Page 8 of The Prey
Seeing Jason Clarke there in the courthouse had made that abundantly clear: She had given that asshole enough of herlifeafter what he’d done to her two and a half years ago. She wasn’t going to give him any more of it.
“Heavy thoughts?”
Hudson’s question startled her. She jerked, then froze, hoping she hadn’t wakened the little girl in her arms. “Shh.”
“You have a strange look on your face right now,” he said, quietly. “Both the girls are out, Auntie Gia. Sit down with me. Let’s…talk.”
They were going totalk,all right. She was going to figure out just what the man was up to. Whatever game he was playing—he wasn’t going to get away with it.
She stood. It took only a half a moment to lay her niece on the couch nearby. She slipped the safety rails beneath the cushions next to both girls, and turned.
Hudson stood right there. Almost in her space.
“Come in the kitchen,” he said. Then his hand was on her waist, turning her. “Talk to me.”
Gia fought freezing. Men didn’t just put their hands on her.
Only her family touched her. That was the way she liked it.
She shot him a look and twisted away from that hand that scorched. “What about? I have some things I need to unpack in my suite.”
It wasn’t really a suite, just a bedroom, a sitting room, and a bathroom. And a balcony. They’d just always called their roomssuites,when they’d been young girls and being silly. Now…it was her sanctuary. The ranch was the one place in the world where she actually felt safe. Even a little.
She washome.
It was half the size of her townhouse she’d left, but…the rest of the house, the safety, the feeling of home it represented, more than made up for that.
“Are you going to live here permanently?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead. My…lease was up.” No. She’d broken it early. It had taken a significant portion of cash to accomplish it—three months’ rent—but she’d managed.
She’d run. The instant she’d seen Jason, she’d started planning exactly how to do that.
“It’s a busy place. You sure you want to be here?”
“They are my family. There is no place else I’d really want to be.” That was truer than anything she’d ever said before. She had done some serious soul searching when she’d seen Jason again—she’d come to one real realization: Gia wanted her family. There was nothing wrong with that. And the ranch was more than big enough for all of them to live there as long as needed.
“Why haven’t you married? I know you’ve dated.” He had that tone in his voice again—the one that said he was evaluating, calculating. It set her on edge, each and every time. Even more now.
“Why is that any of your business?” What was this, an interrogation? The man wasbored,and she was right there. Trapped. Of course, he’d look to start something. She fought tensing by fussing with Maddie’s blanket, covering her niece gently. So precious.
“Because I watched you this morning. If I’ve ever seen any woman made to be surrounded by a million kids, I suspect I’m looking at her. I’m just wondering why you haven’t had half a dozen of your own by now.”
It was a loaded question. She wasn’t an idiot. And this man had baited her so many times before. Gia just sent him a look of challenge.
“Who says I evenwantkids? Not every woman does. Maybe I’m focusing on my career.” That had been what she’d told people after Jason.
“Do you?” he asked bluntly, his fingers toying with her hair. Just like Anthony had that morning. It just…felt different when Hudson was doing it. “You’re already damned good at yourcareer.And you know it. Nothing says you can’t have both. You’d be good at both. Your children would be lucky to have you as their mother, too.”
Well, now the man who had called her the spawn of Satan’s own attorneys just last month really was up to something. Was that an actualcomplimentcoming from him? And since when was he allowed in her personal space?
She batted his hand away from her hair. He was deliberately pushing her buttons, challenging her—on things that weren’t his business. And she knew it.
This was a game they had played before. Just…not on such a personal subject.
“Are you offering to be my baby-daddy or something, Mr. Hanan? In general, it takes two people and about twenty minutes, remember? I do have to say you make a pretty cute kid. You do have potential…I think.” She had to say it. Had to challenge him right back. Throw him off.
What she wanted from her future was never going to behisbusiness.
