The Fixed Trilogy: Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You by Laurelin Paige Read Free Book Online

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 hesitation, Alayna, and I understand. Perhaps this would be a good time to discuss payment.” I admired how he could move from moments of magnitude to straight business with such fluid ease. Me, I had whiplash.