Page 75 of Hate You Later
“I’m shocked by this behavior, young lady, utterly shocked!” Hudson adopts a stuffy British accent, exactly like I’ve imagined Oliver all along.
And then his lips are on mine. He kisses me softly, brushing his lips from side to side as he samples. Then his kisses grow less tentative. His lips crush mine, hungry, demanding. There’s no turning back now. Ragnar has arrived to plunder my village.
Hudson parts my lips with his tongue, probing, tasting, and searching. Around us, the constellations sparkle and glimmer, thousands of painstakingly painted, glow-in-the-dark stars lighting the night.
I’m floating, so lost in the moment that I don’t hear the banging on the window till Cookie barks.
Bang, bang, bang.
“What?” I pull away.
“You expecting someone?” Hudson’s breath is ragged. His voice is rough. Cookie barks again and whines a little.
“GET A ROOM,” I can hear Xander calling through the crack in the door.
I run my hand through my hair and make my way to the door, unlocking it and opening it a crack.
“Everything okay in there?” Xander asks. “You need my help?”
“No, Xander, I don’t need your help.”
“I didn’t think so, but I just thought I’d ask. Mac met me for dinner at the diner after I finished up today, and I parked the van down the street. Thought you’d want to know that it’s not as dark in there as you think. The whole square can see someone’s getting busy in there. Just a little heads-up.”
Xander is grinning smugly, peering over my shoulder. “I didn’t think you were dating anyone, G. Who you got back there?”
“None of your—”
“Holy shit! Is that Hudson Holm? Hey, man!” Xander attempts to stick a foot in the door, but I stomp on it.
“Night, bro,” I say, shutting the door and turning the lock the instant he withdraws his foot. I wave goodbye to him, and he shakes a finger at me before turning to go at last.
“Well, that was awkward,” Hudson says.
“Ha, you think that was bad?” I straighten my dress and attempt to put my head right. “Just wait till he talks to Kenna and the two of them find out that you’re Oliver.”
hudson
The spell is brokenafter Xander leaves. Now it’s just the two of us standing here, staring at each other, trying to make some sense out of what just happened. Of everything that has happened over the past two weeks.
Even though I’ve known for two days, I’m still experiencing a fair amount of cognitive dissonance. My brain strains as I try to reconcile this woman with the character of Cookie, the dog, even as the actual dog sits at my feet, panting happily. It’s like watching a film about the multiverse, worlds colliding.
“I should go,” I finally say.
“What about the phone?” she asks.
We’re still standing in the dark. Close enough to touch, but we don’t.
“Please keep it?”
Georgia bends to collect the papers she dropped earlier, rearranging them back into a pile.
“It’s too expensive,” she argues. “And it doesn’t change anything about this.” She taps the stack of papers, holding it out toward me. This time, I take it from her. I roll the papers up into a tube and place them in my hoodie pocket.
“The phone’s a gift,” I say. “Consider it a gift from Oliver to Cookie. She needs it to complete the challenge. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with us humans.”
She turns the phone over in her hand, considering this.
“You should know that Farm & Holm isn’t selling pet costumes anymore, Georgia. The whole collection’s been removed from the site. We will find a way to make it right.Iwill find a way to make it up to you.”
