I never would’ve guessed.

I smiled up at Hudson. He contemplated me suspiciously.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I shrugged. “You’re holding my hand.”

“Should I not be?”

“No, I love it. I just wouldn’t have taken you for a hand holder.”

Hudson shook his head. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment, or I should be insulted.”

We’d been walking along Hollywood Boulevard for the last half hour, reading the names of the stars on the street. So far today, we’d gone to Muscle Beach in Venice (I thought it would be fancier; the weights were actually all rusty.), the Hollywood sign (He tricked me into hiking…yuck.), and the Santa Monica Pier (Note to self—macho men would rather ride a rickety Ferris wheel than admit to being a little afraid of heights. Hudson’s olive skin turns a lovely shade of green.).

“It’s just a coupley thing to do.”

“So?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Is that what we are?”

Hudson abruptly stopped walking. “Seriously?”

“What? I didn’t want to assume just because of last night.”

Hudson frowned. “Well, let me clear that up for you. We are.”

I couldn’t hide the smile that grew on my face. “Okay…boyfriend.”

He shook his head and started walking again.

After another hour and a dozen or more blocks of walking, we went into the Roosevelt Hotel to a fancy-looking place that served burgers and the best truffle fries for dinner.

“What’s your favorite food?” I waved a fry at him.

“Easy. Macaroni and cheese.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Charlie and I have tried…I think we’re up to forty-two different boxed kinds.”

I laughed. “I had no idea there were forty-two different types of boxed mac and cheese.”

“We make one most weekends she spends with me. We ran through the ones in the supermarket, so now I buy them online. She keeps a chart with our ratings.”

“That’s so funny.”

Hudson sipped his beer. “What about you?”

“These truffle fries are a close second. But I’d have to say tortellini carbonara—the kind with peas and little pieces of prosciutto in it.”

“You make it yourself?”

I frowned. “No, my mom used to make it for me. She actually also made an amazing baked mac and cheese. I don’t have either of the recipes.”

Looking down, I swirled the fry in the ketchup. It made me sad to think how long it had been since I’d spoken to my mom.

Hudson must have noticed I’d gone quiet.

“You mentioned you don’t talk to your dad,” he said. “Are you and your mom not close?”

I sighed. “We haven’t spoken in more than a year. We used to be really close.”

Hudson was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

He nodded.

I attempted to go back to eating and not ruin the day. I hated thinking about what had happened, much less talking about it. But now that the topic had come up, I knew I shouldn’t let the opportunity pass entirely. Telling Hudson at least some of what happened between Aiden and me and my family might help him understand my trust issues a little more.

So I took a deep breath. “I told you my ex cheated on me, but I didn’t mention that my parents also betrayed me.”

Hudson set down his burger and gave me his full attention. “Okay…”

I looked down. “They knew about Aiden’s affair.”

“And they didn’t tell you?”

I looked down, feeling embarrassed. “No, they didn’t say a word. It was a mess.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell the rest of the sordid story.

Hudson shook his head. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Honestly, in hindsight, it wasn’t Aiden who was so hard to get over. It was that I also lost my family at the same time.” I frowned. “I miss talking to my mom.”

Hudson dragged a hand through his hair. “Do you think you can forgive her and move past it at some point?”

For the last year, I hadn’t thought that would ever be possible. I’d been so bitter and sad about everything that, on some level, I might’ve held my parents as accountable as I did Aiden. Maybe it took me being happy for the first time in a long time, but today I didn’t feel so bitter, and I wasn’t sure I should hold a grudge against my family forever.

I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can forget. But maybe I could try to forgive. Would you be able to pretend it never happened if you were in my situation?”

“I’ve never been in a similar predicament to say for sure, but as someone who’s lost both parents, I wouldn’t want to have regrets when they were gone. I don’t think forgiving your parents means you’re excusing their behavior. I think forgiveness is more about not letting it destroy your heart anymore.”

I felt his words in my heart. “Wow. Where did you come from, Hudson Rothschild? That was deep and mature. The men I usually seem to attract are shallow and immature.”

He smirked. “I seem to remember you found me at a wedding you crashed.”

“Oh yeah…I guess I did. Well, at least one of us is mature.”

For the next few hours, we enjoyed the Malibu sunset, good food and wine, and each other’s company. Now that I’d given in to my feelings, it felt like someone had put Miracle-Gro on them instead of just nourishing them with water. My heart was so full and content. And that feeling stayed with me throughout the night and all the way back to my hotel suite.

I laid on the bed, watching Hudson undress and admiring the view. When he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on a nearby chair, I wasn’t sure where to look first—at his sculpted pecs, eight-pack abs, or the deep-set V that made my mouth water. Hudson unbuckled his belt and took down his zipper, causing my eyes to feast upon yet another of my favorite parts of his body—his sexy happy trail. There was so much to enjoy about this man, I thought maybe he should just stand there for a while, fully naked.

He bent to step out of his pants, and I caught a glimpse of the ink that ran up the side of his torso. I’d seen it last night, but at the time, we’d been too busy ravishing each other for me to ask about it.

I lifted my chin, pointing at the tattoo. “Is that someone’s heartbeat?”

Hudson nodded. He twisted his body and lifted his arm to give me a better view. “My father had a great sense of humor and a very distinct laugh. It was a real belly laugh—sounded like it came from somewhere deep within him. Anyone who knew him recognized it, and it always made people around him smile—even strangers. He was in the hospital for the last week of his life. One day, I was visiting while he was getting a bedside EKG. He told some corny joke and started to laugh. The joke wasn’t even that funny, but the sound of his laughter made all three of us—the technician, my dad, and me—crack up. For some reason, we just couldn’t stop laughing. She had to redo the EKG because the reading had all these big spikes on it. The electrodes had picked up my dad’s heart laughing. I asked the nurse if I could have the printout she was going to toss away, and I got this a few days after he died.”

“That’s so incredibly sweet.”

Hudson smiled sadly. “He was a really good man.”

“So where’s your scar?”

“Scar?”

“Last week, I said I’d never dated anyone with a tattoo or scar, and you said you had both.”

“Ah.” He twisted his body the other direction and lifted his arm to reveal a jagged, three-inch line. “I have a few, but this one is probably the worst.”

“How did you get it?”

“Fraternity party. Drinking, a slip and slide, and a stick hidden under the tarp.”

“Ouch.”

“Not my finest moment. It wasn’t that big at first. Jack helped me bandage it up, and then it split open wider when I continued to dive on the slip and slide.”

“Why didn’t you stop after you got cut?”

He shrugged. “We had a bet.”

I shook my head. “Did you win, at least?”

Hudson’s smile was adorable. “I did.”

He finished getting undressed, and I continued to admire his amazing physique.

Catching me staring yet again, Hudson squinted. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

I spoke to his body, unwilling to lift my eyes quite yet. “I wasted months going to bed alone when I could have been spending my time touching that. How would you feel about standing there for a while so I can take a good, long look? Maybe two or three hours? That should do.”

He chuckled and finished taking off his pants before climbing onto the bed and hovering over me. Lifting my finger to his lips, I traced the outline. Hudson caught my hand and raised it for a soft kiss.

“Why did you reject me for so long? And don’t insult me by saying it’s because I’m an investor in your business. We both know that’s a load of crap.”

“You only asked me out once.”

Hudson made a face that said you know you’re full of shit. “Semantics. You knew I was interested from day one. I left the ball in your court, but I still let you know I was interested often enough.”

I sighed. “I know. I guess…I was just scared.”