“Taste-free, too?”
“Shut up, ass.” Lilah climbed back up on the ladder, shooting Hudson a glare over her shoulder. “Caleb likes ’em just fine.”
Hudson narrowed his eyes, dividing a look between his best friend and his sister. “Why the hell has Caleb tried them and not me?”
Caleb heaved a sigh as he pulled a strip of blue tape off the roll and handed one end to Lilah before squatting again with the other end. “Not sure how I got dragged into this. I just eat what people give me.”
“Even if what they give you tastes like dirt?” Hudson asked.
“Screw you, Hudson Miller.” Lilah faced him from five feet in the air, hands braced on her hips, her anger enough to keep her steady as a rock on that ladder. “If you’re gonna be an ass, you can get out. Caleb can help me all I need.”
Shoulders slumping, Hudson closed his eyes and blew out a breath, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you. I’m just…”
She sighed, no doubt exasperated by his asshole ways. “Love-sick over Mac.”
“Something like that,” he muttered, though he knew it wasn’t only that. Urgency bubbled under his skin, demanding he move. Go, do, act. Something. Before his time ran out and he had to leave Havenbrook all over again.
“I thought I’d have more time with her,” he finally said. “To see…” He trailed off, not wanting to voice the hope he’d had but hadn’t even admitted to himself. To see if she’d say yes this time. If she’d be with him, even if he didn’t—couldn’t—call Havenbrook his home.
“Well, with everything that’s goin’ on, you’re never gonna get time with her while you’re hangin’ around here,” Lilah said. “Mac’s spread way too thin to even be thinkin’ about you. With everything she has to do to keep her daddy in line, she’s gotta be exhausted. I’m sure you can guess just how easy Richard is makin’ it on her.” Lilah rolled her eyes before turning back to the wall to smooth the tape down the diagonal line, following the path of the laser level.
Lilah was no stranger to the Haven household, same as Hudson. She’d graduated with Kenna’s younger sister, Natalie. And though they hadn’t been the best of friends, they’d hung out their fair share of times—that tended to happen when one’s entire class consisted of a whopping seventy-five people, give or take a few. Which meant Lilah knew exactly what Kenna was dealing with—an overbearing, condescending, irrational, spoiled man-child.
“He needs a keeper,” Hudson said, frustrated that it was Kenna who’d somehow been volunteered for it but knowing she’d never decline. She was too kind. Too generous. Too giving.
“Ohh! You know what you should do?” Lilah asked, her eyes lit up. “You need to take her somewhere the real world can’t encroach. Maybe sneak off campin’ like y’all used to do?”
That actually wasn’t a bad idea. When they’d been teenagers, they’d done their fair share of camping out in the woods surrounding the Havens’ property. But that wouldn’t suffice for this trip—not if the goal was to get her away from her family so she could breathe a little.
“Maybe,” Hudson murmured, trying to figure out the details in his mind. A lot of the bulk work at the bakery had already been done, and they’d moved on to the finishing work. It’d been a small remodel, all things considered. Mostly cosmetic—just enough change to make the space feel more like Lilah’s since she was edging to take over more of the duties.
And the work needing to be done at the cabin… Hell, it had been going along fine for ten years while he’d been gone. What was another couple days?
Now the only thing he had to worry about was how he’d convince Kenna. It’d take a hell of a lot to get her to skip out on her duties. And though he hoped the only reason she’d pulled away this week had been because of her overworked status, he couldn’t help but worry it had something to do with the call he’d received.
And the reminder that he wasn’t there to stay.
MAC RESTED her head on her daddy’s—er, her—desk and closed her eyes. She could do that because she was acting mayor, and there wasn’t anyone around to tell her she couldn’t. She was acting mayor. Who thought this was a good idea?
Certainly not her daddy. Since she’d taken the seat at his desk on Monday, he’d done nothing but hover, stare over her shoulder, or elbow her out of the way when she wasn’t doing something “correctly.”
Basically, he was being his usual overbearing, pain-in-the-ass self while also not listening to his doctor’s orders to take time off. Her momma was having none of it. She’d allowed it for all of two days, and then she’d swung the hammer hard, hiding Daddy’s car keys so he had no way to get to town hall and forbidding anyone from giving him a lift. God bless her, because the in-person pop-ups courtesy of Richard Haven had finally stopped.
Now all Mac had to contend with were the incessant phone calls. Every fifteen minutes, her daddy called about something or other—none of which were overly important. All of which could wait until the thirty-second of Never. It’d gotten so bad, she couldn’t hear a phone ringing without cringing.
As if that weren’t bad enough, she’d been continually knocked down at every meeting she’d tried to attend on the mayor’s behalf this week. On her daddy’s schedule had been meetings with the sheriff, the council members, and the school board. She’d dutifully gone to each, complete with an iPad Will had procured her for making notes, but she could’ve left the thing in the office for all the good it’d done her. Hell, she could’ve just stayed in the office because the “meetings” were a giant waste of time.
This week alone, she’d been told more times than she could count that they didn’t feel comfortable discussing issues with her because she was too young, not to mention a lady. The first time, she’d laughed. Ha. Hilarious.
And then she’d realized they’d been serious. The first time it’d happened, she’d stared, gaping at Sheriff Halsey, her daddy’s best friend and a man who’d been in her life for almost three decades, unable to find her words.
She’d found a hell of a lot of them after she’d gotten home that evening and had washed the day off herself in the shower. Mac excelled in make-believe arguments in her shower, and if this week were any indication, she’d be a gold medalist in the shower-arguing Olympics when this was all said and done.
So, yeah, she was exhausted, trying to do a job she didn’t exactly know how to do, just out here floundering by herself. What she really needed was a nap. Maybe she could close her eyes for just a second… No one would—
A knock sounded at her door before it opened, and she snapped her head up, a piece of paper sticking to her forehead. She reached up and yanked it off her face, hoping whoever had walked in hadn’t seen that.
Hudson leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed, amusement dancing in his eyes.
So much for the futile hope that he didn’t see anything.
“What’re you doin’ here?” she asked.
Hudson’s gaze ping-ponged all over her face, reading her, so she sat up a little straighter and hoped she didn’t look as defeated as she felt. “I have a proposition for you.”
“Do you?” She ignored the way her stomach flipped over all the possible propositions he could suggest…most of them dirty. She’d been ignoring a lot of dirty ideas lately. Too bad her dreams made up for it.
He nodded. “I do. I want you to come campin’ with me this weekend.”
Memories flashed through her mind of all the times they’d gone in the past. They’d spent a solid seventy percent of their childhood outdoors, between the lake cabin and her parents’ property, and they’d had so much damn fun fending for themselves out there in the wilderness.
She was horrified to realize a knot had formed in her throat over thoughts of how things used to be between them. God, she hadn’t thought it’d be this hard to have him home. She hadn’t thought having these memories resurface would feel like she was being cracked right down the middle. Like she was excavating her sou
l.
And now she had not only her memories of their past, but their present, too. Thoughts of what they’d done in the woods the other day had been on a near-constant loop in her mind, keeping her company at the most inopportune times. It was hard to force the council members to take her seriously when she spent the majority of their extremely unproductive meeting squirming in her seat.
“I can’t.” She blinked, realizing that croak had been her. She’d truly had no idea what she was going to say to his offer until the words came out of her mouth. But as soon as she said them, she knew it was what she needed to do for her self-preservation. “I, um, have to work. At the bar.”
Hudson cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowing on her. “That so?”
“Mhmm,” she said, false chipperness in her voice. “So sorry about that, but I won’t be able to—”
“Cut the shit, Kenna.”
“Excuse me?”
“I already know you’re off this weekend. A little birdie told me.”
A little birdie named Willow Grace Haven, her no-good, rotten sister who was now dead to her.
“Oh, well, I…” She racked her brain, trying to come up with a plausible solution. Something other than telling him, Sorry, but you scare the living daylights out of me, and I’m too much of a chicken to spend uninterrupted time with you. “I have to fill in for someone.”
“No, you don’t.” He stalked to her desk, braced his hands on the top, and leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart. “Admit it—you’re scared.”
She gaped at him, her mouth dropping open on an offended huff. “I am not.”
“No? Then come. If you’re not scared and you don’t have to work, why not?”
“Because I…have a lot of things to do around the house.”
He stared at her, his assessing gaze never straying from hers. Then, quietly, he said, “Don’t tell me I have to make a bet with you to get your ass out there.”
She snorted. “Are you new here? Who says you’d win said bet? For all you know, you might be spendin’ your weekend cleanin’ out my gutters.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Can I assume if you’ve already got your terms decided, you’re in?”
Of course, she was in. When was she ever out? But instead of telling him that, she said, “Only if I can decide on the challenge.”
“Done,” he said without hesitation.
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, her brain working overtime to come up with something impossible for him to do. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go with him—it was that she did. And that scared the ever-loving hell out of her. Better to steer clear of him for a while, for her sanity’s sake.
Suddenly, inspiration struck, and she shot him a smug smile. “All right, hotshot, let’s see who can get Grumpy Gleaves to grin first.”
Gleaves Philander was approximately 270 years old and had been the town grump for as long as she could remember. Every day, he sat outside the barbershop, scowl firmly in place, as he scrutinized the passersby and mumbled under his breath about them.
Fortunately for Mac, Gleaves seemed to have a soft spot for her. It’d started when she’d given him an extra muffin she’d gotten from The Sweet Spot one morning during one of her ride alongs with Edna. Baked goods bought friendship with the grump, apparently. And she wasn’t above exploiting that friendship in the name of winning this bet to keep her heart safe.
“Fine,” he said. “But just so we’re clear, when I win, I get you for the weekend up on Havenbrook Ridge.”
“If you win, I think you mean.”
“No, Kenna.” He leaned even closer to her until she felt the warm gust of his breath against her lips. “When.”
Heaven help her, she wanted to lean forward and press her mouth to his. Wanted to slip her tongue inside just to remind herself that, yes, he did taste as good as he smelled. And shit, he smelled good. Fresh and crisp and manly.
Thank God this was going to be an easy win for her, because she had no idea what she’d do if she were forced into close proximity with Hudson for two days with nowhere to go and a single tent to sleep in.
Fifteen minutes later, Mac watched in stunned silence while Hudson and Grumpy Gleaves laughed and joked like they were old chums. In the couple years she’d been slipping him extra muffins, she’d barely caught a twitch of his lips, and now look at him. Who even knew the man had teeth?
If she didn’t know better, she’d think Hudson had played her. Except she’d been the one to suggest this bet, which meant there was no possible way he could’ve orchestrated this to his benefit.
Whether he did or not was irrelevant, because the fact of the matter was she’d lost the bet. And, like it or not, her weekend plans had just been filled. She just had to make sure her heart survived the trip.
Mac sat in one of the rocking chairs on her front porch, her stomach a mixture of knots and butterflies, all thanks to her impromptu overnight trip.
It’d only been hours since the bet she’d made with Hudson, which meant she hadn’t had nearly enough time to wrap her brain around what she was about to do—or surround her heart in bubble wrap. And Hudson would be there any minute to pick her up, so time wasn’t on her side.
The plan was to drive to the base of Havenbrook Ridge, then hike to the top, where they’d camp out for the weekend. It’d be a new adventure for them both since Hudson had never been, and while Mac loved camping, she didn’t have a lot of souls willing to go with her. She wasn’t dumb enough to hike through the harsh territory of Havenbrook Ridge by herself. Because of that, camping usually consisted of just her and Ella in the woods on their property.
If only she could blame her nerves on the newness and excitement of what she was about to do. Hiking the Ridge had been on her bucket list for more than ten years, and she was finally going to do it. That’d be enough to set anyone’s stomach aflutter.
Except…she never got nervous over things like that. Even on her first excursion—or any excursion—with the kids in the outreach program, she was cool as a cucumber. She’d been in a new place, hadn’t known a soul, and hadn’t had any idea what to expect, and yet she’d strode in there without a single worry.
She could try to fool herself all she wanted, but there was no denying the real reason for her stomach churning like a Category 5 hurricane. It was Hudson, plain and simple. She and Hudson, more specifically, and just what the hell was going on between them.
Nothing should be going on between them. They didn’t have time. He was leaving in ten days—not that she was keeping a running mental tally or anything—and then…what? Then they’d go back to what they’d been these past ten years—barely friends—and she wasn’t sure she could go through losing him like that all over again.
She lifted her head toward the rumble of Hudson’s truck, her gaze connecting with the dark blue rusted beast bouncing down the drive to her house. God, that truck brought back a lot of memories, and she couldn’t believe the damn thing still ran. It’d carted them to every football game, every day of school, every weekend at the lake… They’d hunted down Nat and her two best friends, Asher and Nash, in that thing too many times to count.
Mac’s favorite memories in it were when they’d go out to Old Mill Road and lie in the truck bed, staring up at the stars and talking about their futures. That was where they’d concocted their plan to go to college together—a plan Hudson had bailed on only days before they were set to leave.
Why that still caused a sharp twist in her heart, she didn’t know. He’d done what he’d needed to do, and it wasn’t as if his choice had been selfish. He was fighting for the freedom of an entire country, so why had it hurt her so bad when he’d left? Why did it still hurt?
Hudson stepped out, shut his door, and strode toward her, looking like a walking sex dream, all confidence and charm. His fitted Henley did a poor job at concealing the bulges and dips of his muscles, though she certainly wasn’t complaining. He wore hiking boots and dark pants, avi
ator sunglasses hiding his eyes from her. Though, that was probably good—Lord knew he could melt her with a single glance, and she needed to stay solid as a rock.
He took the two porch steps in one stride, and then he stood there, hands braced on his hips, chin dipped toward Mac’s backpack resting against the railing. “Your phone workin’?”
She furrowed her brow and glanced down at the phone that’d been mocking her all morning. “Yeah, why?”
“You get my texts?”
The ones she’d been staring at for thirty minutes? “Yeah…”
“Did you…read them? ’Cause I’m pretty sure I told you I’d take care of all this—” he gestured to the pack by her feet “—and you didn’t need to worry about it.”
She stood and hefted the backpack over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows. “Yeah, well, I was always taught to come prepared, so…” Besides, it felt too intimate to allow him to take care of that for her. Like something a boyfriend would do, and he certainly wasn’t that. It was probably a dumb thing to draw a line in the sand about, but there she was…drawing it.
His lips twitched, and he inclined his head, tucking his sunglasses on his collar. “Point taken.” Stepping into her space, he rested his hand on her hip, his thumb sneaking under the hem of her lightweight puffy jacket to rub faint circles on her skin. He moved closer until he was eye level with her. “But you know I’ve got you covered. I’d go without before ever I let you.”
Oh…no. She could feel her walls melting right where she stood, and nope. No sirree, this could not happen. She had to buck the hell up and brush it off—brush off his sweetness and his consideration and his protectiveness over her, even if she wanted to burrow in just to see what it was like to be the center of someone’s attention.
Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook Book 4) Page 11
