It didn’t surprise him in the least that she’d taken it upon herself to become well versed in self-defense and then to teach it to her sister. That was Kenna, through and through.
She flipped on the lights in the mayor’s office. The desk was much less cluttered than he’d have guessed it’d be, but one look at the smaller desk in the outer office—no doubt for the mayor’s assistant—revealed why. Piles upon piles of paperwork were just hanging out, as if waiting for someone else to do it.
“Looks like the assistant’s more backed up than your daddy.”
Kenna huffed out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, except the last assistant quit—again—and with all the commotion of everything, we haven’t hired anyone else. So, I’m playin’ mayor and mayor’s assistant, and I don’t exactly know how to do either one.”
As she sat down, a note fluttered off the desk and onto the ground in front of him. He snatched it up while Kenna busied herself behind the desk.
Mac,
Don’t worry about any of this! I’m gonna come in early tomorrow and take care of it. Go home and get some rest. I MEAN IT.
Avery
“Hey, Kenna?” he asked, holding up the note between two fingers.
“Hmm?” she answered distractedly.
“This note from Avery says you’re not supposed to work on any of this and just go home. She’s gonna take care of it tomorrow.”
She scoffed. “There’s way more here than she can take care of in an extra hour tomorrow. I’m not leavin’ until I tackle some of it.”
“I don’t know…she seems pretty adamant. She wrote ‘I mean it’ in all caps.”
A fond smile quirked up the side of her mouth, but she didn’t lift her eyes to his. “That’s just Avery.”
He wanted to ask her about her friendship with someone who must’ve been a transplant since he’d never met her. He wanted to ask her a thousand questions just to get the details of everything he’d missed out on, but she didn’t give him the opportunity to do so. Without another word, she sat behind the desk and started sorting through the piles, her head down and brow furrowed.
Blowing out a resigned sigh, he settled into one of the guest chairs as Kenna flitted from the desk to the filing cabinets to the copy machine to her daddy’s desk, and he sent a group text to Caleb and Lilah.
How’d CB do?
He only had to wait a minute before a message came through from his sister.
She was sweet as all get-out. We took her to see Atticus, though. Her scent left a little something to be desired.
He grinned, his thumbs poised to type a response when a text from Caleb popped up.
What your sister means is CB smelled like she found a field of manure and rolled around in every inch of it she could find. Then found a skunk and made pals. Then found its shit and rolled around in that. And then ate something dead, shit it out, and then rolled around in it.
This time, he laughed outright. That might have been more than Caleb had ever said at one time in his whole life.
“What’s so funny?” Kenna asked distractedly.
“Caleb’s really enjoyin’ CB’s scent.”
At the mention of the dog, Kenna glanced up, a soft smile on her lips. “She behaved herself?”
“I think so. I’m still gettin’ the full story.”
Kenna nodded before ducking her head, her brows drawn in as she focused once again on the stack of papers in front of her.
Hudson brought his attention back to his phone and typed out a response. Basically what you’re saying is she smelled like shit?
A text from each of them came in at the same time.
Yes.
No!
The bubbles appeared, and then another message from Caleb popped up.
Your sister just punched me and told me to apologize to the dog. So that’s where we’re at.
His sister was a lot of things, but a delicate petal wasn’t one of them. If anyone could hold their own with his XO, it was her.
He typed back, Sounds about right.
What Caleb MEANT to say was that she’s an angel and we love having her.
Wait, we? The two of them had been together when he’d dropped CB off that morning, but he’d assumed since Lilah was on duty at The Sweet Spot, Caleb would take the dog to the cabin with him while he continued working on the place.
Hudson only managed to feel a tinge of guilt at the fact that his buddy had been doing as much—if not more—work on the cabin than he’d been doing himself. But then he reminded himself that this was exactly what Caleb had needed and why he’d come home with Hudson in the first place instead of going to his empty apartment.
We? He sent the text and then waited for several minutes before a reply came in—the dancing dots would appear and then disappear before reappearing again. Someone was working up quite a story.
The message came from his sister, when it finally arrived. I went to the cabin with Caleb so he could finish up the shingles like y’all talked about. Nash had to repair damage from a leaky pipe, so I needed to be gone anyway.
And yet she didn’t just keep CB at her apartment…
Like the freaky little sister she was, it was as if she had heard his thoughts, because it took only a couple seconds for another text to come in from her.
The noise has been driving me crazy, so I needed a little peace.
Something was going on, and Hudson would bet his pocketknife collection it had to do with his partner and his baby sister getting together right under his nose.
He poised his phone to begin typing out a response to ask just that when Kenna blew through the outer office where the assistant’s desk sat, a stack of papers in her hand and her hair all askew.
They’d spent two days in the wilderness and then half a day stuck in a hospital, and yet her hair hadn’t looked crazier than it did right then.
“Everything all right?” he asked, standing and slipping his phone into his back pocket.
She barked out a humorless laugh. “No. No, everything is absolutely not all right. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doin’, Hud, but I still have to do it, right? I still have to figure out what the hell is needed because I’m the only one here to do it, and everyone’s countin’ on me.” Her voice rose with each word until she was really on a roll, yelling into the room empty save for the two of them. “Doesn’t matter that me doin’ this job was a complete afterthought—it’s not like I’m not used to that. And besides, it’s the least I can do since I so epically failed at bein’ a good daughter by runnin’ off to a freakin’ mountain while my family went through hell.”
“Hey…” Hudson gently took the stack of papers out of her arms—a stack she’d managed to wrangle into an orderly pile, he noted—and set them on the already cluttered desk. Then he propped his ass against the edge and tugged her between his spread knees. “You’re not a failure because you were gone, Kenna. I mean, what’s your solution to that? Never leave town? Walk around wearin’ a walkie-talkie so you’re available 24/7/365?”
“So what if I do?”
“C’mon, you know that’s not realistic.”
“What do you know about it, anyway?” she snapped, yanking her hand out of his grasp. “You weren’t here when your family went through their own hell while your momma was in the hospital. You didn’t see what happened to them. But I did, and now I’m doin’ the same damn thing to my family.”
Ouch. Her words were meant to cut deep, and they did, though he tried not to take it personally. He knew the only reason she was lashing out at him—had ever lashed out at him—was because she felt so comfortable with him. More comfortable than with her family. She felt secure in their relationship, and that was something at least.
It took a lot for Kenna to get to this stage, but he’d borne the brunt of her wrath a time or two during their twenty-year friendship. Like when Will had started dating Finn back in high school and pulled away from Kenna, leaving her behind without a second thought.
Inst
ead of getting defensive—because, really, she was right. What did he know about it? She’d seen whatever devastation had happened to his family because he’d been a continent away—he gripped her hips and tugged her even closer. Squeezed her a little tighter, just to remind her he wasn’t going anywhere.
At least not tonight.
“I wanna tell you a story.”
“Now’s not the time, Hud.”
“Now’s the perfect time.” Without giving her a chance to argue again, he said, “You remember when I got injured?”
She stilled and settled a hand on his chest, her eyes searching his. Swallowing audibly, she nodded. “Yeah.”
Yeah. Of course she did. It was the catalyst for their separation. The reason she’d pointed to that proved he didn’t have his head one hundred percent in the game, and that she was a distraction he couldn’t afford.
“When I was in recovery at the medical treatment facility, my team went on a mission without me. And not all of them came home.”
“Hud…” Kenna said, regret and sympathy seeping into her tone.
“I blamed myself for that for a long time.”
“Well, that’s stupid—it wasn’t your fault. You weren’t even there.”
He shrugged. “That’s what people told me, but it didn’t matter. I still thought if I’d been there, it all could’ve been avoided. At that time, I was a cocky kid who didn’t really even know his head from his ass, so I don’t know what the fuck I thought I could’ve done differently. But logic doesn’t come into play when you start down that spiral, does it?”
He looked to her, but she didn’t respond, her lip caught between her teeth as she darted her gaze over his face.
“You know what my mentor beat into my head a hundred times until I finally listened?”
“What?”
“Who’s to say if I had been there that things wouldn’t have been even worse? I beat myself up for a long time over the woulda-shoulda-couldas, but I finally realized I’d go crazy if I continued on that path. So, I let that shit go.”
“So, what you’re tellin’ me is I should let that shit go.”
“No, what I’m tellin’ you is it’s not your fault. Whatever happened with your daddy was gonna happen whether you were here or not.”
“But what if—”
“We could play the what-if game all day, Kenna. But sometimes, you just have to take it for what it is and move on.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but instead slumped against him as she gave him a slight nod.
He knew her well enough to know this wasn’t over. He may have won the battle, but he certainly hadn’t won the war. He had more work to do…he just hoped he could get it done in the little time he had left in Havenbrook.
The thought of leaving her in eight days sent a wave of adrenaline through him, making his hands tingle with the need for action. It was the same feeling he got on a mission. It was what allowed him to settle in and do exactly what he needed to do with a single-minded focus.
The only problem was, he had no idea what he needed to do in this situation, because his responsibilities were at war with his wants.
He wanted to stay with Kenna. Build a life with her here in Havenbrook, but he couldn’t do that yet. He still had a responsibility to his country. Still had a responsibility to his late father, too.
When Kenna’s eyes fluttered closed as he tugged her to him, he got lost in the feel of her lips under his, her tongue slipping into his mouth, her throaty groans as he took the kiss further and deeper. In that moment, he was desperate to act on the responsibility he felt toward her and nothing else.
They’d been lying in Kenna’s bed for at least an hour. She hadn’t said a word since Hudson had pulled her into his arms and tucked her body tight against his. His cock had mostly behaved, somehow remaining at half-mast, which was a goddamn miracle when Kenna had her ass tucked right up against it.
Her breathing was slow and even, but he’d slept with her enough times to know she wasn’t actually asleep. There wasn’t the soft whistle of her breath or her quiet, sleep-induced murmurs. He didn’t know if she thought she could trick him into thinking she was asleep, or if she just needed the quiet time to get some mental clarity, but he’d place bets on the former.
He tightened his arms around her and pressed a kiss against her hair. “Why are you still awake?”
She was quiet for a moment, then sighed heavily. “Can’t sleep.”
“No? How come?”
“My mind won’t shut off.”
He hummed and tucked his face into the curve of her neck, resting his lips on her soft skin. They’d both showered when they’d gotten home to clean off the funk of a weekend on a mountain and a day spent in a hospital. Now she smelled like lemongrass, all sweet and fresh.
“You know what I heard is real good for that?”
“What’s that?”
He slipped his hand under her tank top and palmed her stomach, his pinkie brushing the band of her panties. “Orgasms.”
She breathed out a laugh and wiggled her ass against him. “Plural, huh?”
“You know me, Kenna.” He slid his hand lower until his fingers were tucked into her underwear, brushing just inside—too far away to do anything but drive them both crazy. “Always aimin’ high.”
“I don’t know if you should aim so high tonight. I’m not even sure I can come once with all this shit crowdin’ my brain.”
He rolled her onto her back and hovered over her, bracing himself on his forearms. “That sounds like a challenge.”
Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight that shone in through her windows. “It definitely was not.”
“Maybe it should be.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t you already get your ass handed to you tonight? You really want me to stomp all over your masculinity again?”
He tucked his face into her neck, making her crane her head back. Back and forth, he brushed his lips there, licking his tongue along her skin to see if she tasted as good as she smelled.
“Baby, if you think my masculinity took a dent because the girl I’m fucking crazy for knows how to take care of herself, you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”
With aching slowness, he gripped the hem of her tank top and slid it up until it rested over her breasts. He blew a cold gust of air against her dusty pink nipples, smiling as they hardened under his attention.
“And if you think I won’t spend all fucking night with my tongue buried in your pussy just to make sure you come, then I haven’t been provin’ my worth to you.”
“You’ve—” She gasped as he sucked one nipple into his mouth, her fingers threading through his short hair, not so subtly pushing him lower, which he happily obliged. “You’ve been just fine in that department. I just… Tonight, I—”
She broke off on a weighty sigh when he brushed his short beard along her lower stomach and spread her legs a little wider to give him even more room. He pulled her panties down only enough to reveal all her glistening pink, then he folded her in half, pressing her knees to her chest, and licked a line straight up her center.
He didn’t know if it’d be better to tease her. Work her into a frenzy until she was out of her mind with need. Or if he shouldn’t fuck around and just do everything in his power to make her come quickly and as many times as humanly possible. His gut was telling him to go for option two, so that was exactly what he did.
He feasted on her pussy, licking his way through her folds until he could flick his tongue against her clit, sucking it into his mouth and making her gasp. His fingers flexed on her thighs as he held her down and licked her until his mouth was covered in her excitement and her moans were a near-constant cadence in the otherwise silent room.
He wanted to look up and see her face. Watch her expressions as she came undone against his mouth, but this position didn’t afford that, and he wasn’t going to do anything but keep his tongue against her pussy until she came against i
t.
“Hold your legs up,” he said gruffly. “Need to get my fingers in you. Gotta stretch this little pussy, don’t we?”
She moaned her response, her hands flying to hold her legs against her chest just like he asked. “Hud…”
“I know. I know how bad you need it.” He slid one finger into her tightness, groaning at how easy she took him thanks to her wetness. “I’m gonna get you there. Even if I have to spend the next week with my face right here.”
She breathed out a laugh, the action making her pussy tighten around his finger, and he groaned as he slid another deep, pumping them into her in a slow, controlled motion.
“Christ, Kenna, I need you so fucking bad,” he said, the roughness of his beard brushing against her with every word. “You’re so goddamn tight like this.”
He slipped in a third finger, curling them to hit that spot inside her that made her breath hitch. Made her fingers tighten against her legs. Made her entire body shake with need.
“Tell me what it feels like.”
“Oh God,” she moaned, looping one arm around the backs of her knees as she brought the other to his head, trying to guide his face closer to her pussy.
He grinned and tipped his head back to dislodge her hand, catching it with his mouth and scraping his teeth against the fleshy part of her palm. “Tell me.”
“Full. I feel so full.”
He hummed, dropping his eyes to watch his fingers disappear inside her, desperate for it to be his dick instead. He’d had her just that morning, but it felt like it’d been a lifetime since he’d felt her walls surrounding him, had her heat engulfing him. With all the time they’d missed, even a minute without her felt like a lifetime.
“Just imagine what it’ll be like when it’s my cock inside you instead.”
Her pussy started fluttering around his fingers, and he brought his tongue back to her, flicking it against her clit in the way she loved—the way that hadn’t failed him yet.
And it didn’t start tonight.
She came on a sobbed breath, her back arching off the bed, her short nails digging into his shoulders as her walls clenched around him, her clit throbbing on his tongue.
Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook Book 4) Page 19
