Page 166 of Filthy Love

“Same as always.”

Which told her nothing.

Dinner, dishes and a shower later, Gia was finishing with a video chat on her phone with Grace Kelly when Hawk came in from the yard after taking out the puppy.

She heard her friend gasp as Hawk walked behind her.

“Oh, my god.” Gracie mouthed, eyes shock-wide seeing a shirtless Hawk in only low slung unbuttoned jeans. “He’s so fucking big,” she added in the same silent mime.

Gia giggled.

She got it. Hawk was something to look at. Hell, she hadn’t stopped staring at him for a decade. And the other day when he was putting together one of her bookcases she might have accidentally on purpose video called Grace Kelly and let her friend watch her man being all handy and gorgeous with his tools.

Nothing turned Gia on more than watching Hawk being skilled.

“Finished gossiping?” He folded down onto the sofa with her, it was a tight fit, but she never minded laying on top of him. The puppy assumed she was missing out began whining to climb on too, so Gia grabbed the gray bundle placing her at their feet. That wasn’t good enough for Hawk’s new fan, she scrambled over them and dumped her little butt on Hawk’s shoulder, tucking her puppy face into his neck.

He sighed. “Your fucking dog is obsessed with me.”

“I know the feeling.” She nuzzled him too, not missing out on the cuddling. His hand fixed to her butt. “Your girls love you, Colton. And don’t think I didn’t seeing you giving her belly rubs last night. She was in heaven.”

He grunted his sexy grunt.

“Hey,” she led in with, “someone called the club office today for you when I was having lunch with Zara.”

“Hmm?” Already on his way to sleep.

“Yeah, it was a woman. She said she knew you and you haven’t been answering her calls.”

Just like that. From sleepy to alert and his every muscle she swore turned to a solid mass beneath her. “Who is Lisette?”

Hawk had done many things over the years to display that maybe he wasn’t the best choice for boyfriend material. All those signs she ignored because of the way she felt about him. Hawk himself continued to tell her he was all wrong for her. The growl that came out of his mouth sent cold chills down her spine, the fine hairs on her arms and back of her neck stood on end.

Because he wasn’t only irritated.

He was pissed.

For such a big man he was off the sofa in seconds, yanking on his discarded shirt, dishevelling his hair in the process.

“Hawk? Who is it?”

“It’s no one. Drop it, Gia.”

“Drop what? Some woman I’ve never heard of says you have her money and to call her and I can’t ask who it is? Is something going on?”

Blue eyes slit. “With what?”

With patient she breathed. Give him the chance, she told herself. “With you. You’ve been closed off the last week. Is something on your mind?”

Crickets.

Tumbleweed.

“Hawk ...baby, I want in.”

“I got nothing on my mind, little bit, except fucking you. C’mere, let’s go to bed.”

Even though her body ramped up its temperature, she kept her feet where they were. Not only was she a trained psychologist, she was also a woman who could smell bullshit and knew every distraction tool in the book.