by Lily Cahill
What was that about?
They were probably trying to get the attention of a man—maybe Hudson Royce, but why? They hadn’t seemed giggly like it was a dare. They’d seemed serious, like it was life or death. Kay was probably reading too much into it. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t any of her business.
She left the stall and checked her appearance one last time. The thoughts started to rise in her again, as they did every time she looked at her reflections. Chase’s old words still rang in her ears:
“I’m sorry, but what did you expect? You just don’t look like a CEO’s wife.”
Who was she kidding? Nothing about her had changed. This dress wasn’t going to magically turn her into the stick-thin model-type Chase had always wanted—the kind of women he’d slept with behind her back while they were together. She’d tried to lose weight, but she was no different than she’d always been. So why would he change his mind?
But maybe it had taken her leaving. Maybe, once she was gone, he had realized he missed her enough to look past her flaws.
Then she remembered the way he’d looked at her the last time he’d seen her. It nearly sent her back to her car.
He called you, she reminded herself. He called you.
There had to be something he wanted. And maybe what he wanted was a second chance. So she would try to be strong. She would try to forget the words he’d said to her during their fight and listen to whatever it was he had to say tonight.
She touched up her lipstick one last time and headed out into the bar.
Chase still wasn’t there. He was fifteen minutes late now, and hadn’t so much as called.
“I’m sorry, but what did you expect? You just don’t look like a CEO’s wife.”
Why was it that every time she met a little hiccup, even a tiny rejection, those words came thundering back to her as the only possible explanation?
She had to get better control of herself.
There were so many other things about her that should matter more. She had an MBA from Princeton. She had ten interviews lined up at the most prestigious companies in the city. She had just produced a feature film for her best friend as a favor. For fun. She could handle Chase being a little late without letting her mind drown in all her inadequacies.
She looked around to find a table. Ordering a drink would calm her nerves.
In the distance, she spotted the three women who had been in the ladies room with her. Two of them were seated at a table as the third—the girl who was probably Annika—practically circled Hudson Royce. He wasn’t paying her the least bit of attention. He was on his cell phone, and only glanced up briefly as she passed, then glanced back down.
At that moment, Hudson put down his phone and looked up, searching the bar. He made eye contact with Kay, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat.
God, those eyes. Sapphire with flecks of onyx. She wanted to dive right into them.
He stood, holding her gaze. He wore what she was sure was a bespoke suit. There was no way something that impeccable was available off the rack in that size. The guy had to be at least 6’7”. The suit was charcoal gray with a dark blue tie that brought out his eyes.
Again, she locked on his eyes. They were absolutely stunning. So stunning, in fact that Kay realized she hadn’t moved since she’d seen them.
But it didn’t matter, because he was walking toward her. He walked directly to her as if he’d been waiting for her all along.
Chapter Two
Hudson
HUDSON STARED AT THE WOMAN who had just walked in. It was happening, he knew it was. His heart felt like it was beating at five times its normal speed. He felt light-headed and simultaneously more focused than he’d ever been in his life.
It was her. His mate. It had to be.
He’d never felt this way about anyone before—much less someone he’d only just seen. It was just like his Aunt and Uncle had described it to him.
Hudson let out a soft huff of disbelief. He had wondered if it would ever happen to him. He’d hoped, but knew it wasn’t a certainty. And now it was happening.
He studied his mate, and immediately felt like the luckiest man alive. She was fucking gorgeous. Petite in height, but curvy in all the right places. If he’d ordered her out of a catalogue she couldn’t have been more perfect. Light-brown skin and long, dark hair and beautiful, full lips. He had an immediate instinct to pick her up and carry her to his bedroom.
Slow down, captain, he told himself.
There would be time enough for that later. Right now, all he wanted was to hear her voice. What would it sound like? Birds? Bells? Or maybe it was deeper, fuller—sultry like a slow symphony.
He stood and walked straight toward her. She seemed a bit startled at his approach. Could she feel it too? Women weren’t supposed to feel it, he knew, but he thought he spotted recognition behind those deep brown eyes.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m Hudson Royce. And you are?”
“K—Kay,” she stuttered. Honeysuckle, that’s what her voice sounded like. Light and sweet and fluttering on the vine.
“Would you have a drink with me, Kay?”
“Actually, I’m a—” she said. “I’m supposed to meet someone.”
His bear let out a possessive roar in his chest, one that he had to fight to suppress from making it to his mouth.
“Who?” he asked shortly, knowing his face had gone stoney but unable to change it. He’d chase the poor sap off. He’d eat him for dinner.
“Um, my ah—” she stammered. “My friend.”
“Just a friend?”
“My ex,” the woman said.
“Your ex?” Hudson scoffed. Under his breath he muttered, “He must be the stupidest man alive.”
“Excuse me?” the woman laughed. There were the bells—full and clear and wonderful.
Hudson raised one eyebrow. “Any man stupid enough to let you leave him is an idiot who’s not worth your time,” he said, drawing on all his charm.
The woman rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “And what makes you so sure it was me who wanted to get away?”
Was she being serious? Hudson growled, “Any other possibility is simply ludicrous.”
She laughed again and it sent a thrill of warmth up his spine. He couldn’t help but grin at the sound of it.
He took her hand and placed it on his elbow, leading her to the bar. “Come have a drink with me. Best case scenario, your ex gets hit by a car on the way over here. Worst case, you’ll make him a little jealous, which I expect is the point of that dress.”
The woman looked down at herself and blushed. Damn, that was sexy. He could think of about a million other ways to make her blush. He wanted to try all of them.
“What if it was the point?” she asked as he offered a hand to help her up to the stool. She was a tiny little thing.
“Well, unfortunately for me, that dress will do its job,” he said. “Which is why I’m hoping for the hit-and-run option.”
Hudson motioned for the bartender and ordered their drinks: an old-fashioned for him and a vodka soda with extra lime for her. The drink annoyed him. No one actually liked vodka sodas with extra lime. They were disgusting. It was the sort of thing women who were watching their weight ordered. She didn’t need to be doing that. Her body was perfection. If anything, she was a little on the small side. If she were his—hell, when she was his—he’d put a stop to that nonsense immediately.
“Do you have any brothers, Hudson?” she asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“My best friend Laila is dating someone who looks a lot like you. Well, technically, she’s trying her best not to date him, but that’s beside the point.”
“No brothers. No cousins either. Do you and your friend try not to date people who look like me as a rule?”
Kay laughed. “No. Laila tries not to date anyone at all. Not just people who happen to look like you.”
“And you?” he asked.
Again
, that blush. It made his groin stir.
“I have no opinion on the subject,” she said. Though from the flush of her cheeks, he knew it was a lie. “I have to admit,” she said. “I know who you are.”
“Oh?” he asked, cringing inwardly. Why had he given her his last name so quickly? Maybe they could have spent their first night together without that hanging over his head.
“You’re the Hudson Royce of Royce Capitol Group, correct?”
“That’s me,” he said. He wished for about the millionth time in his life that he could don a secret identity when it came to women. It always clouded things, polluted them. It always made him wonder if a girl was really interested in him or just his money. Most of the time, it had been his money. He couldn’t stand for that to be the case now. Not with his mate.
“Then you should definitely not be buying me a drink,” she said. “I have an interview with your company this week.”
“Really?” he asked. “What position?”
“Junior VP of Property Acquisitions,” she said.
“You have a background in PA?”
“Are you going to interview me yourself?” she asked with a laugh.
“No,” he smiled. “Just intrigued. You’re beautiful and smart. It’s a rare combination.”
She blushed again. He’d suspected she would, which is why he’d said it.
“I should probably get a table,” Kay said. “My friend will be here soon.”
“What’s the rush?” Hudson asked.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Kay said. “I really don’t. You seem so nice and if you were anyone else I’d love to have a drink with you, trust me. But I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Because of the interview?” Hudson asked.
“Because of the interview,” she said, moving to slip off her stool.
Hudson stopped her. “What if I promised not to interfere? No matter how our conversation goes tonight, no matter who you leave this bar with, I’ll stay out of it completely.”
“Aren’t things a little awkward already?” Kay asked.
“They don’t have to be,” Hudson said. “We’re both adults, right? And we’re just spending a little time together. It doesn’t have to bleed into our professional lives.”
Kay studied him, seeming to consider his proposal.
“I promise. Just sit with me until your friend gets here and I won’t say a word to anyone at the office. You’ll get a fair shot just like everyone else.”
“All right,” Kay said. “I mean, I guess it’s just a drink, right?”
“Exactly. Now tell me more about your career. You seem awfully young to be interviewing for a VP role, so you must be doing something right.”
“Not much younger than you, and you own the company,” she said.
“Touché,” he said.
“But you’re right. I don’t have a lot of experience,” she admitted. “I was referred by my mentor at Princeton, Melody English.”
“Melody has an excellent reputation.”
“She does. I learned a lot from her.”
“And she doesn’t offer to mentor people often, so you must be good.”
“I’d like to think so,” Kay said.
“Is corporate real estate something you want to get into long-term?” he asked.
“Possibly. I interned at Melody’s redevelopment project in Jersey City for two years during grad school and I enjoyed it. It was mixed-use commercial mostly. Condos built above ground-floor shops.”
“We’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”
“Yes, and you’re doing it poorly.”
“Really?” Hudson laughed. He had to admire her boldness.
“Maybe that was too harsh. But you’re not doing as well as you could be. That’s why you made my list,” Kay said.
“Oh, so there’s a list?” he asked with a smile.
“Ten interviews over the next two weeks. A girl has to keep her options open,” Kay grinned.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“I have a feeling you’re not talking about work anymore, are you?”
“Not in the least,” Hudson said.
Before Hudson knew it, an hour had passed since they’d sat down together. The time had flown by without a single pause in their conversation. Kay was funny and damn sharp. Their children wouldn’t just get the benefit of her looks, but her intelligence as well.
Children. The thought had come to him as naturally as breathing, though it had never occurred to him before. He wanted to have children with this woman. Lots of them. A whole pack. Just as he was daydreaming about what she’d look like pregnant with their first child, she clicked on her phone to check the time. A look of disappointment clouded her features, and Hudson remembered.
“When was your ex supposed to show?” Hudson asked, irritation lacing his voice. He wasn’t sorry the lout hadn’t shown. But he hadn’t texted or called Kay once in all that time to tell her why. It was goddamned inconsiderate and selfish. Hudson could see it had hurt her.
“Seven,” she said.
Jesus Christ. It was nearly eight-thirty. So the guy had already been late when he’d spotted her? What a complete shithead. He could kill the bastard.
“But you’re not worried about him?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you haven’t looked at your phone once for the last hour. And you’re not calling anyone to see if he’s okay.”
“No,” Kay said.
“So you’re not surprised he didn’t show?”
Kay’s voice grew quite. “No. Not exactly.”
Hudson shook his head in disgust. “Which means he’s the kind of asshole who’s done this to you before, correct?”
“Once or twice,” her eyes lowered when she said it, like she had something to be embarrassed about. Like him being a total dick to her was her fault. “He usually turns up after a while, though.”
Hudson took her hand in his. “If I ever showed up even a minute late to see you without calling first, you’d know it was because something was seriously wrong with me. You’d be calling the police.”
Kay looked up at him, her big brown eyes rich and golden as a field of wheat under the hot summer sun.
“You don’t deserve to be treated like that, Kay,” he said. “You deserve to be loved, respected, taken care of. Anyone who’s mistaken about that can answer to me, understand? If you want, I’ll go find this guy and show him what an utter ass-hat he is.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Kay asked, disbelief and amusement in her voice. “If I told you his address you’d go find him right now?”
“If you told me his name, he’d be on his knees apologizing to you within the hour.”
Something about that seemed to strike her as funny. She laughed. “As much as I’d like to see that, it’s really not necessary. But thank you,” she said, her eyes going serious for a moment. “Thank you for saying that.”
She pulled away from him and stirred her second vodka soda.
“It’s true, Kay. You deserve better.”
“Can we … can we talk about something else?” she asked.
“Anything you like.”
“What’s your story?” Kay asked. “I mean, I know the basics. You quit undergrad at Virginia Tech to start your own company, made your first million before you turned twenty. Now you’re, what? Thirty-three? And on pace for your first billion this year. Right?”
“That sums it up pretty well, yes.”
“So tell me something I can’t read in the papers.”
“Hmmm … let me see,” Hudson said. “I love how you’re wearing that dress.”
“Doesn’t count,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“And I especially love how it matches your face when you blush.”
“Definitely doesn’t count,” she said with a laugh.
Hudson brushed the back of her hand lightly, tracing her soft skin with his fingers. Every conta
ct with her was like a spark near gasoline. From the look of the soft flush on her cheeks, he was having the same effect on her.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll tell you something the papers don’t know.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you the thing I’m most curious about in the entire world.”
“Really?” Kay asked with a grin. “What is the elusive Mr. Royce most curious about in the entire world?”
“I’ve been trying to figure it out all night, but I have no idea what color your panties are.”
