Shadow Hawk

“Keep breathing,” she whispered, eyes on his.

Yeah, he’d keep breathing, soon as he was done throwing up. He would keep breathing, just as long as he could keep looking at her…

HAWK WAS STILL HOLDING ONTO Abby, who was staring in horror at the handcuff on her wrist. He had to admit to feeling a little bit of horror himself, but he had to keep her safe, at all costs. Because that’s what he did, he upheld the law, he kept people safe…

And she needed to be kept safe, whether she knew it or not.

God. He’d handcuffed her to him. And somehow he didn’t think it would help to explain to her that sometimes to do the right thing you had to cross the line. Especially when he hadn’t just crossed it, he’d stomped on it. But, God, she’d tasted so sweet, so hot, he wanted to stomp on that line again…

No. Bad.

Focus.

He was going to keep her safe, at any cost.

The wind had kicked the flames so that they were surrounded, as if in their own, intimate hell. They stared at each other, her glaring, him stunned. Kissing her had been everything he’d ever imagined and more, so much more, because the reality of her willowy body against his had been better than any fantasy. If he hadn’t been bleeding all over her from the cut on his head, that is.

Oh, and if he hadn’t cuffed her. Yeah, that had been the golden touch right there. Really, it was shocking that she wasn’t falling all over herself to be with him.

She’d been right after all; he was an idiot, and an ass.

Abby tried to jerk free, and she was strong for such a little thing. He hadn’t realized that about her. He’d known she was strong-minded, driven, that she enjoyed work, that she had a pair of eyes that cut through all his crap and saw the real him. Oh, and that she’d taken an instant dislike to him from day one.

Under normal circumstances, Hawk might have simply turned up the charm and tried to figure out where he’d taken a wrong step, but Tibbs had warned him way back on her first day to leave her alone. And he had.

Now he was extremely sorry he hadn’t cultivated more of a friendship with her regardless because he sure as hell could use her on his side at the moment. Big time.

“Abby, you have to listen to me.” Grabbing her shoulders, he backed her to a tree and peered into her face. “You’re in danger. We’re both in danger. I need you to-”

“Uncuff me.”

At the tension in her voice, he eased back. Normally she avoided him like the plague, but she did so with an indifferent disdain that was designed to turn him off, even though for some sick reason it always had the opposite effect.

But there was no disdain now. No, she had a look in those kill-me-slowly baby blues that spelled complete and abject terror.

She really believed him to be the bad guy.

Unbelievable. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, I only need to-”

“Let me go, Hawk.”

Her fear cut through him and broke his heart. “I can’t do that.”

“Let. Me. Go.”

“I hear you, believe me,” he said with real regret, protecting her with his body when a blast of wind brought hot ashes drifting down on them. “But I can’t do it, I’m sorry.”

“Won’t, you mean.”

“Okay, yeah. Won’t. Not until you listen to me.”

She glared at him with so much emotion spitting from her eyes, he nearly did as she asked and let go of her. Usually put together, she now had dirt streaked down a cheek and along her jaw, and her shirt was torn. So were her pants, from knees to thigh, exposing one of her world-class legs and the scratches she’d sustained.

She looked like a wreck. A furious, undone, adorable wreck. And he wanted to kiss her again. God, he’d give a limb to do just that.

Scratch that.

He just wanted to hold her. Hold her tight until she was safe, and no longer scared.

Yeah, explain that.

“You’re a wanted man,” she said. “It changes everything, Hawk.”

“Wanted for what, exactly?”

“For turning rogue!” Abby arched up with each word, bumping some interesting female body parts into many of his favorite parts. “For running the Kiddie Bombers! For shooting Gaines! Pick one!”

“I would, except for one thing. I am not running the Kiddie Bombers.”

“But I saw you shoot him.” Her voice quavered though her eyes did not. Nope, they were cemented to his, shiny with emotion and a self-righteousness, which normally made him want to wrestle her down and mess up her hair and wrinkle her clothes.

But she was already ruffled, which was just as well because he couldn’t summon even a shred of playfulness or his legendary calm, not with his heart lodged in his throat. “You have to trust me,” he said quietly.

She stared at him, then slowly shook her head.

Fine. Christ. Hawk was not a man used to explaining himself, but he gave it a go now, he had to. “Okay, I shot him, yes.”

“Oh, my God.”

“But it was in self-defense. This was all a crazy setup. Gaines has been running the Kiddie Bombers. He’s been re-selling the confiscated weapons, putting them back on the streets, probably at a pretty profit. But I got too close, and now I’ve become a problem to him. He decided to lay the blame on me and then fake his death.”

She stared at him like he’d lost it, and truthfully-he had. He totally had. “He’s still very much alive, Abby. I didn’t kill him, I swear it.”

He didn’t realize how much he needed her to believe him until she stared up at his face, her heart in her eyes.

“I know,” she whispered. “He can’t be dead because he called me.”

“He what?”

“He wanted to tell me you were the bad guy.” She stared down at the handcuff linking them.

“I’m not,” he promised. “But he’s feeling closed in by all the loose ends now.” He touched her face. “You’re a loose end, Ab. You’re in danger. He means for me to die here tonight, and now, I think he means the same for you. Please, let’s not let him win.”

Abby swept her gaze down the length of him, and he knew what she saw. Blood. His. Gaines’s. “I swear it,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Then uncuff me.”

“Do you promise to come with me, so I can keep you safe?”

“I’m not ready to promise you anything.”

This evening was not going his way. “Where’s Logan?”

“He was air-lifted out.”

That stopped Hawk cold. “What? What happened?”

“He fell from the barn roof.”

Christ. “Listen to me,” he said, gripping her shoulders and giving her a little shake. “Logan didn’t fall from any roof, he would never have fallen. Don’t you get it? He’s fucking with us, Abby, like we’re toys.”

“Then come in with me, and we’ll figure this all out.”

“By in, you mean turn myself in?”

It was all over her face, and he shook his head.

“Hawk-”

“I need to get to Logan, wherever they took him. He’s in danger, too.”

“Fine. After we go back, we’ll-”

“No.” He laughed harshly. “Let me save you some bullshitting time, okay? I overheard you and Watkins. If I go in, I go in charged for Gaines’s murder. Even though you and I both know he’s not dead.”