My heart belonged to Hudson now.
Even though I’d never even seen his home.
Never seen his town.
None of that mattered.
Wherever he was, I wanted to be.
My eyes landed on the stuffed gray cat toy that he’d won for me at the festival. It was sitting perched on my bed next to my pillows. The second I saw it, I knew.
Tears started flowing down my cheeks, and I calculated the time difference. It would be one in the morning in Arkansas. Too late to call. But I was doing it anyway.
I only had one moment of fear that he might have another woman in his bed.
Then, I dialed the number and waited for him to answer.
If he did have another woman there, I’d tell him to kick her out because he wasminenow.
“Liz? Are you all right?” he answered the phone groggily. I’d woken him from sleep.
“No. I-I made a mistake.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a panic. “Where are you? What can I do?”
“It’s not like that. I just… I just… I realize I want something different now. I’m going to blow up my life by asking this, but were we more than a fling?”
He let out a deep exhale. “You know we’re more than that. You know how I feel about you, Lizzie.”
I sat down on the edge of my velvet pouf. “You never asked me to stay.”
He rumbled, “You know why I didn’t ask. Do you want me to ask?”
Quietly I said. “I think I do. I need to know how strongly you feel about me, because I’m thinking about blowing everything up.”
He grunted like I’d just kicked him in the chest. “Elizabeth Merley, you know how I feel about you. I told you with my bodythe night you left me. Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Because I’d take you as my wife right this second if I thought you wanted that. I just don’t know how I’d fare in New York. But I could give it a try. I’d try anything if it meant I got to have you in my life.”
I started crying then. Loud, harsh sobs. “I don’t think I want New York City anymore. I think I wantyou. And Leona. And Shelby. And Frankie, too. Can you get Leona back from whoever has her? Can I move in with you? Are you serious about what you just said? You won’t be able to date any other women if I show up on your doorstep.”
He started laughing, then hung up the call.
I sat there mystified about what had just happened. Had that been the ultimate rejection?
But thirty seconds later, he face-timed me.
Seeing his face, still groggy from sleep, made my heart leap into my chest.
“Hey there, beautiful princess,” he murmured. “You want to see something special?”
I nodded, not having any idea what he had in mind. If this were any other man, I’d be expecting a shot of his cock next. But with Hudson, I had no idea what he was about to show me.
He shifted the phone down to his chest, where a tiny gray kitten was curled up in a ball.
“Leona!You kept her?”
“How could I give her up? Frankie was in love with her.” He panned the phone to the right, where the sweet dog was curled up at Hudson’s side, snoring softly.
Now I was the one laughing. There was no woman in his bed. And he’dkeptthe kitten.
