Page 36 of Hawk

I’m pretty sure Hawk is already plenty focused on Mika.

Me

What do you mean?

Mars

You’ll figure it out.

Me

I’m ignoring you all now. I’m about to pull out my hooks.

They all knew I didn’t answer messages when I was crocheting. It could be way too distracting and cause me to mess up, so I knew they wouldn’t take offense at me telling them I was ignoring them.

We spent the next couple of hours watching some show Hawk had picked about a guy who was something called arewardist. It was kind of like a bounty hunter but for good guys instead of bad guys. Like, when someone went missing and a reward was offered, he showed up and rescued them. I didn’t even know if that was a real thing, but it made for good television.

I was working on a shawl I was making for my grandmother’s birthday, and luckily, it was a simple repeat pattern, so I could watch the show while I worked. On the one hand, I hated the reason Hawk was here, but on the other, it was nice to have someone with me.

I hadn’t much cared for my roommates when I first moved here. They weren’t bad guys—just noisy and kind of messy—but now that I was living alone, I did miss having people around. It didn’t hurt that thesomeonehappened to be Hawk. And the longer I was around him, the more I realized that the problem had never been Butch’s size or how gruff he was most of the time. The problem hadn’t been the type of men I liked. It was that I’d chosen poorly because I would bet my whole yarn stash that Hawk would never lay a hand on me in any way that wasn’t pleasurable. And man, did I want him to lay a hand on me.

Around ten, he caught me yawning and suggested it was probably time for bed. I knew he was right, and I felt like that little cartoon chicken who says,But I’m not tired,even though he can’t keep his eyes open. Fact was, I enjoyed his presence—and the cute little commentaries he made about the show—so I wanted to stay up with him even though there really wasn’t a reason to. Of course, he wasn’t having it.

“You have work in the morning, mouse. You need to get a good night’s sleep so you can be on your A-game,” he said, like hanging out with Mary Ellen while she planned her next tea party required me to even have an A-game, much less be on it.

He’d said it with that voice he used sometimes—that patient yet firm tone—and I’d learned pretty quickly that when he adopted that tone, there was no use in arguing with him. Not to mention, he was usually right, which was infuriating on a whole other level. I’d been telling myself for ages that I needed to stop staying up late for no reason other than because it was hard to fall asleep in an empty house.

“Fine, I’ll go to bed, but you need to, too.”

“I know where the blanket and pillow are. Don’t worry about me.”

I put away my project and made my way to my bedroom. I hated that he was sleeping on my couch, but we’d already had that conversation, and it hadn’t gone my way at all. That did make me wish I’d gone to the trouble to put a bed in the second bedroom, although after hisI sleep between you and the doorcomment, I wasn’t actually sure if he would’ve slept there even if it was an option.

I put on a pair of sleep pants and crawled into bed, determined that if I had to go to bed this early, I might as well get some sleep. The problem was the house was so quiet, and I swear I could hear every little sound. The wind blowing outside. The neighbor’s dog barking. Those little creaks and miscellaneous sounds an older house makes. And most distracting of all—every single little noise Hawk made in the living room.

First it was the sound of the hall closet opening and then him adjusting the covers and pillow on the couch. Then the groan of the too-small couch under his big frame. After that, everything was quiet for a minute. My eyelids grew heavy and my thoughts fuzzy as I started to drift off to sleep when he cleared his throat and shifted in what I was sure was discomfort.

I rolled over on my side and made a second attempt to settle in when something hit the floor, and there was a hissed, “Shit,” from the front room. Then more covers shifted again. The man was a good six-five, and I don’t care if he said he’d slept in worse places—there was no way he was going to get a good night’s sleep on that couch.

I hopped up and strode into the living room. I froze for just a second when I realized he was lying on the couch in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. He had a blanket covering one leg, while the other—very muscular—leg was on full display in the moonlight streaming through the window, and damn if I didn’t become a thigh man on the spot.

I put my hands on my hips in the universal signal ofdon’t fuck with meand said, “Hawk, I can’t sleep knowing you’re out here uncomfortable. I heard what you said about being between me and the front door, but if you want me to get any rest at all, you’re going to have to swap with me.”

“Not negotiable, sweet cakes. There’s no way I’m taking your bed while you sleep in here. Anyone could break in and get to you before I could stop them.”

“Well, then you’ll just have to come share with me. I’ll let you have the side between me and the door.”

He sat up and looked at me. “That’s a very bad idea, mouse.”

The part of the blanket that had been draped over him fell down to his lap, leaving his chest on full display. Did I say thigh man? Maybe I meant chest man. Although, if I was being honest, there wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t worth worshiping.

“I don’t think so. It’ll give us both the best chance of getting a good night’s sleep. Besides, my bed is huge and has an amazing mattress.”

When Andy moved in with Jesse, he didn’t have any place to put his furniture, and that was just about the time I was getting this place, so he gave me his bedroom set. Because he worked as a firefighter and acted like a normal everyday guy, it was easy to forget how much money he had. But every night when I crawled into that super comfy bed, I remembered. I had no idea how much it had cost, but it had to be a pretty penny for a bed that felt that heavenly.

He let out a sigh, stood up, and picked up his pillow. “Fine. But just to sleep.”

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it? So we could get a good night’s sleep. This isn’t an evil plot to get you in my bed.”

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