Chapter 26
Hudson
Not again.
Amelia and I spotted the moose at the same time. She turned to face me, her eyes wide, and that one beautiful shoe stuck deep in the mud. I raced forward to grab her, using my good arm to pull her up from the mud and into my chest. Her crutches toppled to the ground.
We both looked straight ahead to the dumpster.
She swore under her breath as I picked her up and ran for it.
Someone yelled, but I didn’t have time to look and see who it was or what was going on as I tossed Amelia inside and then launched myself beside her onto fresh garbage.
The moose banged against the metal before moving away from us.
I peered over the top to make sure everyone else had gotten away, and the coast was clear as the moose headed back into the woods.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I said with a wince as I pulled my aching arm closer to my chest and tried to catch my breath.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’ve been better.”
“What was that?” She peered over the edge as well, balancing on her one good foot. “Everyone’s scattered.”
“I have no idea.” My heart was slowly going back to normal. “One minute Bret and Gage were telling me to stand still while they started banging on trees and making mating calls, the next, I looked over and saw you standing there with a moose charging at you.”
“Well, someone sent me this.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a letter. My eyes scanned the page, stopping at my name at the bottom.
“I didn’t write this,” I told her.
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I have a feeling we’ve been set up. And I don’t think it’s the first time.”
I stared up at the sky and thought through the events of the week. “Like when Rosie insisted we sing a duet for karaoke?”
She nodded. “And when she made me wear that death trap of a dress. I’ll bet it was to get your attention.”
“It worked,” I murmured. That dress still made me feel a little out of breath when I thought about it.
Her cheeks turned pink, but she said, “Then Bret and Gage set up for us to be on the boat together.”
“And now this,” I said. “Whatever this is.”
“A fake love letter, and an orchestrated life-or-death situation to force us to talk,” Amelia said. “A classic matchmaking plan.”
I swallowed as I realized she was right. “Our friends are going to kill us trying to get us together.”
She snorted, and then covered her mouth, eyes wide and full of mirth. “I shouldn’t laugh. This is serious,” she managed to say in a high-pitched tone.
“We almost died,” I reminded her.
“Twice,” she said.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s really not.” But she didn’t move her hand away from her mouth.
I looked around at the Italian food waste surrounding us. “Never thought I’d find myself in here once. Much less twice.”
That was it for Amelia. She started laughing until she was crying and couldn’t catch a breath. I watched her, mesmerized by the light and joy on her face. “It’s been an eventful week,” she managed to say as she swiped tears of mirth from her eyes.
Her laughter was contagious, and the tension eased from my shoulders as I chuckled at her reaction.
Not at the circumstances, though. The fear I’d felt when I’d seen that moose coming for Amelia had been intense.
If Bret and Gage were smart, they’d make themselves scarce for a long time.
I didn’t care what their intentions were.
Amelia had almost gotten hurt—had gotten hurt, but even in my anger, I knew I couldn’t blame a freak storm on them.
Amelia’s smile softened as she stared at me, and my heart skipped a beat. “I think it’s gone,” I told her, holding out a hand to help her up.
“Not yet,” she said. “I have something I want to talk to you about.”
I wanted to talk to her too. But not here.
Not like this. I had it all pictured in my mind.
We’d eat a delicious dinner, I’d pull her out onto the dance floor, and while we swayed together, I’d confess that I was in love with her.
It wasn’t too late. We were both sweaty, and I’d torn my tux when I jumped into the trash—and we were definitely going to smell bad—but I’d promised myself I was going to do this tonight.
I wasn’t going to let myself down again. It was too easy to find excuses not to say what I needed to say to Amelia, but in the end, I was scared. There was never going to be a perfect night to do this. There were just normal nights where I finally found the courage to confess that I loved her.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” I nudged when she stayed quiet.
Amelia picked at the knot on her filthy shoes.
I took her ankle and set it in my lap to look at the tie.
The shoes were ruined. Again. She winced when I pulled my pocketknife out and held it up for her permission.
She nodded, her expression pained, as I slid the knife through the ribbon at her ankle, and it fell away.
I kept my hand on the soft skin of her ankle, my fingers brushing the arch of her foot. Her breath hitched at my touch, and I did it again with the same reaction.
“Hudson,” she said.
I met her gaze.
“I love you.”
It took a moment for the words to register, and even then, I wasn’t sure I heard her right.
“I love you,” she repeated. “A lot. In the romantic way.” She brought her clasped hands up to her mouth and stared at me.
My sluggish brain realized that she was waiting for me to respond. My grip on her foot tightened.
“Amelia, I—”
“I know it’s unexpected,” she cut in to say, lowering her hands enough for me to see those soft, supple lips. “Except it shouldn’t be unexpected because we had that amazing kiss you haven’t even mentioned, and actually, I don’t know if you remember—”
“I remember.”
“Oh. Yeah. So.” The hands were back over her mouth.
My heart pounded as I leaned close to her and tugged her hands down. “I didn’t want to do this here,” I said, my voice raspy.
“Do what?” she breathed out as I moved as close as the trash would allow me.
“This.” I wrapped my good hand behind her head and pulled her in for the kiss I’d been waiting for my entire life. Her lips were pliant and willing, and both of her arms wrapped around my shoulders eagerly.
I gasped out a breath as she accidentally hit my broken collarbone. “Sorry,” she said, removing her one arm, but keeping the other tight around me.
“Don’t be,” I said, bringing my mouth to hers again. I couldn’t get enough of Amelia’s lips pressed to mine. When she sucked in my bottom lip, I groaned and deepened the kiss, nearly forgetting that we were sitting in a dumpster.
Nearly. But not completely.
I pulled away and dropped my head on her shoulder, trying to catch my breath. Amelia ran her fingers through my hair and rested her delicate hand on the back of my neck.
“Amelia. I have loved you from the moment I met you,” I told her, still not able to look at her. “And I have never stopped.”
Amelia kissed the shell of my ear, then nudged my head up and held my face in both of her hands. Her eyes searched mine, as if looking for the truth there.
“For so long?” she whispered.
I nodded. She got on her knees and lifted up to kiss me gently on the lips, almost reverently. “What did I do to deserve you, Hudson?”
“You saw me, Amelia. In a way no one else ever has.”
She blinked away more tears and kissed me again and again, until we were lying back on a bed of trash. Something squelched under my hand, and we both paused.
“Should we move this somewhere else?” she asked.
“Yeah, we definitely should.” I hesitated, though, taking her in, letting my eyes drink her up. “I don’t want this to end.”
“It won’t, Hudson.” She tugged me down for one more, lingering kiss. “This never has to stop.”