Page 22 of The Prey
She already possessed him, heart and soul.
Hudson was starting to think she always had.
14
Jason waiteduntil the day before he had to appear in court on the Lawrence case before he decided how he was going to handle it. He had just hadotherpriorities. It was the biggest defense case on his caseload now, but he frankly didn’t give a fuck about it. Nothing in Value mattered to him now. Not that it ever had.
He was just biding his time in Value, until things cooled off in Wichita Falls again. Then, he’d move somewhere else where he could rebuild. Or he’d finally get B-3 like he’d wanted for years.
He opened the folder again, turning pages without really reading them. Giavonna’s name jumped out at him. That woman—he’d thought he was over her.
Apparently not. He’d spent the better part of the past two days driving around, looking for her. He’d even headed toward the Hiller Ranch once before he stopped himself. He’d spent two nights dreaming about her, too. The woman had fascinated him when they’d worked together before. Both because she was fuckinghot,and because the connections she had to the legal world in Texas, the connections her rich ass parents had—they would have helped him meet his goals far quicker than anyone else he had ever met.
That woman had been hisideal.
And she’d been right there in front of him for the damned taking. His.
If he hadn’t gotten so damned impatient, things would have been different. He would have had her in his fucking bed, for one thing. For another, she would have openeddoorsfor him in Barratt County.
Damn it, he still wanted her. He was a man who liked to conquer, and he knew that.
Giavonna.
For some reason, he’d expected her not to be working with Hanan anymore, the way the two of them had argued constantly. He’d thought she’d have moseyed on over to B-3 to work with that friend of hers—that asshole Mac Barratt’s sister. B-3 would have meant a shit ton more money than what she was doing now ever could. Powell Barratt and Giavonna had been friends since law school, he’d heard.
Just another wayinto B-3 for Jason that hadn’t actually materialized.
He hated Hanan and his pal Barratt. So fucking much. They had fucked up everything. All of his plans. All of them. Just because they could.
Well, he would make that asshole pay now, wouldn’t he? It was just a matter of time.
He wasn’t too afraid of the judge. Judges like that were a dime a dozen.
But Hudson and Giavonna together—theycould turn into a real problem. One he would have to do something about.Beforeshe started running her mouth to the wrong people. And before Hanan ruined everything once again.
15
The Hiller parentswere hosting the annual Hiller Barbecue at the Hiller Ranch. Hudson had been plotting just exactly how that was going to work in his favor for days.
It was something he had attended many times before—just not in the last three years. Now he wished he had. He was a man with real regrets where one certain Hiller was concerned.
He’d been avoiding a certain she-demon back then; he wasn’t going to hide that fact. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Hudson had taken the call from Gia’s brother with the invite, and found himself agreeing almost immediately.
Of course he had. He wanted to be with the woman he wanted.Outsideof the office. There was only so far he would or could go when they were working. That would just put her in a position of vulnerability he would never want her subjected to at all.
Equal footing between them the whole way. That meantoutsideof the county attorney’s office, no matter what. That protected both of them from any complications.
He was hoping she’d see him less as her supervisor, and more as her older brothers’ annoying lifelong friend who just happened to be someone she worked with.
Like her sister Genny had originally seen Chad Fields. Genny and Chad couldn’t keep their hands off of each other now. Lucky bastard. Hudson had caught them half-naked twiceduring his stay at the ranch. Fields wasdefinitelya lucky, lucky bastard.
Hudson had a very similar end goal with Genny’s older sister.
Hudson had been friends with her brothers long before he had ever become her boss at the county attorney’s office. Time for him to remind her of that—to make that beautiful, exasperating woman remember that he wasn’t just herboss,he was someone who had been in her life for decades.
But he also wasn’t going to just tiptoe to the finish line. Life was too damned short for that. Today was a good start.
He wanted to be where his woman was. Period.
