Page 50 of Feels Like the First Time
“What’s that?”
Hawk pulled out his phone and scrolled through his texts to find Luke’s thread. His thumbs flew across the screen at lightning speed.
Can you handle the bar tonight? Great, thanks. BTW, your burger order got lost…in my belly.
“Dinner,” he said, walking around the counter and taking the basket in one hand, the other resting low on her back. We’ll pick up the rest on the way out of town,”
“What are you doing?” She swatted his hand away.
“Man, you really are bad at this.” He handed her the cider. “In order to ‘get out,’ you actually have to leave. So this is us leaving.”
She studied him quietly, her lost expression drawing him in and taking him under. “Why would you do that?”
“Take you out?” Jesus, she tore his heart apart. “Because it’s what a good boyfriend does?”
“We’re not dating anymore, party’s over. Remember?”
Oh, he remembered all right. He remembered just how amazing that kiss was, and how good it felt to finally give in. He’d been circling around his feelings for Ali for so long, he was dizzy with want. And frustration.
He also remembered how thrown he’d felt when she’d distanced herself from him at the party. And what an idiot he’d been when he’d walked her home and given her that chaste kiss on the cheek, as if they were two friends returning from a fun night of playing pool and shooting the shit.
When their night had been anything but.
So yeah, he’d made her a promise that nothing would change between them, and he intended to honor that. Right up until Ali realized that she wanted more. Because not only was he done with letting his past control his future…
Hawk was done circling.
“Okay, well, then how about this is what kissing friends do,” he said, slinging an arm around her shoulders.
“We are not kissing friends,” she said quietly.
“Sure we are.” He steered her off the chair and toward the door. “We are friends who kissed, meaning we’re kissing friends. Now, watch your step,” he said as he all but shoved her through the door of the bar. “We still have to drop by Burger Barn and pick up dinner, then make it to our destination before sunset.”
“You said that was dinner.” She paused, her eyes bright with humor. “Wait, are you admitting that Burger Barn serves a better burger?”
“Hell no.” He placed their dinner in the leather saddle bag on his motorcycle, then grabbed his extra helmet. “But you seem to think they are better, and tonight is about you.”
“Then what’s in the to-go box?”
“Two of my world-famous Blue and Blackhawk burgers.”
She straddled his bike, andholy hell, those shorts did amazing things for her ass. “What happened to tonight being about me?”
“Sunshine, tonight is about you. And as your kissing friend, it is my job to ensure the best night, even if your taste in burgers needs to be challenged.” He slid the helmet over her head and climbed on the bike. “Now hold on, we’ve got a sunset to catch.”
***
Hawk told himself to take it slow, there were a lot of twists and turns ahead, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d careen right into dangerous territory.
Ali had been suspiciously quiet the entire ride. As they’d made the descent down the narrow path to a bluff, which sat right above the wave break and below Bay View, he could feel the frustration and ache roll off her and crash into him, like the tide slamming against the rocks. That didn’t mean she hadn’t snuggled so close against him that her body was shrink-wrapped to his, or that she objected when he took her hand the second they arrived.
In fact, she seemed to need the contact. And Hawk didn’t mind providing it.
He watched her toes wiggle in the seafoam as they sat on the dock and stared at the tiny islands jetting out of the Pacific water. Her red-tipped feet, and the cute silver ring circling one of her toes, disappeared under the high tide as it swelled—and something raw and wild swelled within him.
She was thinking so hard, he could smell the gears burning. He’d given her an opening to talk about what happened, but every time he even circled close to serious, she changed the subject, or ate another cake pop. Not that he minded—watching her lick the icing off her lips was an activity he could watch for hours.
But if he had any chance to make tonight about more than just chemistry, then he’d need to have some kind of conscious thought process available to him. They needed to talk about Bridget, the kiss, and where they were going.
