Slow Heat

“Let me guess,” Hud said. “You didn’t.”

“Nope. One night after he’d gone to bed, I stole his keys and took it for a joyride. It was snowing.”

Hud grimaced. Gray was notoriously, ridiculously attached to his vehicles. “You had a death wish?”

Aidan grinned. “Yeah, pretty much. The driveway out of the apartment complex we lived in—you remember it from when you came a few years later.”

“That driveway was a sheet of ice in the winter,” Hud said.

“Yep. I slid all the way down the thing and hit the mailboxes at the other end. Which of course saved my life because it meant I didn’t slide into the street and oncoming traffic.” Aidan let out a breath. “Which didn’t save me from Gray’s wrath, by the way.”

“A little pissed, was he?”

Aidan laughed. “Beyond pissed. I’d never seen him so furious before, or since, actually. Luckily, I had a concussion and had to go to the hospital. I fully expected to be arrested for grand theft auto when I was released, but instead Gray was waiting for me.” Aidan shook his head. “I saw him and thought, well, it was a good run, I’d managed to keep myself alive for fourteen years, and had a good time while I was at it.”

Hud laughed. “He kill you fast, or torturously slow?”

“I was just hoping for fast,” Aidan said. “But he shocked me. He hauled me in for a hard hug and said we were blood. He said that we’d never stop being blood and blood didn’t kill blood—much as it might want to. Gray also informed me that until further notice when he asked me to jump, I was only to ask how high.” Aidan shook his head. “I was his bitch for months.”

Hud laughed even as the humor was replaced by a hard knot of something in his chest. Grief. Regret. Frustration. “Jacob isn’t Gray.”

“No,” Aidan said. “But he is blood. You might have some hoops to jump, but nothing can change that one fact—blood is blood.”

Chapter 17

It was several hours later before Hud got any kind of break and headed back to the lodge, starving. He ran into Gray on the steps and they entered the cafeteria together.

At a corner table sat Penny, Lily, and… Bailey. The three of them were clearly enjoying a late lunch together, laughing over something.

Gray grinned. “I just found what I want for lunch.”

Hud rolled his eyes and followed Gray to the table.

“And then, hand to heaven,” Penny was saying, “I heard Hud say to Gray, ‘Touch that remote, even think about switching the channel from Say Yes to the Dress, and I promise to act appropriately grief stricken at your funeral.’”

Lily snorted tea out of her nose.

Bailey laughed so hard she slid out of her chair and hit the floor.

The story was complete bullshit with not a lick of truth to it.

Okay, fine, so maybe he’d watched the show one time, but only because Penny had been really sick with pneumonia and they’d all taken turns sitting with her—babysitting her. When it’d been Hud’s turn, she insisted on that show. And yeah, maybe they’d spent the entire afternoon critiquing the dresses and soaking up the family drama on-screen. Hud looked at Gray, who went palms up like, Hey, don’t look at me, I can’t control her.

Shaking his head, Hud walked over to Bailey and scooped her up, setting her back into her chair. He knew better than to ask her if she was okay. Besides, she was still laughing so hard he had to keep his hands on her shoulders to hold her into the chair so that she wouldn’t slide to the floor again.

She got herself together enough to say to him, “I like that show too.”

Christ. He slid Penny a you’re-going-to-die-slowly look, which she, predictably, ignored.

Lily was trying to clean herself up after snorting her tea. “Damn,” she said to Penny. “I know better than to drink when you’re telling a story.”

Penny innocently dabbed her mouth with a napkin, smiling up at her husband. “Hey there, big guy. Want to buy me dessert?”

Gray grinned at her. “I’ve already got your dessert, babe.”

She gave him a saucy look before reaching for her purse, stopping to glance at Lily. “You gotta go, too, right?”

“In a few,” Lily said, and then suddenly jumped with an “ow” and a dirty look in Penny’s direction.

“Thought you had to get back to work too,” Penny said meaningfully, jerking her head in Hud’s direction. Either she was having a seizure or she wanted them all to leave Bailey and Hud alone.

Subtle. Not. But Lily wasn’t getting it. “I’ve got another ten minutes—” She started, only to jump like she’d been kicked again. “Dammit, would you stop doing that—”

“You said you had an appointment,” Penny said slowly, once again going with the head jerk in Bailey’s direction.

“Oh!” Lily said, the lightbulb going off. She too grabbed her bag and stood. “Right. You’re so right. I’ve got an appointment.”

“Uh-huh,” Hud said, smelling a rat. A matchmaking rat named Penny. “And what’s this appointment for?”

“Dentist,” Lily said.

“Client,” Penny said at the same time.

The two of them looked at each other.

“I’ve got a salon client,” Lily corrected. “A cut and color—”

“She has a dentist appointment,” Penny said at the same time.

Disgusted, Hud looked at Gray.

Gray was hiding his smile behind his hand as he rubbed it over his mouth. He hauled his woman into his arms. “Dessert?” Gray was a one-track-mind sort of guy.

“Mm-hmm,” Penny said, and kissed him.

And then they were gone, heading straight for the staff entrance, which led to the offices.

Which meant that they’d be in Gray’s office with the door locked and no one would see either of them for at least an hour.

“I’m off too,” Lily said.

“To your dentist appointment,” Hud said with narrowed eyes.

“Um, yes. Right.”

Hud shook his head at her but she just smiled, went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, winked at Bailey, and then was gone too.

When Bailey stood, Hud grabbed her hand and reeled her in a little bit. “Where you going?”

“Back to work.”

“You really going to run off after they worked so hard to get us alone together?”

She met his gaze, studying him a moment. He studied her right back. Her knit cap was sunshine yellow today, suiting her rosy complexion, which was a lot less pale than it had been her first week up here. She’d gotten a little color from being outside on the weekends, giving her a healthy glow that made him happy to see.

She’d shed her jacket and was in just a stark white, long-sleeved V-neck T-shirt that fit her like a second skin and pretty much took his breath away. She also wore skinny-cut ski pants today that hung low on her hips and were tucked into boots that made her legs look a mile long.

She had a streak of pale blue paint on her yellow cap, some purple over her jaw, and forest green across one breast.

She’d never looked better to him. “Tell me about the fiancé,” he heard himself say.