Page 81 of Baking With A Rockstar

“Grandma thought you’d like that, and she said to tell you to have fun.”

“Oh gosh. I’m not sure I can ever look her in the eye again.”

Hudson pats my leg and chuckles. “You’ll be fine.”

“Hopefully.” Looking down, I catch sight of the cute picture of Hudson again. I point to it. “I hope it was okay to look at this.”

“Of course. There are some great pictures in there.”

I tap on the one I was looking at. “This one is my absolute favorite so far.”

“I can see why.” He chuckles, leaning closer to get a better look. “Very sexy.”

“You were adorable.” I study him, excited to learn more about him. “Was that your first guitar?”

He stretches his arm over the back of the couch and starts playing with a strand of my hair. “Yeah. Grandpa gave it to me.”

“Seems like it was meant to be.”

“Yeah?”

I nod, not a doubt in my mind. “Have you already figured things out about your future, and what you want to do? We haven’t talked about it in a while but at dinner yesterday... I don’t know. I guess the conversation about you leaving soon got me thinking. Will you get back together with your band?”

He groans in frustration, and I’m afraid I ruined the mood.

I hold up my hands. “I’m sorry, forget I said anything. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

His hand brushes over my hair, the motion incredibly soothing—just like his voice. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just have a lot of people breathing down my neck about it right now, so it’s a touchy subject for me. I’m seeing the boys in a couple weeks, so we’ll talk about it then. I know what I want, but I’m not sure yet if I can get it.”

“Okay.”

“Speaking of seeing them, I’ve been wanting to ask you something.” His fingers interlace with mine, his thumb tracing imaginary patterns on my skin.

Pulling my gaze away from our hands, I look back up at him. “What is it?”

“One of the guys from the band, Elijah, is getting married soon, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with me? The wedding is in Los Angeles, and we can take Mira with us.”

I blink before blinking some more. “You want me to come with you to your friend’s wedding?”

“Yeah.” The simple word comes out of his mouth so matter-of-factly as if it’s the most normal thing to ask.

Heck, maybe it is.

My mind is going into overdrive, trying to work through the situation. This probably means it’ll be a bigger wedding, or at least other celebrities will be there, which will also mean paparazzi.

Hudson and I will be there together. Like, togethertogether.

Inpublic. Foreveryoneto see.

Am I ready for that?

It’s the exact thing I’ve been shying away from—the whole public side of being with Hudson. Besides that one incident, it’s been pretty simple to live with him in Brooksville. But once the cat’s out of the sack—and the pictures out in the world—I’m not sure if, or how, things will change.

Back then, I was incredibly attracted to Hudson, but we weren’t that close yet. It was easier not wanting to risk my private life for someone I didn’t know very well.

But things are different now.

Sodifferent.

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