Page 32 of Too Broken to Love

His warm breath so close to her lips delayed the part of her brain that processed words. “Can…can you repeat that?”

“Home.” He braced his hands on either side of her head. “With me. I believe that you don’t have anything to do with Pop’s suspected murder, but the crash, the abduction, and the explosion all come back directly to you or to Frank.”

“Frank. Right.” She wrapped her hands around his biceps, not sure if she should shove him away or yank him against her. Once again, she was caught up in Frank’s mess simply because she was his offspring. Except this time, running wasn’t so easy. Not when a wall of solid muscle she desperately wanted to prove her innocence to blocked her escape. “So, you’re taking me home with you to keep a close eye on me?”

“I need you close to protect you.”

“Is that the only reason?” He’d said he trusted her, yet she still held her breath as she waited for his answer.

“I have issues trusting any woman who knows about my family’s wealth, especially one who stands to gain from it, but fuck, Tessa…”

A knock rattled the door. She ignored it. “Fuck what, Hudson?”

She drew her first full, yet unsteady breath of the day as his mouth descended on hers. Tremors quaked through her body like the ground after the explosion. With a moan that welcomed all the trouble a kiss could cause while cops waited outside her door, she parted her lips and invited him in.

Surrender grated from his throat as he bound her hands in his and trapped them above her head. “Fuck if I know why all I can think about is telling the cops to screw off and getting you naked on your desk.”

Hudson yawned as he drove Malcolm’s SUV through the electronic gate of the mansion and glanced at Tessa. She’d fallen asleep, along with Malcolm and Lia in the back, as soon as they’d left the hospital.

And since leaving, his cock had been semi-hard thinking about that kiss.

“What the hell am I doing?” The crunch of tires on gravel and crushed seashells masked his whispered words. He knew next to nothing about Tessa. Not her favorite fishing spot or the song she always played on repeat. Yet somehow he knew everything he needed to, like she took care of Pop when he’d cut his finger.

He stole a glance at her again as he stopped the car in front of the porch that wrapped around the house. “We’re here, Tessa.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Damn, they still sting from the smoke.”

“The sting is probably from fatigue too.”

She slumped against the seat. “I hope we don’t have to talk to the cops again anytime soon. It’s exhausting.”

“Agreed.” She looked as spent as he felt. They’d talked to the police for over an hour. She’d kept her composure as they showed her the video of the man who looked like Frank in the casino parking garage. The hint of smugness when she’d dismantled their evidence had been unexpectedly charming.

Tomorrow, he’d press her for more details about her last run-in with Frank—the same night her mother died. Right now, he needed to get her to bed.

She sat up straighter as she pushed curls from her face and took in the pale blue Victorian with the pitched gray roof, majestic turrets, and gabled dormers.

Placing her hand over her heart, she looked at Hudson. “This isn’t a mansion. I mean, I know it’s huge because it used to be a hotel, but…it’s just Sam’s house.”

She smiled. “He wanted the spindles on the porch railings repainted. And there’s a crack in the breezeway.” She sniffed. “Just in case you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t.” And somehow it didn’t bother him that he didn’t know about these things.

“Hudson?”

He leaned toward her. “Yeah?”

“I’m scared. Are we safe here?”

“Trust me.” He killed the engine. “The Langley Mansion is the most secure property in Bay County. I made sure of it.”

She nodded with a strained laugh, looking at the house. “Do those fishing poles over the doorway ward off evil spirits?”

He laughed too. “My grandmother hated them. She hated fishing, but she wanted this place so she could sit on the balcony and watch the boats come in and out of the inlet and wave to people.”

He let himself linger in the bittersweet memories for a moment in comfortable silence. Sighing, he slipped from the car and strode to Tessa’s side.

She opened her door and took his hand. “Thank you again for arranging for Lia to stay here with me.”