Georgia-Blue & Hudson (Stoney Creek #5)

Chapter 1

1

Georgia

Hudson Nash has been the thorn in my side for as long as I’ve known him, and that’s pretty much my whole life.

I’m used to our back and forth banter by now, but he’s been busy on his family’s cotton farm with the upcoming harvest, and I haven’t seen him around the distillery as much in the past few weeks.

It’s not that I miss Hudson — far from it — but I’m used to hearing his snarky quips, and a part of me has grown to like it… not that I’d ever admit that to him.

Me and my new sister-in-law, Autumn, plan on heading over to the Nash farm today for work and my fingers are hovering over the text I’ve tried to send five times.

Me

Wake up sleepy Jean

Hudson’s an early riser but I still like to annoy him whenever I can.

When there’s no response, I send another:

You didn’t forget about me and Autumn coming over, did you?

Since Autumn came back from her honeymoon with my twin brother, Beau, she’s been asking me to go over to Hudson’s cotton farm so she can shoot some photos of the harvest. Updating her portfolio will give us botha perfect opportunity to check out some unique locations for photo spots. My bestie, Celeste, is marrying my cousin, Callan, soon and everyone is excited.

Since Autumn is the official photographer, she wants to see how the cotton fields are looking at this time of year. It’s all about the light apparently.

A message pings through just as I’m swiping some pink lip gloss on.

A little smile twitches when I see it’s Hudson. Finally. He’s not an avid texter, and sometimes it can take days to get a reply.

Huds

How could I forget about that, Blue Belle?

He’s been calling me that nickname since forever and a day. I don’t exactly know where it came from, but it stuck. He goes between Blue Belle , to Precious Princess , to just Blue . Beau decided to give me the name ‘Precious Princess’ as my discord username after hearing Hudson a million times, just to annoy me. Of course, I played dumb like it didn’t affect me. Reverse psychology and all of that.

My nickname in turn for him is GP, or Grumpy Pants as he’s well known. Mainly because he’s a broody, dark-horse cowboy that doesn’t seem to know how to have fun.

We jab each other all the time and I go out of my way to make sure I’m annoying the shit out of him whenever we cross paths. And he does the same to me. Why? Celeste says it’s because I’ve had a secret crush on him for years. Oh, and he’s cute, there’s no denying that. He’s also rugged, tall, dark and solidly built, or as I prefer to call it: a body built for sin.

So I admit that he’s attractive. It doesn’t mean anything. Even if he annoys me so much I want to scream, it’s not like I haven’t noticed his attributes over the years.

He’s tanned from working all weathers, has a short year-round beard and dark, mysterious eyes that penetrate your soul even when you’re not aware he’s in the room. It’s like you can sense his presence.

That’s Hudson. And he drives me crazy.

But attraction isn’t why we annoy each other. Oh no. It’s just something we do, like a rite of passage.

And maybe somewhere deep down inside, I do have a teeny, tiny crush on him because he’s someone I can never be with. But it’s all aesthetics, even I know that.

I’m a sucker for a pretty face.

Some say he’s a brooder from way back, and while he has always been kind of quiet, things changed a few years ago when his bull-fighting career came to an abrupt end.

He was in a serious relationship back then, with a woman I only know as Everly. She lived in Nashville, but that came to an end, too, and I’ve no idea why. He’s a closed book about everything, even if he has been besties with my eldest brother, Gray, for years.

Then Huds’ mom became seriously ill soon after his breakup, and she passed away two years ago.

It’s been rough on him, that’s for sure. But he shows nothing of that to the outside world. So much so, it often makes me wonder what’s going on inside his head.

Me

Ah, there you are, GP. Thought you might be catching up on your beauty sleep. Lord knows you need it.

Huds

I’m awake earlier than the crow flies, little princess

I smile to myself. Yeah, then there’s that nickname too. I’m definitely small compared to him and my four brothers, Gray, Gabe, Brook and Beau, but it’s not hard to be when they’re all six feet and over.

I’m five four. It’s not that short. I like to pretend my sass and spiritual know-how make up for the rest.

What I didn’t get in height, I sure make up for in other areas, like my personality.

Me

Are you sure about that?

Huds

Do you think the cotton harvests itself?

Me

Just don’t harvest it all until after the wedding please!

Huds

LOL. Yes ma’am

Me

Just sayin’ we want Callan this is a WORK chat for pete’s sake. P.S. count me, Skye and Trinity in for Friday

MomsTheWord

Grayson Robert Bassett, can you call me immediately!

I glance up to see Beau typing away with a grin on his face.

VirtualHero

Mom, you can call him you know. @GraysTheBoss count the Beauster and Autumn in

MomsTheWord

I’ve tried calling him, Beau. He’s not picking up!

PreciousPrincess

PICK UP THE PHONE GRAY!!

GraysTheBoss

Kinda busy at the moment. I thought I’d just leave that there for y’all to read later

Brookie

Busy doing what? ??

PreciousPrincess

EW

AutumnLeaf

Ooh, what did I miss?

Brookie

In short, we think Gray and Hart are planning to elope with their little bun in the oven. Either that or they’re getting a dog

GabrielBassett

Would a family dinner need to be called for the latter?

CecelovesCallan

I’m calling Hart immediately

PreciousPrincess

You beat me to it Cece!

CecelovesCallan

?? ?? ??

HudsonNash

GB, I thought you and Autumn were heading over to my place?

Shit.

PreciousPrincess

Miss me that bad?

HudsonNash

Just stating a fact. Am I invited, @GraysTheBoss?

GraysTheBoss

Always bro

PreciousPrincess

@HudsonNash I’m meeting @AutumnLeaf in the parking lot in five

AutumnLeaf

See you in 5 GB

GabrielBassett

You know y’all can text for most of this conversation ???♂?

I close the app before I see any more responses and glance up at Beau who’s reading through the chat with a chuckle.

“Whose idea was this work family chat thing, anyway?” he says.

“I have no idea. But I’m glad you and Aut had a great time. I missed you both.”

He ruffles my hair and I squeal. “Missed you too, little sis. You can fill me in on everything when you get back from Hudson’s.”

I flatten down my hair. “Not much to tell.” I grab my purse from under the counter and my sweater. “But we can meet up at the Stones Throw after we’ve been to Hudson’s? I’m giving Aut a ride.”

“Sounds good. What are you going to Huds’ for again?”

“Your lovely wife wants to check out some backdrops for Callan and Celeste’s photos and I’m assisting.”

A corner of Beau’s mouth pulls up. “Uh-huh.”

I blink a few times. “What do you mean, uh-huh? ”

“Any chance for you to go on over to Hudson’s place.” He nods slowly like he’s the cat that just got the cream, the slick smile adding to his innuendo.

“What are you talking about now?”

“I might be a clueless male, but I’m still your twin. You’ve had a thing for Huds for years, you just won’t admit it.”

I cackle and press my hand to my heart like it’s falling out of my chest. “You! Honestly, Beau. That’s a good one. I think all that sun has gone to your head. A thing for Huds? The only thing I have for him is a giant pain at the back of my skull with how annoying he is.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Blue Belle. ” He mimics Hudson's deep, gravely voice.

I roll my eyes. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“It is funny. You just don’t have a sense of humor when it’s about him.”

“Whatever.” I shake my head. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get going. I think I’ll grab my smudge stick before I go and sage out your office before you come up with any other crazy ideas about Hudson.”

“Mark my words. And don’t you touch my office with that weird smelling shit,” he calls. “It’ll smell for days!”

“Sage is therapeutic!” I holler behind me.

“Yeah, so is admitting your feelings!”

Well, he should know. He married his best friend in secret and kept it from the entire family.

I’m the intuitive one in the family, not Beau. He’s so damned aloof with his head in the clouds half the time that he wouldn’t know what was going on with me and Hudson, even if it hit him square in the face. So his theory is ridiculous.

I mean, there could be some truth in it, a miniscule amount, but there’s no way I’m going to admit that to anyone. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, but I’ve been trying to put it out of my mind.

Maybe Autumn is rubbing off on him and bringing out his soft side. Then again, Beau’s always been easy to talk to. I just don’t like where his suggestions are going.

I sigh and fish my car keys out of my purse as I make my way to the parking lot to meet Aut before I run into any other family members.

I take a breath when I jump into my SUV and start the engine. Running my hand over the heart shaped rose quartz around my neck to ground me, I breathe for a few seconds. People think I’m nuts, but breathing slowly and taking a beat can do wonders for your nerves. I do a quick check over my reflection in the mirror.

I can’t help but notice again the little quiver in my stomach resembling butterflies… Why is my heart jumping at the thought of seeing Hudson?

It must be all the love floating around the distillery lately with my brothers all finding their lady loves and Beau getting married. The idea may have subliminally rubbed off onto me. I’ve been single for so long now that I’ve put finding a guy on the back burner. I’m not on the lookout for anything new. I’ve been too busy to date anyway, with work being so hectic and the family schedule out of control.

I’ve always said the right guy will come along when the time is right.

I don’t need to run around like a crazy woman looking for it. Nor do I need to take advice from my loved-up gamer brother that ran off to marry Autumn the first time around without telling any of us. That’s a whole other story. But, at least we got to attend the second ceremony.

I glance in the rear-view mirror as Autumn makes her way across the lot, carrying her photography equipment.

I drop my rose quartz so it lands back on my skin and take another breath.

Hudson, here we come.