My Kind of Wonderful(77)

So worth it.

All that was left was to find a way to tell Hud what she was thinking so they could talk about it. Plan. She couldn’t think of a better time than right now, lying in his arms as she was. She’d just come right out and say it. Hud, I’m in this, all the way.

But Hud hadn’t moved, not so much as a muscle twitch. His breathing came slow and deep and steady—he was out. She knew how exhausted he had to be and the truth was, she wasn’t that far behind him. She could wait. They could wait. There was no hurry, no need to rush this at all. In fact, she should do the opposite of rush, since she now had all the time in the world.

The thought made her smile. She had two weeks of work left on the mural. She would just enjoy those two weeks and enjoy Hud. And let things happen. She had other jobs on the horizon, things she needed to firm up. There was a possible graphic arts job for a pub in London, which, if she was lucky, she could also finagle into a trip over there to see them in person and knock something else off her list. She also had things cooking closer to home. She’d line them up and see where things took her.

And then, when she finished the mural, if Hud hadn’t said anything about them in the meantime, she would. She’d tell him how she felt about him—while sober this time—and they’d go from there.

Yeah, she thought with a yawn, that worked. And thinking about it all with a smile on her face, she followed him into dreamland.





Chapter 28


As often happened during the ski season, the following two weeks came and passed in a complete blur for Hudson. He spent every second during the day on the mountain, whether on the ski runs or in the office, and plenty of graveyard shifts in town on the police schedule to boot.

But it was the weekends where he found himself thriving, able to feel Bailey’s presence in his life even when she was working on the mural and he was in uniform or on the mountain.

They’d claimed the nights for themselves though, and had made the most of every hour, every single moment.

And all those moments had him both flying high and also on edge.

Because it was almost over.

They spent a lot of time with each other’s tongues down their throats but not a single moment discussing what happened next.

Because Hud knew.

He’d heard her on her phone several times in the past weeks making plans for future graphic design jobs, which he got. Her job was fluid. She had to always be looking for the next job. And one of them was in England, where he knew she wanted to knock out another item on her list—taking a walking tour of English and Scottish castles.

She’d even talked about making a side trip to Paris, taking ballroom dancing lessons while she was there just because she could. He was thrilled for her, sincerely to-the-bone thrilled.

As for how he felt? He told himself it didn’t matter, that this was about Bailey, not him.

The mural itself was the talk of the resort. It was nearly done now, the colors vibrant and gorgeous against the lodge, a set of siblings whose stories seemed bigger than life.

And it was almost done. He’d always known he was on borrowed time but that point hit home hard. And suddenly all those times when he’d changed the conversation or steered it away from what would happen when Bailey finished came back to bite him on the ass.

At the end of the day he walked into the offices. It was Saturday and his mom’s real birthday. The plan had been for Kenna to drive into town, pick Carrie up along with her favorite meal—loaded pizza—and bring her back to the resort for the evening. Everyone would make their way to the conference room for a dinner celebration.

Hud got to the offices a few minutes early, his mind busy with calculating how fast he could get himself and Bailey in and out and then up to his place for a quickie without anyone noticing.

And that’s when he got the text from Max regarding Jacob.


Our boy’s finally confirmed safe and sound. Or at least as sound as he gets.



Hud let out a breath and felt a slight release in the knot in his chest as he entered the conference room. It was empty except for Aidan, who was pulling sodas out of the small refrigerator on the other side of the room.

Aidan straightened at the sight of Hud and gestured to the table. “I caught Gray and Penny on the table in the staff room last week. You don’t think they’ve been in here too, do ya?”

They both eyed the table and shuddered.

“They need to keep it to his office,” Aidan said. “Like normal couples.”

“Is that why your office door’s always locked now?” Hud asked.

Aidan smiled. “Hell yeah. And you’re one to talk. There’s been plenty of times when your door’s been locked over the past two months.”

Yeah, the best two months of his life, which were just about over.

Aidan, taking in his expression, got serious. “What? What did I just say?”

Penny came into the room. “Looks like you’ve just told him that Santa isn’t real.”

“I was ragging on him about Bailey,” Aidan said. “Which started, FYI, because of you and Gray.”

“Aw,” Penny said. “Using us as sterling examples of being the perfect Kincaid couple?”

“Bailey and I aren’t like that,” Hud said, finding his voice.

“Really?” Penny asked, tongue in cheek. “So when you’re holed up with her in your suite or your office, you’re what, just checking each other for ticks? Because the couple who fights off Lyme disease stays together? Is that it?”