grin that I knew was meant to cheer me up. “It wasn’t dumb,” he argued. “I find it very hard to believe that you’ve done a single dumb thing in your entire life, Taylor Delaney, and it was just a little…ice cream mishap.”
I lifted a brow. “An ice cream mishap?”
He nodded as he handed me a bowl. “Exactly. Now stop kicking yourself and eat that before it’s completely melted.”
The awkwardness between the two of us just wasn’t there like I thought it would be. Most likely because he still had no idea how much I wanted to get him naked.
Thank God!
I looked at the bowl, and as usual, Hudson had stacked it.
I pushed my way to the carton, forcing myself to ignore the way my body reacted when we were shoulder-to-shoulder, and scooped half of the pile of ice cream back into the container.
He grabbed my wrist. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“You don’t have to feed me like I’m starving to death anymore, Hudson,” I said in an amused voice, easily breaking his grip, and backing away once I had a reasonable amount of ice cream in the bowl.
“I want to make sure you’re well fed,” he grumbled. “I want you as healthy as you were before the kidnapping.”
I took a small bite as I watched him put the container away. Hudson was big and solid, but his movements were efficient, purposeful, like he didn’t have a single second to waste.
And God knew I liked nothing better than to watch that scorching hot body of his move.
Okay, maybe I was pathetic, but if I couldn’t touch, it wasn’t like I was going to stop looking.
I’d never been attracted to a man the way I was to Hudson, so it wasn’t like I went around drooling over men’s bodies every day, but for some reason, I couldn’t help myself when it came to Hudson.
“I’m on my feet, and I’m eating well,” I reminded him. “I’m so much better than I was in the beginning. I feel pretty normal.”
“Not good enough,” he said in a guttural voice as he picked up his bowl and turned toward me.
The two of us ate in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Once we discuss the settlement and get it into your bank, you won’t have any financial worries. Not that money is ever going to make up for what happened, but at least you won’t be so damn obsessed about working before you’re healthy again.”
I swallowed a huge mouthful of ice cream before I asked, “What settlement?”
Hudson stopped eating for a moment as he replied, “The compensation for this entire incident. You and Harlow were on the job, so obviously we’re going to compensate you for what happened.”
He was making absolutely no sense. “You already have. I know you paid my hospital bills; I’m still getting my intern pay, and you’ve covered every single expense I’ve had since I’ve been here.”
“Our workman’s compensation handled that,” he scoffed. “I’m talking about a personal settlement.”
I looked at him, confused. “Why in the world would I need that?”
“Because you deserve it after what happened,” he responded matter-of-factly. “We already gave Mark’s family his payout, and our life insurance company paid them as well. I know that money isn’t going to bring him back to his family, but it should help them financially for the rest of their lives.”
“Mark is dead,” I said flatly. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still alive, and have absolutely no intention of suing you. Ever. So this conversation is irrelevant.”
I took the last bite of my ice cream, rinsed the bowl, and put it into the dishwasher.
Hudson finally spoke as he dropped his own bowl into the dishwasher. “It’s not like a lawsuit. Think of it as an apology from us for what happened.”
“No,” I said firmly. “Absolutely not. I already told you that this wasn’t your fault, and I’m declining your offer.”
“You can’t decline,” he rasped. “We already paid Mark’s family.”
I could see the stubborn look on his face, and I knew he wasn’t backing down. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ignore him this time. Not about this.
“No!” I said adamantly. “I don’t want your money. Not as some kind of payoff or guilty conscience payment, not from a lawsuit, nothing. You’ve done more than enough already, Hudson. You’ll just have to trust me when I say I am never going to sue the very person who ended up saving my life. If you want me to sign something that says