Page 91 of Abyss

“I don’t give a fuck if he was doused in syrup. He needed to get his eyes and hands off you.”

I raise my head and run my lips over his delicious scruff. “I’m going to admit, jealousy looks damn good on you, old man.”

He groans. “Good, because I don’t share what’s mine. Get used to it.”

Butterflies swoop through my stomach at his words—what’s mine.

Sure, it was nice to have the attention that Adam showed me, especially when I had no idea where Hudson and I stood—whether we stood at all. But even as the day progressed, I knew Adam wasn’t who I wanted. He was sweet and good-natured, but I guess I’d recently decided sweet and good-natured weren’t on my list of attributes to look for in a man.

Settling back over his chest, I inhale his scent I’m so intoxicated with. “I heard you have a favorite horse and that you might love her more than you love Madison.”

His chest rumbles with a soft laugh. “Maddy told you about Kansas.”

“She did, and I’m not going to lie, she seemed a little jealous of her.”

Hudson chuckles again. “I’ll admit one thing. I certainly loved Kansas more when Maddy was a teenager. She was the reason I went gray early.”

I raise my head to look at him. “I like your gray.” When his eyes just glimmer back at me, I continue, “She turned out to be an incredible woman, and that’s one hundred percentbecause of the dad you are. Now, about this Kansas horse of yours—”

“You can’t call her a horse when you meet her.”

My mouth stays open as I try to process the two things he’s said—the when I meet her and the I can’t call her a horse. “What do you mean, I can’t call her a horse?”

He gets a serious and oh-so-sexy look on his face. “She doesn’t like people referring to her as a horse.”

I blink at him like he’s lost his marbles. “She understands English?”

“Hell, yeah, she does. And she gets offended easily. I’ve had her for twenty years, and the only reason she lets me ride her is because I call her my little girl. I treat her the same, too.”

I grin because the man surprises me in so many ways—hiding away all that sweetness behind his gruff demeanor—I’m having trouble keeping count. “You think she’ll let me ride her?”

“Not if you insult her by calling her ahorse.”

I give him a solemn look. “I promise to refer to her as a human.”

He kisses my forehead. “Then I’ll take you to see her next weekend.”

My heart flutters inside its cage at the prospect of spending more time with him. “Why did you name her Kansas?”

“Because she didn’t like being called Georgia.”

I chortle, my shoulders shaking as I wonder if he even knew how funny he was.

“Madison and Brie must be on their flight to Greece by now,” I muse a few quiet moments later, thinking about the entire day, the beautiful wedding, and the two brides.

I loved dancing with them until I couldn’t feel my toes, taking a celebratory shot with them at the end of the night,and hugging Madison again before she left in a limo with Brie to head to the airport.

It was a perfect day, but maybe I’m feeling a little extra happy because it worked out in another unexpected way.

With him.

“Have you ever been to Mykonos before?” The timbre of his voice right near my ear has ripples of electricity traveling to my toes.

Is that normal? To be turned on by someone’s voice alone?

I shake my head, sliding my bare leg over his thigh—my thick and smooth to his strong and rough. “The only place I’ve been outside of California is Portland . . . when I traveled with you.”

Hudson pulls me back so he can look at me. “You’d never been on an airplane before that?”

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