Wild Thing

by Nicola Marsh

  ‘Someone talking about my right-hand man?’

  Makayla stiffened as Tanner appeared behind her and draped an arm across her shoulders. ‘Hud is a great guy and I’ve never seen him so happy, so I’m guessing that has something to do with you? He won’t give me any details, which is a pain in the ass because I want to hang shit on him but can’t. Maybe you’ll give me the low-down?’

  Heat suffused her cheeks as she shrugged off his arm and elbowed him in the ribs. ‘I’m not saying a word.’ She made a zipping motion over her lips. ‘And leave him alone.’

  ‘Protective too, I respect that.’ Tanner winked at Charlotte, who always appeared shell-shocked that a guy as hot as Tanner was talking to her. ‘Ain’t love grand?’

  ‘You should know, bozo, considering you’re gaga over Abby,’ Makayla said, chalking a point up in the air.

  She didn’t need to see Tanner’s goofy grin to know the guy was head over heels for her best friend.

  ‘Hey, here’s an idea.’ Tanner’s gaze turned positively evil. ‘We should double date some time. You and Hud, me and Abby. That way, I’ll get the low-down first-hand.’

  ‘Not going to happen.’ Makayla hesitated, not wanting to make a big deal over the fact her relationship with Hudson was a secret, but having to tell her friends so they wouldn’t accidentally hassle her in front of the wrong people, like the show’s cast. ‘Hudson and I are keeping this thing between us secret.’

  Tanner and Charlotte wore matching comical WTF expressions so she continued. ‘He cast me as the lead in his show so I don’t want rumours starting that I slept with the boss to score the role.’

  Understanding sparked in Tanner’s eyes. ‘Good point. I won’t say a word.’

  ‘And I’ve got no one to tell,’ Charlotte added, sounding morose.

  ‘I’ll leave you ladies to it.’ Tanner backed away, hands up, as if he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a lecture. ‘But for what it’s worth, I approve of you and Hud getting together. I’ve never seen him like this, relaxed and approachable. You’re good for him.’

  Before she could respond, Tanner swivelled and strode away, leaving Makayla more worried than ever.

  They hadn’t actually spelled out the boundaries of their relationship, beyond keeping it secret. Did Hudson understand they had an expiration date? That she would ultimately head overseas to pursue her dream?

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Charlotte touched her arm, concern creasing her brow. ‘You look like you’ve choked on a croissant.’

  ‘This love stuff is tough,’ Makayla said, propping on a stool, wishing her shift could end now so she could head home and hide away in the apartment to mull this latest development.

  Charlotte’s eyebrows shot heavenward. ‘You love him?’

  Startled, she shook her head. ‘No. Just a figure of speech.’

  She couldn’t afford to fall in love with anyone right now, least of all Hudson. He’d broken her heart once by walking away from her, had seriously hurt her. She didn’t want to return the favour but that was exactly what she would do when she ended this.

  If love entered the equation for either of them, it would be disastrous.

  ‘Have you ever had a serious relationship?’

  Charlotte snorted and gestured at her sedate outfit of grey trousers, white blouse and flat pumps. ‘Do I look like the type of woman to inspire grand passions in any man?’

  ‘Don’t sell yourself short,’ she said. ‘Any guy would be lucky to have you.’

  ‘Yeah, tell that to the hundreds of hotties batting down my door.’

  Makayla grinned at her friend’s dry response. ‘So that’s a no, then? No serious relationships?’

  ‘No relationships, period.’ Charlotte sighed and shifted on her stool, uncomfortable. ‘I dated occasionally in uni. Fellow accountancy students. No muss, no fuss kind of guys that were boring as hell.’ She shook her head. ‘At the risk of sounding like a cliché from one of those fabulous romances I read, I need a bad boy. Some big, bold, annoying, arrogant guy to rattle my cage.’

  Makayla bit back her first retort, that the kind of guy Charlotte described would break her heart faster than she could say number-cruncher. ‘Trust me, sweetie, you’ll meet some great guy when you least expect it.’

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, and I’ll morph into a sexy siren too.’

  Makayla chose her next words carefully, not wanting to offend. ‘We could do a makeover if you like? Play around with some different looks? Change it up a little with hair and make-up?’

  Charlotte wrinkled her nose as if the milk in her hot chocolate had curdled. ‘All that stuff just isn’t me. Besides, when I meet a guy I want him to like me for me, not because of a few fake eyelashes and hair extensions.’

  Makayla could relate. Hudson knew about her past, knew her faults, but liked her regardless. He’d even moved past his freak out of seeing her strip and that kind of acceptance was rare.

  Hudson was a keeper. Pity she wouldn’t be the one doing the keeping.

  Makayla glanced at her watch and pulled a face. ‘I have to get back to work.’

  ‘Sure.’ Charlotte pointed at the cabinet. ‘Starting with serving me those pastries I ordered.’

  Makayla smiled. ‘Whichever guy is lucky enough to have you, I hope he has a French pastry addiction like you do.’

  ‘If he doesn’t, I’ll convert him.’ Charlotte hid a smile behind the mug as she lifted the hot chocolate to her lips, but Makayla recognised bittersweet when she saw it.

  Charlotte was a homebody. The kind of woman who coveted the girly dream of a husband, kids, dog and a mortgage. From the way she kept their apartment spotless and whipped up comfort meals, she’d make a good wife. Makayla hoped that in chasing her dream, she didn’t get her heart trampled on by some jerk in the process.

  ‘One beignet and pain au chocolat coming up.’

  However, as Makayla served Charlotte her order, then headed back to the kitchen, her thoughts circled back to what Tanner had said earlier.

  She made Hudson happy, and Tanner had never seen him like that.

  How happy would Hudson be when she walked away?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ‘WHEN YOU SAID we’d be eating the best burgers in town, I had no idea you’d bring me here.’ Makayla stared around the run-down diner in the heart of Kings Cross, her eyes alight with joy. ‘It’s been at least six years since I last had one of Jonnie’s specials.’

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ he said, leaning against the faded red vinyl seat in a booth in the far corner near the jukebox. ‘You rarely ate burgers back then anyway, always watching your weight.’

  She crinkled her nose in disgust. ‘Yeah, it almost became an obsession, until Mum talked sense into me.’

  ‘Dancers need to be fit, not stick insects.’ He snagged her hand across the table and lifted it to his lips. ‘Besides, I happen to think you’ve got a sensational bod and I wouldn’t change a thing.’

  ‘Sweet talker,’ she muttered, grinning when he brushed a kiss across the back of her hand before releasing it. ‘I’m way too curvy for a dancer but I bust my ass working out in the gym and jogging daily to ensure I can still score the roles I want.’

  Guilt lodged in his chest, as heavy as a stone, and he resisted the urge to rub it away.

  He still hadn’t mentioned the Broadway role Reg had told him about. The audition was a few days away and he knew he had to tell her. But he’d been looking forward to this date, to a stroll down memory lane, too much to spoil it.

  Because he knew what would happen the moment he told Mak about the audition. She’d become obsessed, wanting to research the show, rehearse and focus on the biggest break of her career.

  He didn’t blame her. He would do the same. But that small stubborn part of him deep inside resisted telling her, at least for anothe
r day.

  He would lose her. Nothing surer. He’d spent a lifetime doing right by other people; he could be a selfish prick for a few more hours.

  ‘Is everything okay?’

  He stiffened. He should be glad she could read him so well but it didn’t help the guilt eating away at him. ‘Yeah, why?’

  ‘You keep drifting off the last two days, like you’ve got something on your mind?’

  ‘Only you.’ This time, when he reached for her hand, he didn’t let go. ‘I’ve never had a real relationship before and it’s kinda distracting.’

  ‘I know the feeling,’ she said, giving his hand a squeeze. ‘I need to focus on opening night next week and making sure my footwork in the final samba is perfect, but sometimes at rehearsal I find myself thinking of other things.’

  A cute blush stained her cheeks, making him want to haul her across the table and do wicked things to her.

  ‘Like?’

  The blush deepened. ‘Like the way you take me in the shower every morning. Like the way you’re so eager we barely make it to your bedroom most nights.’

  The tip of her tongue darted out to moisten her bottom lip, an innocuous action that shot straight to his already hard cock. ‘Like the way you use your tongue to make me forget every goddamn thing.’

  Hudson shifted in the booth, trying to ease the constriction in his jeans. Yeah, like moving around would do that. Buried deep in Mak or being sucked dry by her luscious mouth was the only way to ease his aching cock.

  ‘Do you have any idea what you do to me?’ He threaded his fingers between hers. ‘I’m tempted to say screw the burgers and let’s get out of here.’

  ‘You’re hard?’ She quirked an eyebrow, feigning innocence, and he bit back a groan. ‘Pity these old booths don’t have tablecloths.’ A wicked smile curved her lips. ‘I could’ve taken care of that little problem for you.’

  ‘There’s nothing little about my problem and you know it.’

  ‘Modest, much?’

  They laughed and this time it wasn’t guilt making his chest heavy but his heart, doing some weird flip-flop that made breathing difficult.

  This was what he’d always imagined it would be like between them. Friends who became lovers and it only solidified their bond. The kind of connection born of years of shared confidences. The kind of relationship bred from trust.

  But she hadn’t always trusted him. Not enough to tell him the entire truth, like that night indelibly etched on his brain when she’d ripped the blinkers from his eyes.

  Now he was doing the same, withholding information from her.

  What did that say about their relationship?

  ‘Why did you start stripping?’

  Damn, the question popped out before he could censor it, or at least dress it up in better terms.

  Predictably, she tugged her hand free of his, wariness descending over her expression as it blanked.

  ‘Is that why you brought me here, to bring up the past?’ Her upper lip curled in disgust. ‘You thought plying me with burgers like old times would get me to spill my guts?’

  Shit. He’d blurted the question at a vulnerable moment, desperate to discover something that had bugged him for years. But in doing so he’d driven a wedge between them. So much for a day of sweet reminiscing.

  ‘Our date here has nothing to do with me trying to soften you up,’ he said, showing his palms to her like he had nothing to hide. ‘I guess the closer we get, the more I don’t want anything tainting what we have. And while we’ve moved past that night, I hate that it happened in the first place. That it’s this thing between us, like an elephant in the room that we keep ignoring.’

  Her eyes blazed with anger as she leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table. ‘Do you have any idea what you did to me, saying all that hurtful stuff that night you saw me stripping before walking out of my life?’

  She shook her head, but not before he glimpsed the sheen of tears.

  Fuck. He’d made her cry.

  ‘That night I saw you at Le Chat, I freaked because I didn’t want that kind of life for you—’

  ‘It wasn’t your call to make,’ she said, her voice barely above a hiss. ‘You didn’t question my motivation. You didn’t ask for an explanation. Instead, you jumped to conclusions and judged me for it.’

  She dragged a hand through her hair, making his palms itch to do the same. ‘God, Hudson, I missed you so much. You were my best friend back then, the only person who really got me and suddenly you weren’t there any more.’

  She tapped at her chest. ‘It was like you stuck a knife right here and I never recovered.’

  Hudson never cried but for the first time in a long time, he felt the burn of tears. ‘I’m so, so sorry. A lot of what I said that night had nothing to do with you and more to do with my own shit.’

  She lifted her head a fraction, studying him with curiosity. ‘What do you mean?’

  Hudson had never told anyone about his mother. About his early suspicions, later solidified into the horrible truth. As a young kid he’d watched her spiral downhill, from a respectable waitress, to a stripper, to something far worse he’d discovered later...

  It had killed him inside, watching the woman he idolised walk away from him without looking back.

  That was the real reason he’d fought with Mak that fateful night, unable to stick around to watch her follow the same downtrodden path.

  Losing his mum had devastated him. Losing Mak the same way would’ve finished him off.

  So he’d removed himself completely, had cut ties with her and hadn’t looked back.

  He could trust her with the truth but something held him back. Some long-seated, deeply buried, self-protective mechanism that screamed he couldn’t trust anyone, least of all the woman he’d hurt and who had the potential to hurt him right back.

  ‘I’d been working the clubs, doing odd jobs, since I was ten. You knew that.’ He rubbed a hand over his face. It did little to ease the tension. ‘I saw too many women fall into the temptation of easy money by stripping. Then it became harder and they couldn’t walk away. Some turned to drugs, others took the next step...’ He trailed off, horrified when her expression turned glacial, as if she’d never look at him the same way again.

  ‘I hated seeing you up there. Hated that you hadn’t turned to me if you needed money. Hated that you hadn’t trusted me enough to confide in me before you did it—’

  ‘You’re a moron,’ she said, her tone low and lethal. ‘Do you think I wanted to take my clothes off for a roomful of slobbering sleaze-bags? I needed the money fast to pay for Mum’s funeral. She deserved that at least, after all the sacrifices she made for me over the years. So I accepted that job for one night. That’s it.’

  Sick to his stomach, he stared at the woman he’d misjudged, searching for the right thing to say and coming up empty.

  ‘I saw how hard you worked, how desperate you were to escape the Cross, so no way in hell I would’ve approached you for that kind of money.’ She shook her head, her glorious red hair tumbling over her shoulders and semi-shielding her face. ‘I was ashamed of how far I had to go to get that money and no way in hell would I have told you about it. Then you walked in that night and you were a prick to me.’

  ‘Fuck, I really messed up.’ He rested his hands on the table, palms down, needing some kind of anchor in a world suddenly tipped on its ass. ‘I wish I could turn back time and do it differently that night but I can’t. I’m an idiot. But know that I was trying to protect you from a life you didn’t deserve.’

  The fury twisting her mouth eased. ‘You’re right about one thing. You’re an idiot.’

  ‘Was.’ He tried a tentative smile. ‘I’d like to think I’m smarter these days.’

  ‘Debatable.’ When she placed her hands over his, the tight band of anxiety squeezing his chest
dissolved. ‘So now that we’ve confronted the elephant, can we shoo him away and concentrate on the here and now?’

  Hudson would like nothing better, but guilt still gnawed at him. He’d misjudged her badly that fateful night, had let his own preconceptions colour his judgement and make him jump to conclusions.

  He felt like an idiot. Pissed too, that she hadn’t come to him because he’d made such a big deal out of escaping the Cross. He’d known how she felt about stripping, how she’d vowed to make it as a dancer without having to do it, yet he hadn’t trusted her enough and had jumped to conclusions.

  He should’ve known there had to be something big behind her decision to strip that night; he should’ve given her the benefit of the doubt.

  Unfortunately he couldn’t change the past, but he could make up for it by giving her the future she’d always dreamed of.

  ‘Speaking of here and now, I’ve got some news you may like.’

  She quirked an eyebrow, and he continued. ‘Don’t get your hopes up because nothing may come of this, but remember I mentioned I have contacts in the theatre industry?’

  Her fingers involuntarily dug into his hands as she leaned forward a fraction. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘You’ve heard of Reg Grober?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘He’s huge. Backs all the major theatre productions here and many overseas.’

  ‘I ran into him yesterday and he mentioned an opening for a dancer in his latest show on Broadway. Asked me if I knew anyone—’

  ‘Oh, my God, you didn’t?’

  ‘I did.’ He grinned as she released his hands to clap hers in excitement. ‘The audition is next week but Reg trusts my judgement, so you should be in with a good chance. In fact, I think he said that anyone I recommend would be a walk-in.’

  She flopped back against the booth seat, her expression incredulous, two spots of colour staining her cheeks.

  ‘You’re serious?’

  ‘Would I kid about something as important as this?’ He smiled as he glimpsed the shimmer of tears in her eyes. ‘I know this is your dream.’