Page 95 of Deathless
He nodded, stroking his thumb over my fingers. “I want to start bringing Maia and Elodie to see them too. They’re all sisters, so they should get to know each other.”
“I think that’s a great idea.”
There was another pause in the conversation as our main dishes were brought out.
“How’s Torr’s mom?” Hudson placed his napkin in his lap. “Any improvement since the last update?”
I gave him an uneasy smile and his frown deepened. “Not much has changed,” I admitted. “She has her good days and bad. She is remembering Torr more often though. The doctors say he just needs to keep seeing her, stay consistent so he’ll stick in her memory. It’s hard on him, but he keeps showing up for her. That’s just the man he is.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not all bad. When she’s lucid, she’s so spunky and hilarious. We’re just taking it one day at a time.”
We turned to lighter topics as we ate, talking about work and what else we’d been up to since we last saw each other. Since moving to Four Corners, Hudson had found his calling in tech communications. Thanks to him and a small team, the town hadreliable internet for the first time since my parents were in their twenties. It wasn’t very fast yet, but it was a booming industry that was constantly advancing.
As for me? I was still running Vengeful Gods MC with primarily the same crew of ex-gladiators. We aided Four Corners and other neighboring territories with the transportation of goods, usually as escorts to deter any theft or violence.
“If your girls are ready for it,” I said when I was nearly finished with my food. “Maybe they can come to one of the parties at my parents’ house. There’s lots of kids around the same age.”
“Um.” Hudson cleared his throat and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “That’s kind of something I wanted to talk to you about too.”
I had been relaxed most of the evening, but now that fluttering in my stomach returned. “Okay.”
“I...” Hudson pulled in a deep breath and tried again. “I want you in the girls’ lives. You, and the guys too.”
Neither of us said anything for a moment. “In what way?” I asked.
“I’m not asking you to become their mother,” Hudson said quickly. But I...they...” He swallowed and tried again. “The girls love you, Rori. They idolize you. Maia wants to be exactly like you.”
“I love them too,” I admitted. “They’re such sweet, smart people. And they’ve been through so much at such a young age. I’d go to war for them, and I’m a hundred percent serious.”
“They’re amazing,” Hudson agreed. “I still can’t believe they’re mine sometimes. And I’m, um, rambling and stalling, but what I’m trying to say is...” He paused and took a deep breath. “I just wantyou,Rori. I want us.”
“Us,” I repeated, trying to calm the fireworks lighting up my chest. “You mean likeusus?”
Hudson grinned, sheepish and adorable. “I want to share you with the three other men who love you, who I also love, are my best friends, and the people I want my daughters around. I want you with them, and I also want you alone. Like we are now.” He reached across the table for my hand and I placed it in his. “What do you say, Aurora Wilder?”
“I think,” I said coyly, “that we can do much better things alone than just sitting and talking.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Then I’m getting the damn check.”
We paid our bill and headed out of the restaurant in a hurry, going straight to his motorcycle parked out front. Hudson spun to face me the moment we stood next to his bike. His hands went to my waist and mine went around his neck as we came together in a deep, all-consuming kiss.
That kiss was a release of a year’s worth of pent-up attraction, of growth and setbacks for both of us. A year of orbiting each other, of processing our individual traumas both privately and with others, before we were finally ready to collide into each other.
And what a collision it was.
Breaking apart for a breath was barely a separation at all, we remained wrapped up in each other, our mouths hovering mere inches away as the heat of our breaths mingled in the space between.
“I want us too, Hudson,” I whispered. “I just need to know that you’re sure. Us sharing Devin is one thing, but—”
He cut me off with another kiss, a lighter, more playful one that I could feel his smile through. “I want it all. Everything, as long as I have you. You saved me, Rori. And I don’t just mean the night you got me out of that house.”
“The night you shot me, you mean.”
He chuckled, because that’s what it was to us now. A memory so distant that it became a joke. It almost felt like that nighthappened between two other people, not us. “If that’s how you want to remember it, fine.”
I pressed my smile to his, winding my arms around him tighter. “It’s a good thing you saved me too, then.”
