farther apart. Keeping an arm around her waist to cushion her from the edge of the wood, he trailed a hand between her trembling thighs.
She moaned and squirmed, and he sank his teeth into the nape of her neck. “Shh,” he reminded her, loving the scent of her—coconut shampoo, soft and willing woman, and maybe a tinge of apprehension. She shivered and pressed back against him.
Nope. Not apprehension. It was arousal, in every beat of her heart and every hitched breath.
“Please,” she breathed, and pushed her hips back into him, gripping the edges of his desk and quivering like a bow strung as taut as it could get. “Oh, Hud, please…”
Making quick work of a condom, he thrust into her and she came. Instantly. Barely managing not to do the same, he held her through the tremors and stroked her up again. He was trying to slow her down, trying to slow them both down, but she kept rocking those hips back for more and he lost himself, just completely lost himself in Bailey.
When their frenzied need overtook them both, they detonated. Hud just barely managed to keep them both upright in spite of the fact that his legs weren’t a solid bet. He was still working on that and also trying to catch his breath—and come to terms with what had just happened. He was pretty sure that what happened was his heart had just rolled over and exposed its tender underbelly—when there was another knock at his door.
“Hud?” It was Penny this time. “Hud, have you seen Bailey? Her car’s in the lot but no one’s seen her. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
Penny was smarter than both of his brothers. In fact she was smarter than all of them added together. “She’s okay,” he said to the door.
There was a beat of silence from Penny. Never a good sign. Then, “So is that ‘she’s okay’ as in you just want me to go away and leave you the hell alone?” she asked. “Or ‘she’s okay’ as in you’ve got her in there with you and you’re making good use of your desk the way I do with Gray’s?”
Bailey squirmed. “Door number two!” she said.
Jesus. Hud dropped his forehead to Bailey’s shoulder. “Now you’ve done it,” he murmured. He could feel her shaking with laughter and it occurred to him that any other woman might have been pissed. And with good reason. He’d just bent her over his desk and taken her. And also, his family was certifiable. Completely. “Now that you know she’s okay,” he said to Penny through the door, “you can go away.”
“Will do,” Penny said, sounding very amused. “I’ll retract the search party. Hey, you guys want to come for dinner tonight?”
Hud closed his eyes. “Penny?”
“Yeah?”
“Go away. And if you tell, I’ll let Gray know you’re the one who put that dent in his precious truck.”
There was a shocked beat of silence and then “I was never here!” This was followed by the sound of her footsteps hurrying away.
“Shit,” Hud muttered, turning Bailey in his arms to face him. “She’ll have told everyone by the end of the day.”
Bailey, looking soft and dazed and sated, smiled and he gave her a kiss. Then he propped her up against his desk and picked up her clothes for her. Since she still looked boneless and adorably wobbly, he ended up helping her get back into them. He added his own sweatshirt to the top of her ensemble to keep her warm.
Bullshit. You just like the way she looks in your clothes…
When yet another knock came on his door, he just about blew his gasket. Since they were both put back together, more or less, he yanked his office door open and was prepared to blast whoever stood there.
It was Penny again. He’d have to kill her. He’d have to kill Gray, too, of course, but Hud thought he could easily learn to live without them both—
These thoughts collided on themselves when he realized that Penny was looking extremely sorry to be interrupting, and also that she wasn’t alone.
Behind her was a fiftyish woman—
“Mom?” Bailey asked, sounding shocked as she came up to Hud’s side and peered around him. “What are you doing here?”
The woman looked at Bailey with such shocked horror that Hud turned to look at Bailey too.
Shit. The sweatshirt she wore—his—was on inside out, her ski cap was askew—from his hands—and she was hopping into her other ski boot without a sock since they’d been unable to locate it.
“What’s going on here?” Bailey’s mother asked dramatically, slapping a hand to her own heart as she divided a gaze between Hud and her daughter.
“A meeting,” Penny said smoothly. “Just an everyday old average meeting. Isn’t that right, Hud?”
But Bailey’s mother’s eyes ignored Hud entirely, locking on Bailey. “Then why are you all flushed and sweaty? You’re either running a fever or you were just—”
“Mom,” Bailey said, righting her cap. “Just give me a minute here to finish up and I’ll take you to the cafeteria where we can talk—”
“I came up here to see the mural you’re always talking about. I wanted to take pictures for all my friends who are constantly asking me how you’re doing and if you’re needing any more help, financially or otherwise. I thought—” She broke off and shook her head, and turned her hard, angry eyes on Hud.
He held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Moore.”
She stared at his hand and then whipped back to Bailey. “We’ve been worried sick about you. You’ve been putting so many hours into work, and then on top of that coming up here to work some more—or so I thought.”
“Mom,” Bailey said with quiet reproof. “You’re being rude.”
“I’m being rude? I thought—” She broke off and shook her head. “Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. I was wrong. You’ve been up here cheating on poor Aaron!”
Bailey stepped forward to take her mom’s arm and steer her out the door, carefully not meeting Hud’s eyes.
Which, for the record, Hud hated.
Bailey’s mom tugged herself free and shook her head again. “No. I’m not staying.”
Bailey sighed. “Mom—”
“I can’t,” her mother said, voice quavering. She took a step back, eyes shimmering. “I don’t even recognize you,” she said, and then she was gone.
Bailey started to go after her, but Hud caught her and held on when she tried to break free. He bent a little to look into her eyes.
Yep. Filled with humiliation.
Dammit all to hell.
He easily switched his anger from Penny to Bailey’s mother. But much as he’d like to, he couldn’t strangle the woman. She was Bailey’s mother. “Hey,” he said softly, holding her gaze and wishing she’d let him console her, wishing she’d acknowledge that what they’d just shared was worth fighting for. “That was pretty rough. Take a minute.”
She turned her head away from him so he couldn’t see but it didn’t matter. The stricken look in her eyes was now burned in his brain.
“I have to go after her,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I don’t want her on the curvy roads upset.”
And he didn’t want Bailey upset at all, but this wasn’t Christmas and wishes didn’t come true. “Bailey. Bay, look at me a minute.”
She turned back to him, eyes downcast. He waited and she finally lifted them up to his.
“Don’t let her cheapen what just happened,” he said quietly.
“You can’t cheapen a one-time thing,” she said just as quietly.
“This has never been a one-time thing.”
She shook her head, pulled free, and walked away.
Chapter 21
Bailey followed her mom to the parking lot. “Mom,” she said. “Please don’t leave like this.”
Still wearing the scrubs from her nursing job at Denver Urgent Care, Terri Moore turned back to Bailey, her eyes shimmering. “What was going on up in that office with that man, Bailey?”
“Mom, I love you, you know I do, but that’s none of your business.”
Her mom crossed her arms and i
nhaled sharply—a sure sign of defense that meant she knew Bailey was right but she wasn’t ready to give up the point. “I wanted you to end up with Aaron,” she said.
“I know you did.”
“He’s so perfect for you, and I thought after you had some time you’d see that and go back to him.”
“Mom.” Bailey reached for her mom’s hands and held them in her own. “I do love Aaron.”
“Well you sure have a funny way of showing that.”
“I love Aaron,” Bailey repeated. “But I’m not in love with Aaron.”
Her mom stilled and then sighed. “Oh, Bailey. He’s always been there for you, always. You’re going to break his heart.”
“We’ve talked,” Bailey said. “We’re okay. And if we’re okay, I need you to be okay. I need you to be happy for me.”
“But you’re alone!”
Bailey let out a breath. Her dad hadn’t exactly been a model husband. Her mother had never forgiven the male race. But for some reason, she’d loved Aaron since day one. “Being alone doesn’t scare me,” Bailey said.
“Well it should!” Her mother looked horrified. “I understand feminism and I can appreciate the sentiment, but that won’t keep you warm in the stormy times.” Her mom’s voice wavered. “And there are stormy times, Bailey. There are always stormy times.”
“Mom.” Bailey stepped in closer and pulled her into a hug. “That’s just life. There’s good and there’s bad. My happiness and safety won’t come from having a man. It comes from me.”
Her mom sniffed and pulled back just enough to meet Bailey’s eyes. She cupped her daughter’s face and sighed. “When did you get so wise?”
“I had a really great mom.”
Her mom’s eyes softened. “As long as you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“And happy.”
“I’m happy,” Bailey said. “I’m so very happy, Mom.”
“Because of that man I saw you with?”
“Because I’m free,” Bailey said. “I get to wake up each day and know I’ve got a bunch more days in front of me now. I get to do the things I’ve always wanted to do, like—”
“Sleep with strangers?”
“Like paint a mural,” Bailey said firmly. “And if a hot stranger comes into my life, I can stop to smell the roses. So to speak.”
Her mother blinked. “Does he have a name?”
“He tried to introduce himself to you. Hudson Kincaid.”
Her mom covered her cheeks with her hands. “I was rude to him.”
“Yes, very. You can make it up to him next time you see him by being nice,” Bailey said.
“There’s going to be a next time?” her mom asked, sounding worried again.
Bailey sighed.
“Right. Minding my own business.” She nodded and then shook her head. “I don’t think I will be very good at that, Bailey.”
“For me, you’re going to try.”
Her mom nodded and then her eyes filled again.
“Mom,” Bailey said, pained.
“Did you hear back from the doctor?” her mom asked. “Is that what this is all about?”
“No,” Bailey said. “You know I’d have told you immediately if I’d heard anything. Results won’t be in until Monday or Tuesday, but I’m still clear. I know it.”
Her mom studied her face for a long beat. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Bailey said with a smile. “The doctor said I looked good, remember? She even threw out the R word.” Remission. Not cancer free, that would take longer, maybe even five years longer, but Bailey knew it would come. “These are just tests that I do every three months to make sure,” she said. “You know all this.”
“Yes, I just like to hear it.”
A few flakes began to drift down, reminding Bailey a storm was moving in and they were on borrowed time. “I’ll follow you down the mountain, okay? We need to stay ahead of the storm.”
“I’d like that.” A look of guilt flashed across her mom’s face. “But it means you have to leave a day early.”
Bailey nodded. “I know. It’s okay.”
“The mural is beautiful.” Her mom reached for her hand. “So beautiful it stopped me in my tracks. I’m so proud of you, Bailey. I hope you know that. And how very much I love you.”
Her throat went a little tight and she squeezed her mom’s hand. “I do know it. And I love you too.”
Her mom gave a little smile. “Once we’re out of the storm’s reach, let’s stop and have breakfast for dinner at IHOP, like the old days.”
The old days. When Bailey had been dying. They’d go and have her treatments and then stop at IHOP on the way home, where Bailey would always order the same thing every time. Strawberry pancakes.
She didn’t ever want to see another strawberry pancake again. But she smiled. “Sounds great, Mom.”
After Bailey left, Hud got two consecutive calls, both involving injuries that required his immediate and full attention.
And he’d given it.
But in between, whenever he had even two seconds to breathe, his mind replayed Bailey on her knees in his office, her mouth—
“Hud.”
He was running a training exercise in the dark, stormy evening. Evacuating lifts—never easy in the best of conditions, which these weren’t.
“What are you smiling at?” Gray asked. “I said your name like ten times to get your attention.”
Hud gestured for Mitch to take over the training exercise and moved aside with his brother. “What are you doing up here?”
“Needed to have a meeting with you,” Gray said.
“About?”
“About that smile you’re wearing, seeing as it’s been awhile since anyone saw that look on your face.”
Hud looked around and was relieved to find no one paying them any attention. “Are you kidding me? This is what you interrupted a training session for?”
“I never kid about meetings,” Gray said. He pulled out two bags of M&M’s from his pocket and handed one over to Hud. “So… the smile. ’Splain, Lucy.”
He shook his head. “I’m not smiling.”
“Mitch,” Gray called out.
Mitch turned their way. “Yeah?”
“What’s on Hud’s face?”
“Uh… a smile?” Mitch guessed.
“Bingo.” Gray beamed at Hud like, See?
Hud shook his head. “This meeting isn’t all that much fun.”
“It’s a lot of fun to me.” Gray tossed an M&M up in the air and caught it in his mouth.
“So smiling’s against the rules now?” Hud asked.
“Man, you’re not just smiling. You look completely wasted.”
“Maybe I had a really great lunch.”
“You locked yourself in your office for lunch.”
Hud lifted a shoulder.
Gray stared at him for another beat and then sighed. “I wouldn’t mind a lunch like that.”
“Exactly what do you think I had for lunch?” Hud asked.
“Bailey.”
Hud, who’d just tossed an unfortunate M&M into his mouth,