The Best-Kept Secret

“I’m sure you have business you need to attend to,” Rosie said, tucking her left arm closer to her chest. The less time Hudson spent with Casey the better.

“I don’t bite,” Hudson said, chuckling.

“I’m not going to find out,” Rosie retorted, leaning farther away from him as they turned the corner.

With a glance over his shoulder at Rosie, Casey asked, “Can we go? Plea-ea-ease.” He gave her a toothy grin. “We never get to drive anywhere.”

“There’s a video store a few blocks up,” Graham pointed out, inclining his gray head.

“That’s the one!” Casey bounced in his seat. “This is so cool. I wish we had a car like this.”

Hudson leaned across Rosie, brushing his shoulder against hers as he spoke to Casey. “You could have a car like this at your disposal every day.”

“That’s slick.” Rosie spoke through gritted teeth, trying to ignore how his eyes sparkled when they looked at her. “Now you’re bribing me?”

“It’s not a bribe.” Hudson smiled. “It’s a perk.”

They passed Chin-Chin’s and Rosie suppressed sounds of annoyance.

“I want the cartoon with the mermaid. The one you like.” Casey swung his feet, trying to reach the seat in front of him. “Mommy likes it because the mermaid falls in love. We don’t have a daddy.”

Rosie put a hand on one of Casey’s thin legs. “Settle down. You have to be on your best behavior in the store. No running, use your quiet voice and stay with me.”

Graham pulled into a small parking space in front of the video store. The rain was still coming down. And down. And down. Today wasn’t Rosie’s day for breaks.

“You can wait here,” Rosie said to Hudson, trying to make it sound more like a command than an option.

“And miss out on mermaids? Not a chance.” Hudson’s grin was unexpectedly mischievous.

That couldn’t be. Hudson was the somber, straight-laced, unlikable McCloud. And Rosie wanted him to stay that way.

CHAPTER FOUR

“CASEY MENTIONED you’re having pizza for dinner,” Hud said as they pulled up in front of Rosie’s apartment. “I like pizza.”

“Are you trying to come over for dinner? ’Cause my mom says you need to wait to be asked.” Clutching his movies, Casey’s eyes were uh-oh wide at Hud’s transgression. “Besides, those are work clothes. We don’t eat in work clothes.”

Strike one.

“How about if dinner is my treat? There. I asked you to dinner, not the other way around.” He turned, his face inches from Rosie’s and let his gaze drift to her lips. They were incredible, kissable lips. Surely, she knew that.

Without looking at him, Rosie ran her tongue across her bottom lip and shook her head.

Strike two.

Pointing at his mother with his thumb, Casey explained in a whisper, “That usually means no.”

Strike three.

Hud wasn’t much of a baseball fan, but he needed a second chance at bat. As soon as the car stopped, he leapt out and opened his umbrella, then bent over to help Rosie out, taking her petite hand in his. She lifted her head to look at him as they stood huddled together in the shelter of the umbrella, the rain a curtain around them. And there it was—the spark.

“We can’t leave things like this,” Hud blurted. He meant the endorsement of the party, of course.

There they stood, staring at each other as if they were lovers and this was the last time they’d see each other. Her riotous curls had become even wilder during the day and framed her face in a way that made her dark chocolate eyes seem huge. If he hadn’t been holding her hand between them, he might have reached up and brushed a curl off her cheek. All in the name of keeping her off balance, of course.

With a shriek of excitement, Casey hopped out and ran across the sidewalk into the apartment building foyer. He held the door open by leaning at a forty-five degree angle. “Mommy, come on.”

Rosie blinked and let go of Hud’s hand.

“He’s a great kid,” Hud said. He’d always heard moms were suckers for a compliment about their children.

“Nice try, but the answer is still no.” She started for the door, leaving him no choice but to follow with the umbrella.

Hud took over doorman duties from Casey. Rain bounced off the ground angrily. Barefoot, Rosie stood in the foyer clutching her bag containing his file and those shoes of hers she protected like the crown jewels. Casey bounded up the stairs while their gazes locked once more.

“We’ll meet again,” Hud promised.

“I think not.” Rosie turned and headed toward the stairs.

Turn around. If she looked once more, he had a chance. At what, he wasn’t sure.

Turn around.

Rosie hesitated on the fifth step, but she didn’t look back. And then she continued to climb. Hud let the door swing shut and retreated to the car.

“Where to?” Graham asked.

“Home.” To change. It was pizza night and, according to Hud’s source, nobody ate pizza with work clothes on.

LESS THAN AN HOUR LATER, Rosie pounded across her apartment’s hardwood floor in blue jeans and a T-shirt, mumbling, “That better not be Hudson McCloud.” She yanked open the door.

An umbrella with ducklings on it clattered to the parquet floor. Looking like a gypsy with her dark hair beneath a scarf, Selena held up hands splattered with neon blue paint, dropping a leash as she did so. “We come in peace.”

Something big, furry and four-legged bumped Rosie out of its way.

“Wet dog! Wet dog!” Selena ran inside the apartment after him, clumping across the floor in purple plastic rain-boots adorned with leaping frogs. “I’m sorry. I should have held on to the leash.”

Casey was giggling even though Axel had him pinned against the couch and was trying to eat what was left of his cookie. Rosie ran to get a towel. When she returned, Selena was still trying to control the overly friendly beast.

“Here.” Rosie tossed a towel over the dog’s back just as he started to shake the water out of his fur.

Chaos erupted and Rosie ran to get more towels amidst Selena’s apologies.

“Now that Drew is too old for anything that isn’t played with a ball, I brought over the finger-paint set that used to be his. It’s great for rainy days,” Selena explained. Rosie envied the way Selena handled everything with Drew confidently, as if he were her second, not her first and only, child. Selena coaxed Axel into laying down and began rubbing his belly. “I didn’t mean to unleash Axel on you, but he had to go out and I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

“No harm done.” Holding a towel, Rosie scanned the living room for more water to wipe up.

“Really? You looked like you were going to kill me when you opened the door.”