Found in You(25)

I’d only seen that possessiveness of his a couple of times before. It was frightening and thrilling, sending bolts of hormones to my lower regions and raising my arousal levels to full alert.

It was also unnecessary. “Don’t get all panicked. It was fine.”

“I don’t want you two to spend time together. Remember, in my script you aren’t friends.” He stabbed at the air with his fork, enunciating his point.

I clucked my tongue. “Come on, that’s not fair. I only want to feel close to you and she’s your best friend.”

He shook his head once. “She’s my only friend. It’s different.”

I stroked my foot up his calf, hoping to lighten his mood on the subject. “She didn’t give away any deep dark Hudson secrets.”

“Says you.”

“She only said she was happy that you’d found me.” I paused to let that sink in. “She thinks you deserve someone.”

Instead of softening, his expression hardened. “That’s a deep dark Hudson secret right there.” He leaned closer to me, speaking low. “So deep and dark, it’s a lie. I don’t deserve you and I never will.”

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes then placed my hand over his. “You deserve much better than me. You’re out of my league and everyone knows it.”

“Alayna—” His tone was a warning.

I narrowed my eyes. “How about instead of arguing over who deserves whom, we agree that we fit pretty damn well together and leave it at that.”

“I don’t want you spending time with Celia.”

Damn, he was serious. So much for getting insider knowledge over coffee. On the other hand, who was he to tell me that I couldn’t spend time with someone?

But we were trying to make a relationship work. If it was important to him then…“All right, I won’t spend time with her. And I don’t want you spending time with her either.”

“I can live with that compromise.”

“You can?” I tried not to sound surprised.

“Yes. I barely see her anyway. From now on, if I have to see her, it will be with you.”

“Agreed.” It wasn’t as much of a sacrifice for me as it was for him. She wasn’t my friend.

“Good.” Then a wicked gleam filled his eyes. “We do fit pretty damn well together.”

“Now who’s getting naughty?”

He set down his fork and looked at our nearly empty plates. “It is time for dessert.”

“Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin and got up from the table. The hall bathroom wasn’t visible from the dining room so I hoped that’s where Hudson assumed I had gone. Instead, I went to the master bedroom, to my closet. I grabbed the lingerie set from its drawer and changed as quickly as I could.

I stopped in front of the bedroom mirror to fluff my hair into as close of a sexy tousle as my straight strands would allow and noticed, damn, I looked good. The teddy was a coral baby-doll flyaway that pushed my already perky boobs up to soaring heights. The middle opened to expose my flat belly and the matching lace thong. Hell, I’d do me.

I slunk back to the dining room and found the table cleared and Hudson at the bar making a drink, his back to me. Awkwardly, I tried to come up with some stripper pose, but when he turned toward me, I’d only managed to cock my hip and put a hand at my waist.

He nearly dropped his glass, his eyes wide. “Holy, f*ck, Alayna. You look so goddamned hot, you’ve surpassed naughty and gone straight to sinful.”