But if he noticed her blathering, he didn’t say anything about it. In fact, Annika thought, he was … different tonight. That hard edge she’d noticed before wasn’t present now, though she had no idea what had changed.

Hudson pushed back with his legs so he swung slowly in the chair. “Nice. I have two parents and a brother and I can’t say the same.”

Annika turned sharply to look at him. There was that disorienting feeling again, the same one she got when she swam in the ocean, the feeling that there was an entire universe beneath her that she had no idea about. It was both terrifying and thrilling. “You were lonely growing up?”

His expression didn’t even flicker. He shrugged. “My point is, you’re lucky to have the dad you do.”

Annika hesitated. “I am.”

He studied her, his eyes probing. “But?”

She shook her head and traced the stitching a little faster. “Nothing. I really am lucky. I just … I wish my dad and I saw eye to eye on my career, that’s all.”

“He doesn’t agree with the choices you’ve made?”

“More like he isn’t very enthusiastic about them. He’s still holding his breath, hoping I’ll go to medical school.”

Hudson scoffed. “Medical school? You?”

Annika glared at him, her fingernail digging into the leather. “What? You don’t think I’m smart enough to be a doctor?”

He looked at her steadily. “You’re definitely smart enough, you know that. I just can’t see you doing something so mechanical, so … routine. You’re too creative for a job like that.”

Annika looked down at her shoes, her stomach feeling weird and swoopy. “Doctors can be creative,” she mumbled. Why was she getting all tongue-tied? Why was she letting him get under her skin again? This was the problem: Being attracted to Hudson was like being attracted to two completely different people, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Snide. He flirted with her just to see her blush, teased her mercilessly, and also owned a horrible, soul-sucking business like Break Up, which was flourishing while her own lovingly nurtured business was wilting. But he also did nice things that made her heart melt.