“The Thorn Birds? Sounds familiar, but I don’t think I’ve ever read it.”

“Oh, you should. It’s actually one of my favorites, too.”

“So is what’s-her-name falling for it?”

“Amalia…and I think she is. He’s started to go on the nights she closes the library, and she lets him walk her home.”

Hudson shook his head. “How old is this diary? Sounds like a lot of work. Guess they didn’t have Tinder yet?”

I laughed. “Well, I suppose it’s much easier to swipe left, or right—whichever it is. But that’s probably why the people you meet that way aren’t usually the love of your life.”

“What ever happened with his other plan—to make her jealous by bringing some young girl around?”

“Thankfully, he decided to go the mature route and show her he’s dedicated instead.”

A cell phone started to buzz. I turned mine over thinking it was me, but it wasn’t. “Is that your phone buzzing?”

“Shit.” He dug into his pocket. “I didn’t even notice.” Reading the name on the screen, Hudson’s brows dipped. He looked at his watch. “It’s my ex-wife. I should answer it. She never calls this late.”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

He swiped and brought the phone to his ear. “What’s up?”

I heard a woman’s voice, but couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“Where’s Mark?” Hudson asked after a moment.

Pause.

“Shit. Okay. Yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He swiped the phone off and immediately raised his hand to call the waitress. “I’m sorry. I need to go.”

“Is everything okay with Charlie?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Lexi’s sister started having contractions, and apparently her husband is in California for business. Lexi wants to go to the hospital with her, and she needs me to meet her there to pick up Charlie.”

“Oh, how exciting. I bet Charlie can’t wait to meet little Homeslice.”

Hudson chuckled. “She’s going to be begging me to stay at the hospital all night.”

The waitress came over, and he handed her his credit card.

“Wait.” I reached for my purse and took out my wallet. “Let me, please.”

He shook his head and waved off the waitress, who didn’t even wait for me to argue.

“You bought dinner the other night,” I protested. “I wanted to pay for this one.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you pay when you ask me out.”

“But what if I never ask you out? That wouldn’t be fair.”

“Just another reason you should ask. Though, it’s not at the top of the list of reasons.”

“No?”

The waitress came back with his credit card and a receipt for him to sign. Hudson peeled a generous tip from his billfold and stuck it inside the leather check folio.

He tossed the pen on the table. “You ready?”

“Yes, but I’m also waiting to hear what is at the top of your list of reasons I should ask you out.”

Hudson stood and held out a hand to help me up. I took it, but after I was on my feet, he didn’t let go. Instead, he pulled me flush against him and lowered his lips to my ear.

“I’d much rather show you than tell you. Take a chance, Stella.”

CHAPTER 19

Stella

Hudson wasn’t in the office the next two days.

Olivia told me his ex-wife’s sister had given birth yesterday afternoon after a pretty long labor, so I figured he wasn’t around because of that. Today I’d checked in with his assistant because I wanted to run the terms of an order by him, but she’d said he’d be offsite all day at a company they were invested in.

As much as I hated to admit it, I missed him when he wasn’t in the office. I looked forward to seeing him, and it wasn’t just because he was intelligent and a good sounding board for my business. So it was probably just as well that we had a little separation. I needed to get my growing feelings for him under control. Our relationship hadn’t changed—we were business partners. Though I was having to work harder and harder to remember why that’s all we could ever be.

“Hey, good news.” Olivia walked into my office. “I was able to get Phoenix Mets to shoot the images we need for the last of the marketing pieces.”

“Oh, that’s amazing!” I smiled, but then couldn’t help myself and laughed. “I’m sorry. I have no idea who Phoenix Mets is.”

Olivia smiled. “He’s a celebrity photographer. He did that picture of Anna Mills pregnant that was on the cover of Vogue.”

“Oh. Wow. That was a beautiful photo.”

“He’s going to make you look even better.”

“Me?” My nose wrinkled.

“Yup. After watching you kill it on the Home Shopping Channel, I made some tweaks to the proposed ads.” She opened a folder and set some sketches on my desk. “I had Darby mock these up, but I don’t think we should use a model.”

I picked up the papers. It was a rough drawing, but the woman in the ad looked a lot like the person I’d seen in the mirror this morning. “You want me to be in the ads?”

She nodded. “You’re the face of Signature Scent. People respond to you.”

“But I’m awkward in photos. I’ve never done a professional shoot or anything.”

Olivia shrugged. “You’d never been on TV before either and look how great that went.”

“I don’t know…”

“This campaign is about beauty and science, and who better to sell that than you?”

I kept staring down at the ads. The woman sketched to be me had on thick glasses and had her hair up. She sat in front of a lab table with all kinds of beakers and science equipment scattered about. Yet her leg was sticking out from behind the table, and she wore a red-bottomed shoe. It was definitely an ad I’d stop and look at—but then again, I’m a science geek.

“How about this…” Olivia said. “We’ll shoot what we’d originally planned and these. You can make the final call.” She pointed to the mocked-up ad. “But I’m telling you, this could be something amazing.”

I couldn’t say no after she offered that. Olivia had been wonderful, and I knew she must believe in her idea or she wouldn’t be pushing it. She had nothing but the best intentions for making Signature Scent a success.

So I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. I’ll give it a shot.”

Olivia clapped her hands. “Great. The shoot is the day after tomorrow—Friday morning.”

“Just let me know what I need to do to get ready. Do you want me to bring some clothes?” The photo had a white button-up blouse and what looked like a black pencil skirt. “I definitely have a white shirt and dark skirt.”

“Nope. We’re all set.” Olivia smiled apprehensively. “I already ordered everything we need. The clothes, the science-y looking props, even the shoes. I wasn’t sure of your size, so I ordered a few of everything.”