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  Colton glanced from his older brothers to Hawk. “What the hell is there to worry about?”

  Hawk blinked, belatedly realizing they didn’t know about him and Dawn. He should probably say something. “I hunted and captured a drug distributor who had been an acquaintance of mine in the military, and he apparently has escaped and needs to be found.”

  Colton shoved his hat all the way back. “And you didn’t tell me?” Anger rode the words hard, and his shoulders went large and stiff beneath his coat.

  “No.” Hawk met his best friend’s anger head on. “You’re newly married, and you have twins on the way. The last thing you have time for is chasing a drug dealer across the world with me. Besides, it could be dangerous.”

  Jake shook his head. “God, you’re a dumb sonuvabitch.”

  Quinn nodded, while Colton still hadn’t moved.

  “I’m sorry.” Hawk sidled away from the barbed wire and closer to the truck. If he got hit, he’d rather plow into steel than sharp wire. “But this is my problem, one I thought I’d solved before heading home, but I guess I was wrong. I thought the dangerous part of my job was over, but I’m going to have to go back to it.”

  “You’re family, you idiot,” Colton growled.

  Yeah, he was family. He needed to change that, at least for a while, in order to keep them safe. There was only one thing he could say to get them to back off and leave him alone. He didn’t want to do it, but to protect them, to protect everybody, he’d take the beating. So he planted his boots in the snow. “I slept with Dawn the night before last.”

  Silence roared in on a tension that took up all the oxygen. Even the wind quieted.

  Colton somehow moved to intercept Quinn, but Jake was still the fastest guy around. His fist connected with Hawk’s jaw before Hawk could blink.

  Lightning exploded through his head, and he started to go down.

  Quinn caught him before he hit the snow. “Jesus. Did you have to hit him so hard?”

  “Yes,” Jake growled. Then he leaned in, his breath heating the stars swirling across Hawk’s vision. “You okay, Hawk?”

  “Uh.” Hawk regained his feet and shook his head, wincing as pain lanced behind his eyes. “I’m okay.”

  Jake clapped him on the back and held tight until he gained his balance. “I should’ve pulled the punch more.”

  More? God. “I’m fine.” Hawk blinked, relieved when his vision cleared. “So I guess this is it.”

  Jake frowned and leaned in more. “This is what?” He winced. “Do you think I gave him a concussion?”

  Quinn grabbed Hawk’s lapels and jerked him around, studying his eyes. “His pupils are okay.”

  Hawk shoved him off and shook his head again. “Jesus. I’m fine.”

  Colton ducked his head to study Hawk’s jaw. “Man, mom is going to be pissed, Jake.”

  Jake grimaced. “Ugh.”

  Hawk tried to grasp the conversation, but his ears still rang a little. “I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to Loni.”

  Colton frowned. “Maybe he is concussed.”

  “I’m fine,” Hawk snapped.

  Colton snorted. “Mom will be pissed Jake hit you. He’s the one who’s going to be in the doghouse.”

  Hawk blinked and tried to keep his stance normal. “She’ll be mad at me.”

  “Nah.” Quinn clapped his arm around Hawk’s shoulders. “She’ll be thrilled. Let’s go grab breakfast, and we can figure out what to do about this guy you’re chasing, as well as the other part of your dumb-ass plan to finish off his organization all by yourself.”

  Hawk tried to shake his head again. “No.” This was all wrong. “You guys are supposed to be pissed.”

  Quinn shrugged and nearly knocked Hawk over. “You got hit, it’s done. You’re family, Hawk. Nothing changes that.”

  Emotion, unexpected and unwelcome, exploded in Hawk’s chest. Family. His eyes teared. “Maybe I am concussed.”

  Chapter Eight

  Good food fills a man’s stomach, warms his brain, and sends him jewelry shopping.

  ~The Lady Elks Secret Archives

  Dawn finished glazing the chicken breast in her cheery kitchen, muttering to herself the entire time. A fire crackled in the big stone fireplace, and snow piled against the windowsill. Hawk hadn’t called. After what had been the most amazing night of her life, the bastard hadn’t called in two days.

  So he had meant it that they needed to keep their distance.

  What an idiot.

  She’d even had trouble sleeping without him.

  An entire day at the office crunching numbers hadn’t helped any. Colton had been absent all day, so she’d spent some time talking to Anne and just working.

  Now she ate alone. Again.

  A rap on the door caught her up short. She wiped her hands on a towel and hurried to open it.

  Hawk stood on the porch, a bottle of Shiraz in his hand. “Hi.”

  She stepped back. Her hair was piled haphazardly on her head, she wore no makeup, and her yoga pants had a rip across one knee. Crap. “What are you doing here?”

  He lifted a shoulder and stepped closer. “I thought we should talk.” A dark bruise marred the left side of his chiseled jaw.

  “What happened to your face?” she asked, her heart sinking.

  “Let me in,” he said.

  She paused. In faded jeans and a black jacket, with his dark hair pulled back and his even darker green eyes glimmering with a light she couldn’t quite identify, Hawk was every possible definition of a smart girl’s oh hell no. She stood aside. “Come on in.”

  He brushed by her, surrounding her with the scent of snow and male.

  She closed the door. “I’m making chicken.” If any of her friends just showed up, she’d feed them, so why not Hawk?

  “Sounds good. Mel made steak last night.” He shrugged out of his jacket to hang it on a hook by the door. “I’d forgotten how good home-cooked food tasted.”

  The edge she’d always sensed in Hawk had sharpened, focused with a palpable tension since the phone call. For the first time in her life, she could actually see the deadly soldier he’d become. How surprising he’d been able to hide that side of himself so well through the years.

  Apparently he was done hiding. They’d seen each other naked, it had been fantastic, and now she didn’t know what to say. She casually smoothed back her hair and headed toward the kitchen. “Open the wine and have a seat.” Keeping her back to him, she tossed another couple of chicken breasts into the pan and smothered them with more of Mrs. Hudson’s chicken glaze. Dawn had stocked up during the Fourth of July Fair.

  Hawk worked smoothly beside her, uncorking the wine and pouring two glasses. “Come sit down.” He handed her a glass and trucked the few steps to the living room.

  Dawn swirled the wine and frowned. “When did you get so bossy?”

  He shrugged. “Sorry.”

  The guy didn’t sound sorry. She cleared her throat, her hand trembling around the glass. “This is weird.” Without meeting his eyes, she crossed into the room and sat on the sofa. He sat next to her, and her breath quickened. Her nipples hardened, just from his heat, and damn it, she wished she’d worn a bra.

  “I told your brothers about us sleeping together.” Hawk placed his glass on the coffee table.

  Fury rippled through her head. “You what?” she yelled.

  He calmly recaptured her wineglass, put it safely on the table, and turned to face her—serious eyes, bruised face, indomitable body. “I told them the truth.”

  “You moron,” she said slowly.

  He grinned, flashing a dimple.

  Her gaze dropped to his jaw. “Which one of them hit you?”

  “Jake.”

  Yeah, that made sense. She squinted. It was a hell of a bruise. “What happened then?”

  “We ate breakfast and I explained about Meyer, the entire story.” Hawk reached out to cup her chin. “I’m sorry I told them about us when I said I wouldn’t, bu
t we were all there, and I couldn’t lie.”

  Something in the statement didn’t make sense. “Baloney. You could lie.” What in the world had he been thinking? Her mind rapidly clicked facts into place. “You wanted them mad.” No way. Man, he was clueless sometimes. “You thought they’d turn their backs on you and let you deal with Meyer on your own.”

  “Yes.”

  She scoffed. “You’re so dumb.”

  His gaze warmed. “Apparently I miscalculated.”

  She exhaled, and her face heated. “If one of them, and I mean just one of them, tries to give me a safe sex talk, I’m kicking you so hard in the balls they’ll fill your throat.”

  His smile widened. “I hope all three of them give you the safe sex talk. Man, I’d love to watch that.”

  She shook her head. “So much for privacy.” Like there was any such thing in Maverick County. “Do my parents know?” Even an independent, grown-ass woman didn’t want her dad knowing about her sex life.

  “I doubt it.” Hawk’s thumb ran across her bottom lip.

  Heat flared from his touch, zinged around her torso, and landed squarely between her legs. “Uh, well, what happens now?” Her mind had pretty much blanked.

  His lids lowered to half-mast. “Your brothers and I are coming up with a plan for Meyer, and after tonight, you and I should keep our distance until we catch him. Just in case there’s any fall out, which is unlikely.”

  She blinked, disbelief shooting through her. “My brothers and you came up with a plan.”

  “Yep.”

  She sighed, wanting nothing more than to argue. “Like I said, you’re an idiot.”

  “Meyer is a moron, but he’s in bed with some pretty dangerous people. While I don’t think any of them know about me, or more specifically where I’m from, I don’t want to take a chance.” An intensity, one fraught with concern, overtook the atmosphere, a tension emanating directly from Hawk. “Trust me, Dawnie.”

  “I can take care of myself.” She was done being the overprotected little sister of the Lodge-Freeze clan.

  Hawk nodded. “I know, but you have no idea how to deal with somebody like Meyer or his cohorts. Thank God.”

  She shook her head, more than a little slice of hurt piercing her chest. “You see me as incapable as my brothers do. As a kid.”

  Hawk’s eyebrows rose. “Believe me, I see you as all grown up.” His gaze dropped to her lips. “All woman.”

  His husky tone of voice licked right across her skin, and she shivered. “You know I’m not gonna wait for you, right? I’m not playing the helpless girl hiding behind a bunch of tough boys, now or in the future, if you decide to go off hunting again.”

  Hawk slid a hand through her hair and twisted at the nape. “Tough doesn’t come close to what I’ll be to protect you.” His gaze didn’t falter from her mouth. “You don’t have to hide, but if you think any one of us will let you deal with drug runners, you’re crazy.” He leaned in and brushed his mouth across hers. “I’m not asking you to wait for me.”

  He wasn’t, now was he? That should hurt, but instead, fire lit through her. Passion and anger boiled in her blood, heating her veins. They might not have forever, not if he didn’t see the real her, but she’d take another night. One more to remember forever. Her tongue flicked out and slid along his lower lip.

  He sucked in a breath.

  Yeah. She smiled and did it again.

  His eyelids lifted, and his gaze met hers. “You sure?”

  “The chicken will take an hour.” Just the thought of what Hawk could do with an hour softened her thighs. Oh, he didn’t see her strength any more than her brothers did, that was for sure. But she’d wondered for so long, and the other night had been amazing. Part of her wanted to prove herself, to show him she was just as strong as her brothers, while the other part wanted to smack him in the head for being obtuse. He clamped a hand on her thigh, and her body took over.

  He smiled then, flashing smooth teeth in a warrior’s face. Promise and warning hinted on his expression.

  The promise she wanted, the warning she needed. A wildness lived in him, one similar to the thrum of her blood. For years she’d wondered if he could match her. Their people lived in houses and tamed the land around them, but every once in awhile, she could hear the distant drums of her ancestors. Primitive and untamed. Somehow, she knew Hawk felt it too.

  He turned, all casual muscle, and she ended up beneath him on the sofa. His hard body pressed her down, and his hands tunneled through her hair, loosening the tie. “I should’ve called last night,” he rumbled, his lips above hers.

  “Yeah. You should have.” She widened her thighs and lifted her knees. They tipped on the edge of the sofa. “You’re too big for the couch.”

  He grinned, and the world spun. She landed on him and then he rolled them over, once again stretched out on top of her. The thick rug cushioned her back, while the fire crackled over them. “Better?” he asked.

  Definitely. Hawk Rain above her, groin to groin, his chest lightly on hers? Perfect. Definitely perfect. “This will do,” she murmured, wiggling her butt to get more comfortable.

  “Glad to hear it.” Another smooth movement, and he’d forced her shirt over her head.

  She gasped, her insides quivering.

  “No bra,” he whispered, leaning down and licking a path between her breasts. Desire heated her, and she rubbed against him. He grinned, lifting up. “I bet that quickly, you’re ready for me.”

  Man, he was beautiful. Darker than danger eyes, hard face, pure lethal man. “I was ready for you five years ago.”

  The words changed him. Not in an obvious way, but in a moment as he paused and studied her. He shifted, fast and strong, and her yoga pants flew across the room. She jerked his shirt over his head, revealing hard muscle. Their movements became frantic as he shoved down his jeans and rolled on a condom with definite finesse.

  He caressed down her torso and over her abdomen, sliding one finger across her clit.

  Sparks shot through her.

  He gently touched her, and she could feel her own wetness coating her thighs. “You’re ready,” he murmured.

  Hell yeah, she was ready.

  With one hard push, he buried himself to the hilt in her.

  Pain and pleasure drove through her, and she threw back her head, arching her back. Too much. There was so much to Hawk. She breathed out, relaxing her body, trying to accept him.

  His face was suddenly right above hers, his gaze intent, possession glimmering in his dark eyes. “Wet and ready, Dawn. Like I said.”

  She blinked, trying to focus, overcome by so much sensation her brain misfired. Skin to skin, Hawk was better than she’d ever imagined. “I’d say you’re ready, too,” she breathed.

  His smile was all the more potent for its slowness. “Yeah. Now would be a good time to talk.”

  His dick pulsed inside her, and his heated body trapped her. Her sex clenched round him, and a desperate urge to move tingled through her nerves. “Talk later,” she moaned.

  “Now.”

  She tried to gyrate against him, and he grabbed her ass with one strong hand, holding her still. The other tangled in her hair and twisted, holding her easily in place. Her body trembled head to toe at the dominance, and the craving for him intensified. “Damn it, Hawk.”

  He kept her gaze, his eyes right above hers. “You’re wrong that I don’t see you, Dawn. That I think you’re weak or anything less than you are.”

  Her mouth gaped, and she stilled. “Then what’s the problem?”

  “You’re not seeing me. Not really.”

  She frowned, her nerves firing. “I see you.”

  “No. I was a sniper and a hunter in the military. You’ve never seen that side of me, and I want to keep it that way. Just trust me to deal with the problem, and then we’ll figure out us.” He slid out and back in.

  “Oh.” She couldn’t keep a low moan from escaping. “You’re not alone.”

  “
I know.” His fingers tightened on her butt, and he started to fuck. No other word for it. Hard and fast, he drove into her, hammering with impressive strength.

  Helpless in his hold, all she could do was feel. The first orgasm rushed over her, making her cry out, building again with seconds of completion. He surged deeper, holding tight, and tension rose inside her, until she couldn’t breathe. “Hawk,” she whispered.

  “There it is.” He angled up, hitting her clit, and she roared into an orgasm.

  The room flashed white and hot and her body convulsed as she came. The second she relaxed with a soft sigh, Hawk shoved inside and held still, jerking with his release.

  The fire crackled around them as they panted against each other. Dawn’s heart raced, and she took deep breaths to calm down. He nipped her lip and grinned. “Fuckin’ beautiful.”

  She warmed and smiled. Hawk Rain thought she was beautiful.

  He slid out of her and stretched to stand, pulling her up with him by the biceps. “Be right back.” Turning, all sleek muscle, he headed toward the bathroom, no doubt to get rid of the condom.

  Her knees wobbled. Swallowing several times, she yanked on her shirt and searched for her yoga pants. She spotted them on the kitchen counter. Grinning, she crossed the room and pulled them on. Grasping potholders, she took the chicken from the stove and dished up two plates.

  Hawk returned, fully nude. “We’re not eating naked?”

  Her mouth went dry. “Um.”

  He chuckled and grabbed his jeans from the floor, tugging them up and leaving the top unbuttoned. “Smells amazing, Dawnie.” He quickly secured the wineglasses and sat at the table. “Man, I’ve missed food.”

  She nodded and took her seat, suddenly shy.

  Hawk dug in. “Phenomenal,” he muttered, reaching for his wine. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  Her head lifted, and she smiled. “Anybody can cook chicken.”

  “Right.” He took another big bite, eating happily.

  She took a bite. It really was good. Mrs. Hudson’s glazes were known throughout Montana for their deliciousness. Something tickled in the back of Dawn’s brain, but she shook it off.