It’s a beautiful mid-October day so my mom decided to host lunch outside. This is the first Sunday lunch we’ve made it to in a while. Needless to say it’s been an interesting meal with Nana meeting Hudson.
My time with Hudson has gone by in a flash and in less than a week he will be leaving to go on tour. I’ve tried to not think about it too much but it’s nearly impossible not to when the days seem to be disappearing right in front of my eyes.
“So Lennon, tell us the scoop. Is he as good in bed as I think he probably is?” Nana asks. My poor mother sucks tea into the wrong hole the moment the question leaves Nana’s mouth. It takes her a good sixty seconds to get her coughing fit under control by which point I’m still not sure what to say to my dirty grandmother.
“Well.” She raps her knuckles on the table, still waiting for me to respond.
“You can’t ask her things like that,” my mom objects.
“Why the hell not? We’re all grown women here.”
“I’m with Nana.” Starr grins, leaning her elbows on the table in front of her as she waits for me to say something.
“You two, honestly.” My mom shakes her head.
“I’m not having this conversation,” I say, siding with my mother.
“Oh don’t be a spoil sport,” Starr whines.
“I’m not going to discuss my sex life in front of my mother and grandmother.”
“So he’s that good, huh? Damn, I knew it.” Nana takes my silence as confirmation.
I mean she’s right, he is that good. Hell, he’s better than just good. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell her so.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t have to. How about this, give me a wink if he’s ‘blow your mind off the charts’ good.” My grandmother stares at me, waiting.
I don’t know what comes over me, but without thinking about it I close my right eye. Nana whoops loudly seconds later.
“I knew it.” She smacks the table.
“Honestly, mother.” My mom stands. “If you will excuse me, I need away from this conversation.” She starts clearing plates and disappears inside moments later.
“You’re mother always has been wound too tight. I think your father needs to work her over a bit. Ease some of that tension she’s carrying.”
“That’s it for me.” I hold my hands up in surrender while Starr covers her ears and starts making la la la noises to block Nana out. “I love you, Nana, but the last thing I want to think about is Mom and Dad...” I crinkle my nose and shake my head. “Just no.”
“No fun. Any of ya.” Nana laughs.
Since I haven’t seen any of them in a month, we spend the next several minutes catching up. My mom eventually rejoins us and I can tell how relieved she is that Nana is no longer talking about sex.
I’m in the middle of telling Starr about meeting Annabelle – leaving out the meltdown I nearly had afterward – when her gaze goes behind me.
I turn to see Hudson crossing the yard toward us, my breath catching in my throat as I watch the way his powerful thighs flex through his jeans with each step he takes. By the time he reaches me I’m flustered and very ready to go home.
He stops next to my chair and crouches down beside me.
“You about ready?” he asks. “I have to call Jerry by three.”
“Of course.” I offer him my hand, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
“Ladies.” Hudson nods at my mom, grandmother, and sister, throwing them each a dimple filled smile before turning back to me. I see my grandmother fan herself out of the corner of my eye.
That woman...
“I’m gonna go say goodbye to my dad. I’ll meet you at the car?”
“Sounds good.” He presses a kiss to my temple before turning and walking away.
Chapter Eleven
“Put some shoes on,” Hudson says the minute he walks through the front door.
“I just took my shoes off,” I whine from my spot on the couch, having just gotten home from work less than fifteen minutes ago.
“Well put them back on.” He chuckles. “I have somewhere I want to take you.”
“Does it have anything to do with your phone call yesterday?” I cock a brow at him, referring to the private phone call he took shortly after we got home from my parents’ house. He was so hush hush about the whole thing.
“Maybe...” he draws out on a grin.
“Ugh.” I sigh, peeling myself off the couch. Monday’s always suck but today took the cake. I feel absolutely dead on my feet. “This better be good,” I tell him, sliding my flats back on.
“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” He shrugs.
“You’re really not gonna tell me where we’re going?” I question.
“Nope.” He rocks back on his heels, unable to hide the excitement written all over his face.
—-
“What are we doing here?” I look up at the beach house I spent months renovating before looking back at Hudson, standing on the deck.
“Thought we could do a repeat of the last time we came here.” He smirks, walking toward the front door.
“Um, we can’t be here. The house sold. The new owners should be closing any day now.”
“Today,” he says, reaching his hand into his pocket.
“What?” I question, not hiding my confusion.
“The new owner closed today,” he states, looking at me like I should be catching on to something I’m clearly not.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“Because I’m the new owner,” he says, laughing when he sees the realization on my face. He inserts a key into the knob and turns the handle, the door popping open before us. Holding his arm out, He pulls me over the threshold.
“You bought this house?” I gape at him, convinced he must be joking.
“I did.” He nods, looking around the beautiful open space.
“But when? How? The offer was accepted almost a month ago.”
“I’m aware. Considering I’m the one who made the offer.”
“You’re messing with me, right?”
“I’m not messing with you, Lennon. As of today this home is officially ours.”
“Ours?” I choke, clouded in a fog of disbelief.
“Ours,” he repeats. “I saw how much you loved this house and honestly I did too. When you said it was being listed, I contacted Mr. Barrett and put in a direct offer.”
“You’ve known this whole time and you never said a word.” I’m finding it difficult to catch my breath, feeling all sorts of overwhelmed.
“I wanted to surprise you after it was official.” He meets my gaze. “Surprise.”
“I don’t...” I stutter. “I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand? You love this house. You designed this house. On several occasions you said this was your dream home. So, I bought it for you.”
“Hudson, this is too much.”
“There is no such thing as too much when it comes to you, Lennon. I want you to have everything I can give you. There are perks to doing what I do. I think it’s only fair that we enjoy those together.” He steps up in front of me, pulling me close. “Besides, I like the thought of you here, in our home, while I’m away. When I think of you I want to picture you sitting out there.” He points to the deck. “I want to imagine you staring out at the waves, happy and content.”
“You didn’t have to buy a house to do that,” I point out.
“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. I want this, Lennon. This house, this life with you. I want it all.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I croak, verging on tears.
“Say you’ll move in here with me and we will make this our home together.”
“Hudson, I...”
“Before you say anything, I’ve already spoken to Jeff and he’s agreed to give you the rest of the week off to move.”
“You spoke to Jeff?” I look at him like he’s grown five head
s. “You’re on a first name basis with my boss and best friend’s father?”
“Of course I am. I just paid the man over a million dollars.” He laughs when my eyes widen. “Besides, with you moving out he can rent your condo at full price and make a lot more money on it then he’s currently making. In a way we all win.”
“I can’t just take the week off work.”
“You can and you will. It’s already been arranged. Let’s spend this week together getting settled. That way when I leave next week I’ll do so knowing you’re comfortable and safe in our home.”
“Hudson.”
“I love you, Lennon. This is what I want.”
“I can’t believe you did this,” I say, burying my face in his chest.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make you happy.”
“You make me happy,” I tell him, my voice muffled against his shirt.
“And doing this for you, for us, makes me happy. Now tell me you’re in.” He grabs my shoulders and shifts me so that he can look down at my face.
“I’m in.”
I swear the smile that breaks across his face is the largest I’ve seen it. He wraps his arms around me and lifts me off my feet.
“Welcome to your new home, Lennon Claire,” he says right before his mouth closes down over mine.
Chapter Twelve
“I can’t believe you leave tomorrow.” I’m snuggled in Hudson’s lap on the deck of our new home.
We spent all week moving in, but because Hudson bought the house furnished and I did the designing, it was a pretty easy transition. There was nothing we had to do but move our clothes and some odds and ends.
My mom and dad came by our first day here. My mom looked almost as shocked as I did when Hudson told me he bought this house for us. My dad seemed rather impressed. It’s clear he’s taken quite a liking to Hudson. I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s an amazing man.
Starr and Mark came by the next day. I swear my sister falls in love with Hudson a little more every time she’s around him. I guess that makes two of us.
Emma stopped by this afternoon, smiling like a lunatic because apparently she had known it was Hudson who purchased the house all along. Once upon a time I thought my best friend was shit at keeping secrets, but that has since changed. She was able to keep a very big secret from me for weeks and never once hinted at what Hudson was up to.
“Me either,” Hudson answers after a brief moment. “I’m excited but at the same time I don’t want to leave either.”
“I get that. You should be excited. It’s exciting. You’re going to have an amazing time.”
“It would be so much better if you’d come with me,” he says, hinting at a conversation we’ve had a few times over the last week.
“I know. Trust me, I want to. But we’ve talked about this. I can’t give up my life to follow you around the country. It’s important to me that I maintain a level of my own independence.”
“I know. And I love that about you. I’m just going to miss the hell out of you.” He snuggles his face into my neck, both our gazes locked on the amazing view from our deck.
Our deck. Our home. God, it doesn’t seem real.
“I’m going to miss you too,” I say, emotion clogging thick in my throat. “What time do you have to be at the airport again?”
“Seven in the morning,” he says, adjusting below me.
“So we need to leave here by six to give us time to get there,” I say more to myself than to him.
“We’ll take the Chevy.” He smiles at me, knowing how much I love driving his car.
Hudson brought the car back from Nashville when we were there a few weeks ago. He’d stored it in a friend’s garage while he was on tour with Travis. The day we drove it to Florida was one of the best days. The weather was beautiful. We had the windows down the whole time, singing at the top of our lungs nearly the entire drive. Me not very successfully but Hudson didn’t seem to mind.
He’s leaving the car here for me to drive. Not because I need it, but because I freaking love it and he knows it. It’s a 1970 Chevelle that Hudson rebuilt himself. I didn’t even know he knew anything about cars until he told me how he spent years tinkering with it to get it to where it is today. He showed me the before pictures and he wasn’t lying. It was yellow, rusted, and looked like it belonged in a junk yard. Now it’s bright candy apple red with black racing stripes. I swear it’s the sweetest car on the road anywhere we go.
I can’t believe he trusts me with something he worked so hard on. The likelihood is it will stay in the garage while he’s gone, but if I get a wild hair I might take it out for a spin.
“You’re just trying to butter me up so I don’t have a complete meltdown when I leave you at the airport.”
“You’re not going to have a meltdown.” He gives me a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “You might have to force me onto that fucking plane, though. I still have no idea how I’m going to leave here without you.”
“God, don’t say that. Leave it up to me and you’ll never make it. I can’t be the one to blame for you tanking your career and costing your label millions of dollars in refunded concert tickets.”
“Promise you’ll come to a few shows.”
“I promise I’ll do everything I can to make the shows that are within driving distance. I can’t spend my life savings flying all over the country.”
“I can pay for you to.”
“Not happening, hot shot country star. You already bought us a house. I’m not letting you pay for anything else.”
“Why not? It’s not like I don’t have the ability to.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
“If I’m going to fly to every show I might as well go on tour with you.”
“Exactly.” He smiles like he just won the argument.
“Stop.” I swat at his leg, needing him to not make this any harder on me. “We’ve been over this.”
“I know. I know.”
“But I will make it to a few shows. I promise. I’ll look over your schedule tomorrow and see which ones I think I can make work and I’ll let you know.”
“I guess I’ll take what I can get. We do have a few breaks where I should be able to fly home for at least a day or two.”
“We’re going to be okay, right?” I ask, hating how weak I sound.
“Hell yes we are.” He locks his hands around the back of my neck to pull my face down to his. “There is no fucking way I’m letting you go, Lennon. The sooner you wrap your pretty little head around that, the better it’s going to be for both of us,” he says, turning his face inward to steal a soft kiss.
“I love you,” I say, pressing my forehead against his.
“I love you. Now why don’t we go to our bedroom so I can show you just how much.”
“That’s all you care about. Getting me naked,” I tease.
“Have you looked at yourself recently? Who could blame me?” He wraps his hand around my upper thigh and squeezes.
“You’re hilarious,” I say sarcastically.
“I’m gonna show you hilarious.” He shifts beneath me, pushing out of his chair with next to no effort, taking me right along with him.
“Hudson.” I laugh as he pushes his way inside and kicks the door closed with his foot. “What are you doing?”
“I thought that was pretty obvious. I’m taking my girl to bed so I can make damn sure every time she climbs under those covers all she can think about is my body moving above hers.”
“Pretty sure that’s already been accomplished. But by all means, I’m at your disposal,” I say, giggling when he drops me down on top of the bed.
“That’s what I like to hear,” he growls, covering my body like a blanket seconds later.
—-
“Promise you’ll text me the minute you land.” My arms cling so tightly to Hudson they ache.
“I promise.”
“An
d you’ll call every day?” I ask, fighting back the tears welling behind my eyes.
“Every single day.”
“I don’t want to let go,” I say, turning my face into his shirt.
“I don’t want you to let go.” He sweeps my hair to the side before kissing the top of my head.
“I wish this wasn’t so hard.”
“It’s not goodbye, Lennon. I’ll see you in a few weeks,” he soothes.
“I know.” I sigh, finally letting my hold on him drop as I step back.
“When you get home, check the top drawer of your nightstand.” He grins, leaning forward to press his lips to mine, but pulling back way too quickly.
“Why?” I question.
“Just do it.” He grins. “I gotta go.” He checks his watch, adjusting the duffel bag on his shoulder. “I love you.” He leans in, capturing my chin.
“I love you too.” His mouth presses to mine once more.
“I’ll call you later,” he murmurs against my lips before pulling away.
“Be safe.”
“Always.” He winks, then turns, leaving me standing in the middle of the airport forced to watch him walk away.
—-
My eyes are sore from crying by the time I make it back to the beach house. I know it sounds ridiculous. It’s not like I won’t see him again. But there’s something else there. Some underlying concern that seems to fuel the intensity of my emotions that I have yet to fully admit to myself.
Tossing the keys to the Chevy on the kitchen island, I take a long minute to look around my new house. I’ve spent weeks inside these walls. Hours designing and decorating, but not once did I ever actually believe it would be mine.
Crossing into the living room, I grab Hudson’s shirt off the back of the chair from last night when I peeled it off of him while he was trying to make me pancakes well after midnight. Lifting the fabric to my nose, I inhale deeply, his scent so prominent I’d almost swear he was still here.
Tossing the shirt over my shoulder, I head toward the bedroom and deposit it onto the bed before peeling off my jeans and thin sweater. Digging out a pair of yoga pants from the dresser, I put them on before grabbing Hudson’s shirt and sliding the material over my head, his scent engulfing me the moment I do.
Tequila Page 28
