Shadow Hawk

“For what, you to do the caveman thing and check the house?”

“Damn it. We’re not going to fight about this, are we?”

She sighed. “We left the rifle in the car.”

“Yes.” He slid his hand up to her ponytail, lightly tugging her head back so he could cover her mouth with his for a short but effectively hot kiss.

“What was that for?” she asked, just a little breathless.

“You tend to stop arguing with me when I kiss you.”

“It’s because you’re destroying my brain cells.”

He ran his thumb over her lower lip.

She looked at the condo. “Hawk-”

“Look, what if I promise to argue with you later, your choice, will that work?”

Abby sighed again. “My laptop is on the little table by my bed, upstairs.”

He let out a breath. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. And Hawk?”

He turned back. Her eyes met his, those full, irresistible orbs, and in them he saw something that made him swallow hard. Oh, God. Don’t say it, he thought. Don’t bring in the L-word, because I’m not going there. So far he’d managed to keep his heart intact.

But this time, with her, he wasn’t sure he could keep it that way.

She smiled, and that organ he’d been protecting rolled over and exposed its belly. Huh. Maybe…maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have someone love him, truly love him, the way few had ever done. Because looking into this woman’s eyes, he could see a future, could almost admit he was ready for it. “Yeah?”

She patted his arm. “Watch the second step. It creaks.”

GAINES THREW HIS CELL PHONE across his office, and all three men standing in the doorway ducked.

It hit his crystal clock and shattered. “I’ve got three loose ends,” he said calmly, and looked down at his computer screen, from which all of Tibbs’s communications transcripts blinked back at him.

Tapping into Tibbs’s computer had been nothing short of genius, if he said so himself, as it allowed him to keep track of all the players and the events. Win. “We need to take care of them, or I’ll take care of you.”

“Sir, yes, sir. But Logan wasn’t supposed to get transferred to the hospital,” Benny said in their defense. Benny had worked beneath Watkins.

Had.

Watkins had become dispensable the moment he’d balked at taking care of Abby. He’d had no problem betraying Hawk, but when it came to a pretty woman, he hadn’t had what it took.

Gaines, however, did.

“Logan should never have been transferred,” Benny said again. “But Watkins-”

“Is dead.” Gaines looked at each of them. “As you will be if you don’t fix this.” He turned back to the computer screen. Abby had called for her voice mail, from somewhere near the city limits. Somehow he just knew Hawk was with her. The knowledge that they’d taken seven hours to get into Cheyenne instead of the usual four told him that they’d stopped.

Probably slept.

Together?

No. No, deep down she had a thing for him, he was certain of it. He’d cultivated the hero worship in her, had carefully honed it. No, his Abby hadn’t slept with Hawk. She was too cautious-as he knew all too well. How many months had he put into trying to get into her pants? He’d wined and dined the hell out of her, managing only a whole lot of restless nights.

Until the raid. Of course he’d been behind it. Mostly because she’d come damn close to exposing him, more by accident than design, but still. She was a smart cookie, and with a little more time she’d have figured it out.

He’d had to throw her off, at any cost. So he’d finagled a way to scare her and indebt her to him at the same time. Ingenious, if he said so himself. And yet he’d played the goddamn hero for her and she’d still not given it up for him.

Had she given it up for Hawk?

If so, it was only one more damn good reason to kill the son of a bitch. And then, unfortunately, her as well. It was going to disappoint him as much as it hurt her, but some things just had to be done…

Abby’s condo complex

ABBY STOOD ON HER BACK PATIO, hidden behind a tall potted ficus, staring at the glass slider, but unable to see more than her own reflection.

The ficus needed watering.

Story of her life. Oh, she’d been a big talker back there in the SUV, telling Hawk that she was living her life.

Liar.

She was still hiding. Still keeping herself closed off to feelings. But she hadn’t kept herself closed off to him, had she? Nope, she’d let him inside both her body and her heart. Come on in, steal the china. Sighing, she pressed her forehead to the potted tree and closed her eyes. What was she doing? Did she have any idea at all…?

No. No, she did not.

Lifting her head, she eyed the glass door again. Hawk had been gone just long enough to get up the stairs. Hawk, who’d put her life ahead of his.

Several times last night alone.

Last night…God, last night. It’d been the wildest night of her entire life. A shuddering sigh went through her. There’d been a moment, several of them, when she’d wanted to stay in his arms forever, as implausible as that wish had seemed.

Implausible and very, very unlikely.

It had just been one night. She was positive there’d been no more to it than fear and adrenaline and need, creating a desire she hadn’t been able to ignore. Very soon now things would go back to the way they’d been.

And yet, some things would most certainly change. Her, for one. She’d forever be different for the experience, for discovering that she was every bit as strong as she’d hoped, that she could absolutely be a woman in every sense of the word. That maybe, just maybe, she could even learn to trust her heart again.

Had he entered her bedroom yet?

Had she made her bed?

Why was she standing out here wondering? Clearly, there was no trouble, she’d have heard something by now. Abby let herself inside. In the past, where she’d slept at night had never really been a home. She’d never had the time, nor the inclination to make one. But when she’d come here, she’d tried hard to create a haven, using warm colors, soft, cushy furniture and landscape photos of her favorite places on the walls.

She headed for the stairs, and in the doorway of her bedroom came face to face with the man who could both stop and kickstart her heart.

“Hey,” Hawk said. “I heard you coming. I thought we decided you’d wait outside.”

“No, you decided.”

“Abby.”

“Hawk.” She repeated his tone, which made him laugh a little and reach for her.

She stepped right into his arms, and felt…amazing. Like she wasn’t just standing in her home, she’d come home. Tilting her head back, she looked into his eyes, thinking she’d never had a man here, in this bedroom.

She’d never even given it a thought.

And yet this man, this quick-witted, smart, funny, sexy man, looked utterly and completely at home in her space.

It was a good fit.

“What?” he asked softly. “What is it?”

So damn much…“Later,” she said.

Nodding slowly, he dipped his head and kissed her. Just a short, sweet kiss but their lips clung, and then