Playing with Words (Boggy Creek Valley #2) - Kelly Elliott Page 0,97

because he stumbled back before wrapping me up tightly against him.

I lost the battle and started to cry. “Hudson, I love you too. I think I fell in love with you the first moment you walked into Turning Pages and smiled at me! I’m sorry I acted all weird just now. I was just in shock. I’m still in shock!” I chuckled through my tears.

He set me back down and cupped my face in his hands. “I swear to you, I won’t ever do something like that without asking you again.”

With a half-sob, half-laugh, I stretched up and kissed him. “I don’t think you’ll be making a habit out of buying buildings.”

He smiled, and my heart felt like it tripped over itself. “You never know—it is a pretty good investment.”

I shook my head and laughed.

“You’re not upset with me, then?”

“No, no, my goodness, no,” I said. “But we do need to come up with a plan for me to buy it back from you.”

A slow smile spread across his handsome face. “I’m going to need you to put it all in writing this time.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “The last twenty-four hours have been an emotional rollercoaster. I’m exhausted…but I also need to get back to the bookstore.”

“And I need to get back and finish this book. But if you don’t mind, I think I’ll pack a bag and come stay with you tonight.”

A pull of desire hit me hard in my lower stomach. Waking up with Hudson in my bed was one of my new favorite things. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you pack enough clothes to come and stay a few days. Or better yet, you can stay at my place permanently instead of the cabin.”

One of his brows rose.

I looked down. “I mean, if you want. If you’re more comfortable at the cabin, then—”

“Are you kidding me? Being able to make love to you anytime I want? I think I’m going with that option.”

My cheeks began to ache from how hard I was smiling.

“We’ll talk later?” Hudson asked as he pulled out his phone and glanced at it.

Nodding, I replied, “We’ll talk later.”

Hudson placed a hand on the side of my face before leaning down and brushing his lips over mine in the most tender kiss I’d ever received. “I love you, Greer.”

Oh my, how I loved those four words. “I love you too.”

He wrapped his fingers around mine, and we walked back into my parents’ house.

“Is everything okay?” Kyle asked. Everyone else looked at Hudson, then me.

“Everything is amazing, thanks to Hudson,” I said. “He’s the mystery man who purchased the building.”

I almost laughed when my parents turned to Hudson with stunned expressions. Kyle and Aiden didn’t seem surprised, so I figured they had already guessed who the buyer was.

Hudson shrugged and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I need to run.”

He waved his hand, quickly making his escape while everyone was still stunned into silence. When the front door shut, Aiden started to laugh.

“Wait, did you just say Hudson bought your building?” my father asked.

Kyle chuckled and mumbled, “I knew it.”

I nodded. “He did. He bought it for me. I mean, I’m going to pay him back, but he bought it so I could keep the bookstore right where it is.”

My mother let out what sounded like a strangled laugh. “Isn’t that the most romantic thing ever?!”

Daddy walked over to the window and looked out. He folded his arms over his chest and chuckled. “I knew I liked that boy.”

Hudson

A week later, I returned to New York City to break the news to Russ that I wasn’t going to be living in the Big Apple anymore, and that some major changes were occurring in my life. He sat at his desk and stared at me with a dumbfounded expression. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, only to shut it again, shaking his head as if trying to gather his thoughts.

Smiling, I asked, “Are you going to say anything?”

He drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m trying to process all this, Hudson. You just dumped a mother lode of information on me.”

I sat back, crossed an ankle over my knee, and waited.

Russ, who had been my literary agent since I’d published my first book and was one of my closest friends, pinched the bridge of his nose and dropped back in his chair. “Let me see if I got all of this straight. You finished the book. You