Page 45

HUDSON
“Maybe we need to stick this here?” Huxley says as we both look at the homemade poster that is Harvey’s school science project. Huxley arrived this morning for a few days, and I’m sure if he knew this was on this agenda for today, he would have the plane flying in a totally different direction.
“No! The moon needs to go here next to the Earth, Uncle Huxe; otherwise, it isn’t reeeaaal,” Harvey tells him adamantly, schooling Huxley as my brother’s eyes meet mine over the top of this solar system poster that we are trying to put together. Harvey drew and colored all the planets, so now all we need to do is stick them down in order from the sun. The gate intercom chimes, and Harvey runs to the small screen on the side wall to see who it is.
“Isn’t he too young to be doing this kind of shit? We didn’t do this until high school, I’m sure of it,” Huxley grumbles.
“Is it too early for whiskey? I feel like I need a fucking whiskey,” I say, scrubbing my face, wondering how in the world to get all these planets stuck down in the right order. I tried to search on my phone, but Harvey told me that was against the rules. He himself has no idea, so clearly he wasn’t paying enough attention in class.
“Where the fuck does Uranus go? Who even named a fucking planet Uranus?” Huxley hisses to himself, before he plunks down in the dining chair, leaving me alone to look at the poster until Harvey comes back over.
“Who was that, buddy?” I ask, assuming it was either Mom or Dad.
“Lacy,” he says, and my head whips up. It’s been a few days since our night under the stars, and I’ve thought of little else since. We’ve talked a few times, but it’s been rushed, between her meetings and my patients, but even now, I lick my lips, remembering the taste of her on my tongue.
“Lacy, huh?” Huxley says, now standing again, wiggling his eyebrows, and I roll my eyes at him and run my hands through my hair.
“I’ll go get her. You two figure out what we are doing here,” I say, stalking away from the dining table and heading to the front door. I try to walk normally, but my steps are rushed, as is the need to see her again.
I pull open the door, just as she steps from her car.
“Hey, you,” I say, my grin instant as I jog down the steps from the front door to greet her.
“Hudson, you didn’t have to, nor should you, be securing Jennifer for us,” she says firmly, and I take a breath.
She doesn’t look as angry as I was expecting, but hell, the two of them met the day after I told her about Jennifer and hit it off, so I had to act on it right away.
“She was in demand, and I know you mentioned that you all hit it off, so I wanted to secure her before anyone else did,” I say honestly as the woman I haven’t stopped thinking about stops right in front of me with her hands on her hips. I see her internal battle. The one that makes her slightly stubborn, not wanting my help, yet knowing that it’s what’s best.
“I don’t need you to pay for that service. I’m capable of—”
I cut her off with a kiss. My lips meet hers, and everything in the world settles. I feel her shoulders lower as her body melts into mine, and I stifle the growl that builds in my chest from wanting her so badly.
Her hands slide around my middle as I cup her face, threading my fingers through her hair, deepening the kiss that I’ve desperately craved since I last saw her. Our night under the stars was fucking phenomenal. She is fucking phenomenal. Slowly pulling away, I look into her eyes.
“I know you are more than capable, Lacy. But I also know you have a lot on your mind and a lot to do, so I took care of it,” I tell her, wanting to take care of her every day of the week. But I know she’s independent, and if the determination in her gaze is anything to go by, then I know she will want to pay me back. Of which I won’t accept.
She takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to appear ungrateful. I appreciate it, I really do. But Mom and hercare are my responsibility. I don’t need handouts,” she says, and I nod. I can appreciate that.
“So maybe you can do something for me in return?” I ask, knowing just the thing.
“Sure, anything,” she says eagerly, and I smile. A million things run through my mind, but I go with the G-rated option.
“Come inside. I’ll show you.” Grabbing her hand, I guide her through the door to the mess on my kitchen counter.
“You knowthe name Uranus means the Greek God of the Sky,” Lacy says as Huxley and I sit back, watching her and Harvey complete the poster. I hear Huxley stifle a cackle, clearly still an adolescent.
I knew she had a thing for stars, but planets are a whole different ballgame. The facts she spouts are all fascinating to me, but to Harvey as well as he looks at her with hearts in his eyes.
“I know, son, I know,” I murmur to myself as I watch the two of them work together. It would’ve taken Lacy less than five minutes to have the cut-out planets in order for Harvey, but she took a seat next to him and the two of them have been talking about planets for almost an hour.
“You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” Huxley murmurs as his eyes flick between his phone, me, and my visitor.
“Shut up,” I grumble, my eyes staying glued to Lacyand Harvey. The vision of them together does something to my chest that I haven’t felt before.
Lacy looks over and grins before she throws something at me, hitting me in the face with a ball of paper. Her eyes meet mine again briefly, and her cheeky smile is like an aphrodisiac as I bite my bottom lip, searing my gaze into hers before I unravel the paper to reveal a hidden message.
Stop looking at me like that,her scribble says, and I chuckle, looking back at her straightaway, my stare on her not wavering.