But before I could ask, he offered. “Norma manages the financial division of one of my companies.”
“Then you’re co-workers.” I wondered how she’d gotten such an elite position. Had she slept her way to the top? The familiarity she had with him was unnerving.
His mouth twitched, fighting a smile. “Why, Alayna, this shade of jealousy is becoming on you.”
I clenched my jaw. “That’s not a comforting response.”
“Not co-workers. Boss and employee.”
Though I appreciated that he’d taken my mood seriously, his answer irked me. Hudson was technically my boss, after all. “That’s a familiar scenario.”
He stopped suddenly and turned to face me full on, his eyes blazing with determined insistence. “I’ve never been your boss, Alayna. If anything, you’re the one who owns me.”
Well, wow.
Whatever Norma had with Hudson, she didn’t have what I had. The realization was moving.
Unable to maintain the intense eye contact, I turned my gaze to the Esplanade that I hadn’t quite taken in as of yet. The lush grassy spread was lined with large cherry trees, full and green.
Hudson followed my stare. “Have you seen pictures of the cherry blossoms when they’re in bloom?”
“No.” I’d seen pictures of the Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival and imagined the Esplanade must be nearly as beautiful.
“It’s breathtaking. All the trees filled with pink popcorn. The fragrance is absolutely incredible.” He swept his thumb across my cheek. “We’ll come here in the spring.”
“That sounds lovely.” I meant it. At the same time, my stomach twisted at both the prospect of still being with Hudson in the spring and the idea that I owned him. Both notions were so completely wonderful and also entirely too rushed. Could I maintain a relationship with him that long? Could I live up to the woman he obviously saw me as to him?
Rather than dwell on it, I refocused my mind on the bit of news that had set me searching for him in the first place. “Hey, I have something to tell you that you might be interested in.”
Placing his arm at the small of my back, Hudson directed me out of the Esplanade.
“It doesn’t have to be now,” I said, realizing his intention to take me up on my information at that very moment. “You can finish your mingling first.”
His mouth was hot at my ear. “The only mingling that interests me at the moment is the mingling of our genitalia.”
“You’re insatiable. You had me in the car.” But his suggestion caused my skin to tingle with want and anticipation.
“It wasn’t enough.” He pulled me off the path through a hole in the hedges—somewhere we certainly weren’t allowed to be—and pushed me up against a tall tree, his hip anchoring me in place. “I can never have enough of you.”
My breath caught in a moment of complete adoration for the man in front of me. This man who had worked through his own demons to let me in his life, had ignored every natural inclination to stay closed off and instead was trying his damndest to be with me in the way we both wanted.
I buried my gaze in his eyes. “I love you.”
He bent closer, his nose grazing the skin of my cheek. “Is that what you pulled me away to tell me? I’m not complaining if it is.”
I giggled. “You pulled me away, not the other way around, silly. And it’s not what I had to tell you. But I’m glad every time I get to say it.”
Hudson’s mouth curled into a slow smile, but movement on the path nearby caught my attention. I turned my head toward the small group walking up and spotted the salt-and-pepper man walking past. “Actually, you picked the perfect location. You see that man over there?”
Hudson followed my eyes. “The one in the tan?”
“The man next to him.” I gave him a minute to make sure he got a good look. “Do you know him?”
“Not that I recall. Should I?”
I shrugged. “Not necessarily. But I overheard him talking with another guy—” I swiveled my neck around, looking for the other man. “—that I can’t see right now. Anyway, not important. The salt-and-pepper man works for the company that purchased—wait for it—Plexis.”
Hudson relaxed his hold on me and studied the man one more time before he walked past. “How do you know this?”
“I heard him. When I was wandering earlier. He was boasting about how he was lucky to snatch such an amazing company from the likes of Hudson Pierce.”
Hudson’s posture stiffened. “Go on.”
I bit my lip. “You were right. They’re planning to dismantle the company.”