Page 89 of Lucky Laces
“Jason is being…difficult.”
Snaking an arm around her waist, I draw her flush against me.Her eyes go wide then melt, same as her body, and I like that.
I like it a lot.
So much so I’m tempted to ignore the pounding and go back upstairs and push the No Sex boundary just a smidge further.
But…
Difficult.
Yeah, I need to get to the bottom of that.
Instead of the bedroom, I shepherd her into the kitchen.“Talk to me,” I order.
“Bossy,” she mutters, trying to pull away.
“Talk to me, DeeDee,” I say, keeping her close and adding more firmness to my words.I’m uncertain if this will make her dig her heels in further or if she’ll open up, but I hope she has enough trust in me to share.
“He wasn’t happy when we broke up,” she says, gaze darting toward the hall.
“Hownot happy?”
She nibbles at her bottom lip.
“Tell me,” I press.
Her green eyes hit mine.
And I don’t miss the fear in them.
“He hurt you?”I ask, temper beginning to boil.
A quick shake of her head has my stomach unclenching.Then her next words have it tightening again and doing it even more intensely.“He just scared me,” she whispers, a sliver of shame in her tone.
“No,” I say and she blinks in confusion.I cup both of her cheeks in my palms.“No,” I repeat.“You don’t feel shame because someone bigger than you, someone stronger than you, someone who should know fucking better than toeverput you in a position where you felt uncomfortable?—”
“I didn’t tell him I was?—”
“You shouldn’t have to.”I brush my lips over her forehead.“Life can be shitty and uncomfortable and sometimes bad stuff happens, but your partner, yourfiancéis supposed to share that load, supposed to know if you’re scared or hurting and if that’s the case, they should be doing everything—fuckingeverything—in their power to make it better.”
“Hudson,” she whispers.
“No one scares you,” I whisper back.“No one hurts you.”I draw her closer, settling my forehead on hers.“As long as you let me be here, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“Hudson,” she says again, her voice soft, her eyes gentle, her body melting against mine.
Despite the knocking.
Despite all the things that could pull us apart.
She’s in my arms.
And when I say quietly, “Now do me a favor and go upstairs, so I can get rid of this asshole before Ernest gets involved.”
“Last night you weren’t too happy about me having plans with Ernest today.”
“I wasn’t,” I admit.“Because I wanted you all to myself.”I tug a lock of her hair.“But I’ll take Ernest over that asshole, especially if we can hit up Molly’s.”
