Page 84 of Promise Me

“I enjoyed it.”

“Oh.”

I bite my lip and look up at him, unsure of what I should say next. His eyes turn steel blue as he steps toward me. I reach my hand out, and it connects with his bare chest.

His hands settle on my waist. One of them slides around to my backside as he grips my butt and pulls me against him.

His forehead rests on mine as he inhales.

I close my eyes and pray he can’t feel my heart racing.

I wait for … what? I’m not sure.

But then I open my eyes to see him step back.

“It’s late. You should go to bed,” he says. “I just need to grab some shorts.”

He moves into the bedroom, grabs his shorts, and walks right past me, who is frozen in the hallway.

“Goodnight, Sadie.”

He closes himself in the bathroom to change, and I’m just about to demand he explain what the hell that was when I stop myself.

He wants a fight.

He wants me to get worked up.

It’ll be easier for him that way. Easier for him to avoid this.

Well, too bad, Hudson Asher. If I don’t get what I want, neither do you.

CHAPTER TWENTY

HUDSON

Work sucked again today.

All I thought about was Sadie and that kiss. It’s been two days, and I can't even walk by that spot behind the bar without picturing her sitting there.

It’s why as soon as Betty didn’t need me anymore, I came upstairs for a cold,coldshower.

Lucky for me, Sadie had been out all afternoon, so I got a few more minutes to clear my mind of the day before she came home.

I thought if we started to argue again, my pull to her would fade, but she doesn’t want to fight. No matter what I say or do, she doesn’t argue with me.

She knows me better than I thought she did.

Which makes her even more perfect for me.

Shit.

I step out of the shower just as my phone begins to ring. I rub my towel over my scalp quickly to dry my hair, and then I wrap it around my waist.

“Hello?” I answer the unknown number.

“Is this Hudson Asher?”

I can’t quite place the familiar voice.

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