Love, Tussles, and Takedowns (Cactus Creek #3)(26)

A half hour later, Lia was shooting Hudson another playfully scandalized look. Her fifth one of the night. “I swear, you and Gabe need to exchange notes. The pranks you’ve pulled on your cousin are kind of legendary.”

“To be fair, I only pulled pranks on Ben,” he defended. “And they were all just to get him to loosen up a little. Get dirty and color outside the lines for a change.”

“Speaking of getting dirty…” began Ben.

Hudson didn’t stick around for the story he knew would be causing scandalized look number six from Lia. He grabbed their water cups to go refill them at the cooler on the other end of the pavilion. The story was kind of a long one.

He was just sitting back down when one of the truck vendors hollered out, “Owner of a silver Mercedes with a St. Joseph Hospital license cover, your lights are on.”

Ben’s shoulders started shaking. “I’m flattered you could pick out my car out of a full parking lot.”

Hudson tossed him an innocent look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But if that’s your car, you’d better go take care of that. You wouldn’t want to have a dead battery tomorrow before your tee time. Those early morning balls aren’t going to hit themselves you know.”

Lia just shook her head and sipped at her refilled water cup.

Ben leaned down to give Lia a polite peck on the cheek. “It was lovely to make your acquaintance, Lia.”

Hudson felt his back molars grind together.

At the twinkle in Ben’s eyes, he’d noticed. “I’ll call you later, Hudson,” he promised. “You’re right. It was way more fun catching up like this than over some stuffy antiques.”

It actually had been sort of, kind of, semi-fun getting to know his cousin again.

Not that he’d ever admit to such a thing without a court order.

“I like him,” commented Lia after Ben and his Mercedes were out of sight. She gathered up their empty plates to dump them in the trash. “He brings out a different side of you.”

“Ben was always a good kid. I just used to mess with him every once in a while to make sure he kept loose.” Even though he was parked in the opposite direction, he followed her as they strolled through town.

“He mentioned you always used to defend him whenever other kids would pick on him.”

“Yeah well, he used to be a scrawny thing. If he got beaten up, I wouldn’t have anyone to mess with anymore.”

“He says you taught him how to ride motorcycles.”

“Strictly to piss off his parents.”

She chuckled. “Do you still ride?”

“Yes and no. I have a Triumph Rocket Roadster back in California. But I can’t take her out much anymore.”

Looking down at his hands, she frowned sympathetically. “Right, because of your hands. I’m sorry, that must be tough. I’ve noticed you flex them a lot like they’re in pain.”

He liked how she didn’t tip-toe around it. She was direct and to the point, without bashing the point through with a big ole mallet like Fiona did.

“My left one is usually in pain. My right, I think I flex to try and feel pain.” He didn’t give her the whole sob story, just the highlights of how one didn’t work right and the other didn’t feel right. “So yeah, braking and working the clutch on my bike isn’t exactly easy.”

They stopped walking and he noticed finally that they were at the stairwell that led up to her apartment.

“You can ride double with me,” she offered. “I could help you work the throttle and the brake.”

Imagining Lia either in his lap or plastered to his back with her arms around him on his bike had him admitting without thinking, “Honey, if I were riding double with you, I can guarantee you that any control over braking and the throttle whatsoever would not be a possibility.”

She got quiet.

Him and his big mouth. “I was kidding, sweetie. We can ride anytime.”

The feeling of a hand on his arm stopped his words.

“Hudson?”

Her dark, expressive eyes were as good as an open book at the moment.

“Yeah, sweetie?” He had to actively try not to reach out and drag her into his arms.

“Where were you planning on staying tonight?”

Good question. He’d just been focused on seeing Lia; he hadn’t thought about it at all. He shrugged. “I can go find a hotel, or worse comes to worse I keep a sleeping bag in my jeep so I can just roll it out at the campgrounds a little north of here.”

“That’s silly. Just stay at my place again.”

He grinned and teased, “If you think you can keep the sex noises down this time, sure. Your couch was pretty comfortable.”

She turned and walked backward up her stairwell then, giving him a look he couldn’t quite decipher. “After all the flirty little things you’ve let slip in at the end of our phone conversations, you’re seriously telling me that my sofa is where you want to sleep tonight?”

Suddenly, he was jumping out of a chopper without a parachute, her innocent questions taking on a bigger meaning he’d missed entirely. His gaze tangled with hers. “We both know the answer to that, sweetheart. Just like we both know why the couch is where I’ll be staying firmly planted until morning.”