Small Town Girl (3 page)

Hudson’s breath tasted like cinnamon, and
I could smell some sort of musky cologne permeating off his warm skin. I’d
never smelled anything like it before, and it was a big departure from the
laughably outdated Cool Water Luke insisted on wearing every single day.

I attempted to relax my body as our
mouths moved in tandem. At first I was afraid to touch him, as if he was some
high prized, top shelf merchandise that I wasn’t allowed to touch, but soon I
threw caution to the wind. I slipped my arms underneath his and leaned my body
into his.

His mouth began working its way lower, to
my neck, and his five o’clock shadow tickled against my soft skin, driving
small prickles and goose bumps from my flesh.

I tossed my head back, my long, dark hair
spilling down my back, and he slipped his hands underneath my top. His soft
hands worked their way underneath my bra and within seconds he was working it
off. He pulled my top off me and leaned down to place one pert nipple in his
hot mouth, gently sucking and caressing it until I could barely feel anything
anymore.

As he toyed and teased, a rush of warmth came
over me and the room began to spin. Was this really happening? Was I really
about to give myself to this famous person like some groupie? I was sure he’d
been with a million women. I’d only ever loved one man before. And I was still
technically in love with that man.

I tried to shut off my thoughts, but they
kept coming, one after another. Soon the moment was becoming more and more
ruined, at least for me. Hudson was in the throes of passion while I was trying
to convince myself I could continue to go through with this.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he stopped
and sat up. “I feel like you’re not into this anymore.”

He had to have been some sort of mind
reader.

“I don’t know,” I sighed as I sat up. I
reached over and grabbed my shirt to cover my heaving, naked breasts.

“I won’t do anything unless you want me
to,” he said as he placed both palms in the air in front of me. “Trust me.”

The look on his face was sheer panic. I
could only imagine the sexual assault headlines that flashed through his mind.

“No, no,” I said. “It’s not that.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, perplexed.

“I want to be with you,” I insisted.
“But, I want it to mean something. It would mean something to me, but I know it
wouldn’t mean anything to you.”

Hudson let out the biggest exasperated sigh
I’d ever heard and sunk back into the sofa cushions. He turned his head back
towards
me,
his dark eyes were still intense and still
wanting. I wanted to sleep with him so badly, but my head and my heart just
weren’t in agreement.

“I’ve never just randomly hooked up with
someone. I’m not that kind of girl,” I said as I clutched my knees into my
chest, suddenly feeling extra vulnerable. “And you’ve probably been with
millions of women.”

“Hey, now,” he said, pursing his lips.
I’d realized I’d offended him.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That came out
wrong.”

“The number of women I’ve been with, I
can count on both hands,” he said matter-of-factly. “Honest.”

I twisted my brows as I peered back at
him. “I don’t believe you. You don’t even know
me and you
were ready to jump my bones. How can I believe that you haven’t done that with
a bunch other women?”

“I can give you a few different reasons,”
he said. “But if you’ve already got your mind made up and you already think you
know me so well, I won’t waste your time with them.”

I wanted to hear his reasons, but he had
a point. I probably wouldn’t believe any of them.

“Here you go,” he said as he handed me my
bra from the floor.

“Oh,” I said as I slowly grabbed it. It
didn’t take long for me to realize he was telling me to leave.

I turned my back towards him as I
redressed. Mortified, I just wanted to click my heels and be back home in the
comforts of my apartment. I wanted to pretend like none of that ever happened.
I’d taken my one shot with Hudson Smith and ruined it.

I pulled my top over my head and spun
back around to face him.

“It was really nice meeting you,” I said.
I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eyes, so I stared at his full, pouty
lips instead. “I’m sorry about this.”

My feet couldn’t carry me out of there
fast enough. I didn’t wait for him to reply, I just left. I grabbed my bag off
the bed and ran out of the room. I hit the elevator button and rode down,
running out of the lobby like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight.

As soon as the fresh, night air hit my
face, relief came swiftly. I checked the time on my phone. It was only eleven.
Luke and Piper were probably still at the bar, so I walked the two blocks down
the highway back towards The Manhattan. Every time a car whirred past me, I
remembered how just earlier that night, Hudson had shielded me from the
oncoming traffic. He didn’t even know me, yet he protected me.

Once I returned to the Manhattan, I saw
that the movie crew was gone. I glanced around the room searching for Luke and
Piper and felt a wave of relief when I saw they were still there.

“Hey,” I said as I walked up to the
table.

Luke turned around and looked me up and
down, as if I’d done something despicable. He was pissed. Jealous perhaps.
Something. I’d never seen that look on his face before. I was secretly pleased
and a little scared at the same time.

“Oh, my God,” Piper said as she ran to my
side and clutched my arm. “Tell me everything.”

I looked over at Luke who glanced away.

“Nothing happened,” I said. “For the record.”

Luke turned back towards me, his face
softening a bit.

“You weren’t gone very long,” Piper said.

“He just wanted to talk,” I said. “He
said it was too loud here.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “He was totally
trying to get into your pants, Brynn.”

“I didn’t let him,” I snipped. “He said
he had to get up early tomorrow for his call time or something so I didn’t stay
long.”

I didn’t like lying to them, but I wanted
to give Luke a little bit of peace of mind about the whole thing. I felt like
I’d done the right thing by stopping, and I didn’t deserve to get punished for
it. Luke didn’t need to know the details.

“I have to get up early tomorrow too,”
Luke said. “Should probably head out.”

“You’re still taking me home, right?” I
asked Luke. He was still in a mood, and sometimes his behavior was a little
erratic, but this was a side of him I’d never seen before.

“Yep,” he replied. He was definitely
pissed.

“Are you okay to drive?” I asked him.

“Yep,” he replied.

I looked over at Piper. “Is he okay to
drive?”

She nodded.

I followed Luke out to his beat up, red,
rusty pickup truck as he kicked the gravel under his boots. Sometimes being
around him was like walking on eggshells, but I was used to it. I was sure
there were quirks of mine that drove him up the wall, but we spent a lot of
time together. It came with the territory, and we were used to it.

I climbed in and buckled up, observing
his every move from the corner of my eye as he started up the truck. It rumbled
loudly and he peeled out of the parking lot without any sort of warning as
gravel chips pinged the underbelly.

“Hey,” I said as I reached over and
braced myself on his arm. “Slow down.”

He said nothing.

“Luke, what is your problem?” I said.
“You’re acting weird.”

“I’m fine,” he said. His jaw was clenched
tight. I didn’t believe him.

“Nothing happened,” I said as I folded my
arms across my chest.

“Okay, Brynn,” he said, eyes focused
ahead. He didn’t believe me.

“I don’t know why you care all of a
sudden,” I said. I knew I was opening up a can of worms, but that’s exactly
what I wanted to do.

“I care,” he said. “I care because you’re
better than that.”

He pulled up to my apartment building
where he slammed his truck into park and then turned towards me, waiting for me
to exit.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said. I
thought about leaning over to hug him goodnight and to remind him that I was
still
me
, but I suddenly remembered that I’d just been
kissing Hudson Smith. If he smelled a hint of Hudson he’d never believe me that
nothing happened.

I stood outside of his truck, watching as
he pulled out and drove down the street, his red taillights growing smaller in
the distance until they were eventually out of sight. I pulled my keys from my
bag and headed inside my building, climbing the two flights of stairs to my apartment
on the third floor.

 
My place was quiet and still and
peaceful, just the way I liked it. I kicked off my heels and shuffled my feet
across the soft carpet and towards my room. I peeled off my jeans and top and
slipped into some silky pajama shorts and a plain, white tank top. In the
bathroom, I washed all the makeup off my face. Under the garish fluorescent
lighting, I looked shockingly exhausted. I’d kept meaning to get those lights
switched out to something a little more flattering, but trying to get my
landlord to do anything was like pulling teeth. The lights weren’t broken, so
he didn’t have any reason to spend a single dime to change them. It was a lost
cause.

I shuffled back to my room where I
climbed under the covers and replayed the nights’ events in my head. I squeezed
my eyes tight and remembered what it felt like to lock eyes with Hudson Smith.
I parted my lips and tried to remember what it was like to kiss him. I wondered
what it would’ve felt like to go all the way with him, but I knew I’d never
know.

The images flashing before me of the
beautiful Hudson Smith were soon replaced with images of Luke’s angry face. Was
he really just disappointed in me? In what he thought I did? Or was it
something else? I knew Luke better than anyone else, but when it came to our
friendship and the way he felt about me, he was always a closed book. It drove
me wild.

Soon my eyes grew heavy, and my fluffy
feather pillow and downy duvet swallowed me whole as I felt into a deep
slumber.

***

I picked up an extra shift at the Brown
Bag Diner Monday evening as a favor to one of my co-workers. Sundays and
Mondays were usually my day off, but I didn’t have much going on that week and
the extra cash was always nice.

We weren’t too busy that night, probably
thanks to our boring spaghetti special, and I spent most of the night in the
back helping with dishes or chatting up the cooks. I’d worked at that diner
since high school and those people had become like a second family to me.

“Brynn,” Sarah, another waitress, called
out. “There’s a guy out here requesting your table.”

I glanced up at the clock. It was 8:30pm.

“Doesn’t he know we close in a half
hour?” I whined. I hated when we had those last minute patrons. They always
seemed to take their time ordering and they always ate a little slower. They
never seemed to care that we were all tired and wanted to go home. “Guess I’m
going to be here late tonight.”

I straightened my ponytail and retied my
sagging apron around my waist before heading out to the dining room.

“Table ten,” Sarah called out.

I didn’t take but four or five steps when
I realized
who
it was. I stopped dead in my tracks as
we locked eyes from across the room.

What was he doing here? I wondered.

I headed over to his table. “Hi, Hudson.”

I tried not to act surprised or excited
or anything else for that matter.

“I hope it’s okay that I came here,” he
said, his eyes never leaving mine. “We just wrapped up filming for the day, and
I’m starving.”

“It’s totally fine,” I said. Of course it
was fine. It was Hudson Smith, not some Joe Schmoe off the street. “What are
you hungry for?”

“What do you recommend?” he asked.

“We’re known for our burgers,” I said.
“One hundred percent grass fed, organic Iowa cattle sourced from local farms.”

“That sounds good,” he said. “I’ll take a
cheeseburger and a side salad with ranch.”

“Look at you,” I teased. “You already
sound like a local.”

He cracked a smile and the intensity in
his eyes lightened up.

“Let me go put that order in real quick,
then I’ll be back to take your drink order,” I said.

I nearly ran back to the kitchen and
flagged down the cook who was already cleaning up his station.

“I need you to make one cheeseburger,” I
yelled. “It’s for Hudson Smith.”

Marty, our
cook,
shrugged and then waddled over to the refrigerator to grab a beef patty as I
quickly threw together a side salad and poured some ranch into a small cup.

“Here you go,” I said as I returned to
Hudson’s table with his salad. “What did you want to drink? Sorry, this is all
backwards.”

He laughed. “No worries. Iced tea is
fine.”

I probably seemed so nervous and
scatterbrained, but I ran off to get him some iced tea. I threw in an
ice cold
spoon and brought him a few packets of sugar just
in case.

“Here you go,” I said.

“Thank you, Brynn,” he replied slowly as
he looked up at me and took a sip of his tea. The way he said my name made me
weak in the knees once again.

“Let me know if you need anything else,
okay?” I replied as I turned to walk away.

“Brynn?” he called out. I stopped dead in
my tracks.

“Yes?”

“Want to sit with me for a bit?” he
asked.

“Oh,” I said. Hell yes I wanted to sit
with him. “I’m not allowed…”

I looked up at the clock and it was now a
quarter until nine. The boss lady was at home, probably snoring away in her
warm bed, and it wasn’t like Sarah or Marty were going to tell on me if I did.

“I guess I can sit with you for a little
bit,” I said.

A smile spread over his full lips as I
scooted into the booth and sat right across from him.

“How was filming today?” I asked him.

“Long day,” he replied between bites of
ranch-drenched lettuce. “Glad to be done. How was work?”

“Same,” I said. “My feet are killing me.”

I heard the ding of the bell, which meant
his food, was up.

“Your burger’s done,” I said as I sprung
to my feet to retrieve it. I presented the piping hot plate in front of him as
drips of grease from the meat and cheese fell off the sandwich.

“Looks great,” he said. “I’m starving.”

“Can I get you anything else?” I asked as
I lingered for a bit.

“I think I’m good,” he said as he shoved
a big bite into his beautiful mouth. He chewed for a bit before adding, “Do you
want to hang out tonight? When you’re off work?”

“Oh,” I replied, not expecting him to ask
that. I thought about how Luke still hadn’t talked to me since Friday night. He
had a tendency to ignore me when he got into one of his moods. I was pretty
sure he still didn’t believe me that nothing happened with Hudson, but if
rumors swirled that I’d hung out with Hudson again, it would definitely not
help my cause.

“Production for tomorrow was halted,” he
added. “Something about permits and your mayor or something. I don’t know.
Anyway, I may not have to work tomorrow, so I was thinking we could hang out
tonight. I don’t know anyone else around here. Don’t really feel like drinking
at the bar with the crew.”

I looked out the window and noticed the
sun had long gone down. It was dark out. The chances of anyone seeing us
together were slim to none.

A smile spread across my lips. I couldn’t
fight my excitement any longer.

“Sure,” I said. “As soon as you’re done
eating, I’ll give you a tour of Rock River. How’s that sound?”

He gave me
a thumbs
up as he shoved another big bite of burger into his mouth, grease trickling
down the sides. He was probably the only man on the face of the earth who made
eating a burger look sexy. Four more bites and he was finished.

“Oh, man,” he said as he shoved the plate
clear across the table. “You weren’t kidding. That’s a great burger.”

I picked up the plate and ran it back to
the dish room.

“Can we go now, Brynn?” Sarah asked as
she turned from her conversation with Marty.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I waved at both
of them. “Get out of here.”

It was just a little past nine, so
fortunately no one had to stay too much longer, but I still felt bad. Hudson
had come to see me, and it was my fault they had to stay late. Sarah and Marty
couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough, and soon Hudson and I had the
entire diner to ourselves.

As I ran his credit card and closed out
the cash register, he came sauntering up to the counter. He rested his head on
his hands and watched me work.

“Why are you watching me?” I asked with a
nervous laugh.

He shrugged and said nothing as he
continued to stare.

“Okay, done,” I announced as the register
dinged, and I locked the drawer. I flew out from around the counter, flipped
the sign to “closed” and locked the front door. “Ready?”