“No, Casanova has a way of being very persistent.”
“Yeah, he’s good for that.”
Ariel giggled. The sound went straight to his cock, and he found himself remembering how sweet her lips were.
“You thirsty?” Hawk said.
“I could use a drink.”
He guided her away from the whispering group of women to the metal buckets loaded with soda, water, and beer.
“Coke?” Hawk said.
“I think I’ll take something a little stronger this time,” she said.
“I see I’m rubbing off on you,” Hawk said grinning.
“Maybe.” She shrugged.
It felt nice to get in some downtime. With the sunset reflecting off her hair, she was downright irresistible. He snagged a beer and led her away from the crowd down by a lake. Twisting off the cap to her beer, he handed her a bottle.
“I figured we could both use a break,” Hawk said, shrugging.
“Sounds good to me.”
Her easy acceptance made him want her more. He’d never been the type to read too much into shit like this. He saw something he wanted, he took it, and the newness wore off. His gut told him that wouldn’t be the way it went with, Ariel. She fucking fascinated him. They stopped a few feet from the lake, and he basked in the quiet. Moments like this were damn rare in his day to day.
“It’s beautiful. It looks like the water is on fire.”
“Yeah it is,” he said, eyes glued to her face.
“Hawk?” she whispered.
“You seem to like it here.”
“Life with Mayhem isn’t what I thought it would be.” She laughed softly. “It’s funny. I thought I’d feel like I was in a prison, but instead…I’m free. Clocks don’t matter because I’m on my own time. I’m not bogged down by a messy divorce battle, and all the craziness aside, for the first time in months, I’m actually happy.”
“Yeah?” Hawk inclined his head. “It kind of shocks me. I mean, you seemed uppity.”
“Naw, just standoffish, I wasn’t sure what to think of you guys, or how good you’d be to my girls. So I held back and observed.”
“And your final verdict?” Hawk said, curious to get inside her head.
“Overall you’re a good guy but extremely dangerous and not someone I’d want to be on the wrong side of.”
“And it doesn’t scare you?”
“A year ago I would’ve said yes, but now I know monsters wear normal faces.” She shuddered and took a long draw from her beer bottle. “I feel safer with you than I’ve ever felt my entire life.”
The words made his chest swell with pride. She appealed to him on a cellular level. Drawing him in with some invisible force he couldn’t see. Her full lips parted and his pants grew tighter. She was a fucking vision in her short white dress and a pair of brown cowboy boots.
“’Cause you know I’d murder anything that came for you.”
“That’s exactly why.” Her voice grew breathy. “I never knew that kind of devotion from a man, and you’re not even mine.”
“You want me to be yours, Ariel?”
She glanced up, looking like a deer in headlights. “I-I didn’t say that.”