Chapter 27
MATTY
Iclosed the book softly, letting the last line linger in the air. Ivy had been asleep for a while now, and I’d switched from reading to her to just reading aloud to the room, my voice low and easy, the kind of cadence that might even lull me under if I wasn’t careful.
She lay on her side, her cheek pillowed on one small hand, the other clutching the blanket like it was keeping her anchored. Her mouth was parted in that deep, trusting sleep little kids have, the kind that came after a day of running and laughing and wearing yourself out in the best ways.
I set the book on the nightstand and just… looked at her. I wasn’t even sure when I’d started doing that, memorizing the tiny curve of her nose, the faint shadow of lashes against her cheeks, the way she kicked the blanket off and then reached for it again even in her sleep.
Leaning down, I brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I love you,” I whispered, “as much as I love your daddy.” The words came out easier than I’d expected, like they’d been sitting there waiting.
I pulled the blanket up to her chin, smoothed it flat, and stepped back from the bed. On my way to the door, I gave the lamp a final glance—still dim enough to keep the room soft—then pulled the door nearly closed.
The hallway was quiet. I’d left Hudson collapsed onto the couch after the wrestling it had taken for him to bathe Ivy.
I poked my head into the bedroom. Maybe Hudson had already crashed, but the steam curling out from the bathroom door told me otherwise.
He was humming low, aimless notes, and he sounded happy.
I slipped into the kitchen, where the evening light was sliding in gold across the counter. The dinner plates still sat in the sink. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, rinsing, then stacking them in the rack of the new dishwasher. The mindless task soothed me.
When the dishes were done, I wandered into the living room, folded the blanket Ivy had left on the couch, and set a few of her toys in the basket by the fireplace. The place looked much better with the new rug, furniture, and fresh coat of paint. It looked like a home for a loving family.
That thought still caught me sometimes. That I had a family of my own. It might be new, but that was exactly what we were.
Over the past four years, I’d poured my energy into Reins of Hope, the charity I’d founded based on my family’s outreach work.
Our work was diverse from rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming abused horses to raising money for the children’s home, the local schools, scholarships, and the fire department made up mostly of volunteer staff.
Lately, my life had taken on a new rhythm.
Mornings didn’t just mean feed schedules and moving cattle.
They meant cereal bowls and morning walks with Ivy on Hudson’s days off to give him a few more hours to sleep in.
Evenings weren’t spent eating with the other ranch hands, then going for a drink at The Dusty Spur.
They were the three of us on the couch, or Ivy chattering through bath time while Hudson looked like he’d gone pearl diving.
I still loved my work, but this… this was a different kind of full.
The water shut off, and the faint hum of the pipes went quiet. Hudson had finished with his shower. Moving faster, I finished tucking the rest of Ivy’s toys into the basket, then straightened the rug.
All done. Now Hudson doesn’t have to worry about cleaning up.
On the way to our bedroom, I peeked in on Ivy, pleased to see she was tuckered out. She should be. When we got home, I’d taken her outside to play while Hudson made dinner. My dad had installed a swing for her at the ranch, so I put up a basketball net in the backyard to steal his cool points.
It worked.
Hudson was in the bedroom, standing near the bed with a towel slung low on his hips, hair damp and curling at the ends.
He was running another towel over his shoulders, mopping up the drops of water trailing down his chest. When I entered, he grinned in that slow, lazy way that made something flip in my stomach.
“Hey,” he said, voice warm. “Ivy out?”
“Yeah, for a while now, while you were taking your sweet-ass time in the shower.”
He untucked the towel and dropped it just enough to give me a peek at his curvy backside and winked. “You mean this sweet thang?”
My gaze locked there, and for a second, all I could think about was closing the distance, getting my hands on him, and bending him over the bed.
“Fuck, Hud,” I rasped, my voice lower than I’d meant it to be. “You can’t flash me that and expect me to behave.”
He laughed, smug and knowing, and used the towel to swat my hip. “Uh-uh. Shower. Now. I want you clean before I let you anywhere near me.”
I clutched my heart dramatically. “Meanwhile, I’m here thinking about how good you smelled when you were all sweaty and wild yesterday as I fucked you in the hayloft.”
He laughed. “You’re gross.”
“Not exactly what you said then.” I trailed my hands down his muscular arms. “All right, I’m gonna grab a quick shower. Then I’ll come back and keep that fabulous ass company.”
“Don’t take too long.” He pointed the towel at me like a warning.
I swatted his ass and squeezed the fleshy underside of one cheek. Smirking, I disappeared into the bathroom, still warm and fogged from his shower. The mirror was hazy, the air thick with the smell of his body wash, cedar and something faintly sweet that always clung to his skin.
I peeled off my clothes as my mind replayed that perfect curve of his ass.
Shaking my head, I stepped under the spray.
The water was still hot, sluicing over my shoulders in heavy, steady streams. I stood there for longer than necessary, letting the warmth unknot the tension in my neck, then picked up the soap.
Quick, efficient passes over my chest, down my arms, across my stomach, and down my legs.
I swapped it for shampoo, working the lather into my hair, then tipped my head back, closing my eyes as the water rinsed it clean.
My brain should’ve been blank by now, but all I could picture was Hudson waiting in the other room, with damp curls and that look he’d given me when I walked in.
Once I was rinsed off, I stepped out, towel-dried briskly, and brushed my teeth. I caught my reflection in the mirror. My hair stuck up in places, but I looked happy.
I was happy. My life felt peaceful. My life had changed in the past three weeks. And I knew the other two people in this house loved me as much as I loved them.
I wrapped the towel around my waist and returned to the bedroom.
Hudson had been busy. Electric candles glowed soft and golden around the room, their light pooling over the bed where he’d spread out a large towel.
He was perched at the foot of the mattress, leaning back on his hands, watching me with that same lazy grin from earlier.
“What’s all this?” I asked. “You hankering for a rub-down before the pipe-down?”
“Where the fuck do you come up with that shit?” He grabbed a pillow and tossed it at me, laughing. “It’s for you, not me.”
“Me?” What did he mean?
He tilted his head toward the towel. “Yeah, hop up. You work your ass off all day, Magnuson. Lie down. Let me take care of you for a change.”
“I don’t need all this, Hud.”
He patted the towel he’d laid out like he was coaxing a horse into a new stall.
“Lie down. No arguing.”
He had a determined look in his eyes. He wasn’t about to let this go anytime soon. “Fine.”
I stretched out on my stomach, the cotton soft and faintly warm from his hands. The mattress dipped with his weight as he settled in beside me. The faint click of his phone set a low, lazy song humming through the room. Candlelight flickered against the walls, and I couldn’t help a smile.
“You going all out, huh?”
“This is nothing compared to what you’ve done for me and Ivy.”
I shook my head, cheek resting on my folded arms. “No comparison necessary. I’m happy to take care of you both.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over the top of my hair. “Then I must’ve been a saint in another life because I sure as hell know I never deserved you in this one.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Are we talking, or are you cracking my back?”
That earned me a bite on my shoulder, and then the warm slick of baby oil spread under his palms. The first pass of his hands over my shoulders had me letting out a sound I’d never admit to outside that room. He worked slow and deliberate, digging his thumbs into knots I didn’t know I had.
By the time he climbed over me to straddle my hips, my breathing had already gone heavier. His weight settled into my lower back, his thighs bracketing me just right, and the heel of his hand pressing into places that made my spine loosen.
“That feels good,” I moaned.
“Yeah? You gonna make me your personal masseur now?”
“Fuck yeah,” I grunted, my words slowed down by the magic of his hands. “You can quit the ranch and be a stay-at-home-dad and my hot masseur by night. Pour me a drink, sit on my lap—”
Hudson’s chuckle was right next to my ear as he leaned over and nipped the lobe.
“In your dreams, Magnuson. I’m a rancher now.
I love the work. Love knowing you’re nearby, even when you used to cuss me out.
Damn, I don’t know how I survived that tongue of yours.
You flayed me alive every time we came into contact with each other. ”
“You deserved it,” I mumbled, no heat in my words.
“I know, babe.” He sighed, kissing the top of my head. “You’re a bigger man than I am, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
“Less talking, more kneading.”
I twitched my ass to give him a bump, prodding him back to work.
“Yes, sir.”
The words went straight to my cock. I didn’t quite swallow my moan as he pushed his fingers into the middle of my back, and the sound that came out of me was X-rated. Hudson chuckled but kept going, working those miracle hands over my body.