Chapter Fourteen

Laura

W hat the hell did that even mean— My mom would like you ? What was I supposed to say to something like that? Did it mean that he wanted me to meet his mom? That I would meet her?

I had no idea and I spent too damn long standing in the doorway, watching Hawk's big body as he walked away from me. His ass really was a thing of beauty. Then again, so was the rest of him. He was tall and all lean muscle and long hair. And he had me all twisted up sexually and emotionally.

"Get it together, girl." I closed my eyes and shook my head, and when I opened them again, Hawk was gone.

Thank goodness.

My heart was pounding in my chest and I was wide awake, so I decided to unpack my clothes and put them away. The second primary suite had an armoire, a dresser, and even a closet, which I took full advantage of when I spotted the clothes hangers, surely bought by his mom or sister.

I didn't bring much with me because I had no idea how long I would be here, but it was enough to get me through a week, more if I needed it to. It felt weird as fuck staying with a man I hardly knew. Then again, I'd already had sex with him, and unlike some other people in my life, he hadn't wasted any time getting to the hospital. He'd come when I needed him, and even though this was all pretend—mostly—he was proving to be someone I could trust.

Yeah, this was all kinds of fucked up and complicated. But for now, at least, it was my life.

"Shower. I need a shower." There was about fifteen hours of grime on my body. The bathroom was magnificent, decorated in shades of brown and green, and had a glass shower stall with a waterfall showerhead. "Wow." I wasted no time cranking the water to hot and letting the whole room steam up while I quicky undressed. The water was wonderfully hot, and the pressure was perfect as it beat against my skin.

I stood there for a long few minutes until I started to feel like myself again, but as soon as that happened, my tired brain woke up and started thinking. Analyzing. Overanalyzing. Who tried to run me over? Smart money would say it was the guys who tried to kidnap me, but I wasn't so sure. Watching them kill a man had me convinced they would just kill me if that was what they wanted. It seemed as if my life had gotten dangerous as hell lately, and I had no clue what to do about it.

I couldn't rely on Hawk forever, I couldn't pretend to be his girlfriend forever.

Could I?

"No," I said aloud to myself, and shook away that thought and all the other thoughts that might accompany a dumb as fuck thought like that. It's gratitude, that's all . I knew when we'd first met, he'd joked that he would make me fall in love with him, but as sweet as he was showing himself to be, I didn't get the impression that Hawk was the settling down type. I was grateful to Hawk even if I wasn't sure that living with him was a smart idea. I already felt myself softening towards him and I couldn't stop thinking about him or wanting to experience more pleasure with him. And just like that my thoughts are on his body. The way he used his mouth to make me feel like the most desirable woman on the planet.

My shower was over, but I was a shivering, quivering mess, and the only thing I wanted was Hawk. Naked and pumping into me, grunting and groaning like a man possessed by lust. My nipples were hard as I slipped on a t-shirt and stepped into a pair of yoga pants, glancing at my bed and then the door. Sleep or food? Who the hell was I kidding, the choice was between food or Hawk.

And I chose Hawk, because of course I did.

I stepped out of my room and my gaze immediately went to his bedroom. The door was open, but inside was empty. My next stop was the living room, until a sound in the kitchen caught my attention. I found Hawk at the kitchen table in front of a box of pizza, wings, and garlic bread. "Aw, honey, you made dinner."

His lips parted into a panty-melting grin that I felt all the way down to my toes and up between my thighs. "I even made those wings you like with the extra sauce." He punctuated the words by licking his fingers, and I bit back a groan.

Hawk was determined to tempt me until I jumped his bones. Again. I wanted to—badly—but the sight of the pizza awakened another appetite too, and my stomach rumbled in a very unladylike manner. "Thanks for dinner, but you didn't have to. You've done so much."

He shrugged and motioned to the chair across from him. "It's done. Let's eat."

Since I was starving, I didn't give him shit about being so bossy and instead took a seat and shoved a slice of pizza into my mouth, eating the whole thing without so much as a word. "I needed that."

He quirked a dark brow. "They don't feed you at the hospital?"

"Sometimes it's hard to catch a break, what with all the emergencies and people like you coming in with box cutter injuries." It was petty, but wanting him so badly was throwing me off balance. Why the hell did he have to affect me this way?

Hawk shrugged, his gaze filled with amusement. "Accidents happen. By the way I'm impressed with how you just inhaled a full slice of pizza."

"I was hungry," I insisted, feeling self-defensive.

"Hangry, go get another slice," he said with a grin waving at the pizza box with a chicken wing.

"I'm not hangry," I said defensively.

"I see. Well, I like a woman with a healthy appetite." His green eyes were damn near glittering at that double entendre.

It was too late to stop the flush that heated my flesh, so I didn't bother. I just met his gaze head on. "Good, because that wasn't enough." I grabbed another slice and put it on my plate along with a few wings, eating slowly rather than like a wild animal.

Hawk waited until I had two slices of pizza and four wings finished before he posed the question I'd been asking myself a dozen times since I sat down. "Who would want to run you over, Laura?"

I stared at him, I'd had time to consider this while I was eating. "My guess would be the gang dudes you saved me from."

Before the words were out of my mouth, Hawk was shaking his head. "They wouldn't fuck with you, wouldn't attempt to scare you. They would kill you. That's why you agreed to this plan because they were going to kill you, or did you think they wanted to kidnap you and hold you until you promised not to say what you saw?"

His words were woven with a thick thread of worry that settled like a weight around my shoulders. But I didn't want to think that was true. "Maybe they didn't want to kill Kristy too." It was lame, and his expression said he knew it.

"Los Ochos don't give a fuck about innocent bystanders. If she stood between you and a bullet, they'd send it straight through her to get to you."

The last wing sat like lead in my belly. "Are you trying to scare me?"

"Fuck no." He reached across the table to take my hand. It was a subconscious gesture, but it comforted me all the same. "I'm just trying to figure out who else would do this. I can't keep you safe if I don't know who else to be looking out for."

"I appreciate that, but what makes you so sure it's not the Ochos?"

He scrubbed his free hand over his face. "Because they don't have the manpower for a guaranteed war with us. When they do, they'll go fucking nuts, but until then, they wouldn't fight a battle they know they'll lose."

"And you're sure they don't?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's our job to know these things, and we keep a close eye on shit like that. It wasn't them, Laura."

He was so sure of the words he spoke that I believed him, and that terrified me despite how impressed I was with him in that moment. "So what you're saying is that there's someone else who wants to kill me? Great." I snorted to cover up the thunderous heartbeat I was sure the whole neighborhood could hear. I snatched another piece of pizza and took a big, unladylike bite.

"No. I think somebody wants you scared as fuck. I'm just trying to figure out why because it might help me figure out who. This looks personal."

Watching the way his mind worked was fascinating, and I couldn't look away even though I probably looked a hot mess with still damp hair and ratty old leggings. "You're like a detective."

"Except I get the job done. So, any pissed off patients? Angry ex-lovers? Jealous nurses or love rivals? A particularly memorable asshole you cut off in traffic?"

I thought about his question carefully because I wanted to give him an honest answer. "I do piss people off on a regular basis, but because it's good for them, not in a way they hold grudges and try to kill me. When people leave the ER, they usually go on to other doctors. And nurses." My hands shook. "Shit, not enough that they'd want me dead."

Hawk reached out again and put his hand over mine, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry for scaring you, but I need you to be more careful, Laura. The most dangerous enemy is the one you don't see coming."

He was serious, and that seriously worried about me. I tried for a laugh I didn't feel. "You're doing a terrible job of not scaring me."

His laugh was more genuine, deep and sexy. "Eat your pizza."

I pouted over the half-eaten slice in my hand. "I don't like you bossy when you're fully clothed." The words just flew from my mouth, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of taking them back, especially when his gaze darkened and filled with heat.

I felt his hands all over me as real as if he was touching me right there in his kitchen. "Good to know." There was a promise in those three words that I had it on good authority he would absolutely follow through on.

If I let him.

Who was I kidding, I would.

Yeah, living with this sexy biker was a terrible idea.

Terrible, but also so much fucking fun.