She cast a worried glance between the two of them. “Okay. I’m gonna go join Frank at the bar. Make sure he’s not harassing Andrew too much. Let me know if you need anything.”
This last was directed at the reporter. Hawke found it amusing that Devon thought she could protect her from him if the need arose. Still, he hadn’t meant to worry her. Tearing his eyes from the bewitching red head, he winked at Devon. “We’ll be fine. Tell Kohl to come find me later.”
“He’s back at the house, making sure the downstairs is sun proof, and probably banging some nails himself. You know how he is. I needed to get away and came out for a girl’s night. But I’ll tell him if he makes it over.” With a smile of reassurance at Everly, she wandered over to join Frank at the bar.
Hawke watched her leave, amazed at how well she was adapting to her new life with Kohl, even after everything that had happened to her at the club the night they’d met. He turned back to Everly, and he found himself faced with one raised eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest. “You’ll deal with me? Are you going to kick me out? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I’m not going to kick you out.”
“Then how do you propose you’re going to deal with me?”
He decided to throw some honesty her way. “I’m going to find out the real reason you’re nosing around my club.”
She caught it like a pro. Didn’t even flinch. “What makes you think I have an ulterior motive?”
Mark, the bouncer, opened the front door and humans started flooding in. Hawke held out his hand. “Would you allow me to buy you dinner?” His performance last night proved he couldn’t be trusted to have her alone in the office again, but they did need to talk someplace a little less crowded.
He thought for a moment she was going to refuse, but then she said, “Okay. But I’m driving, and I get to pick the restaurant.” Ignoring his outstretched hand for the second time that night, she turned and walked toward the door.
He growled low in his throat. This woman had no fear.
It made him hard.
With a nod at Andrew, Hawke followed her out past the line of people clustering around the front door and to her car. Business was picking up as the temperature rose, which also meant women’s outfits were getting scantier, but he barely glanced at the row of exposed flesh that normally would have been more than tempting.
This night, his eyes were glued to the graceful back, rounded ass, and shapely legs of the redhead strutting in front of him.
His attention—and his hard-on—diverted when they reached her car and she struggled to open the driver’s side door. He saw the problem right away, in the form of a large dent toward the front. Immediately, he broke into a cold sweat as he wondered who or what had caused it and if she had been injured. With an internal shake, he composed himself. This woman, and any injuries she may or may not have had, was none of his concern. Brushing aside her hand with a “May I?”, he grasped the door handle and pulled it open easily, holding the door for her. “You don’t lock your car?”
“Don’t really see the need. Do you?” Then she pulled her keys from her front pocket and slid into the driver’s seat.
Hawke shut the door behind her and walked around the front of the car to get in on the passenger’s side. Other than a few pens and notebooks thrown onto the backseat, the car was surprisingly clean.
“I hope barbecue is okay,” she asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“Whatever you want is fine.”
“You might regret saying that when you see how much I can eat.” She smiled, but he knew she was dead serious.
“I can handle it.” Far be it from him to deny her the sustenance that kept her curves in such fine form.
The restaurant she picked was a little hole in the wall right off highway I-35, just a little south of The Caves. After she parked, he bid her to wait while he hurried around to help her with her door. She allowed him to play the gentleman, but he had the distinct feeling she was laughing at him.
Hawke shut her car door and followed her inside. Tonight, he would find out why she was snooping around his club and do what he needed to do to contain her.
Chapter 3
Everly had picked this specific restaurant on purpose. It was one she frequented often, and she knew, or was at least familiar with, everyone who worked there. So, if she came up missing, there was a better chance they’d remember she was there and that she hadn’t been alone.
But other than the fact that he made her want to offer her naked body laid out on a platter for him to devour like some sort of pagan sacrifice to a very old god, Hawke had given her no reason to fear being around him. Nervous as a teenager and sexually frustrated? Sure. Who wouldn’t be around a man who took her breath away with one searing look from those hypnotic eyes of his? But she had yet to feel afraid. If anything, weirdly, she felt safer than she had in a long time.
Waving to the owner’s son behind the counter, she led Hawke to her favorite corner booth. The place was small, only eight booths and a few tables in the middle, painted University of Texas orange and decorated with stars and longhorns, and it smelled like roasting meat, barbecue sauce, and cornbread. Everly’s stomach growled in anticipation.
Hawke raised one eyebrow. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” Everly told him. She had no shame when it came to food.
The waitress appeared, the newish blonde one with the braces, and Everly looked at Hawke, wondering if he would let her order or be one of those douchebags who thought he needed to prove what a man he was by ordering for her. Which she would promptly shut down.
