I glanced across the aisle and noticed a familiar tabloid headline on a magazine cover someone was reading.
One Wilde Night: Gemma’s Bodyguard Puts Pop Star In Her Place!
Poor Saint. He’d really fucked things up for himself this time. Maybe I should have found him a four-leaf clover on my last trip to Ireland. Sounded like he could use it right about now. I shook my head before leaning it back against the silky red hair on my shoulder and nuzzling my favorite Irishman.
“We’re gonna plant sheep, right?” Charlie murmured, snuggling closer to me. “Good, ’cause I think he’s gonna be a keen one.”
“Who’s gonna be a keen one?” I asked, knowing full well he meant the puppy.
“Lucky.”
I smile and lay back, thinking of the little metal ring I had in a small box in my bag. The one-year anniversary of when we met was coming up, and I was ready.
My luck had finally changed for the better.
Keep turning the page for deleted scenes!
Deleted Scene - Best Western
Charlie
We left the following day after work and drove south to a little town called Junction. The swankiest hotel in the entire town was a Best Western, which Hudson promised me would be an experience. I tried to explain that I’d once stayed in a guesthouse named the Spread Eagle. If I could spend the night at the Spread, I could survive a couple of nights at Junction’s fanciest motel.
The older lady behind the desk was not impressed with my homosexual ways.
“Two rooms you say?” she asked, eyeing me as if I was on the verge of stealing the silver.
Fairly sure there was no silver.
“No, just one room. King bed please,” Hudson said as if he’d been fucking other blokes his whole life. Did the man not have a survivalist bone in his body?
“You sure you don’t want queens?” she sniffed, hitting the word queens like she’d accidentally seen Priscilla once on the telly and it had ruined her life and the lives of everyone in Texas.
“Honey, if you saw this man naked,” I drawled, “you’d know he meant king.”
I felt Hudson stiffen beside me before his head swiveled toward me in slow motion. “You did not.”
“I did. Now grab the feckin’ key and let’s go.”
Deleted Scene - Love Posse
Wilde Family
Overheard at the Wilde ranch in Hobie, Texas:
In which Hudson’s siblings and grandfathers talk about the poor man behind his back.
“Hudson needs a love posse,” West said, looking around at all of the other Wildes assembled in the family room attached to Doc and Grandpa’s kitchen. “He hasn’t been himself since the split with Darci, and I’m starting to freak out.”
Hallie took a sip of her cocktail and sniffed. “You know he’s not coming tonight, right? He got called away on business.”
Winnie grabbed the glass out of her twin’s hand and took a large swig before speaking. “To Ireland. That fucking piece of shit boss of his sent him away.”
West whipped his head around. “Darci’s dad? Why?”
Winnie nodded. “Yeah. Apparently Bruce is testing him. Said if Hudson can successfully navigate their acquisition of some beer company in Ireland, he’ll make VP.”
“Finally,” Hallie muttered.
“Never gonna happen,” Saint interjected. “That guy’s an ass.”
“No he isn’t,” said Doc. “He’s simply upset about his daughter’s broken heart.”
“Fuck,” Otto said, leaning forward to rub Walker’s shoulders where the sexy sheriff sat against Otto’s legs in front of the sofa. Walker groaned in appreciation. “Does Hudson realize what a mistake he made going to work for his girlfriend’s dad?”
“He does now,” Hallie said. “But you know Hudson. His main goal in life is to be the perfect worker and make everyone around him happy. He’ll still do his best to impress Bruce.”
“Quintessential over-achiever,” West added.
“Pot,” Nico coughed. “This is Kettle, you’re black.”
West pulled Nico into a headlock to knuckle the top of his head. “Not anymore, asshole. Now I’m penis-whipped and come home on time every day.”
West pulled out of his husband’s hold and pulled his head down for a kiss. “And Pippa and I love you for it.”
MJ had been sitting quietly, seemingly ignorant of the conversation around her, when she suddenly sat up and snapped her fingers. “I have an idea.”
Everyone stared at her.
“And?” Sassy prompted from her spot on the floor.
“We need to force him to take some time off.”
Otto chuckled. “Good luck with that, sister. Never gonna happen.”
MJ shook her head. “Hear me out. What if we somehow extend his stay without giving him any advanced notice? And then we pile on a bunch of ‘errands’ he needs to do for us while he’s over there. You know, shit that gets him out of the hotel room and out into the countryside. Something that makes him take a damned break for once and get some fresh air.”
Everyone seemed to take a minute to process what she said.