Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Hudson
If you asked any of my exes, they would tell you that I wasn’t good at dating. And it wouldn’t be a complete lie. I wasn’t good at dating. I had no idea what the hell I was doing most times. But I tried. Tried to the point that I probably failed more often than not.
But here I was, at Scarlett’s front door, package in hand, hoping to hell I didn’t fuck this up.
I took a deep breath and frowned at the slight breeze in the air.
It was chillier than usual, and I didn’t like that.
It was still early enough in the year that there could be a blizzard at any moment, but the weather app hadn’t sensed one, and the radar looked clear.
So today’s hike should be fine, but then again, snow could show up without warning.
That was what happened when you lived in the mountains.
The sun shone brightly, not a cloud in the sky, and it was warm enough that it canceled out the breeze, and honestly, we’d end up with a sweat after our date. But I was still going to check the weather one more time before we headed out.
I knocked on the door, waiting for her to answer.
I hadn’t expected to be in a relationship, or whatever the hell we were to each other.
We had been very careful not to put labels on this thing, other than the fact that we were only with each other at this moment.
We weren’t going to be sleeping with anyone else, or fighting with anyone else like we did.
That was maybe the fun part. Or I was losing my damn mind.
I didn’t want to be in a relationship. I wasn’t good at them.
But I had never expected Scarlett Blair.
And perhaps that was the problem. There was nothing usual or expected about her.
I didn’t want her to become an obsession, but she was quickly becoming one.
And that was the problem. I didn’t know where we stood, or if there should be a change at all.
But I couldn’t fix that right now. I just had to focus and not fuck this up.
And I had a feeling I would be the one who fucked things up before she did. She always had a plan. A list. A goal.
I was trying not to drown.
We weren’t equals, and I knew she was better than me. But that was just fine. I liked the fact that she was better than me. Except she probably needed to learn the truth before long. About who I was. And that was going to be a problem.
Scarlett opened the door, a small smile on her face.
“You’re here.”
I frowned. “Of course I’m here. I said I would be.”
She rolled her eyes, leaned forward, and put her hand on my chest. When her lips brushed mine, I sighed.
“Okay, grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy,” I lied.
“Of course you’re grumpy, that’s what I like about you.”
“Sure. We can go with that.”
She just smiled, before looking down at what I held in my hand.
“What’s this?”
I shrugged. “Something I thought you might like. You can hate it. It’s fine.”
The problem was, I didn’t want her to hate it. I wanted her to love it. And want more of it.
This was a problem. After all, Scarlett was so much better than me. I knew that, the town knew, and my family would know if they actually paid attention.
Yet yelling at them about wasn’t going to help anyone.
She needed to know the truth about me. About everything had happened.
She might not believe she did at this point, but I knew it.
Pretending the worst hadn’t happened wouldn’t help anyone.
It would just make it harder for me to leave when the time came, so I needed to tell her the truth.
And maybe today would be the day. Or maybe I’d be just as much of a coward as always.
I finally blinked out of my own thoughts and looked up at Scarlett who frowned at me.
“What’s wrong, Hudson?”
“Nothing.” I cleared my throat. “Do you mind if I set this inside before we go out?”
“Of course not. What is it?”
“It’s nothing much,” I said with a shrug, as I moved passed her into her home. It smelled of coffee, fresh flowers, and that scent that was all Scarlett.
When she finally left me after she realized the type of man I was, it would take forever for me to get that scent out of my brain.
“Can I open it?” she asked, her hands outstretched.
I nodded, suddenly self-conscious that she’d hate it, and wondered what the hell I was doing, before she finally took it from my hands.
She gently set the large rectangular package on the kitchen island and began to slowly undo the brown paper wrapping it.
“You don’t have to be too careful with the paper. It’s not fancy or anything.”
“I just don’t want to damage what’s beneath it.” There was an odd note underneath her tone, and I realized her hands shook.
“Scarlett?”
“No. I’m fine. Totally fine.” As she began to blink quickly, I realized she now stared at the front of the painting.
“Hudson.” Her voice cracked, and I cursed under my breath.
“You don’t have to like it. Or even take it. You just mentioned that you wanted a painting, and I like to paint. It’s sort of what I do. So, here you go. It’s yours if you want it.”
She just stood there, holding the painting without a word, as tears began to trickle down her face.
I cursed again and reached for the painting. She clutched it to her chest and shook her head.
“Don’t take it. I love it. Mine. It’s all mine.”
“What?” I asked on a whisper. “If you hate it, you don’t have to tell me. Hell, you can tell me if you want to. I just thought you’d like one.”
“You are such a generous, amazing man, and I hate you for that.”
I blinked, confused as always when it came to Scarlett.
“What did I do?”
“You painted me our afternoon.”
She turned the painting so I could see it even though I knew exactly what was on it as I’d been the one to create it. The mountains, the path next to the creek, the picnic bench where we had eaten, and I had taken her mouth with such an abandoned ease, that I’d nearly taken her body right there.
“I thought you’d like it, but you don’t have to keep it. I promise.”
“You are not taking this away from me,” she said, shaking her head.
“This is mine. Now I have an original Hudson Cage. And nobody will know the true meaning behind it other than us. They can ask about the color of blues and what exactly that tree means, but they’ll never know.
Because this is just ours, and I’m going to start crying again, so you’re going to have to deal with it. ”
With a sigh, I gently tugged the painting away from her, set it on the table, and then pulled her into my arms.
“You’re a menace.”
“And I love it so much. So if I cry a little bit, just let it happen.”
“Like I can stop you from doing anything. We both know that’s a lost cause.”
She snorted against my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist. I rubbed my chin on top of her head and breathed in that scent of hers that I couldn’t get enough of.
“You’re ridiculous you know,” I said after a moment.
“You are. But that’s fine, I’ll let you call me that, because I love it so much.”
“You love that we’re ridiculous together?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood since I had no idea what the hell was going on.
“I love that you thought of me. That you painted that on a whim, just because I’ve said I wanted to buy one when I had enough money.”
“You never have to buy anything from me, Scarlett.”
“Then you say things like that, as if I’m not supposed to fall at your feet in tears.”
“You know I hate tears. Don’t cry.”
“I promise never to use them as a weapon, but I am going to cry.”
I lifted her chin with my finger and took her mouth with my own.
She moaned into me, as my tongue slid against hers, and the tension eased out of her shoulders. My cock stiffened, but I ignored him. He’d have to wait until later.
“Well then,” she whispered against my mouth.
“I know we have a plan for the day, but if you’d like to show me exactly how thankful you are...” I trailed off.
She pulled back, laughing, and shoved playfully at my shoulder. “Menace,” she said again, before kissing my jaw. “Let’s go for our hike, and then when we come back, I can show you exactly how thankful I am.”
My cock paid attention once again.
“Okay then. Sounds like a plan.”
She reached between us, rubbed her hand along my shaft. I closed my eyes and groaned.
“That’s just mean.”
“I really am mean. I hope you can hike with a hard-on.”
In answer, I reached between us and rubbed the seam of her jeans over her clit.
She let out a shocked gasp, and I grinned, loving the way her eyes dilated.
“Payback’s a bitch. And that clit of yours is going to be rubbed every time you take a step. Poor baby.”
“I should hate you right now, but I can’t really catch my breath.”
“And now we’re even.” I smacked a kiss on her lips and took her hand. “Let’s start our hike. I’m going to drive to the edge of the trail, that way we don’t waste most of our hiking time getting through the property.”
“You’re the one who knows what he’s doing. I’ll just follow along.”
“I like the sound of that.”
She shoved at me again, before she picked up her backpack. “I went through the checklist that you gave me, as well as one that I found online. I should have everything for an afternoon hike.”
I frowned and lifted the bag. “It’s a little heavy. You going to be okay with that?”
“Of course. I even practiced on my small treadmill to see if I could handle it.”
My lips twitched. “Of course you did. I know you do a few hikes with the resort, but we’re going to be on the trail that heads off to the off-gridders.”
Her eyes widened. “We’re not actually going to go to the off-grid camp, are we?”
I shook my head. “No. These guys aren’t the dangerous ones. They are off-grid when it comes to most things, but they’re not the scary guys that believe they’re forming their own independent country within the United States. Or any other shit like that.”
“Oh good. They just don’t like being on the electrical grid or something?”