The Invitation by Vi Keeland(63)

“They delivered two box—” Hudson froze. His eyes rose to meet mine, but he said nothing.

“You’re reading this?”

He set the boxes on the coffee table in front of me. “You mentioned you liked it the other day. I usually read a lot while I travel.”

My heart swelled inside my chest, leaving me a little breathless. I shook my head. “You knew I thought Marco reading Amalia’s favorites was romantic.”

Hudson was quiet for a moment before tapping on the boxes. “How many were left to be delivered?”

“Umm…” I hadn’t finished looking to find out. I swiped to my email and searched for the one Olivia had sent with the shipping confirmations. “I think those are the last two. All of the props are being delivered tomorrow morning from a local company.”

He nodded. “I’ll carry these down to your room for you.”

I shook my head. “That’s okay. It’s just a few outfits. I can take them.”

Hudson pushed his hands into his pockets and kept his eyes down. The shy demeanor was very un-Hudson-like.

So many emotions swam through my head, and I stood, not knowing what to say, though the conversation about the book felt unfinished. Eventually it became awkward, so I took the boxes and figured it was time to go.

“Thank you again for dinner. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“I’ll be down at your room by the time they get started.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

He opened the door and our gazes caught once more. Why did it feel like my heart was breaking? “Goodnight, Hudson.”

I made it down to my room but couldn’t bring myself to go inside. I had two boxes in my hands, yet I just stared at my door.

What the hell am I doing?

For the last few weeks, I’d been reading a diary and rooting for a man to get the girl because of all his sweet gestures. Yet in my personal life, I had a man who listened to me, a man who’d forgiven me for crashing his sister’s wedding, and for giving him a black eye. I’d called him an asshole on more than one occasion, yet he’d done nothing but help me get my business off the ground and stand by my side the entire time. He was also an adoring father, which says a lot about a man. Not to mention, I was ridiculously attracted to him.

So why the hell don’t I take a chance?

I’d told myself it wasn’t a good idea to mix business with pleasure because of the way things had turned out with Aiden. But my business had already exceeded all my expectations, and we hadn’t even made the website live yet for the general public. So it wasn’t that. I thought back to my conversation with Hudson a few minutes ago.

“So much could go wrong,” I’d said.

But maybe what he’d said was more important.

“So much could go right.”

The truth was, I was afraid to take a chance. But I realized now that by not taking a chance, I might miss out on something really beautiful.

My palms started to sweat, because I knew what I needed to do. I also knew that if I walked into my room and started overthinking things, I might chicken out. So it had to be now.

Right now.

I dropped the boxes on the floor in front of my door and rushed back to Hudson’s room. Standing in front of his door, my first instinct was to take a moment and pull myself together. But doing that would give me time to lose my nerve. So I forced myself to just do it and knock—though with all of the adrenaline and nerves rushing through me, my knock came out more like a bang, a very loud and fast pounding.

Hudson whipped open the door. His face was angry, but at the sight of me, he jumped into protective mode.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He took a step out of his room and looked down the hall, first to the right and then the left. “Stella, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fi…”

I forgot what I was saying mid sentence. When he’d whipped open the door and startled me, all I saw was an angry face. But now…

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

My Lord.

Hudson’s dress shirt was unbuttoned. His belt was open, and the zipper to his pants was down, revealing dark boxer briefs. But it wasn’t his state of undress that had me unable to form words, it was what was underneath the clothes.

I knew from our talks that he exercised, so I’d expected him to be in good shape. But Hudson was so much more. He was…magnificent. Beautiful smooth, tan skin, carved pecs, and an eight-pack of rippled muscles. A thin line of hair led from his belly button down into his boxers, the sight of which made me salivate.

“Stella? Are you okay?”

Hearing the concern in his voice, I blinked a few times.

“Oh…yeah. I’m fine.” Though not as fine as you.

“You banged on my door like there was a fire or something.”

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I was just anxious.”

“Anxious about what? The shoot tomorrow?”

“No…yes…no…well, I am anxious about the shoot tomorrow, but that’s not what I was anxious about when I knocked on your door.”

Hudson still looked confused.

But of course, why wouldn’t he when I was babbling like an idiot? So I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

“I…I…would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?”