The Fixed Trilogy: Found in You(32)

I tensed. Never mind that the woman obviously felt familiar enough with my man to give him dating advice, she had thought Celia and Hudson were together. I’d thought that had only been the perception of their parents. Was there something I was missing?

Hudson straightened at the mention of Celia as well, and I felt his eagerness to get away from Norma—to get me away from Norma.

“It was nice to see you here tonight, Norma. Those reports—”

She touched his arm as if it was second nature. “I’ll get them to you on Monday.”

“Thank you, Norma.”

It was a good thing Hudson pulled me into his side and led me away or I may have socked the woman in her hazel eye. Or punched him. “First name basis, huh? That’s…different.” Hudson rarely called anyone by first name unless they were important to him.

He was nonplussed by my aggravation. “We’ve known each other for years. First name basis becomes inevitable after so much time.”

“Why does she think you were seeing Celia?” It felt like the Celia/Hudson conversation was a dead horse, yet new information kept popping up, and there I went beating it again.

“Celia often accompanied me to charity events and functions where Norma saw me socially. You know that.”

A blush crept up the back of my neck. I’d never told him that I’d internet-stalked him. That’s where I’d seen the dozens of pictures of him with Celia. He knew me too well.

His hand loosened at my hip. “Norma must have assumed we were a couple. It never occurred to me to correct her.”

My mouth tasted bitter. “Because you liked that people thought you were with Celia.”

“Because I liked that Norma thought I was off-limits.”

“Oh.” Maybe I could let the Celia horse rest for a while. But now I had a whole other slew of questions about Norma.

But before I could ask, he offered. “Norma manages the financial division of one of my companies.”

“Then you’re co-workers.” I wondered how she’d gotten such an elite position. Had she slept her way to the top? The familiarity she had with him was unnerving.

His mouth twitched, fighting a smile. “Why, Alayna, this shade of jealousy is becoming on you.”

I clenched my jaw. “That’s not a comforting response.”

“Not co-workers. Boss and employee.”

Though I appreciated that he’d taken my mood seriously, his answer irked me. Hudson was technically my boss, after all. “That’s a familiar scenario.”

He stopped suddenly and turned to face me full on, his eyes blazing with determined insistence. “I’ve never been your boss, Alayna. If anything, you’re the one who owns me.”

Well, wow.

Whatever Norma had with Hudson, she didn’t have what I had. The realization was moving.

Unable to maintain the intense eye contact, I turned my gaze to the Esplanade that I hadn’t quite taken in as of yet. The lush grassy spread was lined with large cherry trees, full and green.

Hudson followed my stare. “Have you seen pictures of the cherry blossoms when they’re in bloom?”

“No.” I’d seen pictures of the Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival and imagined the Esplanade must be nearly as beautiful.

“It’s breathtaking. All the trees filled with pink popcorn. The fragrance is absolutely incredible.” He swept his thumb across my cheek. “We’ll come here in the spring.”

“That sounds lovely.” I meant it. At the same time, my stomach twisted at both the prospect of still being with Hudson in the spring and the idea that I owned him. Both notions were so completely wonderful and also entirely too rushed. Could I maintain a relationship with him that long? Could I live up to the woman he obviously saw me as to him?

Rather than dwell on it, I refocused my mind on the bit of news that had set me searching for him in the first place. “Hey, I have something to tell you that you might be interested in.”

Placing his arm at the small of my back, Hudson directed me out of the Esplanade.

“It doesn’t have to be now,” I said, realizing his intention to take me up on my information at that very moment. “You can finish your mingling first.”

His mouth was hot at my ear. “The only mingling that interests me at the moment is the mingling of our genitalia.”

“You’re insatiable. You had me in the car.” But his suggestion caused my skin to tingle with want and anticipation.

“It wasn’t enough.” He pulled me off the path through a hole in the hedges—somewhere we certainly weren’t allowed to be—and pushed me up against a tall tree, his hip anchoring me in place. “I can never have enough of you.”

My breath caught in a moment of complete adoration for the man in front of me. This man who had worked through his own demons to let me in his life, had ignored every natural inclination to stay closed off and instead was trying his damndest to be with me in the way we both wanted.

I buried my gaze in his eyes. “I love you.”

He bent closer, his nose grazing the skin of my cheek. “Is that what you pulled me away to tell me? I’m not complaining if it is.”

I giggled. “You pulled me away, not the other way around, silly. And it’s not what I had to tell you. But I’m glad every time I get to say it.”