Page 32 of One Quick Obsession

“Yes. You did. Did you have any water?”

“Some,” I mumbled.

Hudson sighed and tugged on my arm. “Come on, let’s get you home, neighbor.” He spoke over my head, but I wasn’t paying attention. Instead I leaned my cheek against his chest, feeling that nipple ring slightly, and let out a contented sigh. Maybe I’d had a little bit too much to drink, but in the end it didn’t matter. This was all a very odd dream anyway.

“This is interesting,” Ivy whispered, or maybe she shouted. I wasn’t sure.

Either way, I found myself walking alongside Hudson to his truck.

“In you go,” Hudson mumbled.

“I’m fine. I’m going to call someone.”

“I’m not letting you get in a stranger’s car, Scar.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

He buckled me into my seat, his breath warm against my cheek. “Maybe you need a little bossing around.”

I tried to say something funny, but instead I just closed my eyes, and the next thing I noticed when I opened them, we were parked in his driveway.

“Wait. Where are we? I thought I was going home.”

“Can’t find your keys,” he grumbled, and I reached for my purse, only to realize it felt half empty.

“Oh no,” I mumbled.

“Woman, you’re going to be the death of me.”

Things were moving rapidly, yet felt like I was four steps behind. Maybe I’d had one too many glasses of wine. It wasn’t something I did. Ever. I needed to be aware of my surroundings, I knew that, and yet I just wanted a moment where I didn’t have to think.

I found myself in Hudson’s arms, my cheek resting against his shoulder, as he carried me into his home.

“Your purse fell in my truck, and your keys are somewhere. I’ll get them in the morning. Let’s get you to sleep.”

“I’m fine,” I pouted. “I don’t want to stay here.” A lie.

He rubbed his beard against the top of my head. “Someone needs to take care of you, Scarlett, even if you don’t want it.”

“I can do it on my own.”

“If you just mumbled that you could do it on your own, we both know that’s usually the case but just let me help.”

With a sigh I let him carry me up the stairs, and then found myself tucked into soft sheets, and my shoes on the ground next to the bed.

I tried to say something to be clever, but there was nothing.

I merely let Hudson take care of me, with giving me a glass of water, and finally sank into the pillows, wondering what the hell I was doing.

Hudson Cage was a menace, but in this moment, he was my menace.

Chapter Nine

Hudson

I wasn’t quite sure how I had ended up in this position, but I knew that something was going to have to change. Spending so many hours constantly fighting with Scarlett, even though it felt as if we were always forced in each other’s proximity, wasn’t going to work anymore.

Although the sun had risen about an hour ago, I had been up for more than two. I had my studio door open, as well as the back door to my home with just the screen door, that way I could hear if Scarlett woke up. I still couldn’t quite believe that she was in my guest bedroom, snoring away, hopefully waking up without too bad of a hangover. I didn’t know if Scarlett got hangovers.