Chapter 15 Willow
WILLOW
Hudson makes honey mustard chicken on rice for dinner, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I could get used to a hot man cooking dinner for me every night.
His mom brought him up well, which reminds me, I know almost nothing about his family apart from that he has a sister, Paige, and a nephew.
“Does your family live in Hope?”
Hudson sets his fork down, and his gaze flicks to my lips as I lick the last of the sauce off my fork, savoring the sweet and spicy taste combo.
“It’s just Paige and me now.”
There’s a hint of sadness in his voice, and I know what he’s about to say before he says it.
“Dad left when I was a kid, and Mom passed away.”
I suck in a breath. I know what it’s like to lose your mom. Having Dad locked up was one thing, but when my mom got sick, that was when life got really tough.
I put a hand over his. “I’m so sorry.”
Our eyes lock, and he puts his other hand over mine. It’s comforting, but there’s also a zing of energy that brings me to the edge of my chair.
“I lost my mom too.”
He squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago. Dad tried his best, but …” I think of my dad and the mad schemes he always got into that finally caught up with him. But I don’t want to tell Hudson my dad’s locked up. He’s only just starting to see me as something more than a law-breaker.
It was another reason I wanted to get Tyler away. I couldn’t bear the thought of my brother following in my dad’s footsteps. Although it turns out it’s me that got into trouble with the law.
“When did she pass?” I turn the conversation back to Hudson. It seems he knows all about my family and me, and I know next to nothing about him.
“Three years ago.”
This time, I squeeze his hand. It’s comforting to hold hands across the table, but I have no idea what it means, if it means anything at all.
Are we two people comforting each other?
Or are we a man and a woman stuck in a cabin together with nothing else to do but suck grease off each other’s fingers and almost kiss?
And which do I want it to be? And why am I even thinking about kissing him when he’s opening up to me about his personal life?
I try to focus, but Hudson starts sliding the top of his thumb over my wrist, and it’s sending a distracting heat up my arm.
Something Hudson told me jogs my memory.
“Is that why you left the SEALs? You said you’d been out for three years.”
He makes no move to release my hand, so I relax and enjoy the warm feeling spreading through my body and wrapping around my chest.
“Kind of. My sister got pregnant around the same time. Mom had just died, we hadn’t heard from our dad in years, and the father was a no show.” His thumb freezes, and his grip tightens.
There’s more to this story, and it sounds juicy. “I thought Ryan was the dad. I’ve seen them around the center.”
He releases the vice-like grip on my hand. “It’s a long story.”
I pull my hand out and shake out the fingers from where he squeezed them too tight in his giant paw.
“So you left the SEALs for your sister?”
“She had no one else.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal to leave the most elite trained forces in the world. “Family first.”
Our eyes lock, and a new understanding passes between us. Despite our differences, there’s one thing we can agree on. “Family first.”
Twenty minutes later, I’ve got my hands in the sink washing the dishes while Hudson goes around straightening up the already tidy cabin.
I can’t stop thinking about Hudson and what he gave up for his sister.
It turns out we’re not too dissimilar after all, even if he does keep things far too tidy.
My admiration of the man jumps up a notch.
I also can’t stop thinking about my hands in his and the way he stroked my wrist and all the tiny explosions his touch sets off inside me. He’s the best distraction in this situation and one I want to explore more.
I watch him straighten the books on the shelf next to the fireplace. He pulls one out and sets it back into a new position a few books down, and I realize he’s arranging them in height order.
My lips quirk up in a smile. Everything in his life has to be ordered, and I love disrupting that. I’m the one thing he can’t make sense of, and the brat in me wants to play up to it. I could do with some of Hudson’s order in my life, and Lord knows the man could do with a little wildness.
I need a distraction, and he needs a little chaos in his life. And I know the perfect way to do it. It’s time to get in the hot tub.