Page 3 of Filthy Love

Next, she took care with her make-up, she’d never been a fan of too much, keeping it light, it was for work after all, not a night atThe Silver Spoon, her favorite bar in town.

When she was finished, all that was left was to spritz her preferred daytime perfume and slip into her black ankle booties and she was done.

Why was she taking such care when only six months ago any old sweater and pants would do for work? But all that changed, hadn’t it, months ago when she’d walked intoGem’s Eateryand saw him.

Hawk.

Hawk being in Austin changed everything.

Gia adored her work as a psychologist, choosing to focus now on relationship counseling for couples in crisis of splitting or just needing a love tune up.

And she loved her social life, it wasn’t as active as she’d like, she supposed, she dated here and there but nothing set her on fire. She traveled every summer for six weeks, this last year she’d been to Greece and Italy and had a blast with four of her longest friends.

Hawk in her hometown, the place she lived, changed everything inside her.

Hawk was here.

It was on her mind a lot.

Hoping to run into him again.

Butterflies constantly manic in her belly when she thought of him.

Which was, oh, every other hour of the day.

She had it bad for that rude, hard-hearted, unsociable man.

She’d always gravitated towards prickly people. It would explain her attraction to him and the love she held for her own father since everyone knew he could be an unfeeling asshole at times towards most everyone except Gia and her mom who her father openly adored.

Seeing Hawk there as if by magic had completely stolen the breath out of her, stunning Gia into mutism. Sitting quietly and alone at one of the window booths had sent her on such a high so gloriously fast she hadn’t come down from it since.

It was why she was so damn jittery trying to look nice.Just in case. Such a female thing to do, but whatever, it wasn’t as though she even had a chance with Hawk.

He was the type of guy to go after what he wanted.

He might look at Gia in unpredictable ways sometimes, but he’d done nothing about the heated stares he raked over her.

He might never make his move, so it was up to Gia to do the heavy lifting. Men; you can lead them to water, but you can’t drown them.

And with Hawk here, what better time to test his waters once and for all, no hanging back in hopes he’d ask her out for god’s sake, she was nearing thirty and wanted a love life. He was away from his club and her damn interfering brother; the time was now. Speaking of bossy pants who she claimed as her elder sibling, she’d called him, slyly asking after all his friends, making sure to drop Hawk in the mix, only to find out he was indeed in Austin ‘on business’ yeah, right. If it was for Ambrosio, Rider to his pals, then it was Motorcycle Club related and Hawk could only be at one place; the MC chapter just a way out of town.

It was where her father hung out a lot reliving his glory days no doubt.

Men never truly grew up.

Gia might not have involved herself in the MC way of life the way her brother, father and uncle have, and not as the way her mom lived by, choosing a different path for herself.

But she knew how they worked.

Her brother oversaw the mother chapter of the notorious biker club the Renegade Souls. Across the states everyone knew of them and their less than stellar reputation with their own rules and laws to follow. For years the cops tried to close them down, to pin any charges but since Rider had taken over as president they’d come to a certain understanding since her brother was nowhere near as shady or delinquently unlawful as the last boss who happened to be her uncle.

It didn’t stop the club being known and feared.

On some level, no matter how distant she stood from that way of life, she was proud of her brother. For everything he achieved and built on his own, he was an awesome man and she’d dick-punch anyone who dared say different to her.

Many thought him totalitarian, but she knew Ambrosio, as she called him, to be a better man than most. He might not always toe the line, but he had a respect for those he loved and that’s what mattered.

She wanted to believe the same for the man she was stupidly in love with too.

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