Chapter 33

33

Hudson

Hudson’s Revelation:

When being with someone feels this right, there’s no need to second-guess showing affection.

That day at the pub was the most fun I’d ever had during a workday. I reveled in the freedom to flirt with Charlie on and off all day as we worked together. Every time I looked over at him and saw his sweet smile or heard his laughter across the room, I felt lighter and freer than I’d ever felt before. He was so easy to be around. I didn’t feel like I needed to be anyone other than myself when I was with him, and that was a gift I hadn’t realized I’d needed.

By the time our workday came to an end, I’d realized in all our time together, we hadn’t actually been on a real date.

“Will you go to dinner with me?” I blurted.

Charlie had stepped closer to the carved wooden door of the pub, and the warm glow of sunset caught him through the small window panes in the top half of it. His hair lit up like luminous flames, and the green of his eyes struck me dumb for the hundredth time. My heart skipped as I waited for him to say yes.

“Don’t you have to head to the city?”

“I’ll get up early and drive in. What do you say?”

“Sure. Chinese takeaway or something different?” he asked as he gathered up a few empty boxes to take to the dumpster on our way out.

“No, I mean… I want to take you out. Like out.” The words weren’t coming right, but he seemed to understand what I was trying to say.

“You want to… take me out on a date? Here in town?”

I nodded like an eager child. “Yes. That. I want to take you out on an official date. Where would you like to go?”

His smile was worth the bumbling, and it took all my self-control to keep from leaping at his lips with my own.

“Well, if you’re buying… can we go back to the Pinecone? I know we’ve been there quite often, but I’m craving their filet and those little roasted potatoes with the bacon in them.”

I stepped closer to him and took the empty boxes, placing them back on the floor so I could wrap my arms around him. “You and your potatoes,” I murmured, leaning in to taste his lips because I simply couldn’t wait another minute to be close to him that way. We kissed for several minutes until someone cleared their throat behind us.

“Sorry to interrupt,” a man said. We turned to see someone I didn’t recognize, a petite quiet-looking man matching the description of the antique-shop owner Charlie had told me about. “But I’m closing to head out of town to an estate auction and needed to bring Mama back.”

Mama wiggled her way over to us before sitting politely at Charlie’s feet.

“Thanks, Augie,” Charlie said. “Have you met Hudson Wilde? Hudson, this is August Stiel, the owner of the shop down the way.”

I reached out to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you. Thank you for looking after Mama. I’ve heard she’s made herself at home in your store.”

Augie looked at his feet, his hands, the interior of the pub, anything to avoid making eye contact. It appeared the poor man was incredibly shy. “Yes, well, she’s a sweetheart. Keeps my Milo company while I’m busy working.”

Charlie stepped forward to touch Augie’s shoulder, causing the man to startle. Charlie glanced up at me with concern before looking back at the other man. “Do you need us to look after Milo while you’re gone?”

Augie’s face softened. “Oh, would you? I was going to leave food and water out for him, but I’d feel much better if someone could look in on him every once in a while. I’ll only be gone a couple of days.”

Charlie’s smile seemed to put Augie more at ease. “It’s no trouble. Plus, this way Mama won’t cry in her tea over missing Milo.”

We followed Augie over to his shop to get instructions and a spare key before making our way to the Pinecone. When we were seated, Charlie glanced at me with mischief clear in his expression.

“What? You look like an evil mastermind,” I said with a chuckle, glancing at a menu I already knew by heart.

“We should set Augie up with someone.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re crazy. Any of the gay men we know would eat that poor little man for breakfast.”

“I’d bet ten quid Augie would enjoy being devoured,” Charlie murmured before smiling at our approaching server and setting down the drinks menu he’d been perusing.

My snort turned into a full laugh when Charlie sweetly ordered a Hanky Panky “with extra Panky please.”

The server was the same young woman who’d swooned over his accent once upon a time. She’d never stopped flirting with him in all the times we’d been there. “Charlie, I should have known you’d order one of those. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a Sassy Lassie? I think it would suit you.”

He clutched his chest. “Och, Tiffani with an i might be right,” he teased, glancing at me. “Sweetheart, would you like a Sassy Lassie or some Hanky Panky? We could get both and share. You already know I don’t mind swapping spit with you, and I adore sharing hanky panky with y—”

I clapped a hand over his mouth before the poor woman’s eyeballs turned inside out. “Tiffani, how about one of each please? At the rate this one’s going, he’ll enjoy both. Thank you.”

After she left, Charlie’s tongue came out and slid deliciously over my palm, stirring up regret at being in public.

“Stop,” I said under my breath. “You’re making me hard.”

“I like making you hard.”

I glanced at him with a wink. “That’s all well and good, but you wanted steak. Which means you need to leave the other meat alone until we get home.”

“Oh my word, Hudson Wilde, is that you?” I jumped at the sound of the older woman’s voice over my shoulder. When I turned to look, I recognized my old elementary school teacher Mrs. Buck. I stood up to give her a hug, grateful my cock had turned to jelly at the sound of her voice.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s good to see you. West told me you’d retired.”

“I certainly did. Two years ago now. Howie and I are busy as bees managing a few lake rental properties we’ve invested in. I’m sure your family has told you how much Hobie’s lake tourism business has boomed in recent years.”

I noticed her glance at my dinner companion, and I realized I’d neglected to introduce them. “I’m sorry. Mrs. Buck, this is my date, Charlie Murray. Charlie, Mrs. Buck was my teacher when I was about nine or ten.”

Charlie’s eyes widened briefly at the word “date” but he quickly stood up to shake the older woman’s hand. “Nice to meet you. You must be good at your job Mrs. Buck, if Hudson is an example of the young minds you helped mold. He’s a hard worker and brilliant financial analyst. I’ve been lucky to work on a project with him recently, and I’ve seen it firsthand.”

The words warmed something inside of me, the little boy’s heart that still yearned for approval maybe.

Mrs. Buck looked at me with the same maternal affection she showed all of her students. “He’s always been a good egg. So responsible and organized. Hudson was the kind of student I could put in charge of the class if I needed to step out. It’s nice to know he’s fulfilled his potential. Well, I’ll let you two get back to your dinner. I just wanted to pop over and say hi.”

After she left, I must have been looking at Charlie with hearts in my eyes.

“You look like I just handed you a winning lottery ticket,” he said.

“You did. Thank you for saying all of that.”

He lifted a shoulder as if it hadn’t mattered. As if it hadn’t been everything I’d ever wanted to hear from someone I cared about. “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

I reached across the table and took his hand. “You impress me too, Irish. I couldn’t be more amazed at how you’ve managed to come work on this project without losing your damned mind at the injustice of it all.”

“Injustice?”

“I… I know how hard it is for you to see Fig and Bramble being franchised like this. Yet you’ve handled it with grace. I’m not sure I could have done the same. And more than that… I’m sorry I had anything to do with getting you mixed up in the middle of this.”

He squeezed my hand and flashed a soft smile. “I know you’re the one who saved the pub from being bought out full stop. Devlin told me before I arrived here. At first I was still mad at you for being the cause of any of it, but now I see what a difficult position you were in. You did the best you could, and I’m grateful. I’d even go so far as to admit I’m happy with the result. I think we’ve done a bang-up job of it, honestly. But don’t go spreading that around.”

I lifted his hand to my lips and kissed each knuckle in turn. “Do you think you’d be willing to offer Tiffani your body in exchange for getting our food out quicker? I’d really like to get you home and naked as soon as possible.”

His laugh was one of my favorite sounds. “No need to give her this scrawny body. I’ll just belt out an Irish ballad for the young lady or recite some Yeats, yeah?”

When Tiffani came by to deliver our drinks, Charlie couldn’t resist.

“Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,” he began.

Tiffani’s eyes spouted cartoon hearts.

“It’s a Yeats poem,” I muttered as Charlie continued reciting with dramatic flair. “He’s not making it up on the fly.”

“Ashley!” she yelled across the restaurant. “Get over here! He’s reciting poetry for god’s sake.”

As several people gathered around to watch my beautiful date recite Irish poetry, all I could do was sit back and take pleasure in the fact he was coming home with me.

* * *

The following dayI awoke painfully early and extracted myself from the warm sleeping Irishman who’d been wrapped around me like an octopus. I hated to leave him for the day but was grateful I’d stayed the night.

My morning meeting with Bruce found us both working hard to hammer out the best severance package offering we could. Bruce was generous with his budget allotment and had some great contacts in the Dallas recruiting community to help us create a list of resources to make available to all Ames employees. I was pleasantly surprised as Bruce illustrated his dedication to his employees in his actions.

Before breaking for lunch, I got up the nerve to ask him about Fig and Bramble.

“I noticed the pub isn’t listed in the assets transferring ownership,” I began. “Do you have plans to retain it as a personal investment?”

Bruce looked up from his laptop. “I’m not sure, to be honest. OQI would probably turn around and sell it to a big chain, and I’d hate to see what they’d do to it. At the same time, I never intended to run a pub myself.”

“If someone in Hobie could gather the necessary capital, would you be interested in selling it to a local?”

What was I even saying? It wasn’t like I had that kind of money, and I sure as hell didn’t have a desire to run a pub for a living.

“I’ve thought about talking to a few local investors, yes. But I don’t have the time to tackle that until the bigger deal is completed. You might ask your grandfathers if they know anyone who’d be interested. They own quite a bit of Hobie commercial real estate in the square. It’s a large investment. Not many people in Hobie have that kind of capital.”

He was right. Even if I used every dollar of savings I had and asked my grandfathers for help, I still wasn’t sure I could invest enough in it to make it worth Bruce letting it go. The man wasn’t stupid; he was a professional business investor. He’d insist on getting out way more than he’d put into it even if he sold it to a friend.

I nodded and thanked him before heading out to pick up a sandwich. As I made my way down the street toward the deli, I pulled the phone out of my pocket out of habit. Instead of thumbing through my email or news apps, I pressed the button to call Charlie.

“Hiya, handsome,” he answered with a smile to his voice. “Miss me already?”

More than you know. The stress from my conversation with Bruce evaporated with the familiar sound of Charlie’s voice.

“I might be heading home earlier than I expected and wanted to find out if you were going to be around tonight.”

“Hmm,” he teased. “What’s in it for me if I make myself available to you?”

My voice came out deeper and hungrier than I’d intended. “Very, very good things, I assure you.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Hoist on my own petard.”

I barked out a laugh. “I’d rather you be hoist on my petard if it’s all the same.”

“I think I could manage that. What time shall I expect you to come a calling, kind sir?”

I felt a bubbly lightness in my chest that could only come from flirting with someone new and exciting.

“I’ll call you when I leave Dallas?”

“That works.” I heard him mumble something to someone else in the background.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” I said, not really wanting to let him go but knowing he had a busy day at work.

“It’s fine. They’re hanging all the framed photos. It looks good. You’ll like it.”

I hesitated to ask, but I did it anyway. “Do you like it?”

Silence for a beat. Then, “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Reminds me of home.”

I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the gift he’d given me. It was a benediction of sorts, an acceptance of what my visit to his family’s pub had set in motion.

“Hudson,” he said in a much quieter voice. There was less background noise too, and I wondered if he’d escaped into the small office in the back of the pub. “Is everything okay?”

For a moment it felt like he was my partner, the one person I could come home to at the end of the day and confide in. But he wasn’t. He was as likely to be screwed over in this company transaction as many of the other Ames employees. How in the world could I tell him?

“Yeah. It’s fine. I’m just looking forward to coming home soon, that’s all,” I said.

It wasn’t until long after we’d ended the call that I realized I’d referred to Hobie as home. Or had I been referring to him as home? Either way, it was the first time in many years Dallas hadn’t felt like home to me anymore.