Chapter 19 HUDSON #2
“Are you done?” he asked calmly. Not biting. Just… patient.
That irritated me more.
I huffed, looking away. “This isn’t your problem.”
Matty tilted his head. “No? Then what was last night about? Didn’t we kiss and make up?”
“That doesn’t mean my life is your responsibility. I am a grown-ass man.”
“I know. What we did last night wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t a grown-ass man.” He walked around the table toward me, but I backed up into the counter. “Let me get this straight. You’re upset because I bought food for you and your child?”
I scowled. “I don’t need your charity.”
“It’s not charity.” Matty crowded me, both hands placed on either side of me on the counter, trapping me. “It’s called providing and taking care of my family. Isn’t that what this is?” His voice was still steady but with a hint of steel underneath.
“But…you’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Going too fast. We just got back together last night, and you’re making it feel like we’ve been a couple all this time.”
“Maybe I want to erase those four years without you. Maybe I don’t want to waste another second of us. You telling me you don’t feel the same?”
Dammit, I did, but my fucking pride was hurt by him witnessing my cash problem at the supermarket yesterday, and now this.
“You shouldn’t have to buy me things,” I said, voice tight. “I’m older—”
“Didn’t I already win that argument four years ago?”
Before I could argue, he grazed my lips. Not a full kiss. Just a soft brush. A whisper of contact. Then a second one, firmer, and this time he nipped my bottom lip with just enough pressure to make me gasp.
“Matt, stop doing that,” I said, already half-gone.
He leaned in and pressed a slow kiss to my mouth, lingering, smug.
“We need”—another kiss, pulling the words from my throat—“to talk.”
A third kiss stole whatever came next. I curled my hands into fists on his waist, fighting the heat rolling through me.
“Seriously,” I said, but it came out hoarse, needy. “I mean it.”
Matty grinned against my lips. “I know.” He brushed his mouth over mine again. “But I like the way you sound when you’re trying not to give in.”
Matty smirked and dipped in again, slow and deliberate. Another kiss. A teasing slide of his tongue that didn’t quite demand but promised. My knees damn near buckled.
“You were saying?” he murmured, lips ghosting mine.
I grabbed his waist, dizzy from want, from him.
“You’re not playing fair.”
“I’m not playing at all. You’re my man. We already established that last night. What kind of man watches the person he loves struggle and can help, but doesn’t?”
Caving in, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “You’re scaring the shit out of me.”
“How so? By loving you?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to hurt you again.”
“Then don’t. The only thing that’s a deal-breaker between us, Hud, is if you sleep with somebody else.
” He gripped my chin, the look in his eyes serious.
“Because I’m making it clear. I’m being upfront about how I feel about you, so there should be no doubt in your mind like in the past. And if you step out on me this time, then it’ll be unforgivable. ”
“I swear I won’t cheat.”
His hand wandered down my neck, caressed my chest, slipped under my shirt, and stroked my belly.
“You belong to me now, Hudson Granger. Just remember, I don’t do things I regret.
Don’t miss your appointment at the clinic.
” His lips grazed my jaw, and he nibbled his way over to my earlobe.
“I’m thinking it’s been a long time since I’ve nutted inside you, then let you sit that beautiful, sweet ass on my face. ”
Oh God.
I whimpered.
“Ivy.”
He kissed my forehead, then backed away. “I know. She’s the only one keeping me from having you on your knees right now.”
“You don’t mind how different things are? I mean, we can’t do it whenever we want.”
“Are you kidding me?” His grin was wide, confident, cocky. “This’ll be more fun. All that waiting? The sneaking around? The stolen moments when Ivy’s napping or out of the room? That kind of anticipation? It’s gonna make everything ten times hotter.”
I swallowed. He was right. I was already anticipating Ivy being asleep tonight. If Matty was staying again. Our house didn’t exactly have the comfort he was used to from the ranch.
“I guess I should go to the bathroom.”
He took my hand, stopping me, and didn’t say anything for a while, his eyes boring into mine. “Hud?”
“Hmm?” I shifted my weight to the next foot under his intense scrutiny.
“Are you hiding anything else from me?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. A breath caught in my throat before I managed to swallow it down. “Like what?”
“Anything about you and Heather?”
Shit. Did he know my relationship with Heather hadn’t been one in the traditional sense? I bit my bottom lip.
“Hudson,” he said sternly.
“I didn’t think it was important,” I muttered.
“Tell me.”
I heaved a sigh. “Heather and I didn’t have much of a marriage. I mean, we got married and all, but we never did anything.”
Matty blinked. “Wait, what?” He leaned back slightly, like the words had physically nudged him. “You’re telling me you never…?”
“We never slept together after we got married,” I said, voice low but firm. “Matt, I haven’t slept with anyone else since you and I officially became a thing. Not during my entire marriage.”
Matty stared for a beat, mouth parting, eyebrows slowly climbing. “Are you serious?” He shook his head like he couldn’t quite believe it. “All this time, I thought…” He didn’t finish. Instead, his gaze searched mine, something soft and raw blooming behind his eyes. “God, Hud.”
“Heather and I were a drunken mistake I never wanted to happen again. I was expecting a child and had little money to take care of a family. I didn’t have time to think about sex when I was trying to keep us afloat.”
“And that’s it? Nothing else you’ve left out?”
“Not that I can think of. Unless you want to know that I no longer sleep in the nude, for obvious reasons. No longer can tolerate spicy—”
Matty slammed his mouth on mine in a hard, swift kiss. “It’s fine. I believe you. I’ll stay with Ivy so you can take a shower, but then I need to go out for a bit.”
Oh. He was leaving?
“Don’t look disappointed. I’ll be back.”
My face heated, and I glanced away. “Okay.”
“Yeah, I promised Ivy I’d take her to see the horses, remember? I’m not going to disappoint her.”
I watched him a second longer, still half-dazed, then turned and walked out of the kitchen, my fingers brushing the wall.
My heart felt too full, too fragile. I needed a minute—just a breath—to collect myself, to believe this was real.
That Matty was back. That he’d stayed. That he wasn’t just saying the words, he was living them…
one grocery bag, one gummy worm, one kiss at a time.