“What made you decide to take on Wall Street?” she asked.

“I landed an internship and discovered it was a place where I excelled. Moving in on vulnerable companies, cultivating serious ins with private resources, leveraging billions of dollars or killing deals at the drop of a hat. . . after a while, it all became a game. A sport, really.

“Your very own version of Monopoly?”

He chuckled. “I suppose. And I liked the power and control that came with having money.” His arms tightened around her. “Although none of it could make up for what I’d lost.”

“You mean your mom?” she asked softly.

“And Nick.”

“Nick?”

Hudson nodded. “They took him away from me.”

What? Allie sat up. “Took him? Who took him?”

“The county.” His words were barely audible. “Not five minutes after telling us our mom was dead.”

Hudson closed his eyes and his brow creased as if he were in pain. He was quiet for several moments and she began to wonder if he would continue. But then his eyes opened and his body tensed. He turned his head to look at her and she saw unthinkable horror reflected in his eyes. Allie held her breath.

It was all coming back to him.

“When the doctor came out, he had the sheriff with him and some lady from DCFS. He told us he was sorry, that they’d done all they could.”

“Nick must have been so scared,” she said, her voice mirroring his.

“I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when he realized what was happening. He started screaming, begging me not to let them take him. Christ, I think the whole damn hospital heard him.”

Her heart clenched as she imagined a frightened young boy losing his mom and then being taken from his home. “Did they give you a reason?”

“They gave me a load of crap about how it was all in his best interest.” He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled a harsh breath. “Yeah, fucking best interest.”

“Next thing I knew the sheriff was trying to take Nick out to the car, but his hand locked down in a vise grip on my arm. The more the sheriff pulled, the harder Nicky held on. He kept screaming for me to do something but the sheriff was already unsnapping his cuffs like he was expecting trouble from me.” Hudson’s face grew pale, and when he spoke, the sound was more gravel than voice. “There wasn’t a damn thing I could do except pry his fingers off my arm.”

A log in the fireplace shifted and a spark popped. Tears burned Allie’s eyes as she watched Hudson stare blindly at the flames in front of him. His pain and anguish was palpable. In the end, he had been the one to tear his brother away. He had been the one to break his heart. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard that must have been for him.

Silence stretched between them. Once again Allie found herself wondering what had become of Hudson’s father. She’d asked about him when they were teens, but Hudson’s terse reply had made it clear his father wasn’t a subject he wished to discuss. And as much as she wanted him to open up to her, she refrained from asking. Instead she merely held his hand and waited, letting Hudson reveal what he wanted at his own pace.

Long moments passed before he cleared his throat and continued. “After that Nick was dumped into foster home after foster home. He’d call, beg me to come and get him, threaten to run away. I tried to get him released into my custody, but who would give a young kid to a fuckup?”

“You were just a kid yourself, Hudson.”

He gave her a sideways glance. “I should have had my shit together. My brother needed me, but I didn’t have the means to get him out of that defective system.” He sighed, and in a quiet voice added, “The way things played out that summer gave me a cold, hard look at my life. Everything I’ve done since then has been driven by my need to never feel that helpless again.”

Allie placed her hand on Hudson’s cheek, urging him to look at her. “What happened to Nick wasn’t your fault. It’s obvious how much you love your brother, Hudson, but there wasn’t a lot you could do back then. You’re trying to do right by him now; that’s all that matters.”

“You saw for yourself, he’s a train wreck. I’ve done nothing but fail him in every way.”

“You’ll get him the help he needs. Even if we have to camp out at his apartment, he’s going to rehab.”

He gave her a halfhearted smile and pressed a soft, quick kiss to her lips. “I appreciate that, but Nick’s my responsibility, not yours.”

In that moment Allie realized Hudson had always seen Nick not just as his responsibility, but also his failure. As she listened to his story, she couldn’t help but feel as though she shared part of the blame. If she hadn’t disappeared from Hudson’s life without so much as a good-bye, would she have been someone he could’ve turned to? A friend when he needed one the most? He’d had to face his battles alone then, but it didn’t have to be that way now.

“Hudson, you’ve taken on so much already. Let me help if I can. I just . . . ,” she choked back a sob. “I wish I could go back. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

His fingers touched her cheek. “No need to apologize, Allie. I’ve never regretted any of the time we spent together. Those days with you were the best of my life.” He cocked a slight grin. “You were the first woman I cared about and didn’t just want to take for a ride.”

Allie smiled and shook her head. Ever the bad boy. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about that last night on the boat a time or two over the past ten years. Or the night we rode that Ferris wheel about a dozen times.” She snuggled against the warmth of his chest. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I was that summer.”

“And this?” His hand stroked up and down her back. “This feels good, doesn’t it?”

Allie tensed, knowing he was asking so much more than a simple question, and Hudson stilled.

“Don’t answer that,” he said, sliding out from behind her. He stood and jogged up the stairs. When he returned he had something in his hand and that shy smile on his lips.

“I believe this is yours.” He held out his hand and a delicate string of shells dangled from his fingertip.

Allie’s mouth fell open on a gasp. It was a shell anklet, her shell anklet. She recognized it immediately. To her, that anklet represented all they had once shared. She’d been devastated when she lost it on their last night together, leaving her with nothing to remember him by.

“I never thought I’d see that again.” Her eyes filled with tears. “You kept it all this time?”

“I did.” Hudson sat down beside her on the rug and gently pulled her foot into his lap. The shells slid along the clear string, filling the spaces of ones lost over time as he wrapped them around her leg. When it was clasped, his hand lingered and his fingers caressed her skin. Allie wondered if, like her, he was remembering the night he first put it there.

Gently, he lifted her leg and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her ankle. “You made me feel hopeful,” he whispered.

Allie slipped her leg out of Hudson’s grasp and moved into his lap, her thighs straddling his hips as she held his face between her hands.

“Hudson . . .” Her voice trailed off. There was so much they needed to discuss, so much she wanted to say. But in that moment, the words escaped her.

He reached up and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “What’s wrong, Allie?”

Her eyes drifted shut and she leaned into his touch. When she opened them, his fierce blue eyes searched hers as if her were trying to see not only into her thoughts, but her very soul. Her heart lurched and she was lost. The only thing that mattered was this man, this moment. She needed to show him with her body all her heart could never say.

She drew a stuttering breath. “Nothing’s wrong. Make love to me, Hudson.”

His hand curled around her nape and he pulled her to his mouth, kissing her long and slow and deep. Allie’s fingers slid into his hair and she held him to her as his tongue slid greedily over hers in lush, dragging sweeps. With a soft moan, she kissed him back, matching his strokes with her own. Exploring, tasting, consuming.