Page 13 of Find Me
“That makes sense,” she asked, before taking another bite of her sandwich.
With his curiosity growing about her life, he asked, “Is Elise your closest friend?”
“Myonlyfriend,” she said with a laugh. “Like I said, in my line of work, it’s hard to trust people. But with Elise… it was an instant connection. She’s been a very good friend to me ever since. She’s as solid as they come.”
Hawke agreed with nod. “The entire group of friends are like that.”
“I don’t really know the others,” Penny admitted with a slight shrug. “I’m only starting to get to know Archer a little bit more.”
“You’ll find every one of Elise’s friends are good people,” he told her. “It’s why joining the Phoenix team was so easy for me. I’d trust any of them as much as I’d trust my SEAL team, so that’s saying a lot.”
She grinned. “Although I wonder if your SEAL team is a bunch of voyeurs?”
At that, he lifted a brow. “You’ve never seen a show?”
“Nope, and don’t plan to,” she said adamant.
“Yeah, I’ve been there too,” he said, “but you never know what you’ll do in that situation; being surrounded by that kind of sensual energy changes you.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said flatly, and then promptly changed the subject “All right. We should probably talk about our next move.”
His gaze fixated on the lingering traces of ketchup on the corner of her mouth. The urge to wipe it away with his thumb was nearly overwhelming, but he managed to restrain himself. “Right,” he agreed, forcing his focus back to the matter at hand. “What are you thinking?”
“Maybe I should try to befriend Julia,” she suggested. “Get to know her outside the club, understand her a bit better. It might just give us the leverage we need.”
“That’s risky,” Hawke said, raising an eyebrow at the implication.
“Not if I do it through Phoenix,” Penny clarified quickly, her cheeks pinking. “Maybe if I meet Julia casually, she’ll open up. People tend to let their guard down during girl talk.”
Hawke lifted his brow higher. “You do girl talk?”
She laughed. “Not really, but in this instance, I could pull it off.”
Hawke considered. Even if he knew better, part of him liked the idea of seeing Penny in Phoenix. Especially if her cheeks pinkened at whatever thoughts were swirling in her incredible mind.
He pulled out his phone from his pocket and fired off a text. “I’ll send Rhys a message about arranging a show with Julia tomorrow night,” he told her.
“Can he arrange a show that fast?” Penny asked.
“For the right amount of money, yes,” Hawke replied. Every participant that took part in the shows were gifted money for the show. “He’ll do whatever it takes to keep Phoenix safe.” When Rhys’s reply came in the next second, he grinned at her. “We’re on for tomorrow.”
“Good.” She pushed away her empty plate, barely meeting his gaze.
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he wondered just how she’d handle being in the club tomorrow. “All right, then. Let’s get you back to the warehouse. Tomorrow is going to be a long night.”
They settled up the bill, and as they headed for the door, Mabel called, her southern accent wrapping around the words like a warm embrace. “Y’all take care now.”
With a light touch on Penny’s lower back, Hawke guided her toward the door of the diner, and swore he felt her shiver.
Christ, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
4
“Is this dress appropriate for Phoenix?” Penny inquired the next evening after Hawke arrived at her house.
His eyes scanned over her tight, black, crew-neckline dress with cutouts around her waist and sheer fitted sleeves. His gaze lingered on her cleavage before he cleared his throat. “More than acceptable.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “You sure you’ve never gone to Phoenix before?”
“Never,” she said with a laugh, glad that she got the attire right.
