Slow Heat

“What kind of trouble?”

“You know,” she said softly. “Like another woman.”

Aw. Look at her fishing. Equal parts heat, amusement, and affection went through him. “If the triplets call, tell them I’m busy this weekend.”

She choked out a laugh. “Will do.” She paused again. “But are you? Busy this weekend?”

He smiled. “You coming up?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Then yeah, I’m busy.”

There was a beat of silence at that. She didn’t know how to take him. Which made them perfectly even because he had no idea how to take her either.

“What if an important text comes through?” she asked.

“Would it be from you?”

She laughed. “Why would I send you a text when I’m holding your phone?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But you should feel free to take lots of pics of yourself with my camera.”

“I’m going to hang up now,” she said.

“Or videos—” He grinned when she disconnected him. He tossed Mitch’s phone back.

“Nice to see you smiling,” Mitch said. “More trips to your office with the hottie artist for you.”

Chapter 22

On Monday, Bailey worked with one eye on her phone, waiting to hear back from the doctor about her checkup.

She heard nothing.

She finally quit work a little early to package up Hud’s phone and get it to the post office for overnight delivery. She was just setting it into the box when it buzzed an incoming text from “Mom.” The first few lines of the text showed up on the screen and read:

Need to talk to you. Call me? I think Jacob’s got a problem and only you can—

That was it. That was all she could see in the preview. To access the text would require her to swipe her finger across the screen, which was much more of an invasion of his privacy than taking a quick peek at his screen as texts came in. She closed her eyes, feeling torn between guilt for seeing it in the first place and worry.

Worry won.

She called the resort and asked for Hudson. She was sent to his voice mail. The sound of his voice telling her to leave a message sent a low-level sense of anticipation humming through her.

Okay, a high level.

The highest.

She looked at the time. Three o’clock. If she left right now she could get to Cedar Ridge just as dark hit. The weather was clear at the moment, but if the roads iced up later she’d have to spend the night. This should’ve deterred her in a big way. She had work to do here and she needed the money.

She got into her car anyway.

She got to the resort at five thirty. The lot was nearly empty. The sun had dropped behind the mountains, leaving the kind of dark that a city girl had a hard time getting used to. Up here there were no streetlights, no traffic sounds, no billboards.

The resort offices had a deserted feel. A young woman had a cleaning cart and was working on the floors. “It’s a weekday,” she said to Bailey’s inquiry. “Resort closed at four thirty.”

“Is Hudson still here by any chance?”

The woman looked at a wall that was almost entirely covered by a huge dry-erase board. It had a long list of people on the left. To the right you could see if a person was on duty and where they were located on the mountain. Hud was listed third after Gray and Aidan, and, no surprise, he was on duty. But his location box was empty.

“He’s probably somewhere around here,” the woman said. “He’s in charge of a lot and is always on the move.”

Gray came out from an office and went brows up at the sight of Bailey.

“I came to bring Hudson his phone,” she explained.

He blinked. “You have his phone?”

“Yes, it was an accident. He gave me his sweatshirt on Saturday and his phone was in the pocket…” She trailed off at the look on Gray’s face. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Can I see it?”

She handed the phone over and Gray slid his thumb across the screen.

“You think something’s wrong?” she asked him.

Gray didn’t answer but worked his thumbs furiously for a moment, then handed her the phone.

She stared at him. “You don’t want to give it to him?”

He grinned. “Hell no, I don’t want the evidence anywhere near me.”

“What?”

He just patted her on the arm. “You can leave the phone on his desk. Or if you want to deliver it in person, he’s visiting his mom tonight.”

She bit her lip.

“Ah. You’re as chickenshit about this stuff as he is, huh?” He shook his head. “I’m disappointed.”

She had no idea what that meant, but she headed toward the door.

“You two are perfect for each other,” he said to her back. “Both stubborn as hell. You need to figure out how to portray that on the mural. Maybe label beneath his picture: ‘Mr. Obstinate’ or something.”

She laughed and turned back. “And what would be your label?”

“Mr. Hot-ass Troublemaker.” This from Penny, who came in from outside. She pushed back her hood and met Gray’s eyes.

Gray immediately dropped his amusement and strode straight for his wife, pulling her into his arms hard.

“I’m all wet,” she murmured.

“Just the way I like you.” His voice was low and soft with affection and a lot more. “Missed you today, babe.”

Their embrace was incredibly intimate, and feeling like she was intruding on a private moment, Bailey let herself out into the night.

She drove into town and a few minutes later knocked on Carrie’s door.

“Two birthday visitors in one night!” Carrie said, happy.

“Birthday?” Bailey asked.

“It’s my birthday,” Carrie said, and beamed.

The first time Bailey had been here, all those weeks ago now, Carrie had told Bailey that her birthday had been just the week before. But not wanting to upset Carrie, she just smiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring you anything. But I will next time.”

“I love presents,” Carrie said. “And cupcakes. Hud’s here too. He’s chatting with the gals in the front office. Said he had some paperwork.”

Paperwork could mean anything, but not for the first time it occurred to Bailey that Carrie’s stay here had to be expensive for Hud and Jacob, very expensive.

“It’s a Monday,” Carrie said. “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you, but what are you doing here tonight?”

Not wanting to admit that she’d accidentally read her private text to her son, she smiled. “Just wanted to check in on things. How are you?”

“I’ve got one of my boys here tonight,” Carrie said simply, “so I couldn’t be better. Now you.”

“I’m good.”

Carrie smiled. “Because you’re here visiting my boy?”

Bailey laughed. “Are you matchmaking?”

“If you have to ask, I’m not doing it right,” Carrie said. Her smile turned sly. “Just seems like there’s a little something there, don’t you think?”

Bailey had been thinking of nothing but that very fact. Whether she admitted it out loud or not, there was more than a “little something there” between her and Hud. And it only strengthened with time. She could close her eyes and see his slow, lazy smile, hear his sexy voice… feel him buried inside her.