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Hawke had looked stricken when he’d remembered what he’d said about it being a decision we needed to make together, but I’d let him off with a smile and a shake of my head and had sent him back inside the store to pick up some puppy food while Matty had run through a list of superhero names and finally settled on another X-Men favorite, Storm, for the female puppy.
The day after Matty and I had arrived in Wyoming, we’d said our goodbyes to Ronan, Seth, Mav and Bullet. Ronan and Seth were headed home to Seattle for some alone time while Mav had plans to explore some of the mountain passes on his huge Harley Davidson motorcycle while he waited for his next assignment. I’d learned very little about the heavily tattooed man with the long black hair except that he fit the stereotypical biker to a T. Hawke had told me that he knew little about Mav’s personal life, but I hadn’t missed the respect he held for the man. The fact that he didn’t appear to have a home to return to had bothered me greatly, but he’d declined our invitation to dinner the night Seth and Ronan had left. We’d spent much of that day exploring the town of Rocky Point and the surrounding area and at one point when we’d taken a short walk to check out Hawke’s property, he’d taken my hand and veered us off the trail we’d been on. I hadn’t had any clue what he’d wanted to show me and Matty, but it had become clear when we’d entered a clearing by a small lake and there had been a single headstone beneath the branches of a huge tree.
Hawke hadn’t said much as we’d stood there, other than to explain that he and Revay had spent most of their summer vacations playing in the lake and laying on the sand dreaming of what their future would hold. Matty had been uncharacteristically solemn and I’d nearly lost it when he’d moved around me to stand on Hawke’s other side so he could hold his hand too. Hawke and I had spent the rest of the night after Matty had gone to bed talking about our plans for the future and I’d been both worried and excited when he’d said he thought Seattle would be a good place for us to settle. I’d tried to tell him that we could make a life in Rocky Point after Matty’s treatment was finished, but he’d refused, saying that we needed a fresh start…all of us. His only request had been that I be okay with him not selling the property since it was where Revay was buried. And when I’d asked about his pursuit of Buck and Denny, he’d simply told me it was over and I’d left it at that.
We’d made love again that night, but unlike the other times we’d been together, it was unhurried and we spent more time just exploring each other in a way that wasn’t completely sexual. I’d discovered that for all his brawn and beauty, Hawke was supremely ticklish and Hawke had enjoyed finding every one of my erogenous zones and exploiting them. The next morning we’d ended up deciding on a spur of the moment trip to Yellowstone National Park which was just a couple of hours away. Matty had been in heaven as we’d explored the park both on foot and by car, but the highlight of the trip had been when we’d spotted a black bear and her two cubs crossing the road about a hundred yards from our car. We’d spent the night in a hotel and had spent the rest of today exploring before finally heading home.
Hence the exhaustion.
We’d just reached the porch when I heard Matty calling for me followed by a comment about him not being able to find the puppy.
“It’s okay, I’ll go,” I said to Hawke as he started to follow me. “Can you put the pizza in while I check on him?”
Hawke nodded. “Can you grab my phone from the truck on your way back? I need to charge it.”
“I told you not to show him those games on your phone,” I said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, you did,” Hawke acknowledged. “What can I say, the kid’s got me wrapped around his finger. How was I supposed to know he’d play them till the phone died?” Hawke groused as he climbed the porch stairs. “Besides, I’m not the one who forgot my phone all together.”
I shot him a dirty look and began walking towards the side of the house where I’d last seen Matty headed with the puppy. A twinge of concern went through me when I didn’t see him anywhere and I began walking across the field towards a large, run down barn that Hawke had warned Matty not to play around.
