I’m never going to sue you, I will, but first you have to promise not to pay a single dime for that signature. I’m heading to bed since you refuse to be reasonable. Goodnight, Hudson. This discussion is over.”
“You promised me that you’d do three things for me, no questions asked,” he reminded me in a hoarse, frustrated tone.
I stopped right before I exited the room, but I didn’t look back as I said, “Don’t. Don’t you dare use that against me. I would do anything for you, Hudson, but please don’t force me to do something that I feel would be morally and ethically wrong.”
I left the kitchen and started up the stairs, feeling more than a little disappointed that Hudson would ever assume I’d take that kind of payment after he saved my life.
It wasn’t just the act itself, the rescue, that had saved my life. It was him. Everything he’d done for me after he’d pulled me from that hellish situation, too.
His concern about my wellbeing. His patience. His thoughtfulness. Even his constant need to supply me with large quantities of food touched my heart. His ability to put himself in my shoes and instinctively understand what I’d needed was priceless to me, as was his ability to empathize.
And he still thought he needed to pay me for what happened?
Is that really what people expected from him?
And did they really take it when he offered it?
When was the bullheaded man going to understand that there were some things that money couldn’t buy?
Standing by me, supporting me emotionally, listening when I had a rough day had meant everything to me.
Hudson was a workaholic, and Montgomery Mining was his life. Did he think I didn’t know how hard it had been for him to work at home with limited work hours? How difficult it had been for him to give up what little free time he had to spend it catering to me?
Well, I knew, and I wasn’t taking his damn money, too.
I had no idea if anybody had approached this subject with Harlow, but she certainly hadn’t mentioned it during any of our daily phone calls. I couldn’t begin to presume what she would do, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t take it, either.
I was able bodied, educated, and I was alive. I wasn’t about to say I was completely fine yet. Everything that had happened had been traumatic and painful, but that was pretty much…life.
Hudson Montgomery owed me nothing. If anything, I owed him.
“You’re right!” he bellowed from the bottom of the stairs. “That comment was out of line, but this discussion isn’t over, Taylor.”
I turned to look behind me near the top of the steps. I couldn’t really see the look on his face because the staircase was long. “It is over,” I said firmly. “To be quite honest, you hurt me. I have no idea why you’d even, for one moment, think I’d want something like that. But since you did think I’d accept it, that doesn’t say much about what kind of person you think I am, does it? Now, goodnight.”
There were so many things I ached for when it came to Hudson Montgomery, but a huge influx of cash didn’t even make the list.
I didn’t look back as I climbed the final few steps, and went to my room.
Hudson
“She wouldn’t take a goddamn penny of our settlement,” I growled into the phone to Jax. “I talked to her last night, and she completely refused. Said I’ve done enough for her already. What in the hell did I do?”
Jax and I had only been discussing business for a few minutes, but I really needed to get what happened with Taylor off my chest.
I’d had to force myself not to go after her gorgeous ass once she’d fled upstairs, and I hadn’t slept worth a damn last night.
At breakfast time, she’d come into the kitchen, grabbed some coffee, and had headed to the gym.
I hadn’t seen her since.
And it was almost noon.
Not that we generally spent much time together during the day. She had appointments. I had business. But she could have at least stuck her head into my office since things hadn’t ended very well last night.
“Was that her final word?” Jax asked. “Or do you think she’ll come around?”
“No, I don’t think she’ll come around at all. She offered to sign something that says she won’t sue for God’s sake, but she won’t take money for it. It’s a damn good thing