“Where is she now?”
“Upstairs with Kelly and Sara. They’re going to stay with her tonight. My parents are going to see about getting her checked into a rehab facility. She doesn’t want to go, claims she’s in control and there isn’t a problem, but of course that’s what most addicts say.”
“Can they force her to go?”
“No, but I think my mom is hoping that the other two girls can convince her. Growing up they were all thick as thieves. I know Brittany still values what they have to say. Maybe they can get through to her.”
“I hope so.”
“Me too.” He leans forward, resting his elbows just above his knees. “Welcome to the Demasi household,” he says with mock cheer.
“It’s not a real family get together until a fight breaks out and someone goes to jail.” I laugh.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?” I ask, squirming slightly under the sudden intensity of his gaze.
“Make light of every situation – no matter how fucking dark it is. It’s like nothing gets to you.”
“I don’t know about that. I feel like a lot gets to me.”
“Well you don’t show it.” He cocks his head toward me. “Seriously, thank you for tonight. You could have turned a blind eye to what was happening with Holly and Brittany but instead you chose to go to my sister’s defense even when she didn’t want you to. Because of you my sister’s addiction has been brought to light and we can take steps to get her better. Otherwise we might not have known until it was too late.”
“There’s no way I would ever stand by and knowingly allow another person to be hurt. Especially when I know it’s someone you love. I will always have your back, Hudson. And that includes your family as well.”
“I’ll never understand it.”
“Understand what?”
“What I did to deserve you.” He straightens, reaching for me. “Come here.” He tugs me into his lap. I immediately snuggle into him, laying my head on his shoulder after I adjust the throw blanket to cover both of us.
“I love you, Hudson.” Leaning in, I kiss the underside of his jaw.
“I love you more.”
“You wish.” I smile, pressing my face into his neck.
“There’s no wishing about it, Miss Claire. Facts are facts.”
“Is that so?” I shift so I can look at him.
“It is.” A smile plays on his lips.
“Too bad we’re staying in your parents’ house. Otherwise I’d be happy to prove you wrong.”
“And how exactly would you be proving me wrong?” He grins and some of the tension in his expression starts to fade.
“I can think of a few ways.”
“You know. This house is pretty big.” He gives me a knowing look.
“I am not having sex with you in your parents’ house.” I laugh, shaking my head.
“So much for proving me wrong then, huh?”
“So that’s how you want to play it?”
“I’ll play it anyway I have to if it means I get what I want.”
“And what is it that you want, Mr. Demasi.”
“You, Miss Claire. Always you,” he whispers against my lips as his mouth closes down over mine.
Chapter Seventeen
“So, I hear you had quite the Demasi family experience,” Colton says, seeming to appear next to me out of nowhere.
“You could say that.” I shrug, turning my gaze back to Hudson as he and the guys do the sound check for tonight’s televised New Year’s Eve performance.
He hasn’t said so, but I get the feeling he’s a little nervous. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Not that he has any outward signs of nerves. He’s as cool and collected as ever, but the better I get to know Hudson the easier it is for me to pick up on his little tells.
“Hudson said they got Brittany into rehab.”
“Yep.” I nod. It’s not that I can help it, but I’m feeling a little awkward given the last time I saw Colton he was trying to get me out of the courthouse to hide the fact that Hudson was married.
“He told me how you stepped in. How you are the reason all this shit came to the surface. Pretty solid of you. Did he tell you Holly got twenty months for drug possession?”
“Yeah. I was there when Kelly called. I’m glad he’s in jail. He deserves a lot worse than that for putting his hands on Brittany the way he did.”
Colton nods and I catch it in my peripheral, but I keep my head facing forward.
“I owe you an apology, Lennon,” he says after a long beat of silence.
“What for?” I play stupid, glancing to meet his soft gaze.
“I did wrong by you with the whole Steph situation. I know that. But I was in an impossible place. I was just trying to see my way through it while drawing as little blood as possible. I’m really fucking sorry.”
“Don’t be. Hudson never should have asked you to lie for him. That’s on him. You were just trying to do right by your friend and your sister. I would have done the same for Emma.”
“That’s how I justified it to myself. But he should have told you in the beginning and he didn’t, so I should have.”
“Don’t do that. This isn’t on you. And it’s all behind us now. All has been forgiven. I’m happy.” I smile. “We’re happy.” I look back out at Hudson.
“I can see that.” Colton chuckles. “So we’re cool?” I look back to see his arms open.
“We’re cool.” I laugh, stepping into his embrace.
He gives me a tight squeeze, kissing the side of my head seconds before releasing me.
“Can’t hug you for too long. Hudson might pound in my face if he thinks I’m putting the moves on his girl.”
“Thinking you might be right on that one. He’s been on a bit of a punching spree recently.”
We’re both laughing when Hudson comes running off the stage seconds later.
“I see you two made up.” He nods at Colton as he drops an arm over my shoulder.
“Right as rain.” Colton smiles, his gaze dropping to mine for a brief moment before going back to Hudson’s. “Now, if you’re finished here, I have a couple things to run by you before tonight’s show. You got a few?”
“Yep.” He nods, kissing my temple before dropping his hold on me. “You okay for a few, babe?”
“I’m good.” I grin. “Go.” I shoo him away with my hands. “I’m gonna look around. Come find me when you’re done.”
“Love you,” he calls over his shoulder.
“Love you too.” I wave, watching him and Colton disappear backstage moments later.
—-
“Do you think it’s possible that someone can actually get everything they’ve ever wanted?” Hudson asks, running his hand through the ends of my hair as I lay tucked into his side in the bed of our hotel room.
It’s been three hours since we rang in our first New Year together and while I should be tired, after all the buzz and excitement surrounding Hudson’s performance, I’m still hyped up and not the least bit sleepy. Of course, he was amazing, but what came after was even better. Making love to Hudson has to be the best way I’ve ever started off a new year.
“Why do you ask?” I keep my cheek pressed against his chest, loving the sound of his heart beat against my ear.
“I don’t know. I always assumed in following music that I would be giving up other things. Stability. Love. Family. But laying here with you, being with you, makes me feel like maybe I really can have it all.”
“You can,” I say, sliding my arm across his stomach.
“Do you believe in fate?”
“To an extent. I believe certain things happen for certain reasons, but how we deal with those situations is what determines the outcome. Not something that’s already been predestined. What about you?”
“I’ve never really believed in fate or destiny. At least I didn’t until I looked out into the crowd of my first show on my very first major tour and saw you standing there. Of
all the places and people in the world – it was you standing there.”
“I know what you mean. I felt the same way looking up and seeing you on that stage. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we were both there.”
“Fate.” I can feel his smile against the top of my head. “There I was, getting to do something I had dreamt of doing nearly my entire life, but as good as it felt, something about it didn’t feel complete. But then I saw you and suddenly everything aligned. It was like the stars formed a giant arrow that pointed down to where you were standing in the crowd. A neon sign that read ‘This girl is the one. Your destiny. Don’t let her go again, asshole.’ I hadn’t seen you in years. I didn’t know if you were married or had children. I didn’t know if I even had a chance in hell with you, but there was no way I wasn’t going to try.”
“That’s why you sent Colton after me.”
“I was afraid if I waited I’d miss the chance to speak to you. The girl I couldn’t shake. The girl who after only one night had sunk so deep into my skin I knew I’d never be able to wash her away. And I didn’t either. I thought about you for weeks, hell months. Even after five years had passed I still found myself thinking about you. Every single time I saw a bottle of tequila.”
“I thought about you too. Probably more than I should have. I met a couple men after you but I couldn’t stop comparing them to you to give them any real chance. And then Gage.” Hudson stiffens slightly beneath me so I choose to leave it at that.
“Gage what?” he pushes when I don’t continue.
“We really don’t have to talk about that,” I say, shifting so my head is resting on his bicep. Hudson rolls to his side at the same time so we’re facing each other, our faces inches apart.
“Finish what you were going to say.”
“It’s just, in the beginning with Gage I found myself comparing him to you at every turn. But eventually I realized that I was holding everyone to this impossible standard. I was trying to make everyone match up to a man I really didn’t know. I finally started letting go of this unrealistic fantasy I had about a man I’d likely never see again. But even then you’d still creep into my mind from time to time. I’d remember how my heart sped up when you smiled or how my skin prickled when you touched me. How you made me feel a way no one had ever made me feel before and you did so without even trying. I think back on that time now and it feels so strange. I had this idea of who you really were and I’d convinced myself I was wrong because no one could be that perfect. But now I see just how right I was about you all along. Even after just one night I knew you were something special.”
“I think you might like me, Miss Claire,” he teases, gracing me with his dimpled smile.
“I think we’re way past like, Mr. Demasi.” I laugh, throwing my leg over his hip before rolling our bodies so that he’s on his back and I’m straddling his middle. “Now the real question is – what am I going to do with you?”
Hudson’s hands slide to my hips as his eyes graze across my bare chest before finding my face again.
“What do you want to do with me?” he purrs, pressing upward to grind his hardening length against my bare sex.
“I think you know exactly what I want.” Reaching between us, I position his erection at my entrance, sliding myself down onto him.
I bite my bottom lip to keep from moaning. I swear I could get off with him just being inside of me. He feels that good.
“You are a greedy little thing, Miss Claire,” he tells me, groaning as I begin to ride him at a slow and torturous pace.
“Only when it comes to you,” I admit, completely unashamed by how wild he makes me feel.
Hudson has opened me up to someone I always knew I was but hesitant to embrace. With him there are no boundaries, no limits. With him I am free.
Chapter Eighteen
“I saw Hudson on TV on New Year’s Eve. He freaking rocked the house,” Emma says as we sit facing each other on the couch in my living room. We both have a pint of ice cream in our laps.
With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t get to see Emma over the holidays like I normally would, so we decided to have a girls night in to exchange gifts and catch up a little.
“He was amazing, wasn’t he?” I smile around my spoon as I shovel a huge bite of Butter Pecan into my mouth.
“I can’t believe you were there.”
“Neither can I. The whole experience was so surreal.”
It’s only been four days since he went back on the road, yet L.A. feels like a lifetime ago. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how much I miss him every time he leaves. It seems like it only gets worse each time.
“So tell me what happened after the show. Did you guys hole up in a hotel for the next twenty four hours?”
“Pretty much.” I giggle. “Of course that was after Hudson took me to the roof top terrace of the hotel we were in and kissed me as the clock struck midnight. It felt like a scene from a movie.” My cheeks flush just thinking about it.
“Sounds like a scene from a movie.” She sighs. “I’m so freaking jealous of you.”
“You are not. You have Robert. He’s incredible.”
“No, I know that. Of course I do. And I love him more than I thought it possible to love another person. But Robert and I are boring.”
“There’s something to be said for boring.” I wag my spoon at her. “I’d give just about anything to be able to come home to Hudson every night. To have him here when I wake up. To kiss him before I leave for work. Yeah, it’s exciting and different and an experience not many people get to have, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its downfalls.”
“Yeah, I guess. The grass is always greener and all that good stuff.” She swirls her spoon in the ice cream carton.
“What about you? What did you and Robert do?”
“We sat at home and watched the ball drop on television.” She gives me a look that has me bursting out in laughter seconds later. “See, I told you. We’re boring.”
“You’re not boring. You’re married and you’re settling down. I never thought I’d see the day but, Emma Barrett Mills, I think you have officially become a responsible adult.”
“Oh my god, don’t say that,” she whines loudly. “I’m not ready to be an adult yet.”
“Well too bad. It’s already happened. Bout time you accept it.”
“Speaking of adult things.” Emma suddenly looks nervous, abandoning her ice cream carton on the coffee table as she straightens her posture. “I talked to my dad over Christmas and after the duplex project is finished I’m going to be taking some time off work.”
“What? Why? How much time?”
“A few years maybe.”
“A few years?” I gape at her. “I don’t understand. You love working for your dad.”
“I do. But things have changed.”
“What things?”
“I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you.” She gives me a knowing look.
“You’re pregnant.” Right as the words fall from my lips, an instant and a wide smile spreads across her face as she begins nodding.
“Nine weeks,” she confirms.
“Oh my god! Emma!” I toss my ice cream onto the end table before practically diving at my best friend, pulling her into the tightest hug.
“It’s still early.” She tries to tramp down my excitement.
“But what do the doctors say? Does everything look good so far?” I pull back.
“So far, yes. Everything looks completely normal.”
“Emma.” I reach out, cupping her face. “You’re gonna be a mama.”
“I am.” Tears flood her vision.
“I’m gonna be an aunt,” I announce, dropping my hands. We may not be blood but Emma and I are closer than most sisters. She is my family and this baby will be too. “I’m gonna be the coolest aunt ever.”
“Just not too cool.” Emma laughs. “I can’t have you making Robert and I look bad.”
> “You just won’t know about it.” I laugh. “And Robert – is he excited?”
“Over the moon. God Len, you should see him. The other day I caught him reading a baby book in his study.”
“He’s going to be the best dad. This is going to be one lucky kiddo,” I say, placing my palm flat on Emma’s belly.
“I’m terrified,” she admits. “I’m scared something bad is going to happen again.”
“Nothing bad is going to happen. Has this pregnancy been anything like the last one?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“See. The doctors say everything looks good and you’re not having any of the same issues so it sounds like there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I know you’re right, but I think a part of me will always be a little worried.”
“Welcome to parenthood.” I smile, taking her hand in mine. “Pretty sure you’re going to be at least a little worried for the rest of your life.”
“What if I’m not ready for this?”
“Emma, you are the most incredible person I know. You are going to rock this the way you rock absolutely everything you do. This kid is going to have the best mom in the world.”
“And the best aunt.” She grins, her green eyes wet with unshed tears.
“Definitely the best aunt,” I agree.
“Now you and Hudson need to get on it so we can complete our plan of having our children grow up together.”
“Hudson and I are nowhere near ready to have children.” I shake my head.
“I don’t know. You two seem awful gaga over each other.”
“That may be, but being crazy about each other does not equate to being ready for children.”
“I don’t know. I could totally see a little Hudson/Lennon combo running around.”
“Let’s handle one baby at a time, yeah?” I gesture to her stomach.
“Fine. But I still think it would be amazing.”
“Not happening.” I need to nip this conversation in the butt. I had enough baby talk out of Hudson’s family over Christmas. I don’t need to hear it out of Emma too.
Tequila Burn Page 11
