She froze on the spot, only dwelling on one thing he’d said. “First date?”
He placed the plates next to the pizza box and then closed the gap between them. His eyes flared as he entwined his fingers with hers and spoke softly, “As a SEAL, I’ve learned to never wait. We have no idea what will happen tonight, the danger we’ll face. I want a first date with you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you want that?”
She hesitated to consider and realized he was right. If she looked past all her worries and all the bullshit, she’d want a date with him. “I do,” she agreed.
His smile was sweet and warm, and not one she’d seen from him yet. “Not so hard to admit that, is it?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed softly.
Chuckling, he tugged her toward the couch. “Sit. Get comfy.”
She did just that, and as she settled into her seat, the warmth from his fingers brushed over hers, leaving a trail of heat that lingered far longer than the touch itself.
“If I’m being honest,” she admitted, “this might be the best first date I’ve ever been on.” It wasn’t the candles flickering or the cozy atmosphere. It was him. The raw intensity that radiated naturally from Hawke, like an unspoken promise that he’d always put her first. That hewantedto put her first.
“Then your first dates must have been terrible,” he replied with a laugh. “Which, I admit, makes me thrilled.”
She barked a laugh, shaking her head at him. Though, she realized, for tonight, she didn’t want that guard up that kept him at a distance. Because he was right, tonight was dangerous. She’d figure out the rest later.
“Hope you’re hungry,” Hawke said, opening the pizza box.
“Starved,” Penny confessed, as he handed her a plate. She added two slices of the wood-fired pizza and dug in a second later. The flavors burst upon her tongue—richness, a hint of oregano and garlic, and the sea salt—and she moaned loudly before she could stop herself.
He responded instantly with a wicked grin. “I’m growing rather fond of that sound.”
Her breath hitched at the implication, her body responding with a surge of heat, and her belly warming for reasons that had nothing to do with the food.
As they ate, Penny felt herself unwrap further, the shell she’d built so meticulously beginning to crumble in the presence of this man who deserved to see a little more of her. “Have you gone on a lot of first dates?” she asked.
“Too many,” he chuckled. “I was always away on duty, never home long enough for anything more than a brief affair. The military consumed my life. But after losing my leg, my perspective changed. I crave something more meaningful than just serving in the military. And I crave that with someone doing their best to keep me at a careful distance.”
Her heart shuddered as he just threw the truth out there without hesitation. She’d known this. She knew it nearly immediately. She could see in the way he stared at her. Yes, there was hunger there, but there was also something…more.Hawke wasn’t a screw ’em and leave ’em type of man. “You want kids, marriage, all that?” she asked.
“I do.” He arched his eyebrow. “You don’t want that?”
“In a perfect world, I suppose, maybe,” she admitted. “But we don’t live in a perfect world, and people are never what they seem. Trust is an illusion, so easily broken.”
He held her stare, and then finally nodded. “For some people, yes, that’s true. But others believe trust is unbreakable.”
“Yes, I know a couple who do,” she said, and realized her list of those people was getting longer since she’d met Elise.
A thick weight of silence seemed to hang between them, until he finally spoke up. “Can you tell me about it?”
“About what?” she replied.
“The reason behind all the barriers you’ve put up. Only as much as you’re comfortable revealing,” he assured her, placing his slice down and focusing entirely on her.
“Comfortable isn’t exactly how I’d describe it,” she confessed.
His gaze never wavered, a silent pillar of strength that beckoned her to trust, to open the floodgates. It was disconcerting, this desire to be seen, truly seen, by another person.
But, she realized, she wanted him to know her.
“Growing up,” she began, “I always thought my mother was this impenetrable force of nature. Unshakeable. She was a single mother—it was just the two of us. But when I was ten years old, she met Richard...” Her words trailed off as she mustered the courage to continue. “It’s like I ceased to exist. Suddenly, there was just no room for me in her life anymore.”
Hawke’s eyes never left hers, his gaze steady and inviting, urging her to release the demons of her past.
“Richard,” she spat out the name, “he never wanted a stepdaughter. And my mother—she chose him over me. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Gram was the one who picked up the pieces. She became everything my mother wasn’t.”
