Page 54 of Kayleigh

“Sounds good,” Kayleigh said with a nod.

“Thanks for letting me tag along.”

“You’re welcome to join me anytime.”

“I’ll probably take you up on that.” He’ddefinitelytake her up on that.

Since he didn’t want to keep her there any longer than necessary, Hudson said goodbye, then left her office. He knew he should take his own advice and not focus on work, but that was how he always spent his evenings. With Remington locations in pretty much every time zone, there were always emails to deal with or video calls to make.

But with no video calls planned for that night, Hudson ordered a steak, then changed out of his suit into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Just because he was still doing work didn’t mean he couldn’t be comfortable.

His phone chirped an alert for a text, and he picked it up to see a message from Caleb.

Caleb:The day is now over. Stop working and relax.

Hudson was tempted to obey his assistant’s directive, except that as he glanced at his inbox, he saw a message from Alexander. There was no way to ignore that. If he didn’t reply to the email, he’d get a text telling him to check his email. And then a call.

He wondered what would happen if he just walked away. Walked away from Remington. Walked away from New York. Walked away from Alexander.

But even as he thought it, Hudson knew he could never do that. Or maybe he just hadn’t reached his point of no return yet.

With a sigh, Hudson decided he could ignore the email for a little while longer. At least until he had had something to eat.

When his text alert went again, he ignored it because it was either Caleb bugging him again about not working, since he hadn’t responded to his text, or Alexander telling him to check his email. He didn’t want to talk to either of them right then.

When there was a knock at the door, he got up and went to let room service in. As he interacted with the server, it occurred to him that maybe it was Kayleigh who had texted him.

That thought compelled him to pick up the phone as he sat down in front of his meal.

Caleb:Seriously. Stop working and relax.

Hudson rolled his eyes. He should have just ignored the text, but the thought that Kayleigh might have reached out to him had been enough to sucker him in.

I’ll think about it. Just getting ready to have a steak for dinner.

Caleb:So eat your steak and then binge watch something on Netflix. Just stay away from work stuff. There’s nothing that pressing that can’t wait until tomorrow.

Hudson put a piece of steak into his mouth, then replied.Oh, but there’s an email in my inbox from Alexander, so the world is probably burning down.

Caleb:And of course, you’re the only person who can put out the fire.

Hudson didn’t believe that, but Alexander sure seemed to feel like Hudson was his personal firefighter. Whether Hudson wanted to be or not.

Unfortunately, as long as he continued to work for Alexander, he was giving the man the impression that he wanted to be.

He could walk away. Alexander might demand a lot of him, but he also paid him extremely well, and Hudson had saved up quite a bit of money. He didn’t need to keep working for Alexander in order to survive. Not like he had in the beginning, when he’d been fresh out of college, feeling an obligation to the man who’d paid for his education—and everything else since Hudson’s mom had died.

But did he have the courage to walk away? And did hereallywant to? Or was he just so tired that he didn’t want to deal with work demands anymore?

He was beginning to wish he’d accepted Kayleigh’s invitation to eat together. It would have been better than being alone with his thoughts.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kayleigh checked her reflection in the full-length mirror one last time before she had to leave the house again.

After she’d gotten home from work, she’d rushed to change out of her suit and into a pair of fitted jeans and a long-sleeved burgundy t-shirt that had the high school logo on the front. She’d taken her hair out of the bun she’d worn that day, then had brushed it up into a high ponytail.

When she was sure she looked okay, Kayleigh pulled on a pair of knee-high boots and a black jacket. After grabbing her purse, phone, and keys from the key hanger on the wall by the door to the garage, she went out to her car. They were forecasting snow that night, so the air felt chillier… heavier… than normal.

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