Fixed on You by Laurelin Paige Read Free Book Online

best
dumb-it-down-for-me-dude expression. Apparently, it worked.
    “Her parents have been friends
with mine for decades. They have a specific plan for their daughter’s life and
they do not accept her choice to not marry me. If she broke it off, they’d cut
her off emotionally and financially. That’s not something I wish for my friend.”
    His explanation prickled me. 
Were we living in the early twentieth century with arranged marriages and shit?
God, rich people lived such strange lives. I picked my words thoughtfully,
careful to not show the extent of my irritation. “Never mind that parents
shouldn’t be controlling their grown daughter, they don’t control you. Do they?”
    Hudson’s eyes blazed. “No. No one
controls me.”
    His emphatic response had my body
turned on. That command and authority, it was so… hot. I licked my lips,
and then delighted as he zeroed in on the action. I hadn’t imagined it. He was reacting to me. Maybe not as forcefully as I reacted to him, but the energy
between us was real.
    I crossed my legs attempting to
ease the need between them. “I’m missing something.”
    He nodded. “I suppose you are.”
He retrieved the Sancerre from in front of me and finished it off in one quick
swallow. Knowing we’d shared the glass sent another tingle to my lower regions.
    “Alayna, if there is anyone in
the world who has any power over me, it’s my mother. My mother knows that I am… incapable …of
love. She worries that I will…end up alone. A marriage with her best friend’s
daughter, at least, insures that won’t happen.” His words were measured and
even. And just like every time he spoke, he hypnotized me with his voice.
    “It would make my mother very
happy to see me marry Celia. If it comes to Celia losing her entire life, then
I’ll willingly enter into a loveless marriage. However, I’d hate to rob her
future of happiness she might find with someone else.”
    I shook my head, confused,
overwhelmed, dazzled. “Where would I come in?”
    He raised his brows. “Ah, see, if
Celia’s parents believed I was in love with another woman—”
    “They wouldn’t want her to marry
a man who was in love with someone else.”
    “Exactly. And my mother would be
so thrilled that I’d found someone I was happy with, she’d stop worrying about
my future.”
    The idea of betraying someone who
only wanted Hudson to be happy bothered me. But I was also extremely attracted
to the sweetness of this hard, virile man in front of me caring enough about
his mother and his friend to go to such extreme measures.
     I also saw enormous potential
for me to be made the enemy in the scenario. “So I’m supposed to be the floozy
you’re in love with.”
    His lips curved at the edges. “No
one would ever mistake you as a floozy, Alayna. Even when you dress like one.”
    That damn trouble outfit again. I
was burning it when I got home. Mention of it made me suddenly cold and
defensive. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back—away from Hudson
Pierce. “Why don’t you hire a real floozy to put on your charade?”
    He smirked. “My mother would
never believe I’d fall for a floozy. You, however, have particular qualities—qualities
that would make the story quite believable.”
    I didn’t want to play this game
anymore. My answer was no. But I couldn’t help myself from asking, “What sort
of qualities?”
    His eyes darkened, and I was
caught up in them. “You are exquisitely beautiful, Alayna, and also extremely
intelligent.”
    “Oh.” I dropped my hands to my
lap, stunned. It was a good thing the wine was gone. I’d have slammed it, and I
still had a shift to work.
    Hudson broke the intense eye
contact. “And you’re a brunette. All three make you ‘my type’ so to say.”
    The absence of his heated stare
was both chilling and releasing. I could think again, make coherent sentences.
But I also wanted it back with a fierceness I couldn’t explain.
    “I sense your