Well, that ends now. Because as pathetic as it was to graduate from high school still a virgin, lusting after something I could never have, it's ten thousand times worse to graduate from college still in the same stupid predicament. The main reason I’m still a virgin is because I held out hope for Hudson being my first, but I know it'll never happen. I need to finally let that dream die. This is the year that Gracie Oliver grows up. I’m nervous about it, but excited, too—it’s just another way I’m taking charge of my life.
My brother’s face falls, a deep line appearing between his brows. I look over to Hudson to back me up. But he growls out an expletive and his expression looks like I’ve just kicked his puppy.
Geez. What the fuck?
“For all those brains you have, that’s a terrible fucking idea,” Hayden groans. “You could meet a psycho serial killer, get dismembered and left in some dude’s basement.”
I glare at my idiot brother. “Women join online dating sites every day. It’s not that risky, Hayden.”
My gaze cuts over to Hudson again to see what his argument might be. He’s tight-lipped and quiet, the clench of his ticking jaw his only movement.
“I just think you should concentrate on your career, Gracie. I don’t want you to lose focus. I don’t think dating is the best idea right now.”
His tone is full of genuine concern, but I don't have the patience for his overprotective bullshit right now. Wasn't he just gushing about how proud he was of me for landing a job? I can pay my own rent, but not find my own boyfriend? “Hayden, you’ve never thought dating was a good idea,” I snap. “That’s why I’m a pathetic twenty-two-year-old virgin who’s only just moved out of Mom and Dad’s. It’s time I grow up.”
“That doesn't mean running out and doing something stupid.”
Okay, fuck this. I'm not going to sit here and let him talk down to me like a little kid. Knowing that I’m fighting a losing battle, I slap down some money on the table and stand up, shaking with anger in my heels. “Goodnight,” I mutter, grabbing my purse and storming from the table.
I exit the club and stop on the sidewalk. I consider taking a cab, then decide that a brisk walk home is exactly what I need to clear my head instead. Besides, my apartment isn't so far.
I tip my head back and look straight up at the darkening sky. God, the two of them together are the most macho, bull-headed assholes. Hayden takes the big-brother thing to the extreme, he always has. And Hudson used to be sweet, but these last few years, he’s turned into a monster prick. He all but ignores me, and then when I suggest dating, he freaks out just as bad as Hayden.
Well, I'm not going to let them stop me. It’s time I kicked off my white cotton briefs and had some fun.
“Gracie, wait,” Hudson calls from somewhere behind me.
I turn around and stare into the most beautiful honey-colored eyes I’ve ever seen.
Chapter Three
Gracie
I still can’t believe I’m sitting here with Hudson Stone. In my little apartment on my hand-me-down couch. His large frame seems to take up more room than necessary in the space, masculinity radiating from him like a powerful cologne. Just being near him is an aphrodisiac. He’s staring intently down at my computer screen and there’s a tick in his jaw again.
Showing him these one-dimensional men on the dating site only heightens my awareness that none of them measure up to the man seated beside me. He’s all I've ever wanted. He’s smart, kind, driven, and intuitive—once I get him away from my ornery brother, that is. Picking up on my moods and doing his best to cheer me up seems like more than most men would do. Especially for their friend’s kid sister. When he and my brother went off to college, I saw him less often. But he still found ways to make me feel like I mattered. He started leaving presents for me again on his visits home, as if he felt safer with some distance between us. A book under my pillow at Christmastime, another one for Easter.
But there were still the hard times. Like when he went to Mexico for spring break and I had to endure the dozens of photos on his social media pages, each with a blonde, busty sorority girl hanging off him like he was her own personal jungle gym. I hated seeing stuff like that. It was one thing to know they happened, but another to actually see the women I was sure he was sleeping with.
And then, of course, these last several years while I was in college and he and my brother were busy building their empire. I didn’t see much of him then, either. Which was just as well—I threw myself into my studies, earning dual degrees in architecture and structural engineering. It left very little time for dating, and because of that, I never really outgrew my secret Hudson Stone fantasies. But now that he’s here, in the flesh, those dreams feel so potent and dangerous.
“I just don't understand. Why do you want to do this? Really?” he asks, his voice tense.
Somehow I can’t help opening up. Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe because it’s been a long and stressful week of work as I got acquainted with my new professional life. But mostly it’s the effect Hudson has on me. He’s like a truth serum.
“Because I...” I look down at my hands. “I’m tired of being a virgin and I just want to meet someone and get it over with.”