The Fixed Trilogy: Found in You(26)

“No, I think I could go strictly through Julia.”

“You could make that a stipulation to signing a contract with them.”

“But Hudson would freak! My brother would freak!” I said it before I remembered that I’d cut Brian out of my life. “Not that I’m speaking to my brother, but he worked his ass off to get me out of the whole Paul debacle.”

Celia didn’t bat an eye. “Don’t tell him. Don’t tell either of them.”

“How can I hide Paul from Hudson? He owns the club!”

“Your contact is going to be with the girlfriend, right? If Hudson happens to see the paperwork—which is unlikely—it will say Party Planners Plus. If I remember correctly, Paul’s not even really an owner. It’s legally all in Julia’s name.”

“Right, right. That’s right.” I was impressed. Celia was actually good at this scheming stuff. “But since that’s the case, maybe I should tell Hudson.”

“You can tell him, but if I know Hudson—and I do—there’s no way he’ll let you keep that contract. He’s too protective of things he considers his. And in this case, that’s not only The Sky Launch, it’s you.”

My feminist side wanted to get pissy at being considered a man’s object, but the in love side—the more dominant side, at the moment—blushed in agreement. “I know. It was worth a shot though.”

“So you have two options: forget the contract or forget telling Hudson.”

I didn’t like either choice. But I wanted that contract. Badly. So badly I could taste it. And feeling like it was a way to pay back Paul made the decision all the richer. “I won’t tell him. I’ll work with Party Planners and Hudson will never be the wiser.”

“Then I won’t tell him either.” She put her hand up and dangled her last finger. “Pinky swear.”

Her promise made me feel better. Made me feel like I had someone on my side. Made the lie seem less likely to explode in my face. “Thank you. Talking to you really helps me figure things out.”

“Of course it does.” She smiled in that way where she knew she was adorable and made no apology for it. “Hey, why didn’t you call me this morning anyway?”

I took another sip of my watered-down drink while I decided if I should tell her the truth or make up an excuse. After I’d been honest about everything else, I settled on the truth. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to see you. Hudson wasn’t happy when he found out we chatted yesterday.”

“Hmm. I imagine he didn’t.” She rubbed her lips together, and I wondered briefly how she kept her gloss looking so fresh all the time. “Well, tell you what,” she said after a minute. “We don’t have to tell him about this either. I didn’t tell Jordan I was going to go find you so I’m sure he wouldn’t say anything. You could just not say anything either.”

The thought had crossed my mind, but only fleetingly. “I’m not sure if I’m good with keeping it from him.” The list of things I wasn’t telling Hudson was getting much longer than I felt was acceptable. My past with David, working with Paul, now seeing Celia behind his back. I looked at my watch. It was only a little after one. Was that too early to have a beer?

“Sure, I get that. I’m not trying to encourage keeping secrets or anything, but he’s so weird where you’re concerned. Protective or something. The last time I talked to you, he was pissed for days. He thinks I’m going to turn you against him or something.” She rolled her eyes. “But it’s up to you. Just let me know so I’m on the same page.”

“Okay.” But I planned on telling Hudson about Celia. We were supposed to be working on honesty and the weight from two secrets was heavy enough without adding a third one.





Chapter Six


“Precious.”

It was a quarter after two when I answered my phone to Hudson’s voice. We hadn’t seen each other that morning. He’d slipped out while I was asleep in his bed, but he’d left my phone next to my head and a text message flashed on it telling me to make myself at home and he’d call me later.

Now, hearing him on the other end of the line, I realized how much I’d missed him in the mere handful of hours we’d been apart.

“Hey,” I sighed into the receiver. “I’m glad you called.”

“I said that I would.”

We’d had so few phone conversations that they still took me by surprise, still delighted me to no end. “I’m glad both that you said you would and that you did.”

“You are easily pleased.” The smile on his face was apparent through the phone. “How has your day been?”

“Dreadful until this very moment.” After Celia and I had parted ways, I’d thrown myself into putting together packages for Julia. The work had been fun and had occupied my mind completely. Still, the horror of the morning clung to me like a shadow.

“Oh? Why? What’s wrong?” Immediately Hudson was on guard, ready to fight whatever battle I was facing.

His reaction made me eager to tell him about seeing Paul, but I swiftly reminded myself why that would be a bad idea. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Just everything is dreadful in comparison to being with you.”