Georgia-Blue & Hudson (Stoney Creek #5)

Chapter 12

12

Hudson

Two weeks later

“Can we just get there already?” I lug the last of her luggage into my truck ready to drive us to the airport.

Beau, Gayle and Bob are out front as I’m re-organizing my boot and trying to fit Georgia’s array of crap in.

GB ended up booking the flights herself, only putting the accommodation on my card, which was not what I fucking told her to do and I’ll be reimbursing her for the flights as soon as she gives me her account details.

“I should have warned you,” Gayle smiles warm-heartedly, watching me put the last bag in the back before I close up the trunk. She’s so much like Georgia, with long dark hair and those piercing blue eyes. She’s a tiny southern-belle, too, and is a real momly-mom which again, makes me think about my own mom. That dream I had weighs in on me at the most inopportune time but I try to not let it show.

“Some warning would have been good,” I muse.

Bob pats me on the shoulder. “Good luck to you, son.”

“Yeah, something tells me I’m gonna need it.”

“Hey!” Georgia pouts, just a few feet away, as she stops to give Autumn’s cat, Bruiser, a little scratch behind the ears. He’s not really a people’s cat but seems to have gotten used to her since living in close quarters. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Umm, because it’s true,” Beau chortles, giving me a wink. He knows his twin better than anyone.

“Listen to the man,” I add. “Beau knows best.”

“You should all be saying good luck to me for putting up with Hudson Nash all weekend!”

There’s my full name again. I resist the urge to facepalm myself.

“No one would ever say that, George.” Beau chuckles.

I give him a high five as Georgia scowls. “And aren’t you going for five days?”

I raise a brow as I recall how she persuaded me into staying on a few extra days because she hasn’t had a vacation in two years.

“We are if we ever get there,” I mutter.

Georgia kisses her parents goodbye and punches Beau on the arm, probably for siding with me. Autumn comes out of the main house to wave us off, and gives Georgia a hug.

Georgia doesn’t let that one die down as we finally get on the road and they’ve waved us off. “I don’t see what I’ve done for everyone to keep wishing you luck for spending the weekend with me,” she goes on, because apparently, she can’t let it go.

“You can be a handful, Princess . Haven’t you heard?”

“No, I haven’t heard. And I don’t see how,” she humphs.

I chuckle lightly under my breath. “Probably because you’re the major meddler in the family and always getting up in people’s business.”

“Meddler!” she all but shrieks. “And whose business am I getting in?”

“You are well known for having your two cents worth in everything.”

“Ha!” she chortles. “If it weren’t for me, Gabe and Skye wouldn’t have probably even crossed paths. I gave him her number when I heard she was in town and he needed a new nanny. I also knew for sure Gray was going to find the love of his life as soon as he got back to Stoney, that was before he even met Hart.”

“I suppose you also knew Brook and Eden were going to get back together?” I quirk an eyebrow. I’m well aware of the woo-woo stuff she has going on and that she has those weird tarot cards and loves crystals, yoga and meditation.

“It’s funny you should mention it! I always knew Brook and Eden were a sure thing before they even did, and don’t even get me started on all the encouragement I gaveBeau and Autumn getting together, once I sensed the vibe between them.”

“See, all that there could be seen as meddling in people's lives, or thinking you know everything,” I mutter the last part.

“Or helping them get together when they might not necessarily take the plunge. I wouldn’t call that meddling. And I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have a sixth sense for things. An insight, if you will.”

“An insight?” I balk. “What kind of sixth sense insight do you have?”

“Intuition.” She taps her nose like she holds the world's biggest secret. Sometimes she’s so fucking adorable.

It takes all the strength in my face not to show any of what I’m feeling.

“Oh, I know you don’t believe in anything other than what you can see in front of your face, Huds, but there’s more out there than meets the eye.”

“Fate and all that?” I say, and I’ve no idea why that shoots out of my mouth.

Even Georgia seems surprised as I feel her look at me. “Yes. Among other things.”

“So you believe in all that gobbley gook?”

“You can mock me, but some things are just written in the stars. Even Gabriel will attest to that, he knows all about when stars align and how the planets can affect people's moods.”

I sigh. “There’s no mocking about it. You can believe whatever you want to, I’m not stopping you. But if we’re going to spend the whole weekend together plus the extra days you booked, then we better lay down some ground rules.”

She sits back in her seat, seemingly undeterred by that statement as she pulls her sunglasses over her eyes. “Do your worst.”

I glance at her. “Fine. No weird woo-woo shit around me, alright? That means that smudging thing you always try to do on me and those cards that don’t mean shit.”

“Woo woo? God, you sound like one of my brothers. And what’s wrong with a little sage smudging? Remember how I said you sometimes don’t give off the best vibes, Huds? Well, it helps clear stagnant energy.”

“Well, keep your smudging to yourself—” I pause. “You saying I have bad vibes again?”

She laughs, not looking at me. “I didn’t say bad vibes. Yours are just a little different at times.”

“Well, whatever, but I don’t need sageing, okay?”

“Fine, no cleansing all your stagnant energy and blockers potentially holding you back from everything. What else?”

I glance at her. She still looks ahead out of the window, oblivious to her own rantings. And I don’t bite on any more of that. She can think what she likes, my vibe is just fine by me.

“If I’m to keep my promise to your brother, then no flirting with other guys.” That one isn’t even a question or a request, it’s a fucking given. It’s not happening.

She pulls her shades down her nose to look at me. “That’s the first ground rule? How interesting.”

I know she’s trying to get a rise out of me, so again, I don’t bite. “It will make my job a lot easier, believe me.”

“I didn’t realize it was such a chore being with me for a few days. Good to know.”

I glance at her. “Might I remind you, I’m supposed to be your plus one, so guys like Ronnie Templehead think you’re taken.”

“Templeton,” she corrects me again. I try not to fucking smile at the way she does that. I know damned well the guy's name. “You and whose army are gonna stop me from flirting?”

“Georgia, so help me God.”

She pushes her shades back up. She folds her arms across her chest and sits back in her seat. Pleased with herself, no doubt. “No flirting. Got it. People can still get to second base without flirting anyway.”

“I mean it, GB!” I try not to spit the words out but she is really testing my patience. I don’t relish the thought of roughing some guy up at my friend’s wedding because he looked at Georgia-Blue the wrong way. I don’t want to be known as that guy.

“Oooh. Tough words. Anything else?”

I sigh. Exasperated before this trip has even begun. We’re not even at the fucking airport! “Yes, don’t drink too much.”

She laughs haughtily. “You really do think you’re my keeper now, don’t you?”

“Hey, we all know what you get like after more than two glasses of wine.”

“I’ve no idea what you mean. What do I supposedly get like?”

“You tend to let your inhibitions fall by the wayside and let whatever you’re thinking fly out of your mouth.”

She makes a cackling sound in her throat. “Wrong again. I had more than that the last time at Moose’s and you didn’t see me losing my inhibitions then.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is so, Inspector Gadget.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “So all that hip gyrating, ass shaking and running your hands down your body whilst staring at me was just all normal for you, huh?”

She swallows and isn’t so quick to challenge me on that. “If you think I was staring at you, you’re deluded. It’s called dancing, wise guy. You should try it. In fact, that’s a good idea this weekend.”

“Er, no. There will be no dancing from me.”

She laughs again. “It’s a wedding, we have to dance! And if you don’t dance with me, I’ll find someone who will.”

“Whatever,” I huff, having no intention to do any such thing, but I may as well placate her for now. “But you know you have to let a guy lead, right?”

“Of course I know that.”

“Also, the time before Moose’s at Gray’s house, you had a few wines then and we all know how that night panned out.”

“I love how you act like that never happened when I’ve said time and time again that you kissed me back. Maybe you were the one who’d had too many drinks!”

“I would never do that and drive you home!” I fire back. “And that night neither of us were thinking straight.”

“One day you’ll admit you liked it. I’m not a betting kind of girl, but let’s see if you’ll still be saying that by the end of these five days.”

I sigh, completely exasperated. This is going to take all my energy and patience getting through this car ride, much less anything else. “I’ll be admitting no such thing, trust me on that.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “Any other stupid rules?”

“That’s all I have for now. I’ll let you know if there’s anything else.”

She glances at me; I feel those all too observant eyes scanning me over under those shades. I’d love to know where she’s looking, though I bet she’s probably just scowling at me laying down the law. Lord knows, she will test me at every turn and not listen one iota to my requests. It’s all for both of our safety. It’s not that I don’t trust myself around her anymore, but I was way too tempted that night in my truck and I can’t let it happen again. The repercussions of Georgia and I finishing off what we started, more than outweighs me letting my guard down like I did that night.

I know I need to keep things above board, even if my body, as well as my mind, is screaming at me to pick things up where we left off. It was screaming the night we kissed, and every night since. The only thing I’ve given into so far is my palm and there’s no way she’s going to know about that.

Things could never work between us. She’s too damned opinionated about every single thing, and I’m just set in my ways, a bit like an old dog. There are no new tricks to be had here. I am who I am.

It hit me hard with Everly when we broke up because I was at the point where I could almost see myself mapping out my life with her and settling down and having kids. That was until she dropped the bombshell she wasn’t ready to settle down, even though she told me she was when we got together. Where was there to go from there?

It was right at the time everything started to fall apart. We broke up. Mom was getting sick and I had the worst day of my life on the rodeo when Bucko nearly maimed me. It still pains me to think about it all. A hat trick of events that I really had no control over. Maybe that’s why I reclused so much following my recovery. I shut the world out and didn’t want to know.

It was only the cotton farm and my folks that got me out of my slump and the dark place I was in, and for that I’ll always be grateful. Then, just as I started to get my shit back on track, Mom went downhill. When she passed away it was like everything in my world was ripped away with it. I was fucking mad at the world. Why did my mom have to go? She was the most loving, giving woman I’ve ever met in my life.

She never did anything bad and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She supported me in everything I wanted to do in life. And her absence around the farm is just so glaringly obvious it makes it all that more hard. But at the same time, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. All my childhood memories are here and I feel her presence on the farm more than anywhere else.

“Wanna know what my rules are?” she says out of nowhere, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Nope.”

She whacks me on the arm, her favorite pastime. “Huds, not fair!”

“Ow, will you stop hitting me whenever you feel like it?”

“If you have dumb rules, then I should be able to have some that at least make some sense.”

“Fine,” I huff. “What are all your sensible rules?”

She points a finger at me. “Rule one, don’t go hammering it home all weekend about me behaving when that’s all I ever do!”

I roll my eyes. “No problem.”

“Rule two, don’t you drink too much. I don’t want you drunk and disorderly when we’re hamming it up on the dance floor.”

That earns her a look of confusion as my forehead lifts. “Huh?”

She prattles on regardless. “And, please, for God’s sake, keep it in your pants for the weekend. I know there’s women out there that find you attractive for whatever reason, but remember our rooms are interconnecting.”

I raise an eyebrow at her, disregarding her insinuation that she doesn’t find me attractive. “You really think I’d hook up with someone when you’re my plus one?”

“You’re my plus one,” she corrects. “Do you agree to my rules?”

“Did you agree to any of mine?”

She sticks out her hand toward me, right across the middle of the console. I briefly look down at it as I turn off for the airport. “Let’s shake on it,” she says.

“Fine.” I shove my hand into hers and it dwarfs her tiny fingers like usual and we shake. What I’m not ready for is the buzz of electricity that shoots between us and the warmth of her touch. Does she feel it too?

I glance at her again to check. If my calculations are correct, she holds her hand there a little longer than necessary.

“Deal?” she inquires, as one eyebrow lifts higher than the frame of her sunglasses and she finally pulls her hand away from mine.

“Deal.” I know I have exactly two hours to figure out how I’m going to stick to any of this deal making when I can’t stop thinking about the fact we have five whole days together in the sun.

Lord help me now.