Chapter 7
Hudson had ski lessons booked for that morning so he had to leave my bed to shower and change. I loved how reluctant he was to go, peppering every inch of me with kisses.
“If you don’t stop I’m going to make you late,” I warned, smiling dreamily at the ceiling, my fingers curled in his thick, soft hair as he trailed kisses across my stomach. My hands slipped down his head to his back as he came over me and kissed me.
“Unfortunately, I really have to go.” He gave me another quick kiss and then rolled out of bed.
I turned onto my side to enjoy the view as he crossed the room to where his clothes were piled on the chair. The man had the finest arse I’d ever seen in my life. I wanted to bite it.
He turned as he dressed and caught me leering. Laughing, he shook his head. “Stop it.”
I grinned. “I can’t help it. You’re delicious.”
Looking pleased that I thought so, he quickly shrugged on his shirt and began to button it. “I’m booked until one. You want to do lunch?”
“Definitely. I told Susan and Molly I’d be at their place at nine o’ clock to go over things and see where the plans are at. The party is in three days. I’ll need your kitchen the day before that.”
“No problem, angel.” He returned to the bed and leaned down to give me one last lingering kiss. “Best night of my life.”
Joy suffused me and I felt weirdly, stupidly shy. “Me, too.”
“Christ, you’re adorable.” Another kiss. “Right, I gotta go or I just won’t.” He pushed away from me and stepped back, his eyes dipping down my body. Hudson let out a regretful sigh before he returned his gaze to mine. “I’ll come find you at Susan’s condo when I’m done.”
“Can’t wait.”
When he did leave, the sound of my suite door closing with a click echoing around the large space, I felt a pang in my chest.
I missed him already.
How weird was that?
Knowing if I lazed around in bed, I’d only miss him more, I forced myself to get up and out of it and stumbled into the shower.
It was while I was in the shower that I realized I hadn’t looked at my phone since yesterday afternoon.
Shit. What if Killian had called? It didn’t go off last night in the suite so maybe he hadn’t.
As soon as I got out of the shower I searched for the damn phone and found it buried under my dress on the chair. It was off, having run out of charge.
Damn.
Worry flooded me. How long had it been dead and had Killian been trying to reach me?
I plugged it into the charger and waited impatiently for it to come on. After a few minutes, my stomach sank as I watched message after message and missed call after missed call come up on the screen.
Some were from Killian, others from Skylar, and there was a missed call and text from Catie.
I quickly shot a text to Catie to tell her I was fine and I’d see her at breakfast to explain. Then I called Killian.
“Hey, big brother,” I greeted him cheerfully when he answered, in the hopes that my good mood would soften him.
There was a moment of silence and then what sounded like whispering and then, “Hey, Autumn, you’ve got Skylar.”
Although happy to hear Skylar’s voice, I frowned. “Hey, Sky, what’s up?”
Her voice lowered. “Your brother just handed me the phone and wandered off, brooding.”
Concern pierced me. “My phone died. Is he mad at me?”
“A little, I think. He tried calling you last night and when you didn’t answer he got worried, so he called Catie and she told him you were out on a date?”
Since she asked it like a question I answered as such, “Yes, I was on a date.”
Nervous butterflies fluttered to life in my belly.
“Killian’s just a little worried.”
“That I’m dating?”
“Um… yes.”
Irritation flooded me. I was the happiest I’d ever been and I didn’t really feel like explaining myself to my brother. “Well, tell him he has no reason to be.”
Skylar was quiet a moment. “So… who’s the guy?”
My smile was automatic and I sank down onto the edge of the bed. “Skylar… oh man, Skylar, I can’t even describe him.”
She sounded amused, “You sound… dreamy?”
I giggled. “I do, don’t I?”
“Are you drunk?” she laughed.
“On love,” I admitted.
It surprised me for a second that I’d said it out loud but only a second.
I’d always been an open book but there were some things even I kept to myself.
Not with Skylar. I couldn’t explain why but from the moment we met I’d been able to tell her anything.
She didn’t judge people. Skylar was thoughtful, empathetic, and understanding.
And so I found myself telling her all about Hudson and our instant connection. About how I couldn’t explain it but it was real… “I’m in love with him.”
She was silent so long, tears began to burn in my throat. Tears of regret. I shouldn’t have told her. How could anyone but Hudson and me understand?
“You think I’m being an idiot,” I whispered.
“God, no,” Skylar replied immediately. “Autumn, I know you’ve had bad luck with guys in the past but that was not your fault.
You’re sweet and kind and you treat everyone like your best friend, but you are also smart and capable.
You’re not a dreamer with your head up your ass…
so if you say you think you’re in love with this guy then I believe you. ”
Relief flooded me. “Really?”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned. I don’t like that it’s happened so quickly and that it’s with someone neither I nor Killian has even met. But you can’t blame me for feeling that way.”
“No, I get it.” And I did. If Killian had fallen in love with Skylar without me having met her I’d have worried, not liking the idea of him investing emotionally in someone I didn’t know or like. “How do you think Killian will react?”
She sighed. “I think you know how he’ll react. He’s not just your big brother. He’s parent and big brother. He’s not going to like this.”
And that put a big fat dampener on it.
“Have you thought about how this relationship is going to work with you here and your guy in Colorado?”
There was the other big fat dampener.
“No,” I answered honestly. “I haven’t.”
“Autumn, please be careful. I’m not saying what you’re feeling isn’t real but this is a complicated situation. Maybe take some time to work all that stuff out before you get in any deeper with this guy.”
“Hudson doesn’t want to talk about it yet. He said he wants our hooks so deep in each other we’ll do anything to figure it out.”
Skylar let out a huff of laughter. “I bet he did.”
“How’s that?” I frowned.
“Babe, you’ve seen you, right? You’re drop dead gorgeous, confident without vanity, and just the sweetest, nicest person you could meet.
I bet your guy took one look at you and decided he’d do and say just about anything to make you his and to make you stay.
That’s what he means by doing anything to figure it out. I bet he wants you to move there.”
Unease settled over me. “You think?”
“He owns a successful construction company there. He has a big loving family. He wants to take you hiking in the summer.” Wow, she’d really listened to everything I told her. “This is not a guy who wants to leave Colorado.”
“But I don’t want to leave Glasgow.” And I didn’t. “I’ve never been away from Killian for more than a few weeks.” He was my family.
“Then you really need to talk to your guy before you fall any harder.”
Emotion clogged my throat. I sounded hoarse when I retorted, “I don’t think I can fall any harder. I’m already there.” I sucked in a shaky, teary breath. “What am I going to do?”
“You need to talk to him. And then you need to call me to let me know you’re okay. Do you want me to tell Killian?”
I knew it was cowardly to ask her to, but I just couldn’t handle my brother’s feelings on top of my own right then. “Would you? It’ll just make it easier for me when I do finally talk to him about it.”
“Of course.”
Needing to shake myself out of my dark thoughts, I changed the subject. “I’ve commandeered this whole conversation. How are you doing?”
Skylar released a heavy sigh. “I don’t feel so jetlagged anymore and I’m nervous because the press has backed off entirely just in time for us dropping the album. So I know they’ll be back, even though I refuse to promote it.”
“The album is amazing. It’s going to soar.”
“You know I don’t care about that. And without marketing it’s doubtful. But it’s my best work ever and I want to put it out there.”
“I think you’re going to be surprised,” I said, genuinely believing that this album would rock the charts and get millions of streams.
“We’ll see.”
We talked some more about her plans for the album drop and I told her about Susan and Molly.
“Only you, Autumn,” she said, the fondness in her voice unmistakable. “You go on vacation and then end up helping people out.”
“It’s not entirely altruistic. It’s Hudson’s plan to help me work out what I want to do with my life.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
“Hmm… he’s proving something of a distraction, but I’m leaning toward event management.” And I was. I think I was even before the list.
“Good. Look, I better go. I can hear your brother playing something moody and melancholic on the guitar and I need to put him in a better mood before I drop your news on him.”
I wrinkled my nose. “TMI.”
“I didn’t say how I was going to put him in a better mood.”
“You didn’t have to. Anyway, you go do something I’m going to pretend you and my brother don’t do, and I’m going to get dressed and head down to breakfast. I’m starved.” And I was. A long night of sex would do that to a girl.
“Okay. Love you, babe.”
“Love you, too, Sky. And tell my brother I love him.”
“You got it.”
We hung up and I got dressed for the day, trying to ignore the churn of worry in my gut.
That feeling wasn’t just about how Killian would react to the news of Hudson, but also about my future with Hudson.
Skylar was right. Hudson would in no way want to leave Copper Cliffs.
What the hell was I supposed to do with that? I couldn’t move to Colorado.
Could I?