“Right.” Annika felt a little bubble of relief. He felt the same way as her about EPIC. As for what he’d said on her dad’s deck about Break Up—they’d get to that, maybe after the pitch contest. Which meant … maybe, just maybe, she could sit back and enjoy the ride. Literally. She let herself smile as she looked around them. The last of the passengers were on, and the train doors had closed. “I have to say, this is the perfect way to relax before the big pitch Sunday.”

Hudson held her eye, not returning her smile. “I don’t want to talk about work anymore tonight.”

Her blood began to hum. She didn’t want to talk about work, either, she realized. Now that EPIC had been settled, she wanted … she wanted Hudson to lean into her, to murmur jokes in her ear, for them to sip each other’s wines. She wanted him. “Okay,” she said quietly.

“You’re not fighting me so much anymore,” he murmured, oblivious to all the chatter around them.

Annika shook her head, unable to look away. “No. I’m not. I think I might be done fighting.”

Before Hudson could respond, their waiter came into the aisle to introduce himself and tell them all about the tour and the two vineyards they’d pass. It was going to be a three-hour trip—three hours to sit with Hudson, to look into those unnerving green eyes. It was only mildly terrifying.

Annika settled back against her booth.

chapter eighteen

“Here’s a question I love,” Annika said, waving her wineglass around.

They were about an hour into the trip and the sommelier kept coming around, pushing a “full-nosed” this and a “bouquet” of that. She’d accepted a couple of glasses of rosé and was deeply, deeply enjoying the wine. She’d been worrying for nothing—what she really needed to do was relax before her big day, just like June had said.

“If you had a magic wand and you could wave it to have the perfect life when you woke up in the morning, how would you know your life was perfect when you woke up? I heard it at this seminar I went to in college. It’s supposed to help you create a concrete plan to get to your perfect life.”

“Hmm.” Hudson sipped thoughtfully at his merlot as the train rocked them gently. “Let’s see. I guess, for one, I’d be completely happy. I wouldn’t wake up and think, ‘Here we go again.’”

Annika blinked. “That’s what you think now?”

He nodded his head slowly. “Every day.”

“Because of Break Up?”

“Because of what it means that I’m the public face of Break Up. I’m a little mired in the existentialism of it all. Plus, like I said before, I don’t see myself doing this forever.”