Mystery Man (Dream Man #1)(46)

“We might be late,” Hawk replied, still not letting me go, “or not home at all.”

Oh my God.

My eyes flew to his face and got squinty but he missed this because he was looking over my shoulder at Dad.

“Right,” Dad muttered, turning back to the door as Hawk let me go then stepped back and bent to retrieve my bag and wrap. “Have a good time,” Dad called as he walked out of the kitchen.

“Later, Dad,” I called back, my voice sounding strangled.

Then Hawk’s hands were on me, he turned me so my back was to him and I felt my wrap settle on my shoulders.

Then he turned me to face him and handed me my clutch.

“Did that just happen?” I whispered.

“Yep,” Hawk replied, grabbed my hand and tugged me to the door.

“My Dad just saw us making out with your hand on my ass,” I added detail, just to confirm.

Hawk opened the door and pulled me through, repeating, “Yep.”

“Well, at least I got my Jimmy Choos before I died. Now you can take me to the nearest railway crossing and I’ll throw myself in front of a train.”

Hawk kept his hand firm in mine as he led me down the steps of the back stoop and toward the gate of my backyard and he did this while chuckling.

“I’m not finding this funny,” I told him as he lifted the latch on the gate, pulled it open and tugged me through.

“Babe, you’ve been married, he knows you aren’t a virgin.”

“Uh… yeah but –”

“And he knows what type of guy I am because he’s the same type of guy so he pretty much knows I’m not gonna have a hot piece like his daughter and not kiss her with my hand on her ass, not to mention do other things to her.”

“You can quit talking now,” I told him.

He beeped the locks on the Camaro, opened the door and ignored me. “You think he waited until he put his band on her finger to get your stepmom in his bed, babe, you’re very wrong.”

He shoved me in the car while I put my hands over my ears and chanted, “La la la,” over and over again.

Even though I was chanting, I could still hear him chuckling.

Hawk slammed the door and I buckled in thinking, time to move on.

Hawk got in beside me, fired up the Camaro and we purred from the curb.

Nice.

Hawk drove and he did this silently and he did this for awhile so I filled the conversational void.

“The security system is done.”

“I know.”

“Smoke taught us how to use it,” I went on.

Silence, then, “Smoke?”

“Your Numero Dos.”

“My Numero Dos?”

I turned to look at him. “Yeah. The Hispanic guy that supervised the work.”

Another beat of silence then Hawk burst out laughing.

“What’s funny?” I asked into his laughter.

“Smoke,” he said through his laughter.

“Uh… yeah. Smoke. That’s how he introduced himself.”

He stopped laughing but was still grinning when he stated, “Babe, he was f**kin’ with you. His name isn’t Smoke. It’s Jorge.”

I stared at him. Then I said, “He’s not known as Smoke?”

“Nope.”

“That’s not, like, his street name or something?”

A brief chuckle then, “No.”

“Why would he tell me his name was Smoke?” I asked.

“Because he’s like that and because you’d believe him and because you believed him, he probably found that hilarious.”

I crossed my arms on my chest. “Well, you have another guy named Fang. You’re called Hawk. Why wouldn’t I believe a name like Smoke?”

“Fang is definitely a Fang and Hawk is who I am.”

Fang was, unfortunately for him, definitely a Fang.

“No,” I stated, turning my head to look at him again, “you’re Cabe Delgado.”

“I used to be Cabe Delgado, Gwen, but shit happens in life and that man is still in me but now I’m not that man.”

Interesting.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“You still addin’ to your list of pros and cons?” he asked back.

“Yes,” I replied.

“The pros win out, Sweet Pea, and uncertainty becomes certainty, then I’ll tell you what that means.”

Now I wanted to know what that meant.

I decided my best bet for the moment was to pass on that.

So I looked back out the windscreen and changed the subject. “You have a girl?”

Something weird and tense filled the car and it was coming from Hawk when he asked back, “I have a girl?”

“The girl who got me my shoes,” I explained, freakishly scared to look at him due to the strange tenseness.

Then the tenseness evaporated, poof! like it was never there when he answered easily, “Yeah, I have a girl.”

Um… weird!

I hesitantly pressed forward. “What kind of girl?”

Hawk unhesitantly shared, “A secretary, receptionist kind of girl.”

Interesting.

“What’s her name?”

“Elvira.”