Page 29 of Tough Love

Everything about this house is gorgeous, including the man who is building it. Choking on my next breath, I smooth my skirt before fixing my hair. And I remind myself why I am here in the first place. The deal is, I ride along on the roundup, I get to keep my job. Hudson is my coach, that’s all.

Shit.

An incredibly sweet, albeit grumpy most of the time, but patient coach. Like that’s not a contradiction, but he’s different when he’s in his element.Ugh, Adeline Howard, you are in big trouble, girl.I lean against the post of the porch and run a hand through my hair and wait for my heart to slow.

“What’s going through your head, Howard?” Hudson comes to lean on the next post along.

“Just thinking how lucky you are, Rawlins.”

“Ha, Rawlins. Guess I deserve that. As for lucky, more like trying not to fail at this and let Harry down. That’s how I see it.”

I push off the post. “You think you’ll let him down? How?”

“I don’t know. Screw it up. Lose the ranch or run it into debt. It happens to a lot of others, especially these days. It’s not like it used be.”

“What does your mom think?”

“Ma? She thinks all her boys can do anything.” He chuckles. But he runs a hand behind his neck. “Maybe she’s right. But she’s most likely just being a good mom.”

I close the distance between us. From what I’ve seen, there isn’t anything Hudson Rawlins can’t do. He is the most grounded, forward-thinking guy I have met in a long, long while. “Do you want my two cents, Rawlins?”

He dips his head and meets my gaze. “Give it to me, Howard.” Then he smiles, lighting up those blue eyes of his. I adore this side of him. He’s not like this when he’s around his family. He’s all-business Hudson. Get-the-job-done Hudson.

I rest a hand on his shirt, just under his collar. He swallows. “Ithink you have an incredible gift with horses and people. And it doesn’t matter so much what your parents want you to do. It only matters what you want to do.”

My hand slides from his chest.

He nods, slightly.

I offer him a small smile. It’s the least I can do for him.

As for me, Harry is right.

“Your father, tactless as he may be, is right about me.” I turn and search the vista. “I should have tried to ride the minute I was able. That’s what I regret most of all.”

“If I can give that back to you, Addy, I will.”

My chin wobbles and tears prickle behind my eyes. “I know you will, Hudson.”

“You busy tomorrow?”

“Nope, you?”

“I have this rider that needs some extra attention. Sergeant and me, we’re gonna be busy.” He scrunches up his face and his blue eyes are lit with mirth. He’s talking about me. Of course he is.

“It’s a date, Rawlins.”

“Absofuckinglutely, Howard.”

I chuckle and wander down the steps. And like that, Howard and Rawlins are a team. And it’s so goddamn right. And every which way I look at it, it looks a lot like the start of something that could very well be once in a lifetime.

Only it can’t.

Chapter Nine

HUDSON

Ilie in bed, trying to push away the image of Addy on my porch in that fucking sundress. All she wanted to do was talk about Harry and horses. All I wanted to do was flip that pretty yellow skirt up, pull her onto my lap, and let her sink onto me. Over and over, until every last one of those horrible memories from her accident were a distant memory.

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