“Oh, I’m not kidding,” he said. “And I want those instructions, Bailey. In great detail.”
“Uh-huh,” she said dryly. “Because you have no idea what you’re doing, right?”
He was still smiling but his eyes were suddenly very serious. “When it comes to you? Hell no,” he said. “With you, I’m so far out of my league I can’t even see the league.”
She stared at him, her body suddenly very still, like it couldn’t quite take this in. Her brain also struggled to keep up. “Are we still playing?” she whispered. “Cuz I’m not very good at games.”
“I’m not playing with you at all.”
She blinked, trying to process what this meant. “Then what are we doing?”
His gaze touched over her features and then came back to her eyes. “You need to put a label on it?”
“You don’t?”
He gave a slow negative shake of his head.
She was still taking that in when he reached out and ran a finger along her temple and then her jaw. “It’s no secret that I want you, and I want you bad,” he said with a small wry smile. “But the truth is that probably isn’t smart, for either of us. I work twenty-four-seven and am emotionally unavailable, and you…”
She’d sucked in a breath at the emotionally unavailable part. That was indeed a huge doorstop. “I what?”
“You live two hours away.”
She blinked. “That’s it?” she asked. “That’s the worst thing you can think of about me?”
He smiled. “Nope, but here’s the problem. The fact that you’re a smartass and even more stubborn than I am? It totally works in your favor.”
“Oh,” she breathed, having no idea why that was so… well, arousing. He was attracted to her biggest flaws. How do you not fall for a guy who likes your flaws? “And I’m supposed to resist?”
“It’s your call,” he said.
“Great.” She blew out a breath. “You should know that I’m not real good at resisting.”
He flashed another smile, but she never got to hear what he might have said to that because his radio went off. She was torn between thinking, Dammit, and Oh, thank God, because he had to go. There was going to be no time to do anything stupid, like keep talking and forcing them to put a name on this… thing between them. Her heart was ever so much safer just as things were. No complications. Just a few admittedly hot stolen moments. No real intimacy.
But he didn’t rush off. He stood there and looked at her very seriously. “What’s it going to be, Bailey? We going for this?”
Oh boy. So he wasn’t the sort to put off a decision. She should have known that about him.
I’m not emotionally available…
Those words haunted her. She wanted him, but she wanted more than just his body—didn’t she? Or at least she wanted the chance at more. Holding his gaze, she gave a slow shake of her head. She wasn’t exactly looking for The One right this minute, but if she was going to get intimate with someone, she wanted him to at least have potential to be that person. She would need to protect herself against Hud since he’d taken himself out of the race. “You aren’t The One,” she whispered.
Hud held himself still for a heartbeat before letting out a low breath and nodding. “Smart choice.” That said, he hauled her up to her toes and kissed her with a whole lot of tongue and frustration, and by the time he pulled back she had his shirt in two tight fists.
Good Lord. Forcing herself to let go of him, she smoothed the wrinkles she’d left. “What was that?” she whispered.
His mouth curved slightly. “That was one part damn-I’m-an-idiot-for-letting-you-go and one part good-bye.”
And then he turned, leaving her standing there dazed as he lithely climbed down and vanished.
Chapter 12
That night Hud was actually alone in the old lodge, something that almost never happened because Kenna rarely went anywhere off the premises. But Lily and Penny had dragged her out for girls’ night, something about dinner and an indie theater viewing of Fifty Shades—which they’d already all seen a dozen times.
Hud didn’t understand going to that particular flick without someone to get laid with, but Penny had told him that since he was a penis-carrying human he couldn’t possibly understand. He was going to trust her on that one.
Aidan and Gray were both still at work. Hud would’ve been, too, except he’d been on the graveyard shift the past two nights in town and could hardly keep his eyes open.
He’d ordered a pizza, which would arrive any second. He intended to inhale that, snag a few of Aidan’s beers from the fridge, and crawl into bed for no less than eight straight hours of sleep.
When the knock came, he’d just gotten out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around his hips, he grabbed the money he’d left on the foyer entry table and pulled open the front door.
But it wasn’t the pizza guy.
Instead, Bailey stood there. She’d been looking at her clasped hands in front of her, but she lifted her head, slowly, her gaze taking in his body as she did.