Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MAC
It was exhilarating, being out here. Hiking new terrain. Challenging my body and pushing it to its limits. Of course, what was the limit for me was merely a speed bump for my counterpart on this excursion. Which Hudson proved as he carried on a conversation as if we were sitting on the couch watching TV and not climbing one of the most challenging terrains in the area.
“Tell me about your favorites.” He kicked a stray rock off the path and focused his attention on me.
“My what?” I managed between panting breaths.
“Your favorites,” he said. “I wanna see if they’ve changed since we were kids. I already know your favorite fruit is still peach, but what about everything else?”
“Specifics, Hud.” I inhaled deeply before blowing out a long breath. “I need specifics if you want answers.”
He shot me a grin. “All right. What’s your favorite candy, specifically ?”
I rolled my eyes. “Starburst.”
“Still pink?”
I ignored the way my stomach fluttered at the fact that he remembered that insignificant detail. Honestly, I was hard up for a good man if something so inconsequential was getting me fluttery. “Obviously. It’s the only one that counts.”
“Noted.” He nodded. “Let’s see… How about favorite animal?”
“Dog.” If I could keep these to single-word answers, I might have a chance of making it to our intended campsite without my lungs collapsing.
“Another that hasn’t changed.”
“Nope.” I skidded on some stray rocks, and he shot out his hand to grip my elbow, only letting me go once he’d made sure I was steady.
“Okay, this one has to be something new: favorite song?”
I slid him a glance out of the corner of my eye, gripping the straps of my pack. Actually, it wasn’t. It was the same favorite he’d teased me about relentlessly when we’d been kids…and then teenagers. The fact that it was still my number one song of all time was embarrassing as hell. And he’d totally call me out on it.
“Um…can’t pick.”
He narrowed his eyes at me while I pointedly ignored him. “I don’t buy it. You’ve got one.”
“How do you know?”
“I might’ve been gone for a long time, but you still have the same tells.” He reached out and brushed a finger down the side of my hand as I spun my earring. “Might as well spill.”
I dropped my hand as if I’d been electrocuted. Dammit, I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing that. “I would…but I don’t want to.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Why not?”
I sucked in a huge lungful of air, then said on an exhale, “Because this mountain is already handing my ass to me. I don’t need you to make fun of me, too.”
Hudson held up three fingers in the universal sign for Scout’s honor. “Promise I won’t.”
“Are you forgettin’ I knew you as a kid and know for a fact you weren’t a Scout?”
“I can still have Scout’s honor.”
“Mhmm… And when you break that code of honor?”
“I think you mean if…”
“No, I mean when. When you break it, what then?”
“All right, if I tease you, I’ll sing the song, acapella.”
An intriguing proposition. Hudson was a terrible singer. Horrific, in fact. Truly earsplitting. He couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, and I had a fully charged phone on me—not that I could use it to contact anyone at all because the service was nonexistent up here. I could , however, video the whole thing and save it for my future viewing pleasure.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. “It’s ‘Bye Bye Bye.’”
He was quiet for long moments, and I thought I might actually be in the clear. Then he said, “So is it safe to assume you still have that poster of Justin Timberlake hanging up in your room?”
I shook my head, pressing my lips together to keep my smile at bay. “Get singin’, soldier boy.”
A bark of laughter shot out from him, and I found myself grinning right along with him. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this. Not just him, but us . We had an undeniable connection—a chemistry that had nothing to do with sex, although that simmered under the surface—and I’d somehow forgotten it in the time he’d been gone. Forgotten that it could really be this easy with someone.
“How about I serenade you with it tonight during our supper over a roaring fire?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Sounds like someone forgot I have a steel trap for a memory—you’re not gettin’ outta this one.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Hudson continued peppering me with question after insignificant question for the next half hour, until I could barely catch my breath because I’d been talking so much. That, and the altitude up here was nothing to sneeze at.
“Okay, how about favorite team?”
I scoffed. “Could you be—” I sucked in a huge lungful of air before slowly blowing it out “—more specific?” Gripping a low-hanging tree branch, I used it to help propel me up the incline. “Which sport? And are you talkin’ college, pro, or international?”
He stared at me, amusement plain on his face. “All of them, obviously.”
I stopped in my tracks, halting him with a hand to his chest. Trying to ignore how warm and solid he was beneath my fingers. His heart thrummed a smooth, steady beat against my palm. Meanwhile, mine was off like a hummingbird, and touching him wasn’t helping matters.
“Hey, Captain America, not all of us are ridiculously in-shape, hotshot soldiers.” I stepped back, dropping my hand and grabbing my water bottle from my pack, needing something to keep my hands busy lest I start roaming them all over his body. “You mind savin’ the chitchat till we reach the next summit? That way, I won’t embarrass myself by hurling up a lung while tryin’ to answer your questions.”
His mouth ticked up on the side as he took a step toward me. And then another, and another. He didn’t stop until he stood directly in front of me. The difference between the chill that had settled in since we’d started the hike and the heat pouring from his body was enough to send a shiver down my spine. One he definitely noticed.
He reached up, his fingers hooking under my chin as he swiped his thumb below my bottom lip, the delicate touch sending shock waves of heat through my body.
“What was that for?” I breathed, my eyes caught in the snare of his gaze.
“Water droplet.” He kept up the brain-numbing brush of his thumb against my lips. “Thought it might be too forward of me to lick it off like I wanted to.”
I opened my mouth to say something witty, but nothing came out. He’d officially made me brain-dead. See? This was what I’d been worried about. That I’d come out here with him, get figuratively lost in the woods, and forget all reason. Forget why I needed to keep my distance. Why kissing him was a bad idea, because right now, I wanted it desperately.
When I didn’t respond, didn’t step back or rebuke him, he lowered his head, his eyes connected with mine, until he pressed his mouth to mine. I’d played this over a dozen times in my mind—I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to press my mouth together and step back, tell him that was a bad idea.
Instead, what I did was part my lips, anticipating that next brush of his tongue against mine. I’d just decided to throw caution to the wind, wrap my arms around him, and get lost in the kiss, when a high-pitched bark startled us apart.
“What—” Hudson snapped his head toward the sound, tugging me into his side, as if he was about to pull me right around behind him.
In my dazed state, it took me a moment to register what had startled us apart. I rolled my eyes and batted his hand away, glancing down at the tiny dog that stood a few feet away, wet and raggedy but obviously happy to see us if the unrelenting wag of its tail was any indication. “It weighs all of fifteen pounds, Hud. I think I’ll be okay.”
Still trying to catch my breath—whether from the climb or the kiss, I had no idea—I glanced around in search of the dog’s owner. So far, we hadn’t passed anyone on our hike, though that wasn’t a surprise. It was late in the year, the weather unpredictable, and not many people had the skills or the equipment to deal with fluctuations like that.
“Size doesn’t matter much if it has rabies. Just stay behind me, all right?” He squatted down, making sure to keep himself between me and the animal, not even giving me the opportunity to listen to his order—not that I would. His protectiveness was ridiculous…and yet it still managed to make my heart flutter.
“I don’t see its owner,” I said. “I wonder if it got lost?”
He leaned over, tipping his head to the side as he studied the dog. “I don’t know. It doesn’t have a collar or anything, and it looks like it’s been out here for?—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the dog ran toward us, taking a flying leap straight into Hudson’s lap.
I breathed out a laugh and squatted down next to them. “Aww, I think you’re its favorite.” I held out my hand for the dog to sniff, and when I got the green light, I scratched behind its ears. “Pretty sure you’re its owner now.”
Hudson laughed. “She’s confused.”
“Or in love,” I said dryly as the dog snuggled further into Hudson’s lap, nudging its head under his hand and not allowing him to let up on his petting. “And ‘she,’ huh?”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “No dangly bits, so that’s my guess.”
I laughed, reaching over to settle a hand on the dog’s back. “Aw, she’s shivering. Poor thing must be freezing. Or scared.”
“Or both,” he said, standing to his full height, the dog clutched to his chest.
Forget talking with him or making out with him—watching Hudson care for and cuddle this tiny dog was going to be my undoing.
“We’re not gonna leave her out here, are we?” I asked, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.
My love for dogs had started back when Will had worked at the animal shelter in high school. Daddy had never allowed us to get a dog, so I had loved on each one of the pets in the shelter as much as possible. It sort of stuck, and everyone in town knew to call me if they needed a dog sitter.
He raised an eyebrow as he tucked the dog into his sweatshirt, zipping it until just her head poked out. “You just called me Captain America, and you think I’d leave this tiny thing out here with a cold front movin’ in?”
My God, how was I supposed to just continue a conversation with him as if he weren’t standing there looking like a romance novel hero, complete with a puppy nuzzled to his chest?
“You gonna rip apart a log for me later before we get the fire goin’?”
He glanced at me as we continued on our path, almost near the summit where we’d planned to camp. “That depends—on a scale of one to ten, how hot did you find that when he did it in the movie?”
“Seventeen,” I said without thinking.
Hudson tossed back his head and laughed, and I marveled at the sight. I’d worried being in the military would change him…harden him. And though I’d noticed subtle differences in him, especially when he was in a group, I was relieved that he was very much the same when it was the two of us.
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do. This winnin’ me any hot hero points?” he asked, gesturing to where he cradled the dog against his chest, his hand cupping her head to let her know he had her.
Who knew a tiny, scruffy dog would be my undoing?
“You have no idea.”