Promise Me (Asher Family #1)

Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

HUDSON

“You know, I think we should talk to your dad and brother before you start packing any more of your things to bring to our place.”

She grins. “I like it when you call it our place.”

Sadie goes back to pulling more clothes from her closet. We’re going on a hike today, but first we decided to stop and get more of her things from her dad’s house. Stopping before meant no one would be here, and Sadie liked that idea best. It meant fewer questions.

We haven't exactly figured out how to tell Linc about us. Her father, sure, he’ll be fine, but Linc is … more sensitive.

I’m pretty sure he’s going to slam his fist into my face, and Sadie is convinced he’s going to go on and on about how she shouldn’t be making these choices right now.

As adults, we both agreed that we should just get over it and tell him right away. As his sister and best friend, we want to wait and choose the right time.

We have dinner here tonight, so as of this moment, that’s the plan .

“What do you think of this dress?” she asks and holds it up to her body.

It’s a little black dress she wore last summer to one of the festival nights. It hits her about midthigh, and the fabric from just below her butt to her thighs is nothing but lace.

I noticed it on her last year and didn’t say a word. I just suffered in silence.

I grin. “The last time I saw you wear that, I wished that we were more than just enemies,” I admit.

She laughs. “Really? And you didn't say anything?”

“No. You spoke first and told me that I was serving stale beer, so naturally, I wasn't about to compliment how stunning you looked.”

“There you go again, showing me that you’ve been secretly pining over me for years.”

She walks to the suitcase laying open next to me on her bed, folds the dress, and sets it inside.

Before she can move back to the closet, I grab her hand and pull her back. She lands on me, so I roll us until she’s on her back. Then I kiss her.

Her hands wrap around my waist, sliding to my rear. She places one leg on each side of my hips and pushes her hands into my butt as I settle on top of her.

I’d only meant to kiss her, but the sparkle in her eyes tells me she has other plans.

And even though my mind is still blown from when she hit her knees this morning, and I will happily let her do anything to me she wants, we should stop.

“Sadie, baby, I cannot do this at your dad’s house.”

She pulls me back down and kisses me again.

“Yes, you can.”

“It’s wrong. This is his home. ”

“It was mine once, too, and I’ve never had a boy in here before. It would be a first for me.”

“Really?” This woman is too good for me. “You didn’t bring one boyfriend into this room until me?”

A sly grin touches her lips.

“Are you calling yourself my boyfriend?”

I don’t even hesitate. I will leave no question. We are exclusive.

“Yes.”

“Good,” she says and kisses me again.

As soon as she slips her tongue into my mouth and moans, my cock stirs to life between us. I grind into her to let her know exactly what she does to me. Not that it’s a surprise at this point. These past couple of weeks since we started this new side of us, anytime she’s around me, I’m ready. I can’t get enough of her.

I smooth my hand up her thigh, hooking her leg to my hip, and then slide my hand to the inside of her leg. I slip it inside the bottom of her shorts and find her soaking when I reach her panties.

“I love that you are just as ready for me as I am for you.”

She sits up a little and unbuttons my jeans.

“I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

Her hand dips into my boxers, and as soon as she grips me, I glide two fingers inside her.

She moans. “Take my shorts off.”

I do as I’m told, yanking her panties off with them. She’s wearing one of my shirts again, so when I flip us over to put her on top, her entire body is covered. I grab the bottom to peel off her shirt, but she pulls me out and places me at her entrance a lot faster.

“I don’t have a condom with me,” I tell her. We’ve been pretty reckless lately, and as much as I love her bare, we need to be more careful .

“It’s fine. I’ll hop off and finish you with my hand or my mouth,” she says. “I know how you like that.”

I don’t have time to reply with a fuck yes before she’s sinking onto me.

“Fuck, baby,” I groan and grip her hips.

“God, I love this feeling,” she says and drops her head back as she rides me. “Hudson, you are?—”

“What the fuck is going on!”

Sadie and I both freeze, snapping our attention to her doorway, which is now filled with her brother’s red face and clenched fists.

“Linc!” Sadie shrieks and collapses against me. I’m still inside her when she says, “Get out of my room!”

“This is fucked up!” he snaps back and slams the door. “Get out here. Right now! My eyes—fuck, I think I’m blind!”

“Shit,” she whispers, her forehead still resting against my chest. “How mad do you think he is?”

“Right fucking now!” Linc yells again.

“Pretty mad,” I reply.

“Yeah.”

“Babe?”

“Yes?”

“As much as I love being inside you, I’m going to need you to get off me while we go talk to your brother.”

She starts to laugh but gets up and finds her shorts.

“This isn’t funny,” I tell her.

“It’s a little funny. I mean, what are the odds?”

I can’t help but warm at the carefree look on her face.

I laugh too.

“You two better not be fucking laughing!” Linc yells through the door.

I roll my eyes, then zip my pants, leaving her to put herself together .

I open the door.

Linc’s face is even more red as he glares at me.

“Hey, man.” I lean against the closed door.

“Fuck. You—” he says and walks off down the hall. I’m hot on his heels as he steps out the front door.

“Linc, stop. Let’s talk about this.”

“My sister!” he yells.

“I know.”

“My sister!”

“Yes.”

Then he pauses, and I almost run into him.

“That’s my sister!”

Oh hell, we’ve broken him.

“I know she is, Linc, but she’s so much more than that to me.”

He continues to shake his head at me.

“I asked you to help her, Hudson. Keep her stress-free. Not … not …” His hand flies up to gesture at the house. “Not whatever the hell that was. Fuck!”

“I did help her, Linc. I helped her the best that I could, but you know what else happened? She helped me. She made me a better man in just weeks, Linc. How could I not fall for her?”

“You’ve known her for years, and now, now you two decide that you should be more. Five weeks ago, you two couldn’t even be in the same room. Hell, no one could be in the same room as you two, and now you’re ... fuck.”

“You need to calm down,” I say in a calmer tone.

I want to yell back, but I’m not.

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down, Hudson. This is not okay. She doesn’t remember your past! Not all of it. It's not fair to her that you’re tri?—”

“If the remainder of that sentence is you accusing me of tricking your sister, I will not feel even an ounce of guilt for punching you right now. I did not trick her. I tried to avoid this. I tried harder than you think, but she changed me. She fixed me. She fucking brought me back to life, Linc. How the hell was I not going to fall in love with someone who would do that for me?”

His head jerks back as if I did, in fact, punch him in the face.

“You love her?”

I don’t hesitate.

“Yes.”

“Like love, love her? Love her enough to spend the rest of your life with her, love?”

I nod and then I smile.

“If she lets me.”

He scowls at me for another couple of seconds, then his hands hit his hips, and he drops his chin to his chest.

“This is not how I expected my day to go.”

“Day?” I question with a laugh. “Try summer. If you would have asked me if I saw myself living to make that woman smile”—I point at his dad’s house—“I’d have laughed in your face.”

Finally, Linc chuckles. “It’s weird, but I should have seen it coming. I knew something was up at my dad’s that one day, but I trusted you two.”

“To be fair, nothing had happened at that point. Nothing happened until the day that?—”

“The fewer details, the better, man.”

“Noted.”

The door swings open, and Sadie comes running out.

“Linc, you better not be … you’re not fighting?”

She looks back and forth between us as if she’s unsure what to do next.

“No, we aren’t fighting.” I grab her hand.

Linc groans. “I might not want to kick you in the junk anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for all this. ”

His hand waves us up and down, and then he spins. “I need to get back to work.”

“Wait,” Sadie calls out. “Why are you here?”

“Shit. I came to get Dad’s portfolio. He forgot it.”

Linc turns back for the house as I pull Sadie into my arms.

“I can't believe that just happened. How did you calm him down so fast?”

“I just told him the truth.”

“And that is?”

“That I’ve never been happier in my entire life than when I’m with you.”

Sadie pushes to her toes and presses a kiss to my mouth. I slide my tongue past her lips, igniting the passion we’d had moments ago before we were interrupted.

“I said wait till I’m gone!” Linc yells as he walks past us with their father’s bag in his hand. “And you two are telling Dad tonight at dinner. Be here at six.”

“You got it,” I say and then kiss Sadie's forehead.

“And Sadie”—he stops to look at his sister—“by no means does this mean I’ll stop worrying about you.”

She rolls her eyes.

“I know.”

And then her brother is gone, and it’s just the two of us again.

She laughs. “Well, now that’s over, it looks like things are smooth sailing from here for us.”

She beams and then turns back to the house.

Yeah.

Smooth sailing.