Hudson (Anderson Billionaires #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,81

care that she might be losing their battle of wills.

She’d have plenty of time to worry about that later. For a nondate, it had been a pretty perfect day. Maybe he was a pretty perfect man. Maybe she was falling for him, and maybe he just might win this battle they were locked into.

By the time he dropped her off at home she was more confused than ever. She didn’t know what was going to come next. She didn’t know what she wanted to come next.

She did know for sure that she wanted to see him again.

Chapter Twenty-One

Daisy sat in her best friend’s house, pacing back and forth. She was nervous. Hudson had managed to talk her into going to his brother’s house for a barbeque. At first the plan had been to go there and look at the chicken coop he’d created. All of a sudden it had turned into a big family event. She’d tried to get out of it, but he’d gotten her best friend involved, who was now joining them, and Darla was all excited to go to a party with the Andersons in attendance.

As a social worker, Darla loved to analyze people, and there was no family more intriguing than the Andersons. They weren’t what the public expected them to be. They were wealthy beyond most people’s comprehension, great looking, and had hearts of gold. Why didn’t they have a million skeletons in their closets? That’s why Darla was so curious.

“Daisy, you’ve been pacing for an hour. It’s time to get ready,” Darla said with a laugh. “I’m not letting you say you have a headache and you need to get out of it.”

“I don’t see why we have to go,” Daisy whined. “And I don’t have anything appropriate to wear.”

Darla looked her over from head to toe. “Your clothes are a definite problem. Come with me and I’ll hook you up.”

Before Daisy could answer, there was a knock on the door. They both turned. “Are you expecting someone?” Daisy asked.

“Not yet,” Darla said as she moved to the door. She opened it to see Hudson, looking spectacular as always.

“Well, hello handsome,” Darla said, flashing him a brilliant smile.

“Hello, Darla,” Hudson said before his eyes flashed past her and landed on Daisy. “Hi, beautiful,” he added, making her blush.

“You’re early.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “Way early.”

“I was in this area and was hoping to get a head start,” he said.

Darla opened the door wider and held out her arm. “Come on in,” she told him, which he did. She shut the door then grinned at the two of them. “I’m dang glad to see you’re still around, handsome. It’s great to see you,” She gave him a wink that had Daisy rolling her eyes.

“It’s a pleasure to see you too. I’m hard to shake off,” he told her, making her laugh.

“That’s a good thing since Daisy loves to chase people away. You can’t allow her to bully you.”

“Are you two seriously going to talk about me like I’m not here again?” Daisy asked, tapping her toe as she glared at both of them.

“We’re doing it in front of you so you can’t say we’re hiding anything,” Darla said as she blew Daisy a kiss. Then she looked at Hudson again. “We were just going to get ready so you’re welcome to wait if you’d like.”

“I have zero problems waiting while you ladies get ready. I’m all yours to take you to the ball.”

“I’ll get you a beer, and we’ll be ready in thirty minutes tops,” Darla said, looking far more excited than Daisy.

“A beer sounds great,” Hudson said as he moved to a comfortable looking couch along the back wall of the living room.

Darla grabbed Hudson a beer, gave him the remote for the television, then took Daisy’s arm and led her away. As soon as they were out of earshot of Hudson, Darla shut the door and pulled Daisy to the closet.

“I want you to spill all. What in the heck is that tension between the two of you? There’s some serious chemistry brewing!”

Daisy wanted to deny it, but she knew she couldn’t. Whenever she and Hudson were in the same room it felt as if fireworks were going off. “We’ve been spending more time together than I’ve admitted to you, but there’s really nothing going on. It’s all about the property,” she finally said, not loving that she was lying to her best friend, and completely unsure what else