“I’ll be honest. The house we just passed is my brother, Trent’s. I actually live in New York now, but I use this house whenever I come home. It has certain…benefits.”
Again, I heard Nico chuckle from the front of the car as he pulled up outside the house. He spoke as he turned off the engine.
“You can say that again!”
“Nico!”
I almost jumped at Hudson’s sharp reply.
Nico seemed to ignore Hudson, as he got out of the car and immediately came to my door to open it for me. He offered his hand to help me out of the car. Instantly, I felt tingles go through my body, and my eyes met his. We both stood there a minute gazing into each other’s eyes.
What was it about this man that I found so attractive? Hudson had purchased me. I shouldn’t have been having lustful thoughts about Nico. I suddenly felt a hand rest on my back and turned to find Hudson standing there. I was surprised though to find him smiling at both of us, almost smirking.
“Well, I will leave you to your evening. Goodnight, Rosa. Hud. I’ll see you in the morning.”
With that, Nico left us standing next to the car and walked back up toward the main house.
“Are you ready for a light dinner?”
I smiled at Hudson and gave him a quick nod. I hadn’t realized that it had been hours since I last eaten until he mentioned it.
“Well, let’s go inside.”
Chapter Twelve
HUDSON
AS SOON AS I HEARD Nico call Gaby Rosa, I knew he was hooked. Seeing the interaction between them, I could already tell there was an attraction on both parts. This gave me hope for my plan; I just needed to get Gaby on board with the whole thing.
One thing was still in the back of my mind, though. Why had Vincent allowed her to go to the auction? Could it be that Gaby was no longer with him? Or was there some other more devious reason that Vincent had come up with? Either way, I was going to ask her and find out this evening.
I guided Gaby into the house and closed the door behind me. I watched as she took in her surroundings, almost in awe of what she was seeing. If she felt this way about the guesthouse, what would she think of Trent’s house up the road? It was far grander than this. However, this suited my needs whenever I was in town.
I gestured for Gaby to follow me into the kitchen, assuming that everything would be set up in there for me. I was shocked to see Kristen standing in the kitchen plating everything up for us.
“Kristen, what are you doing? I told Trent to order everything in. I didn’t expect you to be here getting it ready. I am quite capable, you know.” I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I know, but you have a guest. I couldn’t allow you to ignore her while you were getting things ready. Sit down and let me serve your main course, and then I will leave you both alone. I promise.”
I knew there was no point in arguing with her. It would only make things worse, and I didn’t want her to stress out, especially with her being pregnant. I helped Gaby down into a seat at the fully laid table and then took a seat opposite her. In a matter of moments, Kristen was there serving our meal. I couldn’t let her go before introducing her to Gaby, which I suspected was her main reason for being here.
“Before you leave, Kristen, can I introduce you to Gabriella-Rose, or Gaby? Gaby, this is Kristen, my sister-in-law.”
I could almost see the look of relief go over Gaby’s face. I guessed having a pregnant woman in my house would have been a slight shock, and possibly given the totally wrong impression. That was one reason why I hadn’t really wanted her to be here.
“Lovely to meet you, Kristen.”
“You too, Gaby. Well, I will leave you both to your evening. Is Nico with Trent?”
I gave her a smile. “I suspect so. Waiting for one of your wonderful meals, no doubt. Would you like me to walk you back to the house?”
Kristen quickly shook her head before walking out of the room. I suspected Nico was already waiting outside for her anyway once Trent had told him that she was here. Hearing her speak to him as she walked out the door confirmed my suspicions. I looked up at Gaby, who was waiting for me to start our meal.
“Please start eating. We can’t let it get cold, or Kristen would kill us. I’m sure she has cooked all this, even though I didn’t want to trouble her.”
We both started to eat in silence, but the question of why she was doing this was still going around in my head. She pulled me from my thoughts when she spoke.
“This meal is amazing. I can understand why Nico would want to eat Kristen’s food.”