Page 89 of All the Beautiful Things
Lilly’s smile was still timid, but less wobbly. “Ever?”
“Haven’t for years and you couldn’t pay me enough to do it again.” At her nod, even as she shuffled on her feet, I faced Nina who had lost her smirk but not the calculating gaze.
I could only imagine what Lilly was thinking. She was dressed in jeans, a sweater, her scarf hung open and draped over her shoulders and she shoved her hands into the pockets of her winter coat.
Nina in a stunning, no doubt designer quality dress, her red-soled shoes still kicked off by the floor, and me?
Shit. I’d completely forgotten I ran after Lilly without a shirt on.
I threw on the T-shirt still in my hand and focused on Nina.
“Tell your father there will be no deal. There is no way in hell I’ll marry you, and if he tries any shit like this again, I’ll have to go to the city council with some of the discrepancies I’ve noticed in his budgets and loans versus income payments from properties.”
For Nina’s part, and to my utter non-surprise, she showed no shock at any of this. “I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon regardless.”
“Wonderful.”
Because more communication with that ass was exactly what I was looking for.
Nina picked up her purse, slid into her heels. It forced Lilly to have to back up which she did with a twisted expression on her face. I kept my gaze on Lilly, not giving one shit what Nina thought of my rudeness.
“Bye, Hudson. I’ll see you soon.”
My lips stayed sealed. The only woman in my life and the only woman I’d be speaking to for the near future would be the one standing too far away from me.
Once the door clicked and the only thing remaining of Nina was the lingering scent of her floral perfume, I stepped toward Lilly.
She held up her hands. “Before we talk, I really need to clean this night off me.”
Even better. “Sounds perfect. Come on.”
26
Lilly
While Hudson dragged me to his bedroom, I tried to forget everything I saw from lunchtime and onward. Honestly, if I could wipe the entire day from my memory, I wouldn’t be upset.
In his bedroom, he removed my scarf and flung it to the bed. Then he pushed off my coat, throwing it over my scarf.
“I want to hear everything that happened to you tonight and I will answer any questions you have about Nina, but I want you to wait until you’re clean and slightly more relaxed. So for now, if you want a glass of wine, I’ll go get you one, but otherwise, I want you to sit right here until I can run us a bath.”
“A bath?”
My body warmed at the thought.
His eyes turned molten and he bent down and kissed me softly. “I’ve always wondered if it’s big enough for two.”
Which meant no other woman had been in that tub with him. Definitely not that woman in red. Nina.
“Okay.”
“Now, I also have a shirt doused in red wine, the reason why I wasn’t wearing one when you got here, by the way.” At his words, my cheeks heated. I doubted him so easily. “I want to get that soaking. Is there blood on any of your clothes besides your scarf and coat?”
I hadn’t even realized there was blood on those items, and I didn’t want to know if it was Josiah’s or Manny’s. “There shouldn’t be.”
“So. I think tonight has been equally shitty for both of us. Can I get you something to drink, because I definitely need something.”
“Do you have the Pinot Grigio?”
