Page 44 of Engaging with Her Enemy

“Don't piss me off.” Becky shifted her body to block Hudson even more, his entire body now in contact with hers as it loomed over her. “I've told you 'no' as many nice ways as I can imagine. You want a wife that will stay home in your house, raise kids, cook, and clean your dirty clothes. I have no desire to do that for you. We want different things. Besides, I'm not in love with you.”

“And I suppose you're in love with him?”

Hudson touched her hip, resting his hand there. The solid connection gave her a boost. “Leave, Tommy.”

Tommy took out a cigarette, taking his time to light it. He always stalled by lighting a cigarette. The smell wafted toward her. She resisted the instinct to fan the smoke away. He'd love to know it bothered her. He tapped it off, the ash falling on her porch.

“I'm wondering who you're lying to. To him or to me all those times you laid in my bed and said you loved me.”

Hudson's chest pressed harder against the back of her shoulders, and his fingers tightened where they held her. He would rip open that artery in his arm if he tried to fight Tommy. Hudson would win, even with one hand, but Tommy would fight back until the end and do some severe damage.

Tommy smirked, the cigarette flopping on his bottom lip. He always thought he was so damn cool.

“I just wonder who’s bed you’ll end up in next.”

A rumble from Hudson's chest sounded like a warning.

“Can your new boy toy speak, or does he expect you to do it for him?”

Hudson stepped forward as Becky turned around. Tommy needed to leave before she really lost her temper.

She put a hand on Hudson’s chest and held him back. “Stop.” She patted him and shifted back to her position, keeping Tommy from entering her house and Hudson from leaving it.

“Tommy, I’m with Hudson now. Get over it.”

Tommy took the cigarette out of his mouth, dropped it on the porch, and dug the heel of his boot into it, leaving a smear of black ash.

Oh, that was it. She narrowed her eyes. “Get off my porch.”

“Or what?”

Becky stepped outside, turned to the left, and grabbed the water hose, flicking open the valve at the same time. She pointed it at the spot on the ground between Tommy’s feet and sprayed.

Tommy jumped back.

Hudson chuckled.

“Listen here—” Tommy balled his fists and jumped toward Hudson. But he never made it. Becky shot a stream of water right into Tommy’s face.

He sputtered and blocked it, stepping back out of instinct.

She lowered the hose. “I’m done with you. I’m done with your sexist attitude. I’m done with you stopping by my work or my house and bothering me. Done!” She held up the nozzle again when he looked like he might make another run at Hudson. “Get off my porch and leave me the hell alone. Or the next person you’ll deal with is Cameron.”

Tommy wiped his face with his hand as he stomped down her porch steps. Still armed with the water hose, she waited for him to get into his car and peel out of her driveway.

Hudson took the hose away from her, replacing it on the wall and closing the valve.

She stepped inside her house, watching him. His reaction seemed too relaxed for the tension in his shoulders. Back in high school, Hudson would have tried to reason with Tommy. But now, he'd turned into a big, protective man, and even though she'd taken care of herself all her adult life, she liked the change.

He paused just inside the house. “That was hard to stand by and take.”

She ran her hands along his back to his shoulders, his muscles tight. Heat radiated off his body. She pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades, taking a deep breath. A mix between her detergent and his soap. “I'm sorry.”

He spun around, grabbed her under her arms, and picked her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, trying to keep the weight off his arm. “Your arm, Hudson.”

“Kiss me,” he growled, low and dominant.

She kissed him, the best she could, her heart racing from the confrontation with Tommy. From the sheer strength of Hudson. Carrying her with one arm, he walked them to her bedroom they shared. She'd never let Tommy spend the night at her house. She'd never cared for him the way she did with Hudson. She'd never told him she loved him.

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