Billionaire Undercover - J. S. Scott Page 0,64

completely let go.

“We’ll see,” he grunted. “Once you’re healed.”

He took my face between his palms and kissed first one scar on my face, and then the other.

His actions were so tender that they brought tears to my eyes.

Maybe because I knew, deep in my gut, that Hudson really did find me completely irresistible.

He saw some kind of beauty in me that I didn’t see when I looked in the mirror at myself.

“Thank you,” I murmured as he pulled back and our eyes met.

“For what?” he asked, quirking a brow in question. “For making you come? Baby, I assure you, that pleasure was all mine.”

Thank you for wanting me.

Thank you for seeing me.

Thank you for taking care of me.

Thank you for rescuing me.

Thank you for understanding me when I hardly comprehended my own reactions.

Thank you for desiring me.

Thank you for being the hottest damn friend I’ve ever had.

Thank you for being…you.

One thing Hudson had been wrong about was when he’d declared that he couldn’t see me as a friend.

We were friends, and he’d never convince me otherwise.

I could tell him almost anything, and know he wasn’t ever going to see me any differently after those words were spoken.

If it was a painful confession, he’d just hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay.

If I was out of sorts, he’d make me feel comfortable.

If I was sad, he’d try to cheer me up.

That was friendship, and no matter how much we wanted carnal knowledge of each other’s bodies, that solid base of comradery and affection would always be there.

It would for me, anyway.

I’d always been able to see beyond the workaholic, the billionaire businessman who ran his empire with a very firm hand, the alpha male with bossy tendencies, and his façade of being a guy who didn’t need anything or anyone.

Maybe he fooled most people, but not me. Hudson had his own needs beneath that powerful, cool veneer he showed to most of the world.

The guy carried a lot of guilt. He took on every responsibility people threw at him, and then asked for more. Hudson was a perfectionist when it came to his own actions, but he could easily forgive so many flaws in other people. He was intrinsically kind, however, for some reason, he didn’t think he deserved to get some of that thoughtfulness back.

I saw Hudson as a man, because beneath that sometimes cranky, billionaire businessman disguise, he needed somebody to see…him.

I took his head between my palms, and put a light kiss on his sensuous lips before I finally answered, “Thank you for being the most incredible guy I’ve ever known, Hudson Montgomery.”

He grinned. “Sweetheart, if I’d known that making you come was going to get you to kiss me this much, I would have tried it earlier.”

I laughed because Hudson’s sexually playful side was so damn irresistible. “My turn to touch you next time,” I said in a flirty tone I didn’t know I possessed. “We better get going or we’ll be late for the party.”

I fixed the zipper of my jeans while I watched Hudson shove his wallet in his back pocket, and grab his keys as he drawled, “Didn’t I already warn you about playing with fire?”

I smiled as I grabbed my purse, not nearly as nervous about meeting Riley and Cooper as I thought I’d be.

“Maybe you’ve made me into a pyromaniac,” I teased.

Our relationship had been so one-sided since the very beginning, and I hated that. Hudson had done all the giving, all the sacrificing. Whether he realized it or not, I was healing, and I was doing well. I was entirely ready to balance the scales.

I wanted to see Hudson smile.

I wanted to lighten the load for him, and see him more relaxed.

Hudson had been born into a world that had expected perfection from him at a very young age.

It was beyond time for him to realize that he deserved to be happy, and that he didn’t need to be flawless.

Somehow, I was going to be the one to teach him that.

Because, somewhere between his incredible rescue that had saved my life, and this very moment, I suddenly realized that I’d fallen head over heels in love with Hudson Montgomery.

Hudson

I watched Taylor as she picked up a handful of sand. She carefully let it spill out between her fingers while she talked to Maya Sinclair, her expression lively and animated.

Maya was the young daughter of Aiden Sinclair, Seth’s brother, and the little girl looked transfixed as she watched