Page 102 of Promise Me

When I look back, my best friend is grinning and shaking her head.

She waves just as we exit.

Hudson wastes no time tossing me over his shoulder.

I smack his back.

“Hey!”

“Hey, nothing,” he says and opens the door to his apartment. “I said I wanted you back in my bed, and I’m making it happen.”

“I can go willingly,” I laugh.

“Yeah, but this way is more fun.”

“It’s more caveman.”

He ignores my comment and sets me on my feet at the base of the stairs.

“After you,” he says playfully and gestures to the stairwell.

I could stand here and just keep grinning, but when he reaches for me, I squeal and race up the steps.

His laughter is all I hear behind me.

And I love every minute of it.

We haven’t leftthe apartment all day, and you will not hear me complain about it.

I think we needed this. A day for just us. To bask in what has changed between us without the pressure of the outside world.

There’s no doubt my brother will have something to say, and I know that bothers Hudson.

“If you sell to Brooke, what do you think you’ll do?” Hudson asks, drawing soft circles on my back. I’m just coming back down from the high of another orgasm—I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had at this point.

Still, I don’t have to think over my answer.

“Is it crazy to think that even though the bar is in the spot I originally wanted Sips and Stories, I could still find another place to open it?”

“It’s not crazy. I think you can.”

He grins, and my heart just can’t handle it. It beats faster as I lean over to kiss him.

I want all his smiles and all his kisses for as long as he’ll give them to me.

He reaches up to stroke my cheek with his thumb. “What was that for?”

“For the simple fact that you listen to me, and you believe in me.”

Instead of replying, he leans in to kiss me again.

“What was that for?” I ask, repeating his words.

“For reminding what it’s like to be happy again.”

For a moment, we just stare at each other, and then we both erupt into laughter.

“Wow, that was a sappy moment,” I say.

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