His laughter drifted to her, making her smile. He returned just a moment later, sliding under the covers, his back propped up against the leather headboard. In his hands he held a big wad of pale pink tissue paper, the kind used in gift bags.

“What’s that?” She sat up, too. The covers pooled around her waist, exposing her breasts, but she didn’t care. After last night, she didn’t feel even slightly self-conscious around Hudson. Some invisible barrier had broken between them, once and for all.

“It’s … something I made for you.” Hudson turned the package over in his hands, his eyes thoughtful. “Well, actually, it’s something that was inspired by you. I just finished it, and now … I want you to have it.” He handed it to her gently, his quietness a testament to the fact that he was giving her something important, that he was being vulnerable.

Annika took the package carefully and unwrapped the layers of tissue slowly. She gasped softly when her eyes fell on a sculpture, the curves and lines coalescing into one unified image. “I love it,” she whispered, tracing her finger over the figurine, which was about the size of her palm. “Is this … me?”

It was a woman yogi in vrksasana, or tree pose. Her left leg was lifted, with her left foot balanced on the inside of her right thigh. Her arms were tall above her head, and she had a small heart cupped between her palms. Hudson had glazed the entire ceramic sculpture an opalescent white, and it caught the light in iridescent twinkles as Annika turned it this way and that.

“It is,” he answered, touching the heart between the figurine’s palms. “I wanted to capture you as I see you: graceful, peaceful, planting love everywhere you go.”

Annika blinked back tears. No one had ever said—or done—anything like this for her. “It must’ve taken you forever to do,” she said, choked up. “Are you sure you want to give it to me?”

Hudson put a hand over hers. “I’m sure.” He smiled. “I began making it that day after our first yoga class—you know, with the partner poses?”

Annika stared at him. “But that was so long ago.”

He grinned and planted a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. “I told you. I’ve been smitten for a long, long time. I’m just glad you’ve come around. I’ve had to work my ass off.”

Annika laughed and set the sculpture carefully on the nightstand beside her. Turning back to Hudson, she said, “Do you want to know what was holding me back? And what changed?”

He nodded, smiling still.