Chapter 4 #2
The man’s body had been chiseled by hard work, refined so perfectly, she suspected there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere on him.
He had this habit of lifting the hem of his T-shirt up whenever he got too hot, using it to wipe the sweat off his brow, which treated her to the sweetest sneak peek of his washboard abs and tattoos.
Paige had been tempted to turn on the heat, just so he’d do it more.
“I told my mother,” Paige said. “And she told Dad.”
Hudson chuckled. “Chickenshit.”
She narrowed her eyes, though he wasn’t exactly wrong in his assessment.
“To be perfectly honest, that’s how most information about my life is disseminated to Dad.
I don’t see him that often, usually only at family functions or on the rare occasions when he stops by the restaurant for lunch, and we never talk on the phone because that’s not his thing at all. ”
“I’m assuming he didn’t take it well.”
“He had some concerns,” she hedged, wondering if it would be stupid to ask him for a damn resume now. “But he hasn’t seen you since you’ve come back to town.”
“Yeah. I’ve been lucky there.”
Paige punched him on the arm. “My dad isn’t that bad, you know.”
Hudson wisely held his tongue.
“He’s just not the type of person who’s overly…” she searched for the right word, “free with his praise. Truth is, I’m pretty used to disappointing him.”
Hudson gave her an incredulous look. “You’re joking, right? You get that you’re a parent’s dream?”
Paige laughed, even though she was pleased that he thought so. “Dad’s always had high expectations for me and Tyson. Very high.”
“Weren’t you both valedictorian?”
“Yes. And don’t get me wrong, Dad was proud of us for that. But he’s always seen my life going in a different direction from the one I’ve chosen.”
“What direction?”
“He thought I should go to law school. I chose to get a master’s in business administration. Then, once I got the degree and the job offers started rolling in, he had extremely strong opinions about which ones I should accept. None of them were Sparks Barbeque.”
Hudson snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure they weren’t.”
“Dad sort of lost his shit, said college was a huge waste of money, given I was choosing to work in the restaurant and no degree was necessary. Uncle TJ would have hired me for that job right out of high school.”
“I don’t think college was a waste of money.”
“I don’t either. For one thing, not attending college wasn’t an option for me and Tyson.
That had been drilled into our heads since birth.
I loved furthering my education, and I took a lot of classes that I think helped me grow, not just in my career but as a person.
I was able to explore things with my elective courses that I never would have been able to otherwise, like photography and even social dancing. ”
“Social dancing? No shit. That’s actually a class?”
“It counted as a physical education credit, so you can be damn sure I signed up for it.”
“Still quite the jock, huh?”
Paige had two left feet, and everyone who ever had to play basketball with her in gym class knew it.
Her P.E. teacher used to joke that only Paige could trip over her own shadow.
She probably still held the school record for taking the most people down during the longest, most awkward fall ever while attempting to dribble a ball.
She doubted anyone would ever top knocking over three people like they were bowling pins.
“Can’t imagine dancing would have been much easier,” he pointed out.
“It moved slower, so I had time to think about where I was putting my feet.”
Hudson chuckled. “Gotcha.”
“Besides, I’ve put what I learned in my business classes to very good use. I have plans for the restaurant that no one even knows about yet and—” She stopped short.
“Secret plans?”
Paige hesitated. She hadn’t revealed her primary business goal to anyone, as far as Sparks Barbeque was concerned.
Strangely, she felt safe telling Hudson, aware that he wouldn’t spill her secret.
Which was the weirdest revelation of her life, because she wouldn’t have trusted his guy as far as she could throw him a decade ago.
Maybe it was because she’d begun to think of this house as her baby, and he was so sweet and gentle with it, constantly telling her what a great place it was.
Or maybe it was the fumes.
“It’s something I’ve been considering for a long time, but I…I really haven’t told anyone else, not even the girls at work.”
Hudson tilted his head. “I understand if you don’t want to tell me.”
She could see that he meant that. Hudson had made lots of little comments like that over the past couple of weeks.
While they hadn’t discussed the details of their past outright, he’d still alluded to that time in small ways, letting her know he understood why she might not trust him to do one thing or another.
The fact that he wasn’t pushing her, that he was making sure she was always comfortable with this new dynamic, had been building her trust in him.
That, and the fact she’d seen him outside of the four walls of this house.
He and his granddad were big fans of the lunch and dinner specials, so she’d seen him at the restaurant, as well.
She’d been touched by the respect and care he showed his grandfather, and the polite way he’d interacted with the other patrons, even those who seemed determined to condemn him for his teenaged actions forever.
“I’ve been doing a lot of research into what it would take to franchise the business.”
Hudson’s eyes widened. “Damn. That would be cool.”
“I can’t begin to tell you how many people drive to Maris specifically for our barbeque, always with the remark they wished there was a Sparks Barbeque in their town.
I’ve been crunching numbers, and I’ve found a way that we could make this a true family business, with me, Sydney, Jeannette, and Gia buying in, and sharing it with Macie and Adele when TJ finally retires.
Hudson snorted. “I thought he already had.”
“Right?” Paige said, laughing.
“So you want to build a barbeque empire,” he said, clearly impressed.
“Something like that. I’m making slow and steady steps toward putting Sparks Barbeque on the map…and then widening the circle.”
“I think that’s an incredible idea.”
“I’m still building the proposal. Bottling the sauce, doubling the size of the restaurant, and getting us exposure on the Food Network are all part of that.
Macie has said a million times that in her mind, the restaurant belongs to all of us, and Adele agrees.
I’m hoping they’ll let us make that a reality. ”
“I hope they do too,” he said. “And your dad is definitely wrong. Nothing about your college degree was a waste.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate you saying that.”
They shared a look, one that felt heated and meaningful. Especially when Hudson’s gaze lowered for just a second to her lips. Was he considering kissing her? How would she respond if he did?
God. As if that was a real question.
She knew without a shadow of a doubt she’d kiss him back.
Paige wasn’t sure why she was so confident that a kiss from Hudson would be earth-shatteringly amazing—especially since she couldn’t recall any of the girls from high school ever talking about hooking up with him.
Hudson had been a big enough asshole that even the girls who were known for chasing the bad boys gave him a wide berth.
Sadly, the moment lingered a few seconds too long, and then it was gone.
Hudson turned away, lifted his beer bottle to his lips, and took a long swig.
Leaving Paige feeling envious of a damn bottle.
Hudson took a drink of his beer and tried to pull himself together. He’d been perilously close to kissing Paige, which would ruin any forward movement he’d made in gaining her trust.
He’d tried to play by her “handyman” rules the first week because he really did want to make some strides toward cleaning up his reputation.
The Sparks were respected in Maris, so if Paige sang his praises to her family, Macie would do the rest, making sure all the locals who stopped by for barbeque knew Ryan Construction was back in the game.
Unfortunately, he’d come to Maris determined to stretch his wings as a contractor and as his own boss.
Paige was a slave to her own schedule, sometimes to the detriment of the project.
She’d always been high-strung in school, the type of student who stressed out before every exam, who panicked if she got an A-minus rather than an A-plus, and who would rather eat shit than let her GPA drop below a 4.
0. That didn’t appear to have changed much.
She was a regular bundle of stress, and he got the sense her schedule and to-do lists somehow helped alleviate that.
Hudson had dedicated the past twelve years of his life to this work, so it was difficult to continue to toe the line when he knew there were better ways. He was a huge proponent of work smarter, not harder, and there were times when Paige wasn’t working as smart as she could.
This week, he’d started questioning her and making suggestions, specifically about him tackling the plumbing issues, but Paige continued to dig her heels in.
Part of him wondered if her stubbornness had less to do with a rigid adherence to the plan and more to do with punishing him for being a prick when they were younger.
Maybe it was a bit of both.
Tonight, however, he hoped perhaps they were turning a corner because it was starting to feel like they were becoming friends.
Right.
Friends.
Hudson felt a lot of things when it came to Paige Sparks these days, but not too many of them could be classified as “just friends” feelings. He’d never struggled with an attraction this damn powerful. It was off the charts and getting worse with each passing day.