Page 68 of Her Goal
Not answering my question but finishing his thought, Hudson says, “Or ones with a smile that could murder a man if he’s not careful.”
“Yikes. Sounds aggressive. Be careful out there. The dating world can be brutal, not that I really know,” I mumble the last part.
“Or that’s full of surprises,” he adds.
“A lot of people are surprise-phobic. Noted. I won’t show up at your house unannounced …” Again. “Not that I did or would. Never mind. I’ll stop talking now.”
“Please don’t. It’s adorable.” His smile crinkles his eyes.
I squawk a laugh. “I’ve been called many things. But not adorable.”
“Then you haven’t been hanging around with the right people.”
“Hunter once said I reminded him of a giant, mutant iguana or was it a chameleon? Maybe it’s better that I can’t remember.”
“My point stands.”
“Okay, fine. I admit it. I’ve internet-stalked you a little. Mostly, I’ve just wondered what happened with Hunter.” And wanted to direct my animosity somewhere. Maybe entertain a pity party every once in a while with a sharply worded email.
“And none of them have legs like yours,” he says as if he didn’t hear a word I said.
In fact, I’m not sure I heard correctly. Perhaps I’m the tired one.
“Come again?” I ask.
His gaze travels up my body from my feet, several inches from the ground and crossed at the ankles, to my eyes, igniting every inch of my skin along the way until my cheeks blister with heat.
I swallow thickly.
“You have amazing legs, Leah.”
“Yeah. I know. That’s what makes me so tall.”
“All the better.”
I don’t understand what I’m hearing and feel myself alternately scrunching up, wanting to hide, and coming at him with sharpened claws. Is he insulting me or something else?
Instead, I do my best to deflect or return to neutral, if not contested, ground. “You and your brother are so different. Hunter was wild, free, and fun. You’re?—”
“You never gave me a chance, Leah.”
What happened in high school rises from the ashes of my teenage heart. “Maybe I had my reasons.”
“If that’s the case, they were lousy. But you’re right about Hunter. He was like a wolf and I was like a?—”
“Domesticated dog. A golden retriever.”
His laughter echoes through the night. “Fair enough.”
But this is another side of Hudson. He isn’t wolfish right now, but I see the alpha in him. The guy who commands the goalpost, who looks at me like he knows what he wants and it’s not a petite girl with brown eyes.
I’m afraid of what that means.
He says, “You look like you’re fixing to slap someone.”
“Just when I’m around you.”
“Leah, I remember the girl next door. She was fierce, playing street hockey, but a sweet ray of sunshine who brought everyone popsicles. You were one of the guys. Then you turned brooding. Guarded. When I saw you with your family at the anniversary party, I got glimpses of who you were. What happened? Who hurt you?”
