Page 19 of The Prey
And now he knew exactly what he was up against.
That bastard wasn’t getting near her ever again.
12
Hudson Hanan wasa complete and utterasshole. Thekingof assholes.
She had been aware of that man all day. He’d done it to her on purpose. She knew he had. Each time he passed her desk, she lost focus completely. So much so that Shayna, her closest friend at the office, had been watching her with a puzzled expression on her face for at least the last hour.
“What’s going on with you and Hudson? Talk to me. I am seriously trying to understand why we arenotin the middle of WWIII here, after three years of battles?”
Gia just shook her head. The way the man had been skulking around the office—it was obvious he was plotting something. He had that same look his son had when he was plotting to steal a cookie. “The man is up to something. I think he likes confusing me.”
“Honey, they all do. But I’ve seen the way he looks at you lately. It has definitelychanged. No more death rays, for one thing. Rays of a different sort—lust rays, maybe? Something you want to talk about?”
“Apparently, when he stayed with my family, he somehow got the impression that everything had changed between us. On apersonal level.I do not agree. But getting him to believe that… well, the man is a complete and utter ass, Shayna. I am even more convinced of that now. He’s also planning something. I can see it in his beady little eyes.” Those eyes were trained on her again, too. From his office window. She barely resisted sending him…a rude gesture her mother would clobber her for using. She didn’t. She was a professional, after all.
“If that means he wants you to take that suit off of him and just see what happens…go for it. Like right now. I will cover for you both. I promise. He’s actually one of the best men I’ve ever met,” Shayna said, glancing toward the man in question. “Hudson’s a good guy, a great father, great brother, and a great boss to work for. However, I sincerely doubt he’s ever been known as an easy kind of man.”
“You have no idea.”
Shayna leaned forward. “So, is something really happening between the two of you now? I’ve been waiting for that to happen. For years, actually.”
Gia wasn’t even going to thinkabout what Shayna was implying here. She just wasn’t.Nothingwould ever happen between her and Hudson Hanan. It just wouldn’t. “What do you mean? We’ve despised each other for years.”
“Gi, with that kind of heat—heat that is obviously between the two of you and has been for like forever, there’s nodespiseabout it. And now, the way he watches you… it’s almost enough to make me go back on my vow of eternal celibacy.”
Shayna had made a very clear vow after her ex-husband had taken off when he’d learned their second child was also a girl.
“Just… nothing is going to happen between Hudson Hanan and me. It’s just not. No matter what he is scheming up in that complicated man-brain of his. It is just not going to happen.”
“So…has he kissed you yet?”
He’d tried. It just hadn’t happened. It wasn’t going to happen. And it had betternothappen.
She spent far too much time thinking about what she would have done if ithadhappened. There were no easy answers in that one.
Hudson had changed everything, damn him.
She went back to work, with the Lawrence file spread out in front of her. She had not changed her opinion of Officer Bernard. She strongly suspected he had lied. Hudson hadn’t been there for the original depositions—how was he supposed to know? He was just going to have to take her word for it. She was going to make that point known, the first chance she had.
She had the Martinell case open as well. She printed out the historical ruling and was making notes when a sound near her desk had her looking up. Shayna was gone, making a run to the courthouse. Gia looked around the office—everyone seemed gone. Of course, it was near lunch. She shivered. She always hated when the building was empty like this.
She turned when she heard the sound of someone behind her.
And therehewas.
Mr. Hudson Hanan himself.
“May I take you to lunch, Counselor?”
The invitation came with that undertone he had been using with her lately. The one that said it was just a matter of time until the manwonwhatever it was he was after.Shewas definitely what he was after now. And…nope. Just not going to happen.
Three years of animosity wouldn’t just go away overnight because he suddenly realized she had girl parts! And she wasn’t an idiot—men had looked at her exactly the way Hudson Liam Hanan was right now before.
No. Gia wasn’t buying in to this game of his. She just wasn’t.
Gia stood. “I have a lot to say to you.”
