Page 41 of Tough Love

“Well, this is a well-earned reward, Rawlins. What’s got your goat today?”

He doesn’t answer; instead, he heads to the tack room. I dot a kiss to Charlie’s head and wander to the tack room. When I don’t hear any movement inside, I wander over. Hudson is standing at the back of the room, hands pressed against the back wall, head hanging. His back muscles ripple with every heaving breath he takes. What is going on with him?

I close the distance between us and stare at his back, trying to find something to say.

“Hudson?”

He doesn’t respond. Charlie trots around us but finds a scent and tracks it back out of the tack room. Like he didn’t just kill a snake. I make my way over to the feed bins, a row of rectangular sectioned feed storage with multiple hinged lids. I sit on the middle one and wait for him.

When I think he isn’t going to talk to me, I push off the bin and head for the door.

“I’m sorry, Addy.”

I stop in my tracks. Slowly, I turn back. He has spun around. His hands hang by his sides. His face is wrecked. My gut flips, breath caught in my lungs, not moving.

“It’s fine. Not your fault,” I choke out, shoving my hands into my back pockets, not sure what to do with them. I bite my bottom lip and suck in a breath.

He steps forward but hesitates. So, I close the space between us. He dips his head and meets my gaze.

“Charlie will be okay, he didn’t get bitten,” I offer.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I’m not worried about the dog.”

I raise an eyebrow. Since when is Hudson Rawlins not concerned about his horses, and his faithful little buddy Charlie? “Is Sergeant okay?”

“Yeah,” he chokes.

“Good.”

When he doesn’t open his eyes, I make my way to the door. I should get my gear ready for the camping trip. I hope what happened before doesn’t wreck the whole trip.

“Adeline.” His voice is gravel.

I stop, hands gripping the doorframe.

Holy shit.

That’s the first time he haseverused my full name.

He walks up behind me. “Turn around, Addy.”

I close my eyes; the rawness of his voice shallows everything out. I swallow past the rock wedged in my throat and drop my hands. My breath rises and falls in deep cycles. Fire floods my veins with every heartbeat as I open my eyes.

“Addy,” he whispers, desperation lining my name.

I turn back. His hat hangs in his fingertips by his side. His chest heaves. His disheveled hair is swept from his face. His blue eyes burn into mine when I reach them. A moment later, I drop my gaze to his lips, throat, and back to his eyes. Those blue pools swallow me whole. God, what I wouldn’t do to have Hudson Rawlins’s mouth on mine right?—

His hat slips from his fingers, and he takes my face in his hands, sinking his mouth over mine. I wrap my fingers around his collar. He deepens the kiss, and I open for him. Desperate for more. Heat floods my center. I run my hands inside his shirt, sweeping up his neck and into his hair.

He groans against my mouth. I press my body into his, and hardness rubs against my stomach. Suddenly, I don’t feel close enough to him. This is not enough. It never was. I am desperate for every part of this man. All of Hudson Rawlins.

Nothing less.

I break the kiss, and he rests his forehead on mine, breathing heavy.

“Want to go camping, Huddy?”

He chuckles. “You know, my mom calls me that.”

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