Before he could finish his sentence, the dog ran toward them, taking a flying leap straight into Hudson’s lap.
Mac breathed out a laugh and squatted down next to them. “Aww, I think you’re its favorite.” She held out her hand for the dog to sniff, and when she got the green light, she scratched behind its ears. “Pretty sure you’re its owner now.”
Hudson laughed. “She’s confused.”
“Or in love,” Mac said dryly as the dog snuggled further into Hudson’s lap, nudging its head under his hand and not allowing him to let up on his petting. “And ‘she,’ huh?”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “No dangly bits, so that’s my guess.”
Mac laughed, reaching over to settle a hand on the dog’s back. “Aw, she’s shivering. Poor thing must be freezing. Or scared.”
“Or both,” he said, standing to his full height, the dog clutched to his chest.
Forget talking with him or making out with him—watching Hudson care for and cuddle this tiny dog was going to be her undoing.
“We’re not gonna leave her out here, are we?” Mac asked, not bothering to hide the worry in her voice. Her love for dogs had started back when Will had worked at the animal shelter in high school. Daddy had never allowed them to get a dog, so Mac had loved on each one of the pets in the shelter as much as possible. It sort of stuck, and everyone in town knew to call her if they needed a dog sitter.
He raised an eyebrow as he tucked the dog into his sweatshirt, zipping it until just her head poked out. “You just called me Captain America, and you think I’d leave this tiny thing out here with a cold front movin’ in?”
My God, how was she supposed to just continue a conversation with him as if he weren’t standing there looking like a romance novel hero, complete with a puppy nuzzled to his chest?
“You gonna rip apart a log for me later before we get the fire goin’?”
He glanced at her as they continued on their path, almost near the summit where they’d planned to camp. “That depends—on a scale of one to ten, how hot did you find that when he did it in the movie?”
“Seventeen,” Mac said without thinking.
Hudson tossed back his head and laughed, and she marveled at the sight. She’d worried being in the military would change him…harden him. And though she’d noticed subtle differences in him, especially when he was in a group, she was relieved that he was very much the same when it was the two of them.
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do. This winnin’ me any hot hero points?” he asked, gesturing to where he cradled the dog against his chest, his hand cupping her head to let her know he had her.
Who knew a tiny, scruffy dog would be her undoing?
“You have no idea.”
By the time they’d reached the summit where they’d decided to set up camp for the night, dusk had settled in, the chill in the air seeping through their layers and making them desperate to start a fire. Though Hudson had fully intended to set up the tent Kenna had brought for herself, they’d spent valuable daylight minutes chasing after their new canine companion when a squirrel had captured her attention and she’d taken off into the brush.
He’d managed to erect one of the tents while Kenna had gathered wood and made them a fire. And damn if watching her so calm and self-assured didn’t make him want to kiss the hell out of her. Made him want to do a whole lot more than just kiss her…
He strode over, perching beside her on the log she sat on, the dog sound asleep in her lap. The fire roared in front of them, warming them up after the temperature had dropped twenty degrees since sunset.
“Sorry we didn’t have time to get both tents set up. If it makes you more comfortable, I can sleep out here.”
She slid him a glance out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t be stupid.”
He huffed out a laugh, rubbing his hands together where the rested between his spread knees. “Not stupid. Just wanna make sure you’re okay with it.”
“Well, I mean…it’s not like you’re gonna steal my virtue.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “You nabbed that sucker a long time ago.”
“Actually, I think it was you who stole mine.”
Extending her legs, she pointed her toes toward the fire, no doubt trying to soak up the warmth. “Okay, buddy. Whatever you have to tell yourself.”
His smile widened, and he reached out to squeeze her knee. “There was an equal amount of virtue-stealing happenin’, I think. Although I’m pretty sure I got the better end of that bargain. Sorry ’bout that.”
She laughed under her breath and shrugged. “I think you’re in the clear since you’ve more than made up for it.”
They locked eyes, a dozen memories of their single weekend together before they’d gone their separate ways passing between them. That time with her had been pure bliss spent between her thighs, her moans a near-constant cadence in his ears. He’d still had the crescent-moon indents from her nails in his skin when she’d driven off. He’d gotten himself off to memories of that weekend more times than he could count.
Annnnd…great, now he was hard.
Kenna’s lips parted as she stared at him, her eyes dropping to his mouth. Her tongue flicking out over her bottom lip might as well have been a red flag, daring him to come closer. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching up to cup her face, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw. With the slightest pressure of his fingers against the back of her head, he tugged her toward him, needing to feel her mouth against his.
Just as their eyes fluttered closed, their lips a breath apart, the dog whimpered out a bark, her legs twitching and managing to kick them both. He and Kenna froze where they were, their eyes focused on the dog who settled down within moments, obviously deep in a dream, but the spell between them had been broken.
He rested his forehead against hers and breathed out a laugh. This damn dog had cockblocked him twice, but he couldn’t be mad at the tiny thing—she was too cute. And even with that cockblocker, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this…settled. This content.
He pressed a soft kiss to Kenna’s lips before pulling back. “Thanks for doin’ this with me.”
She shot him a smirk. “Yeah, well, the bet said I had to.”
“Ah, I see. The bet’s the only thing that got you out here, huh?”
Kenna sat quiet for long moments, the only sounds the crackling of the fire and the distant calls of a coyote.
She ducked her head and lifted her eyes to meet his. “Maybe not the only thing.”
It wasn’t exactly a declaration, but it felt like they were finally getting somewhere. Maybe his sister had been right, and all Kenna needed was to get away from it all. To be reminded of what they’d had at one time.
“I’m glad Will got your shifts covered,” he said. “I didn’t even ask about the town hall stuff, but I assume no one’s settin’ up meetings with the actin’ mayor on a Saturday.”
She snorted. “No one’s settin’ up meetings with me, period. I’m basically a toddler, you know. Too young to know how to do anything. Besides that, I’m a girl.” She rolled her eyes. “They’d ‘feel more comfortable waitin’ till Richard’s back,’” she mocked, affecting a deep, stiff tone. “Antiquated, misogynistic bastards.”
Hudson blew out a breath, shaking his head. “That’s complete bullshit. And I’d like to say I’m surprised by that, but, well…it’s Havenbrook.”
Which was to say it wasn’t exactly a beacon of progressiveness, and some of the men running the town had been doing so since before either he or Kenna had been born. It was no doubt challenging for them to have someone they’d once seen in diapers suddenly in charge of the town. Didn’t make it right or fair, though, but many things weren’t when you were dealing with the delicate egos of small men.
“Yeah, me neither.” She rested her hand on the dog’s head, stroking softly. “Doesn’t make me like it any better. I’m supposed to be helpin’ with things, but I feel like I’m just gettin’ in the way more
than anything. It feels like no one takes me seriously. And my mark as the black sheep of the family doesn’t help matters.”
“Black sheep? Why the hell would they think that?”
“I know, right? I figured Nat had me beat in that department, but apparently droppin’ out of college and comin’ back home with my tail between my legs is worse than leavin’ and never comin’ back at all.”
He hummed, trying to reconcile the Kenna he knew with this version of her that she—and the town, apparently—saw. “Well, you know what I say in situations like that.”
“What’s that?”
“Fuck ’em.”
She huffed out a laugh, the fire reflecting in her eyes as she looked at him, something like surprise written in their depths. “That’s it?”
“What more is there? No use wastin’ your time worryin’ about what people who don’t matter think of you.”
“No…” She shook her head. “I mean you’re not gonna say anything about the whole droppin’ out of college thing?”
He furrowed his brow, reaching up to scratch his jaw. “What would I say about it? I dropped out too, remember?”
“But you…” She gestured with her hands as if to encompass everything around them. “You went on to serve our country.”
“Yeah, and you went on to become a role model for hundreds of kids who desperately needed one.” He slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her toward him, tucking her into his side. “Sounds like we both did okay.”
She made a hum of acquiescence, but otherwise didn’t say a word.
“Do you want to tell me why you left?” He glanced down at her, the firelight painting shadows on her face.
She pressed her lips together, her shoulder brushing against his chest in a shrug. “Didn’t really feel like me, I guess.”
He could understand that. After all, it’d been the same reason he’d left, too. He’d tried for a year to make it work, but he hadn’t been able to escape the fire under his skin urging him for something else. According to his momma, Kenna had lasted for two.
“How about now?” he asked, his cheek resting on the crown of her head, his lips just brushing her forehead. “Do you feel like you now?”
She stilled under him, so quiet he wondered if she was holding her breath. Then a log popped in the fire, causing her to startle at his side.
Quietly, she said, “I’m not sure. But I think I might be getting there.”
MAC LAY in her sleeping bag, hands tucked between her thighs as she tried to muffle the sound of her chattering teeth. The cold front the weather app had cautioned about earlier in the day had settled in with a vengeance, and she’d give anything for a hot shower right about now. Even bundled in layers and with a hat covering her head, she felt like a popsicle. She wouldn’t be surprised if her lips were blue.
Thank God they hadn’t been able to get both tents set up, because at least she had Hudson’s body heat in the small space—little as it provided her from where he lay zipped in his own sleeping bag.
It’d been quiet inside the tent for what felt like hours—but was probably more like thirty minutes—and she had no idea how he’d fallen asleep so quickly in this cold. But he was a soldier, probably used to much worse conditions than this. Plus, he had the dog cuddling up to him, helping to keep him warm, and she was over here, shaking like a leaf, her teeth about to break from all the chattering.
“Out of curiosity,” Hudson said, his sudden words in the otherwise quiet night making her jump, “would you actually allow yourself to freeze to death before you told me you were cold?”
“What g-g-gave me away?”
He shifted, his sleeping bag rustling with his movement. “I’ve been listenin’ to your teeth chatter for the past ten minutes.”
“It’s only b-b-been ten minutes?” she asked, horrified. This was going to be the longest night of her life. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself into sleep, because once she awoke, the sun would be up and she’d be able to feel her toes again.
Suddenly, her zipper was yanked down, and she snapped her eyes open at the rush of cold air against her. “What the hell, Hud?”
“C’mon. It’s gonna suck right now, but the faster you get out of there, the faster I can zip our bags together.”
She didn’t stop to think about the possible ramifications of that before she bolted upright, the lure of sharing his body heat too good to pass up. As she knelt in the corner, snuggling up to the still-snoozing dog, Hudson made quick work of zipping their sleeping bags together to make one giant bed for them.
“You ready?” he asked, his nearness startling her again.
It was pitch black in the tent, and she couldn’t see a damn thing, merely relying on her ears to tell her where he was and what he was doing. And her ears now had to be playing tricks on her because it sounded like he was getting naked.
“Hud?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s…um… What’s happenin’ right now?”
His knees shuffled along the sleeping bag as he neared her corner. With steady hands, he unlaced her boots and slipped them off, then reached up and unzipped her jacket. “We’re gonna get you warm, that’s what’s happenin’.”
“I’m ok-k-kay.”
“All right then, how about you do it for me? Pretty sure my balls have shriveled up while I’ve been out here.”
The last thing she needed to be thinking about as he was stripping her was his balls.
Blindly, she reached out, her fingers brushing his bare shoulder, and she yanked her hand back as if burned. “Are you naked?” she hissed.
He snorted. “Don’t sound so scandalized. It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”
“Hudson Matthew Miller…”
He chuckled low under his breath, his hands still working to get her out of her many, many, many layers. “All my bits are covered, promise.”
A sudden, overwhelming wave of disappointment shot through her, and she could only shake her head at herself. She’d like to say she was surprised by that, but that’d be the furthest thing from the truth. She might’ve done a good job lying to herself—had even put up a good fight—but she’d been lusting after Hudson since the second he’d walked back into Havenbrook. And being around him…getting to know him all over again? That only made matters worse.
Now they were about to share a sleeping bag with only a couple layers of clothing separating their bodies. She had firsthand experience just how little a couple layers of clothing mattered between them. Memories of what they’d done against the tree the other day swarmed her mind, and she felt herself getting hot despite the freezing temps.
A sudden gust of wind rocked the tent, sending a shiver through her. Or maybe that was the daydream of what Hudson had done to her with her legs wrapped tight around his pumping hips…
Regardless, she no longer cared how little clothing they’d have on or that she’d be pressed up against him all night in her underwear. She just needed to be surrounded by his heat, and she needed it quickly.
Brushing his hands away, she rid herself of the rest of her clothes, save for a thin, long-sleeved T-shirt and her panties, and dove into the sleeping bag, yanking it up to her chin as she waited for him. He slipped inside behind her, and she didn’t even give him a chance to pull her back against him before she scooted his direction, tucking her ass into his lap and her back flat against his chest.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, a shudder running through her. “How are you so damn warm?”
Tucking his feet under her freezing ones and her head under his chin, he wrapped his arm around her, fitting his body to every curve of hers. “I’m a furnace, remember?”
A fact that used to irritate the hell out of her on hot Mississippi summer nights when they’d share a tent outside, but one that she was incredibly grateful for now.
“I take back every nasty thing I said about that. I love that you’re a furnace.”
“You’re only sayin’ tha
t because your feet are like fucking ice cubes. Jesus, woman.”
She spread out her toes, trying to reach every inch of warm skin he had to offer. “I’m not even sorry.”
He exhaled a laugh into her neck, and she couldn’t fight the shiver that spread through her body. Now that she wasn’t out of her mind with looming hypothermia, she was able to take in the myriad of sensations being this close to him afforded—the coarseness of his leg hair at the back of her knees, the soft rasp of his short beard as he rested his jaw against her neck, the bulk of his muscled forearm wrapped tightly just below her breasts.
And then, of course, there was the long, thick, very hard length of him nestled against her ass.
It took every ounce of willpower she had not to arch her back and press her bottom against his cock. Not to reach back and just…feel him. Wrap her hand around him and stroke. Reacquaint herself with the shape and size of him, feel the weight of it in her palm.
“What would you do?”
“What?” she squeaked—actually squeaked—jolting at his question. Oh my God, had she voiced her fantasies aloud? Did he want her to tell him what she’d do with his dick?
He nuzzled into her, pressing a soft kiss where her shoulder met her neck. “Out by the fire, you said they don’t take you seriously… What would you do in Havenbrook if that didn’t matter? If you could do anything?”
A nearly hysterical laugh escaped her. “Oh, I thought you—” She shook her head, cutting herself off. “Never mind.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then when he spoke, his voice was low and rough, barely a whisper between them. “You thought I was askin’ what you’d do if we didn’t have these layers of clothes between us?”
She managed to get out some sort of garbled mix of vowel sounds.
He chuckled. “Good as it feels to have your tight little ass tucked all nice and snug against my cock, and as much as I’d love to do nothing more than strip off the rest of your clothes and reacquaint myself with the delicious taste of your pussy, I think discussin’ this is probably a safer bet.” He shifted behind her, the movement doing nothing to hide the steel pipe pressed against her backside. “Besides that, I want you to want it, Kenna. Really want it. Because you know I do.”
Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook Book 4) Page 13