She holds her hand out, watching as she moves her hand from side to side. “This is perfect,” she whispers. “Thank you.” Her eyes fill with tears as she looks over at me and wraps her arms around my neck.
“Thank you,” I reply, hugging her tightly. “I actually have another surprise for you this afternoon.”
She pulls back slightly, just enough so she can look me in the eye. “Another surprise? Hudson, this is enough. Seriously. I don’t need diamonds and money. I’ve gone my whole life without that stuff. I just need you.”
“I know you don’t need anything I can give you, but that’s not going to stop me. You deserve the world, and I’m going to give you any damn thing I want. Understand?”
She smiles but rolls her eyes and nods.
“Now, come on. Out of bed. Let’s eat breakfast then you can get ready and we’ll head out for our appointment.”
“Appointment?” she asks, standing up and moving to the table beside the bed. “What kind of appointment?”
I laugh. “Nice try. It’s a surprise, remember?”
Her eyes start to roll, but they stop the moment I respond. “If you don’t stop rolling those eyes, I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.” My voice is deep and stern, but my lips give me away when they form into a smile.
The corners of her mouth lift slightly in a challenge. “Oh, really? And how are you going to punish me? I have a feeling I may like it.”
I shake my head. “Eat your muffin. If you don’t watch yourself, the next time you walk out of here, you’ll be pregnant.”
“Ha!” She laughs out, stuffing her mouth full of muffin.
The two of us eat our muffins and drink our coffee while making wedding plans that aren’t set in stone. They’re more like suggestions or ideas of what we could do, where we could have it, and where we can go on our honeymoon. It’s a few minutes spent together planning our future and just knowing that I’ll have her in my life forever makes my heart race and my excitement soar.
I never had my life planned out. I never wanted to think about what the future held, preferring to see where life took me. But now, there’s so many things I’m already planning that my mind is an endless circle of the steps I need to take to make sure we end up there. Everything from the wedding, to where we’ll live, to having kids, to how we’ll look as we grow old together—it’s all on an endless loop playing in the back of my mind.
After we eat, I clean up while she goes for a shower to get ready to head out. She doesn’t step out of the bathroom for an hour, but when she does, I get one look at her and I’m ready to undo all her hard work. She’s wearing a pair of skimpy jean shorts with the brown leather sandals she seems to love so much. Her long, tanned legs tease me as she bends over and rubs lotion up and down them, making them glisten. Her white T-shirt is cropped short, cutting off just above her teardrop-shaped belly button. Her long, black hair is straight and shiny as it hangs to the round ass I love so much. Her face has minimal makeup, only some shiny lip gloss and some mascara, making her long, dark lashes that much more striking as they surround her chocolate-colored eyes.
I stand from my spot at the table and march toward her. She senses where this is going, and she raises her lotion-covered hand up between us, stopping me in my tracks. She knows how much I hate the feeling of having anything slippery or greasy on my skin. I hate the stuff on my body, but I love it on hers.
“Oh, no. If we’re going to get out of here, we don’t have time for this.” She’s wearing a wide smile, her eyes shimmering. Her tone is serious, but I can tell she would totally be done to say fuck it and spend the rest of the day locked in this room with me.
“If you don’t want me attacking you like this, then you need to be more careful of how you look.”
She laughs. “I’m wearing a ratty T-shirt and shorts. I don’t look great. You’re just insatiable.”
I grin and send her a wink. “Only when it comes to you,” I say, reaching out and grabbing her by the wrist as I pull her to my chest. My lips land on hers, and after a whole five seconds, I’m lost in her.
She pushes me away. “Come on. Give me my surprise.”
I growl but go chasing out the door after her.
Fourteen
Deven
We load up into Hudson’s old, beat-up truck, and he starts driving us out through the country. I have no idea where we’re going and I know better than to ask. He won’t tell me anyway. Instead of trying to guess his surprise, mostly because there’s no way I could possibly ever guess what in the world could be way out here, I sit back and watch the land as we speed down the old dirt road.
The windows are open, and the fresh air is blowing through the cab of the truck, picking up strands of my hair and whipping them around me and Hudson both. I hear him spit and I laugh, knowing that the wind blew my hair right into his mouth. I gather it all up in one hand and pull it over my shoulder where I hold it down. It’s going to be impossible to tear a brush through it later.
The sun is high in the sky, shining down on the field full of yellow wildflowers around us. When I breathe in, all I smell is the sweet scent of the flowers, the dry earth, and the pine trees surrounding the field. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of the sunshine warming my skin, the wind on my face, and the sweet smell surrounding us. Hudson reaches over and takes my hand in his. My eyes pop open and take him in. He really is breathtaking. Everything from his messy dark hair, to his striking blue eyes, his sharp jaw, strong chin, and thick lips that can work magic. His hand is on the top of the wheel, and his bicep is bulging from his T-shirt sleeve. I know if he wasn’t wearing that shirt right now, I’d have full view of toned pecs and a nice set of abs. My mouth waters just from thinking about his body on mine.
“Stop it,” he says, tearing me from my thoughts.
“Stop what?” I ask, confused as to what I am doing.
“You’re checking me out and you’re getting all flustered. I will pull this truck to the side of the road, you know,” he threatens.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I throw back, hoping he does exactly as he says.
“Just wait,” he says, driving forward just a little more before slowing down. He pulls into an empty field and shifts into park before shutting off the truck.
Oh, yippie! I unfasten my seatbelt and within a second, I’m in his lap, straddling him. I press my lips to his and kiss him like I haven’t seen him in years. Already, I’m breathless from this kiss, and my hips start grinding against his. He lets out a moan as his hands tighten on my hips, stilling them.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, pulling away slightly, giving him room to talk.
One second later, another truck is pulling up behind us.
“That’s what’s wrong,” he says, playfully smacking me on the ass.
I take his hint and slide myself off of him and onto the middle of the bench seat. He opens his door and climbs out, holding out his hand for me. I take it, and he helps me out. I’m closing the door as a man approaches.
“Deven, this is my brother, Clay. Clay, this is my fiancée, Deven,” Hudson says.
I hold out my hand, still breathing a little too hard for my liking. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He shakes my hand. “You too. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”
I smile and look up at Hudson. “Have you now?”
Hudson shrugs and puts his arm around my shoulder, turning me around and walking to the hood of the truck. Clay follows us, and it’s only now that I notice the big tube in his hand. He pops off the cap and pulls out some papers. I’m completely confused until he rolls them out on the hood, showing me the most beautiful sketch of a house I’ve ever seen.
Hudson looks at me. “What do you think?”
I look at the sketch and back to Hudson. “I think your brother is an amazing artist.” My eyes are wide as I take in the brick front, the beautiful landscaping, the wooden wraparound porch, and the garage in the back.
“Dev, I thought that since we were going to get married and start working on our future, we needed to get started on our house. You know, so that we have a place to call home when we’re ready to start our lives together.”
My eyes double in size as I take in the drawing once again. “This…this is going to be our house?” I ask, breathless but now for a whole different reason.
He nods and smiles. “If you like it. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I breathe out, unable to pull my eyes away.
Hudson hugs me closer to his side and presses a kiss to my head. “Good.”
Clay removes the picture on top to show us the floor plan. “I was thinking four bedroom, three baths. That way, you could have one bathroom for the kids upstairs, one for guests downstairs, and you could have your own bathroom in the master suite.” He points at the front of the house. “This will be the front door and you’ll walk into a beautiful entry way. There will be the wooden staircase and some kind of fixture of your choosing, of course, maybe something nice like a chandelier. Then back here is the eat-in kitchen. There will be plenty of counter space, a breakfast bar, and a pantry. Over in this corner will be a small table. Then the formal dining room will be over here, just off the kitchen. I put it back here in this corner because I figured this room wouldn’t be used daily, mostly for the kids’ birthday parties and family holiday dinners.”
I can’t hold back my smile as I listen to him talk about our kids and our future.
“Here’s the living room, and I thought we could add in an office or library over here. Really, it’s just extra room that you could use for anything. Upstairs, we have three bedrooms and two baths.”
“I thought you said four bedrooms?”
He shrugs. “I was counting the extra room downstairs. It could be a guest bedroom if you have family that wants to come visit,” he says to Deven. “Or anything you want. A playroom for the kids, a library, office, game room, man cave with a bar.”
“What do you think?” Hudson asks, looking down at me.
“I think it’s perfect,” I agree.
Clay continues on with his plans for the surrounding property, but I don’t even bother to listen. I’m too caught up in this new house that will soon belong to Hudson, our growing family, and me. The guys walk me around the property and talk about lines and where things will be, but I can’t do anything but stand in what will be my backyard and take in the view. It’s absolutely beautiful out here. There’s a large field all around us, giving us plenty of privacy and the security with the forest in the very back.
“We could even dig you up a pond if you want,” I hear Clay say. “A barn, horses, you name it.”
I laugh and shake my head, unable to believe that this is where I am. I never thought when I was drinking myself into oblivion and getting arrested and thrown out of school that my life would turn out this way, but here I am. I’m grown. I’m on my own with a man who loves me by my side. And this is only just the beginning of our story.
I watch as Hudson writes out a check and hands it over to Clay to get started on the build, and my jaw drops when I see how much the check is made out for. I’ve never seen a number so large in my life. When Clay walks back to his truck and pulls off, I grab Hudson’s hand and turn him to face me.
“We can’t do this,” I tell him, starting to panic.
“What? Why? I thought you loved it?” I can see in his eyes that he’s starting to panic too, but not because of the money. He’s afraid I’ve changed my mind about him. That would never be the case.
“That was a lot of money, Hudson! I’ve never in my life seen a number that big, especially when it comes to money.”
He laughs and pulls me against his chest. “It’s fine, Dev. I have more than enough.”
I shake my head, not understanding. “I don’t want you spending every cent you have on this house. It’s too much. We can buy a house in town. I mean, I don’t make much, and I know my mom isn’t going to chip in for the wedding. Plus, we have the honeymoon to think about and then saving for the kids we want to have and their college funds. We can’t drop that much on a house.”
He places his hands on either side of my face and forces my panicked eyes to look into his. “Deven, I have it. I have enough for all of it.”
“All of it?” I ask, eyes wide and mouth dropping open when I think about how much all of that will cost.
He smiles and nods. “All of it. I have us. I have more money than most people see in their entire lifetime. All of us do. It’s all family money. I got a chunk for my sixteenth birthday, then I got more for graduating, then I got more for joining the army. I made money in the army, and I get monthly payments from the brewery for my share. The land was already mine, given to me when I became of age. It was all set up by my great, great grandfather and passed down for generations. I know we don’t act like we’re millionaires, but babe, we’re millionaires.” He smiles wide, and all the air is sucked from my lungs.
I feel panic rising in my chest. “You…you have money. A lot of money,” I say, starting to pace. “Why in the hell were you living in that tiny two-bedroom apartment with us then?”
He shrugs. “Brad needed help and I wasn’t ready to put down roots here yet. Figured I’d buy myself some time and help out an old buddy at the same time. I didn’t know what I wanted until I had you anyway. Then it all made since. This is the only thing I want now.”
“So, like, we never have to work again if we didn’t want to?”
He laughs. “Nope.”
“And even if we have fifteen children, we’d be able to put them through college and feed them, right?”
He nods. “Feed them, clothe them, spoil them, pay for college, weddings, houses, you name it. It’s covered.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief as tears fill my eyes. I rush to his chest and pull myself against him. His arms hold me tight.
“What’s the matter? Most people are relieved when they have money, not panicked,” he jokes.
I shake my head. “I’ve just…I’ve been broke for so long. I’ve had to worry and stress about how I’m going to make this last twenty dollars feed me for a week and put gas in my tank to get to work. It’s just so relieving that I won’t have to do that anymore. I won’t have to worry about how I’m going to eat or pay a bill or how we’re going to take care of our family.”
His hands land on my hips and he picks me up, setting me down on the hood of the truck. His eyes land on mine. “You know what we need to do now?”
I laugh and wipe my tears away. “What?”
“Go car shopping. That little two-door car you have won’t do you any good when the kids come along. It will suck driving it down these country roads that never see a snowplow.”
I laugh and shake my head. “You’re not buying me a new car, Hudson. I’m not even pregnant yet.”
“Come on. I need to buy myself a truck too, so I can give this one back to Drake.”
“I’ll come with you to buy your tuck, but we’re not getting anything for me. Got it?”
“Fine,” he agrees, closing the distance between the two of us. His kiss makes me forget everything else.
I pull away slightly. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to punish me for something?”
He laughs. “Oh yeah. What do you say we have sex right here before the house is even built?”
I wag my brows. “I like the sound of that.”
His mouth is back on mine as his hands pull me against his chest. It only takes us minutes to have each other completely stripped down. He picks me up against him and presses my back to the side of the truck as he slides into me. We’re home.
It’s going on five when Hudson and I are leaving the dealership with his brand new, black Dodge Ram truck. He said that half his brothers are Chevy guys while the other half are Ford guys, but he didn’t want to pick either and went with the Dodge. I’m driving the new truck as he drives the old one back to Drake’s house. He pulls into the drive and I follo
w in after him. I love this truck. It’s so big, and it makes me feel powerful and important. I nearly pout when I shut off the rumbling engine and jump out, leaving the new car smell behind. Maybe I should’ve let him buy me a new car.
Drake must hear us pull up because he comes walking out of the house with a big smile. “Finally got that new truck, huh?” he asks, pulling Hudson in for a hug while taking back the keys to the old truck.
“Yeah. I’ve spent more money today than I have in my whole life,” he says, looking at the new truck.
“Yeah, I talked to Clay and he mentioned getting started on your house soon. Finally made up your mind?”
He nods. “Yeah, it didn’t take long. All I had to do was find the one I wanted to start my life with, and here she is,” he says, holding out his arm so I walk up to his side. He wraps his arm around me.
“I’m Deven. It’s nice to meet you,” I say, holding out my hand to Drake.
“The infamous Deven,” he says, shaking it. “I’m Drake.”
I look up at Hudson. “Infamous, huh?”
Drake laughs. “Oh yeah. You didn’t hear about that?”
“Shut it,” Hudson says, looking at Drake.
“Why don’t you two come in and say hi to Celeste? I think she just put Tyler down.” He opens the screen door and leads us into his house.
On our way home, my phone rings and I pull it out of my bag. “Hello?” I answer.
“Hey,” Brad says.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Mom just left. She’s going to pack up her things and then she’s moving back here.”
“What? She’s actually leaving him?”
“Yep, I’m proud of her. She hasn’t been on her own in a long time now, so she’s really going to need our support.”
“Of course. Where’s she staying?”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “Here with me until she can get her own place. I was going to see if you and Hudson wanted to move back in, but then she dropped the bomb that she needed a place to stay, so here we are.”
The Slade Brothers: A Complete Small Town Contemporary Romance Collection Page 94
