Page 61 of When the Time Is Right
My fingers did eventually make their way under her dress. It was at that point that I realized what a horrible fucking idea taking her on a date over an hour away from home had been.
We quickly made the decision to skip out on the second film to get back as quickly as possible. She made up some weak, stammered excuse about being out too late and having to work the next day. But we both knew good and damn well there wasn’t going to be much sleep had that night.
The ride back was painful, mainly because Lex took great pleasure in tracing the outline of my cock over my jeans, which left me hard for the majority of the trip. She dilly-dallied getting out of the car to tease me, so I ended up throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her inside myself. We didn’t make it all the way to my bedroom before she was naked and I was inside her.
Eventually, we got to my bed though, and as she snuggled into my chest, half asleep, all kinds of sweet and sated, she kissed my bare chest, mumbling, “I had fun tonight. Thank you, Hud.”
I gave her a tight squeeze and smiled into the darkness. For fear of spooking her, I waited long after her body had sagged and her breathing had evened out before I replied, “Love you, Kid.”Monday at work, I could hardly concentrate. So, when Maggie called to check in and see if things were moving smoothly while she and Shane were at home with their new baby boy, I suppose I sort of forgot I was on the phone with her, having a work conversation, until she shouted, “Earth to Alexis!”
“Oh my God. I’m sorry.” I shook my head to scatter the memories of the past few days. Well, the past few nights, if I was being honest.
“Are you okay?” Maggie asked sincerely. “You sound distracted.”
“Um, maybe because I am.” I smiled, and since we were friends first and coworkers second, and I was dying to tell someone, anyone—well, not Cal or Vanessa, ew—and I couldn’t really swoon to Lauren about her baby daddy, not that I ever would… That only left Hudson, and his heads—plural—were big enough already.
Maggie must have sensed that my tone had nothing to do with work. “Alexis Lawson, you ho. Did you sleep with the FedEx guy?”
“What? Hell no.” Actually, since the night I’d set Hud up with Sandy and her fetus, I hadn’t even given a second thought to the deliveryman. My full and undivided attention had been on my best friend.
“Then who? Did you meet someone? You have that I’ve got a dirty secret sound. So spill. I need some gossip, please.”
“I haven’t met anyone new, per se.”
“Shut the front door! Are you finally sleeping with Hudson?” Her voice rose two octaves, and then she shouted, “Shane, get your old, wrinkled ass in here! I knew something big like this would happen while I was on maternity leave. Damn it.”
“Shut up. You have a beautiful baby—”
“Yeah. Yeah. Baby’s so cute. Yeah. Yeah. How was it?”
I chuckled. “Wait. What do you mean by finally?”
There was a pause, and then she said much calmer. “Oh, I don’t know. When we worked at O’Malley’s Pub and Grill I thought maybe you two would end up together. It was always so sweet when he’d sit in the parking lot to make sure you got in your car after we closed.”
I’d forgotten all about that.
“And when we moved back, I was really happy to see that you two were still close, but I could never get up the nerve to ask why you weren’t together together, even if he was all you talked about. I didn’t want to be that friend.”
“Oh.” I was taken aback. How had she known there was something there before I had?
“So, good, huh?” She giggled. “Do you think he’s serious?”
“Hudson? He’s always serious. And yes, it was so damn good.” I lowered my voice so no one else in the office could hear. “So good that I wonder if maybe he’s not just using his construction company as a front for being a world-renowned gigolo.”
Suddenly, Shane piped up. “Did you think I was as good as a gigolo our first time?”
She answered her husband in a tone I’d heard her use many times with him: equal parts loving sincerity and bullshit. “Honey, you know how much I love you, but I had to damn near sky-write Kiss Me over the Golden Gate Bridge to even get you to touch me on our first date. A gigolo you were not, Shane.”
“Oh, whatever, Peach. I’m going to go play with Greyson. At least he still thinks I’m a badass.”
Maggie and I both laughed. Shane was definitely nothing like Hudson. They were complete opposites.
