Come Down Under

by Parker, Weston

Picture after picture had been included of him with his arm around women who had smiles as confident as his. Often, these showed Jude and his companion entering or exiting a nightclub.

  The dude seemed to live like an A-list celebrity instead of a techie business mogul. He really came off the page like a fictional character more than a real person. It was impossible to believe I’d be meeting him before the end of the week. Knowing that I would be working alongside him for the next six months seemed laughable.

  But it was true.

  I was going to be working alongside him, so I had to get a grip on myself. Anna had thought I was crazy for complaining about working with him, but I was still wondering if I was in for a semester of torture or not.

  Turning the page and flipping through until I had passed the glossy pictures and found more print, I dove into the next chapter. This one claimed to be about the next-level, very modern and hip office environment he had created.

  Instead, it was nearly entirely made up of quotes about how awesome he was. Mostly, the authors quoted women, but here and there was one from a man who echoed his female colleagues’ sentiments.

  The whole thing was bordering on ridiculous. I had to wonder what Jude Hudson himself had thought about this book when it came out.

  Personally, I’d have hated to see such an account about myself immortalized on the pages of the first biography done about me. I supposed that was only true if the drivel it spewed was incorrect.

  But it had to be. I mean, come on. Surely, there has to be more to him than this nonsense.

  A man couldn’t possibly become as successful as he had if all he was at his core was a womanizer and sports-car enthusiast. Somewhere within these pages, there had to be something more.

  There just had to be.

  I hadn’t found it yet, but I just had to keep looking. I wanted to know more about him, not his affinity for nice things. The blurb had promised me I’d get to know him, but so far, it had lied.

  For example, I still didn’t even know where he came from. What did he believe in? What were those lessons he had lived his life by?

  What, if anything, did he want out of life aside from money?

  None of those questions had been answered, and that seemed odd to me. Strangest of all was that he had a son, but the boy was hardly mentioned in the book at all. Who was he? Why was there barely a whisper about him in a book about his father?

  I had all these questions that had nothing to do with business, and that was a problem. None of those answers should have meant a thing to me, so why did they?

  A voice in the back of my mind snorted at me. Because he’s hot, smart, and you admire his acumen.

  A digital ding interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up to a flight attendant coming down the aisle with a cart. As he went, he handed out the flight meals.

  My stomach grumbled. Maybe food was just what I needed to distract myself from the enigma that was my mentor.

  Reaching out, I used one hand to let down the tray table and the other to remove my earbuds. I let them dangle around my neck and set the book down, mentally flipping through the menu options I’d read earlier.

  “I heard there was a book out about our Jude now,” an accented voice said from beside me. “What do you think about it so far?”

  I turned to look at the woman sitting in the seat next to mine. I’d already had my music playing by the time she’d boarded and had been too engrossed in the book and my thoughts to have paid much attention to her before.

  Like Jude, her skin had a golden hue to it and her eyes held that same twinkling quality. She was older, though, maybe middle-aged. Fine wrinkles surrounded her eyes and mouth, and her blonde hair had streaks of gray in it.

  Her brown gaze was soft and kind, but her head was tilted to the side, and she looked at me expectantly. I cleared my throat, remembering that she’d asked me a question.

  I swiped at my lips with my tongue. “I’m not done reading it yet, but it’s interesting so far.”

  She nodded with a knowing gleam entering her eyes. “It would have to be if it’s about Jude. I’m Addy by the way.”

  “Roselyn, but please call me Rose,” I said, smiling. “I love your accent.”

  “You’re going to be hearing a lot of it if you’re planning on getting off this plane in Sydney,” she said cheerfully. “First time to Australia?”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  The attendant reached us, and we each got our meals and a water before I turned back to her.

  “I’m assuming you’re flying home?” I asked.

  Her lips formed a radiant grin, deepening the wrinkles but making her so much more beautiful. “Yes. I just had a quick trip to see my daughter at the university in London. You’re American?”

  I nodded. “I am, but I’ve been at Oxford for the last seven years.”

  “Have you? Well, that’s great. You must be a smart cookie then.” She lifted the aluminum top covering her food and set it aside, but her attention was still on me. “What are you studying?”

  “Business,” I replied as I opened my own meal, sliding the book into the pocket of the seat in front of me so I’d have space to eat. “I’m actually going to be doing an internship in Sydney for the semester.”

  “Ah.” She snapped her fingers before picking up her cutlery, then pointed toward the book with the end of her fork. “I understand why you’re reading a book about Jude then. If you’re studying business, he’s one of the best to learn from.”

  “Do you know him?” I asked since it sure sounded like she did. Maybe she would have answers to some of the questions I shouldn’t still have been thinking about.

  Addie laughed, shrugging as she shook her head. “I don’t know him personally, but I feel like I do. Ever since he’s come onto the scene, the reporters can’t seem to get enough of him. The women certainly can’t.”

  “What do you mean?” I felt my stomach sinking, but she just kept on smiling.

  “You have to admit that he’s a good-looking man.” She inclined her head toward the book again. “It’s no wonder he’s the most desirable bachelor in the country, but that doesn’t mean all the rubbish they print about him is true.”

  “Isn’t it? True, I mean. So far, the book doesn’t paint him in the best light.”

  She lifted one shoulder, the corners of her lips pressing as she speared a cube of potato on her fork. “I don’t know, but one never does with those kinds of people, do you? It’s always seemed to me that there’s more nonsense about them written than the truth.”

  She was right, of course. I knew she was, but I still felt uncertain about the infamous Jude Hudson. Addie changed the subject while we ate, but my gaze continued to drift to the cover of the book. I could only just see Jude’s brilliant green eyes peering over the top of the pocket.

  Each time I looked into them, I wondered what was going on behind them.

  Was there substance to the man, or was he just a handsome coder who had struck it lucky a few times?

  Chapter 6

  JUDE

  Regardless of my bad habit of getting caught up with business or my enjoyment of my nights off, the only thing in the world that really mattered to me was my son. I didn’t get to see nearly as much of him as I would have liked to, but I made an effort to spend as much time with him as possible.

  Even if it was just for breakfast every morning or dinner at night. At least once a day, for at least one uninterrupted hour, it was our time.

  My mother, also known as The Saint, pulled a tray of freshly baked English muffins out of the oven. Luke and I walked into the kitchen after packing his bags for the next trip to the She-Devil.

  Audrey would be picking him up in less than an hour, and God forbid she actually had to wait a minute for us to finish packing.

  “Good morning, Mom,” I said as I crossed the handmade Italian tiles we had picked out together for the kitchen.

  “Good morning, darlings. How’d we all sleep? Good?”

&n
bsp; “So good.” Luke bounced over to give her a hug. “You?”

  “Excellent.” She smiled fondly, making even my black rock of a heart soften.

  When Audrey had walked out on me, leaving me with a fledgling business and a newborn baby, he and I had moved in with my mother. After the company had taken off, I had bought this big luxurious penthouse in a new development in downtown Sydney.

  She’d been worried about us moving out at first. Until I’d told her I’d chosen this particular place as our home because it had a separate bedroom, bathroom, and lounge that could be hers if she wanted it. She hadn’t taken more than a second to accept.

  Once that had been settled, Mom helped me pick out the finishing touches for the place and especially for her space. It had seemed like a fun process, but she’d complained about the prices of things far too often.

  Eventually, I’d asked the developer to send me a list of the available options without prices on it, and our joint effort had gone much better from there.

  Once the renovation had been completed, Mom moved in with us. She still had her house in the suburbs, but she only went there sometimes when Luke went to Audrey’s. For the rest of her time, she helped me raise him.

  Without her, I’d have been lost and I knew it. Brushing a kiss against her cheek as I hugged her good morning, I snagged one of the fresh muffins off the tray.

  “Ouch.” I came very close to cursing but caught myself just in time. “Wow. That’s hot.”

  “Imagine that.” Mom chuckled, patting me on the arm as she balanced the tray in her mitt and placed it on the kitchen table. “You’d have sworn they just came out of the oven.”

  “Ha ha,” I replied, dropping the muffin on a plate. “Yeah, imagine that.”

  “You did see me pull them out of the oven, didn’t you?” Amusement shone from her eyes even as she tried to keep a straight face. “Or maybe that’s just because you don’t know what an oven does. See, it’s this device that—”

  I chucked a paper napkin in her direction, but she neatly sidestepped the harmless thing and grinned at me. “That’s enough of that, young man.”

  “Stop calling me that,” I grumbled, but even Luke laughed at me.

  My son and my mother shared the same green color of my eyes. Luke’s hair was brown but a lighter shade than mine. Mom’s was graying now, and she kept it short but spiky.

  Mom was what people called “funky” for an older woman. She had an affinity for wearing bright colors, had a few purple bits streaking through her silver hair, and lived for flavored coffee.

  “She’ll stop calling you that if you stop calling her Grammy,” Luke said, a gentle smile on his lips. “She says it every morning.”

  “Oh, she does, does she?” I locked his head in a grip in the crook of my elbow and messed up his slightly longer on top hair.

  Luke squealed with laughter and wriggled out of my loose grip. “Yes, she does.”

  “At least one of you has ears,” Mom teased. “Tea, honey?”

  “Please,” he said.

  I nodded. “I’m on it. More of that awful stuff you insist is coffee, Mom?”

  I dodged her when she tried to smack me upside the head, chuckling as I danced across the kitchen. Mom planted her hands on her hips and fixed me with a mock glare. “It is coffee. For the refined palate.”

  “Cotton-candy flavor is refined?” I arched a brow at her, grinning when I saw her shaking her head. “Now see, I could understand any of the nutty flavors. Cotton candy is really just taking it a step too far.”

  “Snob,” she retorted, sinking down in her chair at the kitchen table. It was an antique we’d ordered off the internet. She’d have kicked me in the shin if she knew how much it cost, but luckily, she didn’t know.

  She ran her fingers along the top of the smooth wooden surface lovingly. “Good coffee, good food, and good friends is what makes the world go ‘round, darling. It hasn’t got anything to do with the expense associated with it.”

  “Sure.” I knew better than to argue with her.

  Grabbing our mugs out of the sleek stainless-steel-fronted dishwasher, I fixed myself and Mom our coffee and made Luke his tea. After carrying the drinks to the table, I got the condiments out of the fridge and had to go back when I’d forgotten the peanut butter.

  “Are you excited for your visit with your mother, honey?” Mom was asking him when I joined them at the table.

  Luke flashed her a grin and nodded enthusiastically. “We’re going to the museum. Jett might take us to a game, too. He said he had tickets for them, but he was going to try to get an extra one for me.”

  “That’s great, Luke,” I said, biting back the retort at the tip of my tongue. Jett and Audrey would have known they were going to have Luke for the weekend when they’d bought the tickets, which meant he’d gone ahead and gotten them without even thinking about my son.

  Unfortunately, stuff like that happened all the time. Thankfully, Luke wasn’t at a stage where he was putting it all together yet. He was still really excited whenever he went over there, and I pretended to be excited right along with him.

  “We haven’t watched rugby for a while,” Mom said to me, widening her eyes and shaking her head. She knew where my mind had gone to, and she was silently warning me not to say anything about it.

  She didn’t have to, but both of us needed a reminder at times. I shrugged my shoulders and wrapped my fingers around my mug. “Yeah, I know. Maybe we should look into catching a match later this month, too.”

  Just in case Jett hadn’t managed to get Luke a ticket and he ended up being left behind with a babysitter again, at least he’d have a game with us to look forward to. He perked up, shooting me a smile as he slathered peanut butter all over his muffin.

  “That would be great. I love rugby.” He beamed at me. “Just like you used to, Dad.”

  “I still love it,” I said.

  “He’s just not in shape enough to play anymore,” Mom joked, winking at me as she sipped her cotton-candy coffee crap.

  I took a muffin off the tray and arched a brow at her. “I’m not in shape enough to play anymore? If I remember correctly, you used to take Shane and me to the park and play with us. Think you’d still be able to keep up?”

  “I’ll keep up with you all right. All I’d have to do is pick a park near a high-end, open-air parking lot or near the beach. You and Shane would both be too busy ogling to pay much attention to little old me. Luke and I could be a team. We’d win for sure.”

  “Really?” I scoffed. “You think it’d be that easy to distract us? When we’re on the field, we’re like robots, Mom. We have single-minded focus and we play like machines.”

  She pursed her lips to keep from laughing. “I distinctly remember a game where Shane tripped over the poor water boy because he was too busy trying to catch the attention of a certain cheerleader.”

  I groaned, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Fine. You got me there. Maybe I’ll just play against both of you by myself.”

  “You could try.” She smiled sweetly, taking another sip of her drink.

  I laughed. Mom wasn’t even really kidding. She would team up with Luke to take me on. She wouldn’t expect me to let them win or to go overly easy on her, either.

  She was the kind of fun-loving mom everyone wanted, and her influence on Luke had made him the same way. “I’ll team up with you, Daddy. Gram can play with Uncle Shane.”

  Mom gasped loudly, waggling her brows at her grandson. “Little traitor. I guess that’s what I get for forcing you to do your math homework yesterday.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “I know you used to teach it, but it’s still not any fun.”

  Letting out a dramatic sigh, she opened her mouth to reply when the buzzer went off alerting us that Audrey was on her way up. Mom and I exchanged a glum look over the top of Luke’s head, then both pasted on our bright smiles.

  “Well, I’d better start cleaning up,” she said, opening her arms. “Say goodbye t
o your granny, little traitor. I’ll see you on Sunday, okay? Be good.”

  She smacked a kiss down on top of his head, then busied herself at the sink. I knew she wasn’t really cleaning up. She just detested Audrey nearly as much as I did.

  When a relationship ended as badly as mine and Audrey’s did, there never seemed to be any love lost between the family members either. God only knew her parents couldn’t stand me.

  Mom never made or caused a scene, though. She simply preferred not to see Audrey.

  It was better that way. If I could have avoided seeing her, I’d have done it in a heartbeat. I hated being reminded of that time in my life, and every time I saw her, that was what happened.

  “Okay, buddy,” I said as Luke and I stood up. “Let’s run over the checklist one last time.”

  “Let’s do it.” He clapped his hands, his eyes shining with excitement as we headed toward the front door.

  “Do you have your toothbrush?” I asked. We’d forgotten to pack it once. It’d been a disaster. Audrey had accused me of trying to sabotage her time with him. Petty woman.

  “Check.” Luke nodded.

  I went over to the next item on my list. “Extra socks and underwear?”

  “Check.”

  “Homework?” She probably wouldn’t do it with him, which would mean Mom and I would have to, but I kept giving her the benefit of the doubt.

  “Check.” He rolled his sparkling eyes at me. “I have an English worksheet due on Monday. Grandma said I’d have to read a book a week if I didn’t hand it in.”

  “Grandma’s not wrong.” We got his backpack from the hallway where we’d left it before. “Teddy?”

  “Check.” Luke grinned. “That’s everything, right?”

  “Right.” I ruffled his hair and walked with him to the door, opening it just as Audrey got off the elevator.

  She was dressed head to toe in white, as usual. Even though she was inside, she was still wearing her large designer sunglasses—paid for on my dime, of course.

  So what if she’d married a guy with a trust fund after she’d left me? As soon as news of my first big check hit the airwaves, her lawyer called and threatened all kinds of things if I didn’t agree to pay her a decent amount in alimony.