Page 18 of The Prey (The Hillers of Barratt County #6)

Gia took off after the kiss she really wasn’t ready to think about.

She knew that was exactly what she was doing.

She needed a few moments to think . To figure out what she was feeling, for one thing.

She had kissed a man, in a kitchen—a big, strong, forceful, intense man she’d have had no chance of defending herself against—and she hadn’t been afraid. She hadn’t been afraid of him at all.

She hadn’t had a panic attack, or screamed, or shut down.

All things she had feared and worried about happening someday.

Maybe it was because it was Hudson? Him, specifically? Since she and her family had known him forever, maybe? Subconsciously, she felt safe with him?

It was possible.

She imagined doing the same with another man, maybe even Anthony, or Mike from work. Both were truly kind men she liked a great deal.

Her heart jumped, stomach tightened. With…anxiety.

No. It was Hudson she felt safe with. Only him.

It didn’t make sense at all. Except…

She had spent more than two years fighting with that man. Every work day, it seemed. Sometimes multiple times a day. And no matter how angry she made him—he had never felt threatening to her in a physical manner. Ever.

Even as big and muscled and forceful as he was.

She had never been afraid of Hudson physically . Ever.

Not even once. Gia was halfway to the barn when that hit her hard. She wasn’t afraid of him. Hudson. Only Hudson.

Now she had to figure out why.

She was trying to think of reasons that could be when she stepped inside the barn where Grady kept most of the horses they used around the ranch. She needed a moment away from the crowd. She’d always enjoyed the horses. Talking to them. Being with them. It soothed her. Helped her think.

Today…that wasn’t going to happen. Gia just froze, right where she was.

Right there in the middle of the barn…her big brother Grady was wrapped around Hudson’s baby sister, kissing Hala hot enough to scorch the barn walls.

Talk about fire. Two more seconds and those two would ignite.

Gia backed out slowly.

That was something she hadn’t ever expected to see. Hala had actually been unbuttoning Grady’s shirt…

Gia turned and headed back the way she came.

Just to slam into the rock-hard chest of the man she was trying to avoid.

“Have you seen my sister?”

She looked up into his dark eyes and…lied. The very last thing Hala needed right now was her massively overprotective older brother barging in when she was trying to get Gia’s brother’s clothes off in the horse barn. “I think she was with Ayla. On the front porch.”

Clear across the yard from where they were right now.

Gia started back that way, almost certain Hudson would follow her right back.

“Running from me, sweetheart?”

She jerked around. Glared. “Hardly. I’m going to go help my mother.”

“Then why were you headed to the barn in the first place?”

The woman was hiding something from him. Hudson knew it. He narrowed his gaze on her, then looked to the open door behind her. “Is Hala in there?”

Gia bit her bottom lip, distracting him from what he’d asked. He wanted to scoop her up and take her into that barn and just get her naked as fast as he could. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist before he could stop himself, or remind himself that slow and gentle was the path he’d decided.

“Come on, I want to see what you are hiding.”

Her eyes were huge. She shook her head lightly. He just wanted to hold her there forever. “Hanan, you’d probably better…let me…go.”

Her words were loud enough anyone inside the barn could have heard. Had she done it on purpose? He suspected she had.

“I don’t want to. I don’t ever want to, I’ve discovered. When you hide things from me, it just makes me want to kiss the truth right out of you. For hours. Over and over again. I can get started right now.”

Maybe he was going too fast here, but…Hudson leaned down and kissed the woman he wanted again.

It hadn’t been a fluke. That was her first thought.

Her second was that she might just be in serious trouble here. Her hands found their way around his neck. She felt him pressed against her. She liked him pressed against her.

Just him.

Her mouth opened, he took advantage. Of course he would. Hudson Hanan went after what he wanted.

It just shocked her to her toes that she was what he wanted. And that she…wanted him to kiss her.

She stayed right where she was, kissing Hudson back, until the sound of people moving around in the barn behind them reminded her exactly where she was. And that anyone could walk by at any moment.

She just looked up at him. “You are changing everything, aren’t you?”

He brushed a finger against her lower lip. The way he looked at her… “That is my intention. And remember…I always get what I want.”

Heaven help her, what did she want right now? Gia didn’t have a clue.

Hours later, alone in her room, drawing his face—she still hadn’t figured that out.

She didn’t know if she ever would.