Savage Collision: A Hawke Family Novel (Hawke Family #1)(53)

“Thank you.” Dani reaches out and takes it and then extends her hand to Storm. “You must be Storm.”

“I am, and don’t let Skye get to you. She’s the difficult one in the family.” Skye rolls her eyes and downs the remaining wine in her glass before climbing from her chair and disappearing into the kitchen.

Her attitude needs a serious adjustment. We all cut her some slack, but Dani means too much to me to let her scare her off. Not that I think that would really do it. Dani doesn’t scare easily and I imagine she had some choice words for Skye in response to whatever my sister threw at her.

Things have been going so well since we had our big fight a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want anything to get in the way of what is turning out to be a seriously good thing, maybe the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I won’t let this get fucked up.

Storm shakes Dani’s hand and ushers her to sit back down on the couch. She scoops Angelica up off my lap and plops down with her in the chair Skye just vacated.

“So, Savage tells me you’re an investigative reporter?”

Relief washes over me when Dani jumps right into an easy conversation with Storm. I knew I could count on the eldest Hawke girl to make her feel welcome.

With Dani in Storm’s capable hands, I set out to search for Gabe and Ben. I find them in the backyard, drinking beers on the patio. Skye must have joined my mom in the kitchen. It’s probably a good thing she’s not back here. I’m not sure I could rein in my anger right now. This is too important to me.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Ben reaches out and shakes my hand. Gabe nods.

“Nothing, except apparently Skye didn’t waste any time digging into Dani.”

Gabe’s lips press into a tight line and I know he’s just as annoyed with her as I am. Ben chuckles and takes a swig of his beer. “Well, that’s just par for the course. If she wants to hang with the Hawkes, she’s going to have to learn how to deal with Skye.”

I would have loved to avoid Dani’s trial by fire, but Ben’s right. It was only a matter of time and Skye doesn’t even let up on us, so there’s no way she is going to with someone new—especially the first girl I’ve dated since the accident.

“You think she’s gonna last?”

Ben’s question is certainly a fair one. After all, he knows about our rocky start. He also knows Becca bailed pretty quickly. It’s not out of the question for Dani to still disappear.

Gabe chuckles. “Dude, if you saw them together the way I have, you would know those two are hotter for each other than Texas in August. Plus, she keeps him on his toes, which he needs. She’s a tough chick. They will be fine.”

I wouldn’t have expected Gabe’s praises of Danika. It’s not that he doesn’t like her. I think he genuinely does, but he has been leery of me letting myself get too involved with her too quickly. Maybe that’s just being sensible.

Sensible.

I used to be the sensible one…before Danika. Now, I find myself saying and doing things I never would have before. I’m opening myself up to her in ways I never did with Becca, even though we were together for years, not months.

But, on the other hand, I haven’t been able to seal the deal with her either.

Not for lack of trying on both our parts.

She walks in the door, looks at me, says my name…just about anything and I’m hard as a fucking rock, but when we get anywhere near going past her gloriously talented cock-sucking, my heart races and I break out into a cold sweat and have to distract her from pursuing it any further.

I don’t know how much longer I can put her off without her saying something. She’s the most sexually-charged woman I’ve ever met and, so far, I’m not giving her what she needs.

And isn’t that a fucking bitch?

The fact she’s even lasted this long tells me there’s something deeper there between us, that I’m not just imaging it or feeling it without reciprocation.

“She’s not going anywhere,” I say with more conviction than I feel, but I also don’t feel like it’s a lie. She’s not going anywhere—if I have anything to say about it.

Ben tilts his beer toward me and smiles. “Good. You’ve definitely been less of an asshole since she came around.”

Gabe spits out his beer and coughs through his laughter.

“Gee, thanks, Ben.”

He holds his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it.”

After regaining control of his lungs, Gabe takes another drink before his face takes on a somber look. “Did your mom tell you about Stone?”

Fuck. What now?

“No, what about him?”

Gabe’s eyes flicker over to Ben before coming back to me. “Well, apparently he blew a deadline for some brief he was supposed to be writing or filing or something.”

Sure sounds like something Stone would do.

“Shit. Did they fire him?”

He shakes his head. “Not yet. They are apparently putting him on ‘probation’ and giving him another chance.”

“Jesus, that kid can’t even make it a couple months without blowing it, can he?” My frustration over my younger brother never really goes away, but things like this make it flare to epic proportions. He just can’t get his shit together and I have no fucking clue why.