good-looking, ancient poets should have written sonnets about his body. I waited in the doorway until he was done with his set. The cherry on top of a crappy twenty-four hours would be him dropping the weight bar on his face.
As the bar clanged in its holder, Hudson turned toward me and down to grab a towel he’d thrown on the floor.
“You’re awake,” he said, but it was muffled by the towel he was scrubbing over his face. “How’d you sleep?”
“I thought I should ask you that. Up early?”
“Sleep sucked.” He tossed the towel on the floor and straddled the weight bench, hands to his knees and his chest heaving from exertion. He turned to me and flashed an impish grin. “Company was nice though.”
“I’m not sure how much help I was if you couldn’t sleep and had to come start working out in the middle of the night.”
“It’s after five.”
I arched a brow. “How long have you been in here?”
He sighed. “Point taken. And it wasn’t you. My mind wouldn’t settle. There’s so much to do. Doctor’s appointments, figuring out if he’ll need a nurse, or if I should move back home. We’ll have to go through his current projects to figure out what I can take on, what we can divvy out…”
As he rambled, staring at me but not seeing me, I moved toward him quickly until I was straddling the bench with him and facing him.
“Hey.” I placed my palm on his cheek. “You have time for that. His first appointment isn’t until next week yet.”
He brought his hand to mine and held my wrist. “It still all needs to get figured out.”
“But not in the middle of the night. And not this morning. And I’m here to help. However you need.”
His stormy eyes scanned mine and then dropped to my mouth. God. I remembered how good it felt to kiss Hudson. How warm his lips were. Even now, sweaty and unshaven, I was drawn to him. I fought a shiver that wanted to break free as his tongue appeared, swiping along his bottom lip. Like he knew what I was thinking. Remembering.
I now understood why they kept their secrets. I didn’t truly fault them for it, not really, anymore.
My stumbling block came in the form of something that hadn’t happened yet. What happened next time it was easier to hide something from me than talk to me?
What happened the next time they didn’t trust me with the truth?
I could survive it once and understand after some space, but if it happened again? I wasn’t sure I could pick myself back up after that.
Hudson’s hand fell to my thigh. He didn’t apply pressure, didn’t push that hand forward or squeeze. I still felt it like a vise had wrapped around my heart. One touch from Hudson and my pulse skittered into a tailspin.
“I really want to kiss you,” Hudson breathed. It was more of a whispered prayer or wish. He leaned in incrementally.
And oh God. I wanted that. I’d missed him. So much.
“I wasn’t in here only because of my dad, you know.”
He was closer. Still leaning in. If I didn’t move, I’d let him do whatever he wanted with me. Would that be so wrong?
“No?” Two letters. They tripped over my tongue and my voice cracked.
“I was in here because I was worried about what I’d do if I stayed in that bed with you any longer.”
“Oh.” My brain, the part of it currently melting from the heat of his gaze and his searing touch on my body, shouted for me to ask what he’d do. Or demand a show-and-tell demonstration.
My rational side kicked in first and I blinked, breaking the spell. “Hudson.”
His name was an apology on my lips.
Because I couldn’t.
I wasn’t ready.
Giving in because we were scared about David wouldn’t do us any favors.
“I get it,” he said. “I do. I understand.”
He stood from the bench and swung a leg over, as if my refusal meant nothing. Holding out his hand, he grinned down at me. “Ready for some breakfast before you have to go get ready for work?”
And just like that, he was able to sweep away the sexual tension smoldering the curtains in the room as if it never existed in the first place. Me?
I wouldn’t be able to do that until I was back in the privacy of my own condo, relieving the tension in private ways.
Which only further confirmed how much my body wanted Hudson. It was my heart that