I grab his hand without thinking, do my best to ignore how perfect his large, callused hand feels around mine, and quickly lead him back to the guest bedroom that will now be his room.
I throw the door open with a dramatic “ta-da.” Every wall, baseboard, crown molding, and even the ceiling, are painted the same deep blue color. My bedroom is designed similarly in a dark green.
He walks into the room and spins around. “Wait, this is really cool. Is this your room?”
“No, it’s yours.”
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 is surreal.
“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 there are a 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’s on my bed.
“But wait, how did you already talk to her? Or convince her to let you in the 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 have done 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.
“Well, the guest bathroom has extra toiletries in the drawer. I’ll let you get some rest,” I say, and then I spin on my heel before he can add anything else and head right into my room next to his.
Only one wall between us.
Where I now know Hudson will be sleeping naked.
This is definitely not how I thought my day would end when I woke up this morning.
Does it make me a completely horrible person if I’m happy that someone I care about is getting divorced?
Do I even care if it does?
I grab the emergency chocolate I always keep stashed in my nightstand and immediately pull out my phone to update my group chat with my friends.
I want to shout from the rooftops that Hudson fucking Roy is sleeping in my guestroom tonight, that he hugged me and said I was one of the most interesting people he’s ever met!
But I don’t think anyone would actually hear me since the city is pretty loud.
So my friends will get to hear about every little detail of my night instead.