Page 44 of Lucky Laces
And that I certainly shouldn’t have crawled into bed beside him…
And shouldn’t have stayed next to him when I woke up a couple of hours ago…
I can’t make myself pull away.
Not from the warmth and strength and spice of his body, not from wanting to do something about the sadness clinging to the edges of his eyes, not from the man himself.
I touch his jaw.His skin is prickly with stubble, a soft abrasion against my palm, and suddenly I need Huddy to know he’s not alone in the whole shitty people in his life situation.“My fiancé cheated on me during the first game of the season,” I blurt.
He stills, big body beyond stiff.
And I tell him the rest of it, give him more details than I gave the only other person in the world—Ernest—who knows about Jason and me breaking up.
“I looked up at the jumbotron to watch the replay,” I whisper, “and I saw him making out with a woman who, obviously, wasn’t me?—”
Eyes flaring, Hudson sucks in a breath.
“So I broke up with him.”I close my eyes.“Turns out, it wasn’t just that woman.There were more—one who showed up here looking for her bra, maybe a half-dozen more who I’ve found on social media.”
“Asshole,” he growls.
“Oh, most certainly,” I say, trying to affect light and casual.Jason and I are over and I won’t go back to someone who could do this shit to me.But it still hurts, still has all the normal doubts slinking through my head—I’m not good enough, I did something to cause this, should have done something different to prevent it.“But I’m fine,” I add, still going for light and casual.“It sucks, especially since we were together for so long.But better to find out now than when we were actually married.”
See?
I can be the optimist now, can look on the bright side—even with earthquakes and complicated bed mates and an ex who’s a fucking nightmare.
Fingers on my cheek.“Baby.”
Heat in my belly, drifting down to dip languid fingers between my thighs.
What was that about complicated bed partners?
“You shouldn’t call me that,” I say softly.
But I don’t shift back, don’t pull away from his touch.
MaybeI’mthe one who’s too fucking complicated.
“I know,” he says.“But you need to know—baby”—firm gray eyes on mine, holding, making a point, one that has my insides fluttering, those phantom fingers between my legs drifting up, teasing, drawing me closer to madness, and I can’t find a fuck to give—“your ex was a fucking idiot.”
Then, as I’m absorbing the words, the intensity, those gorgeous eyes and reeling…falling…
He leans even closer.
And his lips press to mine.
Fourteen
Hudson
This is dumb.
This is likely to get me traded, especially considering my poor performance of late.
And this is…fuckingincredible.
The best kiss of my entire life.
