Page 88 of Summer Heat
I squeezed the back of my neck. "He doesn't know that anything happened. He warned me not to make a move."
Hudson shook his head. "And yet you did anyway."
"I'm not irresponsible," I said, even as my stomach knotted.
Hudson leveled me with a look I couldn't decipher. "I never said you were."
"I liked her. I was in a place where I wanted something more. But I don't know. I never told her, and now?—"
"She's leaving. Does it have anything to do with the women who approached you all night?" Cooper asked, disgust tingeing his voice.
The band around my chest tightened. "I have a feeling she didn't like it."
"Why didn't you hang out with her?" Hudson asked.
"We kept our relationship a secret from everyone. I let her lead that because she had Maya to consider. And I didn't want to do anything to mess up the publicity we got for the business."
"Who cares about the videos? This is about you and the only woman you've ever been serious about." Hudson's voice rose in volume.
"How do you know I'm serious about her?" I asked, wishing they'd stop hounding me about my screwup.
Hudson gestured at me. "I've never seen you like this. You're wound up tighter than a clock."
I couldn't argue with him because I was tense. I'd been a mess ever since last night. I'd rushed home to talk to Kinsley, but she was already asleep. And then she was gone before I returned from my run. I should have stuck around the house until she talked to me.
Instead, I was stuck in this limbo where I couldn't apologize or make anything better. "She's looking for an apartment. How else am I supposed to feel?"
Cooper raised a brow. "Did you ask her to stay?"
I placed my hands on my hips. "Of course not."
Cooper exchanged a look with Hudson. "I can see why she'd be looking for a new place to stay after last night. Especially if you didn't claim her in front of those women."
I ground my teeth together. "That wasn't part of our agreement."
Hudson raised a brow, amusement in his tone. "Oh, there was an agreement?"
"Not exactly. There was an understanding that we'd keep things quiet because Maya didn't know we were together. And then Dad had warned me away from her."
Hudson straightened. "What exactly did he say?"
"That I shouldn't make a move on our employee. It wouldn't be right. And it was implied that it would be one more impulsive thing I did that was wrong."
Cooper scoffed. "You're not hooking up with an employee. You're in love with her."
I opened my mouth to deny his declaration, but then I remembered how I felt on Friday night, how I wanted to claim her as mine. Was I in love with her?
"How do you feel about the prospect of her leaving?" Cooper asked.
"As if I was losing a piece of myself. And don't even get me started on how I feel about Maya not being here with me."
"You're in love with her, and she doesn't know how you feel. She assumes you welcomed the attention of those women last night. That you don't want her, other than as a dirty secret."
"She's not my dirty secret." I recoiled at that characterization. What we had was real. I wasn't ashamed of it. It was the best thing in my life. She lifted me up and made me a better person. I wasn't embarrassed by her.
Cooper gave me a look. "Does she know that?"
I growled. "I can't do anything about it. She won't talk to me."
