Page 47 of Hawk

“I’ll need to come back and water my roses.” I gently touched the leaf of one of the plants I’d bought at the market. I couldn’t believe that was just a few days before.

“We could take them with us to my place if you want.”

“Okay, thanks. Just one more thing before we go.” I grabbed one of my reusable shopping bags and went to the fridge. “There’s no point in letting all this food go to waste.”

“We can stop at the grocery store on the way home if you need to, or we can have stuff delivered.”

I nodded. “We can, but like I said, no point in letting what’s here spoil. We don’t need to take it all, but the produce and the meat will go bad pretty quick.”

I could’ve just tossed it all in the freezer, but the truth was that I wanted to cook for him, and all this food would give me a reason he couldn’t argue with.

“I’ll take everything else out to the truck while you do that, but donotcome outside until I come back to get you.”

That was a sobering reminder that I wasn’t going to stay with Hawk just because he wanted me to, and this wasn’t a fun adventure—this was serious business. I didn’t know what Butch’s intent was, but it wasn’t good.

“I won’t. I’ll stay inside until you say it’s safe.”

He brushed a kiss across my lips. “Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

I put as much stuff in that bag as would fit, and then I grabbed another bag and filled it up with stuff from the pantry. It wouldn’t spoil, but they were all things I’d need if I was going to cook for him.

I was ready to defend my choice when he came back in, but he didn’t even blink. He just picked up both bags. “Is this it? Did you get all your crochet stuff?”

I chuckled. “All my crochet stuff? No. All my crochet stuff would take a moving van. No one told me how addictive yarn is, or I might’ve second-guessed this as a hobby.”

“I take it you have a lot?”

I cringed and held up my fingers, indicating a tiny bit, and then spread them apart as far as they could go. “I may have a little problem.”

“Well, I can think of much worse problems to have. But did you at least get enough to keep you busy for a few days until we can come back for more?”

“I did. One of the bags you already carried out is full of yarn, hooks, and a couple of my pattern books.”

“Books? I figured you just grabbed stuff online.”

“Oh, I do. But Mary Ellen had some old pattern books, and she gave them to me. I’m trying out some of them just for fun to see how they turn out.”

“She sounds really nice.”

“She is.”

“Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll take these out, then I’ll come back for you. This’ll be the opposite of when we arrived. I’ll open your car door and then motion for you to come. I want you to head straight for the car, no hesitation. Get in, and I’ll close the door behind you. You immediately lock the car door. Got it?”

“I do.”

When we’d arrived here, he’d made me sit in the car with the doors locked while he checked the house, and then once he knew it was clear, he motioned for me to hurry inside. I hated this, and I hated Butch. I just wanted all this to be over with so Hawk and I could figure out if what we had was something real. I thought it could be, and I knew he believed it was, but as long as he had no choice but to spend time with me, how could I be sure?

I stood inside, watched as he finished loading up the car, and then checked the area for any threats. When he motioned for me to come, I did exactly as he said and hurried to the car.

A couple of guys I hadn’t met—but that I’d seen around during self-defense class—met us in the parking garage of his building. I couldn’t say for sure, but I was guessing they were brothers—they looked so much alike.

“Mika, this is Axel and Maddox. They work for Three Bears.”

“Hey, Mika, nice to finally meet the man who has Hawk all tied up in knots,” one of them said.

“Maddox, I asked you to help carry stuff upstairs. That doesn’t require you to open your big mouth,” Hawk grumbled.

Maddox winked at me and grabbed some of my stuff out of the back. That name sounded familiar, and it took me a second to put it together.

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