Page 81 of Must Have Been Love

The knock repeats, so I push myself out of my leather chair, trying not to groan at the knots in my back muscles. I wrench the door open, waiting for the usual onslaught about a demanding customer wanting to speak to the owner, but instead I see Skyler standing there, looking uncharacteristically uncertain as she looks up at me.

“Hey.” I blink. She’s never willingly come to see me. Yes, I made her come in my office, but she was here for the party, not me. It’s weird how much I like that she’s actually come here of her own free will. “Come in.”

A smile ghosts across her lips. “Thanks.” She’s not wearing any makeup, and her hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. She’s wearing that denim dress that buttons from neck to hem and I get a flashback to how easy it is to unbutton and reveal her lush body.

“How did your talk with Jesse go?” I ask her.

“It went well,” she replies, softly closing the door behind her. “We talked a lot. He explained everything. We’re good.”

I smile softly at her. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“I want to add him as an owner to the bar.” She pulls her lip between her teeth. “I know that makes things more complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“At one point you wanted to buy it. You’re even less likely to be able to if there are two of us.”

I shake my head. “I don’t give a damn if I own it. I just wanted it to be…” I shake my head. “I don’t know. Right for the tone of the place. And it is. You’ve done that.” Buying the bar is so far from my mind it’s not funny. “It’s not complicated at all.”

Her expression radiates relief. “Okay, good. Because I have another favor to ask you.”

I lift a brow. She never asks for anything. I like that she’s willing to now. “Go ahead.”

“I need you to recommend a local lawyer. I want to do this thing right. Jesse’s my brother and I want him to know how much I care.”

“You can use mine,” I say. “I’ll speak to him. I have it covered.”

“You’re not paying for it,” she says, her eyes flashing.

The woman can read me like a book. “Of course I’ll pay.”

“No.” She shakes her head, her jaw jutting out like she’s already anticipated this. “You have to stop saving people, Hudson.”

“I’m not saving you. I know for a fact that you won’t have a whole lot of cash flow until the bar is up and running. And I also know that when you make a decision you want it to happen yesterday. I’m trying to help.”

“I know you are. But I don’t want you to.”

I don’t like that one bit. “So you’ll let me fuck you seven ways to Sunday – if it’s not in a damn bed – but you won’t let me help you sort out the bar?”

“When you put it like that…” she trails off, smiling at my annoyance. I swear she gets off on riling me up. She reaches out, touching my arm. “I appreciate all you do for me. Including the sex.” She pulls her lip between her teeth and I swear that’s all it takes to make me hard. “And last night.” She swallows. “You didn’t get into bed with me.”

“Because you’ve made it clear that you don’t want me in your bed.” I thought that was obvious. And I’m not an idiot enough to force it.

She tips her head to the side. There’s a strange emotion in her eyes I can’t quite place. “Isn’t a girl allowed to change her mind?” she whispers.

“About what?” I ask, confused.

She twists her fingers. “Maybe next time we sleep together, it should be somewhere that won’t cost you a fortune at the chiropractor,” she says, parroting my words from a few weeks ago. She runs the tip of her tongue along her lip. “Somewhere we can wake up together.”

If I thought I was hard before, now I’m almost painful. The things I could do to this woman if I had all night with her. She’d be the one needing a back specialist.

And I’d willingly pay for all the treatment.

“When?” I ask quickly.

She smiles at my eagerness.

“When you can get a babysitter, I guess.”

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