CHAPTER 33
“This is delicious , Willa!” Mari enthused.
Willa looked down at her plate. She’d tested a few of the recipes from the cookbook, to glowing success, if the Clark family’s response was any indication. She’d stuck with an Italian theme, with some bruschetta on fresh baguettes with a side of burrata ... kind of cheating, but it just tasted good and had Kimber considering whether she could make a goat cheese burrata. They’d talked about that as they moved easily to the salad course, with fresh sorrel greens, radish, sugar snap peas, and mint. Even Hudson’s father raved about it, saying he’d never liked radish normally.
By the time they got to the stuffed gnocchi with sausage, browned butter, kale, and white beans, they were all happily chatting. None of the dishes were particularly challenging, which actually fit with Sam’s target audience. And if necessary, they could be made “video sexy” with a few easy tricks: kneading the baguettes, cutting the vegetables, hand-rolling the gnocchi. Even tossing the pasta in the pan.
Willa ought to have been thrilled, and she was, but honestly ... she was having trouble concentrating.
Mari and Dan sat at either end of the rectangular table. The twins sat on one side, which left her and Hudson on the other. It wasn’t a huge table, so they were a little crowded. As everyone ate and talked, she was too aware of Hudson’s thigh pressed up against hers. She thought that maybe he was manspreading a little, but when she surreptitiously glanced down, she realized ... he was deliberately leaning toward her, maintaining contact. When she looked at him in surprise, he smiled and winked at her before crunching into the toasted baguette and bruschetta. Flustered, she tried to pick up her appetizer and promptly dropped it on the plate. When she looked up, she saw the twins watching her, Kimber with amusement, Jeremy with curiosity.
The rest of the night went along those lines. Hudson, in the midst of conversing with his father, seemed to carelessly sling his arm over the back of her chair, the warmth and weight of it resting against her. Then his thumb circled the ball of her shoulder, both comforting and strangely arousing.
When the rest of the family got into a humorous, raucous debate over who had burned a batch of cookies in a long-ago bake sale attempt, he leaned close to her ear.
“You okay?” he asked, his breath tickling the hinge of her jaw and her earlobe.
Instinctively, she turned—only to find his face right there, only inches away, his eyes staring into hers ... before dipping, quickly but unmistakably, to her lips, then back to her eyes.
It had taken her longer than it should have to tear her gaze away. Now, it seemed like everybody in the Clark family was studying them. Kimber looked absolutely giddy, and Mari and Dan looked pleased. Jeremy was hiding a grin as he rolled his eyes.
“Get a room, you two.”
By the time dessert rolled around—a flourless chocolate/coffee cake with fresh raspberry coulis—she felt like she could barely spell her own name, she was so unsettled. Hudson’s presence, his attention, was so intent yet so subtle (well, maybe not that subtle) that it surrounded her like a silk net, one that tightened the more she tried to fight it, or even move.
“That was delicious,” Mari said, around a long breath. “Kids? You two help me get the kitchen cleaned, all right? Dan, you can help me with the pots.”
“Oh, I’ve got it,” Willa instinctively protested, but Mari waved her off.
“You’ve been cooking delicious food for us, buying all the ingredients, and I know it’s because you feel like you’re paying rent or something. Which is ridiculous,” she added with a gentle smile. “But in this house, if you cooked, you don’t clean. Why don’t you and Hudson take a stroll? It’ll be golden hour around now, and the meadow’s beautiful.”
So Willa found herself going outside with Hudson. Mari was right: it was beautiful. Sunset wouldn’t be until around nine, about an hour later than she was used to in Southern Cal. But the light now was gorgeous, like the world was trapped in amber.
She sighed, standing by an old tree in the middle of the overgrown meadow. To her surprise, Hudson walked up behind her, wrapping her in his arms and resting his chin on her head before pressing a kiss to the crown. “Thanks for cooking,” he said.
She pulled away, then found herself turning in his arms, facing him, looking up into his eyes. He looked at her like she was something precious, she realized, and squeezed her arms.
Then she got up on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Thanks,” she said, “for everything else.”
He rested his forehead against hers for a long moment. “It’s not just me, right?”
“What isn’t just you?”
“This. Us.” He paused. “What I’m feeling.”
She bit her lip for a second. “I don’t think so,” she said, but added, “but I have to admit, I don’t know for sure. It’s fast, and ... things are complicated.”
“I’m okay with taking things slow,” he said. “Just so you know.”
She smiled. She did know. And she trusted him.
She just had so much more hope than she’d had in a long time. She tugged him down to her and kissed him harder, more insistently.
Until she yelped as something hit her hard in the butt.
She spun, and Hudson pushed her behind him, then growled. “Goddammit, Butterscotch,” he scolded.
The goat seemed to grin at him, unrepentant. It did its little trilling goat war-shriek before going back into the tall grass, like a goat secret operative.
“I really hate those things,” Hudson grumbled.
She laughed. “No, you don’t. You act tough, but you’re really a softy.”
“Not at the moment,” Hudson said, pulling her back to him, and she got the double entendre immediately—and thrilled to it. Still, he sighed. “Just as well. I gotta pump the brakes before I really regret things,” he said, laughing against her mouth.
“Like what?”
“Like forgetting to bring condoms and lube,” he muttered, and she laughed, pulling away and swatting his arm. He grinned, the dimple in full effect. “But I haven’t had sex outdoors in a long time, and it’s summer. That means mosquitos, and ... yeah, no.”
She cracked up, feeling lighthearted. She’d even say joyful. They walked hand in hand through the meadow, not toward her house but toward the other side of the property. She could hear the lapping waves of the sound in the distance, and it was getting chillier as the sun finally started going down.
By the time they got back to the house, the kitchen light was on, but it was quiet. There was a note on the table. When Hudson read it, he laughed, then handed it to her.
It was written by Mari, apparently.
HUDSON & WILLA,
The kids have gone to the city—Jeremy’s hanging out with friends and Kimber’s staying over at Fi’s. I told them I’d take care of the goats in the morning. Dad and I are down at the cabin for the night.
Do with this information what you will. And have fun!
Love,
Mom
P.S. Be safe, too.
Willa looked at Hudson, aghast. “So they know ...?”
“Yeah, I’d say it was pretty obvious,” Hudson said, rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling.
“Oh, my God.” Willa raised her hands to her flaming cheeks. Somehow this was worse than the first time she’d shame-walked into the kitchen wearing his clothes ... because they were giving their stamp of approval.
“You okay?”
“I want to crawl into a hole and die!” Willa said.
He laughed, tugging her until she was plastered against his chest. “On the plus side,” he said, kissing her neck and nibbling on her ear, “it means that we’ve got the place to ourselves for the night.”
She blinked.
Then she raced him to the bedroom.