My Kind of Wonderful(43)

“Shit.” He dropped his forehead to her shoulder, running his hands up and down her arms as if soothing her would soothe him. “I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispered against her jaw.

“No,” she said. “I should’ve knocked when I first got to your doorway, but you were staring at your phone so intently I didn’t want to interrupt you, and then—”

“It’s okay,” he said. “My fault, not yours.” He kept his mouth against her so every word ghosted over her skin.

She shivered but didn’t want to let him distract her. “Will you tell me what’s wrong?” Knowing it was the last thing he wanted to do, she put her hand on his chest. “I can tell you’ve had a rough night—”

He snorted.

“Okay, a rough week maybe,” she said. “I’ve had a few of those myself and I know that sometimes it helps to say what’s bothering you.”

He was quiet for so long she thought, Okay, I guess he’s not going to say a word. But then he quietly said, “I got an email about Jacob’s unit.”

She pulled free to search his face for a hint, but he was damn good at giving away nothing when he wanted. “What happened?” she asked.

“They took enemy fire. No word on if there were injuries.” He paused. “Or fatalities.”

Her heart broke at all he didn’t say. “And you’ve had no contact from him?” she asked.

“No.”

“I’m sure he’ll get in touch with you as soon as he can.”

Hud slowly shook his head and scrubbed a hand down his face, which she knew now to be one of his rare tells. He had to be exhausted to let it slip. “No,” he said. “Jacob won’t be in contact.”

“But he’s got to know how you and the others will be worrying about him.”

“Trust me,” he said grimly. “You couldn’t understand.”

She stared up at him. “You think because I don’t have any siblings I can’t understand an obviously difficult relationship?”

“We’re dropping this,” he said. “It’s not up for discussion. Or for public consumption in the mural.”

She absorbed the unexpected hurt of that and turned away, getting as far as the door before she stopped and stared at her hand on the doorknob, remembering what Carrie told her.

Hud pushes away the people he cares about most. He’s good at it.

Bailey let out a breath and turned, walking back to him until she was toe-to-toe with him. “I almost let you do it,” she said.

“Do what?”

“Push me away. It’s apparently your MO when it comes to the people you care most about. Like Jacob.”

Still as the night behind him, only his eyes tracked to her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“I think I do. So if that’s what you’re doing now, Hud? Pushing me away because you care too much? You should know that I won’t go. I can’t be pushed.” To prove it, she moved back to the door and hit the lock.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

She dropped her sweater on the floor on her way over to him. “If you don’t know, I’m not doing it very well.”

“Bailey—”

“No,” she said, and pointed at him. “You don’t feel like talking, remember?”

“You said last week that this thing was one night,” he said.

Was he worried that she’d try and cling to him? “I said one night?” she asked innocently, purposefully misunderstanding him. “My mistake. I meant two.” She gave him a little push until his desk hit the backs of his thighs.

“Bailey—”

“Shh.” She unzipped his sweatshirt and shoved it off his shoulders.

His hands went to her hips. “Bay.” His voice came out a low, barely there rasp. “This is a bad idea.”

“Well of course it is,” she said. “All week I’m thinking about you while pretending I’m not. And you’re here doing your best to keep me at arm’s length, which I know damn well means that you think about me too.” She smiled. “Really, we’re quite the pair.”

“Fucking pathetic.” But he returned her smile with a small one of his own and then he was tugging at her clothes and then his, exposing the necessary parts—and God, she loved his necessary parts—so that they could make good use of his desk.

And after that, the loveseat against the wall.

“I sit on this thing and work sometimes,” Hud murmured much later when Bailey was sweaty and still panting in his arms. “I’m never going to look at it the same way again.” She felt him smile against her damp skin. “In fact, I think I’ll have it bronzed.”





Chapter 15


Hud worked his ass off on Saturday afternoon, but that night he did something he couldn’t remember ever doing—he took himself off the roster at both the resort and the station. He also turned off his phone.

And then he knocked at Bailey’s employee apartment.

She opened the door and stared at him.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.” She wore his favorite outfit—her skimpy PJs.