Chapter 22 HUDSON
HUDSON
The knock came just as I was slipping my boots on. My heart thumped crazily. After four years, I was going on a date again with Matty. I’d dreamed about it but never expected it to happen.
“Coming.” I padded across the hall and swung the door open. Matty stood there, dressed in jeans and flannel like he’d stepped off the cover of some ranchwear catalog.
The guy did love his flannels, but I understood why. Simple had never looked so sexy. And this was one of the reasons I was obsessed with him. He didn’t come across as someone who was loaded. At heart, he was a rancher and didn’t sweat the fancy stuff.
“Hey.” I stepped aside. My stomach was doing all sorts of somersaults from looking at him. With Ivy at the ranch with Ozzie and Gray, we had the house to ourselves. “Come in. Let me grab my—”
He caught me by the shirt and reeled me up against him, mouth crashing against mine. The kiss was deep and hot, all tongue and teeth and that low, hungry sound he made when he wanted me. I pulled him inside, kicked the door shut, and backed him up against it, returning the passion in his kiss.
Who needed to eat out anyway?
I slipped my hand under his shirt and groaned into his mouth. My man was sexy as hell, and I loved the feel of his cut abs under my fingertips.
“God, you taste so fucking good,” Matty growled.
I was more than a little unsteady on my feet. “So… are we going out,” I asked, breathless, “or to the bedroom?”
He chuckled. “Out. Maybe. But we should talk for a bit first.”
That maybe landed heavy.
“Okay, then. Let’s talk while I finish dressing up for you.” I jerked my chin toward the hallway, and we walked into my bedroom. I made a beeline for my closet, wishing I had more options.
“You already look all dolled up.”
I laughed. “Hardly. I haven’t bought new clothes in a couple of years.”
“You’d look good in anything, Huddlebug.”
My breath hitched, and I closed my eyes, soaking in the nickname I hadn’t heard in years.
“You okay in there?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed my worn denim jacket and shrugged into it. “Are you going to tell me what’s up or continue to eyefuck me?”
“That is a hard one. I want you straddling my lap so bad.”
Damn, he still knew how to make a guy feel special.
“Is this about whatever happened earlier, before you picked up Ivy? Because I could tell you were upset but didn’t want to bring it up in front of her.
” His eyes had been red, and he’d looked pale.
“You had been crying, hadn’t you? Is it me?
Did I do something? Because if it’s too much and you have second thoughts, I understand. ”
It would be difficult, but I would respect his decision. His forgiveness was a big ask.
Matty shook his head, stepped forward, and took my arm. “Come here.”
He pulled me toward the bed and sat, guiding me down beside him. “Tell me about the day you got married.”
The air in my chest thickened. I leaned back, shook my head. “Matty—”
“Please,” he said quietly, “humor me.”
I rubbed a hand over my jaw, buying time. Why would he bring this up now? Hadn’t we already exhausted this discussion yesterday? “I’d been drinking a little. Just enough to get through it. My head wasn’t in the right place. My heart sure as hell wasn’t.”
“Is it true that after you signed the papers, you left?”
I stared at the floor, my voice barely more than a rasp. “Yeah. Hurting too bad to stick around. Went to the restroom and threw up my guts.”
“And afterward?” His eyes stayed locked on me. “What happened to your marriage license?”
“It’s in the box.”
“You’ve never looked at it?”
My laugh was bitter. “Why would I want to? As a reminder?”
Something flickered in his gaze. “So you’ve had it in that box since your wedding day?”
“Nah.” I swallowed hard. “Heather was the one who held on to it. I found it on our bed the day she left me. Matt, what’s with all the questions?”
“You didn’t look at it then?” he pressed.
“I already knew what it was,” I muttered. “So I shoved it into the box like I did everything else I didn’t want to think about.”
Matty groaned, leaning in to kiss me, quick, hard, like he was trying to transfer something into me through his mouth. He pulled back and nudged me up. “Get the box. Pull out the license.”
“I thought we were going on a date.”
“Baby, get the license, please.”
When he used that tone, how could I refuse? I went to the closet, dug the old shoebox off the top shelf, and pulled the folded paper free. I sat back down beside him and opened it, my eyes running over the lines without any idea what I was looking for.
“Look here.” Matty tapped the bottom.
I followed his finger… and everything inside me ground to a halt.
The signature line for Heather—the bride—was blank.
“It’s… not signed,” I said slowly, like the words didn’t make sense. “She didn’t sign it.”
“Yeah.” His voice was low, steady. “I think that’s why she placed it on the bed when she left. To tell you without telling you.”
It hit me like a stampede, shoving the air out of my lungs, making my pulse hammer in my ears. “Oh my God. I thought I was married. All this time, it was a lie?”
Matty’s expression softened, and he raised his hand to caress my cheek. “The pastor went along with her request because she threatened to expose that they’d had an affair. So he made sure it looked official without it ever being legal.”
I sat there, paper shaking in my hands, the edges cutting into my fingers. My whole body felt unmoored, like the floor had dropped out from under me.
What the actual fuck?
“I know it’s a lot to process. Last night, when I was straightening up the living room, I found it between the couch cushions. It must have fallen out of the box. I took a look at it and noticed her signature missing, so I confronted Pastor Murphy about it.”
“The son of a bitch.”
“How are you feeling about knowing the truth?”
How was I feeling? Confused as fuck.
My stomach roiled like I’d swallowed bad whiskey. Four years believing a lie. Four years thinking I’d been tied to a woman who never even bothered to sign her name. I felt sick, like I’d been played for a fool in front of the whole damn town.
But under the nausea was something I hadn’t expected.
Relief.
Pure, bone-deep relief.
I set the paper down and rubbed both hands over my face. “I hate that she did this, that I didn’t see it, but… Matty, I’m actually relieved. I thought I was going to carry the weight of that marriage for the rest of my life.”
He gave a half smile, brushing his thumb over my jaw. “Bright side? You don’t have to deal with a messy divorce.”
I huffed out a dry laugh. “Guess there’s that. Was this why you were upset earlier?”
His smile vanished. “Not exactly. I ran into my mother before I came over to pick up Ivy. Confronted her.”
I pulled my brows tight. “Wait, you didn’t tell me she was in town. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Apparently, she’s been feeling guilty. Says Carter noticed my dad’s interest in Ozzie a year ago, and he orchestrated the whole scheme to push them together. She claims she didn’t know, but now? I don’t know how to believe her anymore.”
I wanted to say something to soothe the tightness in his voice, the way his eyes went cold when he said “scheme.” “She’s your mother, Matty. I’m sure she meant what was best for you.”
“We’ve got messed-up mothers.” He gave me a crooked smile.
“Maybe I’ll forgive her in time. But it’s too soon.
I missed four years of being with my lover.
” His gaze locked on mine, and the weight in it pinned me to the bed.
“And not even you, Hudson Granger, will let that happen again. Do you understand?”
The force in his voice, the command in his posture, hit me low and hard. My body responded before my brain caught up, heat pooling thick between my legs.
“I understand,” I rasped. “Can we just fuck now?”
A smile stretched across Matty’s lips. “But you already got all dressed up?”
I rose to my feet and shuffled between his legs. “Like you said, Matty, it’s been four years of you not loving me right.”
“Four years of no fucking is a lot to make up for.”
“But at least try, dammit.” I shrugged off my jacket and let it fall to the floor. My shirt quickly followed. He was watching me with smoky eyes, practically salivating as I ran my hands up my bare chest and tweaked my nipples.
Matty groaned. “Mine.”
He grasped the backs of my thighs and pulled me roughly onto his lap to straddle him. He raised his head, and I lowered mine, cradling his face in my palms as I kissed him.
There was no rush to the kiss but a deep exploration of his mouth and mine while he slid his hands up over my thighs, squeezing hard enough to make me shiver.
“You’re still such an amazing kisser,” I murmured. He slid his tongue between my lips and licked into my mouth. Each time his tongue passed over mine, tiny shocks raced up my spine, and my toes curled. I gripped the back of his neck, holding him there, not ready to let him go.
Matty lowered his hands to my ass, squeezing it through the tight denim, kneading like he was memorizing every curve.
“Goddammit, Hudson, I missed this ass.” One hand snaked up my back, warm and firm, holding me in place while the other gripped my ass tighter.
“Miss you playing with me,” I panted into his mouth. “The way you used to spread me open and make me come by fingering and rimming me.”
“Well, you have me now, babe.” He scattered kisses across my jaw, his lips brushing over my skin. Soft at first, then openmouthed. His teeth grazed until I felt the faint scrape and sucked in a deep breath.
“Matt…”
He hummed against my skin, trailing lower until his mouth found my neck. “I want to taste every inch of you.”
My pulse jumped under his tongue. He smiled against me and sucked lightly, just enough to make me jerk my hips forward.