Page 109 of Filthy Love

Hawk swerved his eyes. “No, girl.”

“She has a name. It’sZara.”

“It’s okay.” Zara reassured to break the obvious tension between Hawk and Gia. “He calls me girl. It’s one of many nicknames the boys have for me.”

“Andyouhad manners last time I saw you.” His tone accused.

“I’m surprisedyoucan recognize manners.” She huffed right back.

They spoke over each other.

Gia stuck her nose in the air, glaring at him.

Zara chuckled and rose. “I better get home, I hate keeping Coop out there. It’s bad enough he has to trail behind me wherever I go.”

Gia already snooped on the cute, younger man outside sitting sideways on his bike, legs parked in front of him with his head buried in his phone.

“The little shit goes where he’s told. I’ll have a word if he’s bitching about it.” Hawk informed looking ready to chew nails.

Why was that hot as hell?

“No. He’s a sweetheart about it all. He even carries my bags when I shop. I still feel bad,” sighed Zara. “But it reassures Rider, so I let him send prospects with me.” Harper packed up, Gia kissed her niece, reluctant to let her go and handed her to her mom. “You be good, my tiny cutie-pie, Auntie Gia loves you best of all. We’ll talk more about stinky boys when I see you tomorrow.” Gia planned to have a girl’s day to stop herself from thinking of the monster eating her alive with his eyes, instead she was kinda hoping to shove Zara and that sweet baby out of the door, so she could —what? Jump his bones? Hell no. He needed to grovel first. On his knees, licking the ground she walked on, and he could say some sweet words too. Yeah, that sounded good. Beg forgiveness for practically ignoring her for months. Okay, a few days, it still felt the same.

“We can throw an extra steak on the grill if you want to stop by for dinner, Hawk.” Zara said. She’d already mentioned to Gia how she wanted to get to know Rider’s VP better. From the look on his blank face he was about to burst Zara’s friendly bubble.

“Gia is gonna make me dinner.” He grunted without removing his eyeballs from Gia’s intestines.

She felt thoroughly eye-fucked.

Was she making him dinner? Momentarily stunned at this piece of new information, Zara was out of the door and Gia waved her off before she came back to her senses.

She was not feeding him!

“You like kids?”

By the time Gia was twelve she’d perfected her mom’s signature scathing glance she gave her dad to make him wither and give in to whatever whim it was at the time. She sent it Hawk’s way, dismissing with a raise of her chin. He didn’t seem fazed by it, dammit. “Doesn’t everyone?” She left him standing there, walking down the other end of the house to the kitchen.

He followed. “No.”

“Hmm. Well I do. And Harper is the best kid.”

The room shrank fifty sizes with Hawk’s towering frame in it and yet Gia successfully managed to ignore him for a full seven minutes while she made coffee, slipping around him, careful not to touch his body, while she opened and closed cabinets, basically doing the work of unpacking she’d done already, in hopes of occupying her hands and her greedy, begging eyes.

All the while her body was shouting thather manwas standing right there glowering with his head canted down just watching her, and to get over there and rub all over him already.

Gia attended clinical psychology seminars each year in New York and Chicago. She knew how the mind worked with addictions and behavioural patterns.

She didn’t give in to urges so easily without being cognizant of it.

Even if she was dying to give in to every instinctual urge.

Even if her insides were squeezed tightly with lust and longing and a stirring of anger. But also, she’d had too much of this disappearing from him over the years and that was before the intimacy between them. Finding herself right back in that same unknown position once more was not giving her the warm fuzzies she expected to have.

Understanding and accepting Hawk wasn’t an easy man helped some. This was just how he was. He wouldn’t deliberately hurt her, but he had to know his actions struck home at the deepest point. He had to take responsibility for his own shit.

His eyes watched her movements. Stalking felt truer to the point.

“You wanna explain what bug crawled up your ass?” He asked breaking the silence while Gia sipped the last of her hot coffee nonchalantly.

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