Page 97 of In Case You Didn't Know

I know how much he wants to keep his family safe. Skyler, Ayda. And the new baby on the way.

Leaning against the wall, Hudson sips his drink, his gaze firmly on me. “How many overnight tests do you have to run?” he asks. “Isn’t this the third one this week? You can run them during the day, I told you that. Instead of staying here all night watching a damn screen.”

There’s a half smirk in his voice, like he knows I’ve been lying through my teeth. Of course I haven’t been watching a screen all night. I’ve been fucking Francie. Holding her. Teasing her for her Clark Kent fetish while she practically melts at the sight of my glasses.

I’ve been living a life I never thought I’d have.

“Do you want the system to have vulnerabilities?” I ask him. “Or are you gonna let me do my job?”

“I want to know why you say you’re working here all night, except when I came to the hotel last night there was no sign of you,” he says.

“You came here last night?” I frown. “Why?”

“Because your emergency contact lenses arrived from the mainland and I assumed you might need them.” He points at the box I found this morning. “But apparently, you’re fine without them.”

I ran out two days ago. I’ve been wearing my glasses since then, and I hate it. Francie, on the other hand, acts like I’m walking sex in them. She kept tugging at the frames last night while she straddled me. Told me I look like a dirty professor.

Not that I mind the comparison.

Hudson lifts a brow. “If you’re not staying at the hotel, where are you sleeping?”

“I have a feeling you know the answer to that.”

“Well, I saw your car outside the lighthouse,” he says slowly. “Our sister’s house.”

Jesus. When did my brother become such a prude? “What do you want me to say?” It’s a serious question. He’s caught me. If he wants to know, he can know. But I’m not sure he really wants to.

Plausible deniability is a beautiful thing.

“You’re messing around with Francie.” There’s pain in his voice when he says it. Like he really doesn’t want to have this conversation.

“Messing around makes it sound like something it’s not. I’m seeing her. Yes.”

“Every night? All night?”

“You want a blow by blow account?”

He squeezes his eyes shut. “Fuck’s sake. First Parker, now you. Why can’t you find some nice girl in New York and keep me out of this? She’s Autumn’s friend. Skyler’s too. You mess things up and they’re gonna get pissed at me.”

“Why would they get pissed at you?”

“Because they’ll know I know. And they’ll ask me why I didn’t stop you. And now I’m talking to you and the expression onyour face makes it really fucking clear that you’re not going to stop doing this thing that’s going to cause me to get shouted at. And possibly make me involuntarily celibate for the foreseeable future.” His words came out fast and uncontrolled, and his face is pink.

I stare at him for a moment as he finally calms down.

“Do you feel better?” I ask, a grin in my voice.

“No.” He shakes his head. “I feel worse.”

“What if I promise not to mess things up?”

“Not really.” He sighs. “I promised Skyler I wouldn’t mess things up and I did.” He sinks down into one of the office chairs. “Why did you have to tell me?”

“I didn’t,” I point out. “I asked you if you really wanted to know and you said it out loud. I gave you an out. You didn’t take it.”

He glares at me. “Do you like her?”

“Very much.” My throat tightens.