“What do we know about this guy?” I asked.
Hawk shrugged. “Not a damn thing. Not yet.”
“Well, I guess we’d better change that,” I said, finishing off the warm beer just to calm myself down. I was still pissed about the raid.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Hawk said, a look of fierce determination coming over his face. “I will.”
Sabrina
“How do you know how to make this stuff?” Butch asked as he took a big bite of the lunch I’d just made for us. We were in his apartment, which was pretty much the only place that we spent time together, other than the Blue Dog occasionally. I couldn’t risk being spotted with him anywhere else.
“It’s just a chicken and rice burrito,” I said with a smile.
“With guacamole that you made from scratch. And this spicy sauce you made. This is awesome.”
I felt a blush coloring my cheeks. Ihadworked hard on making this a good meal. It might look simple, but I made everything that I could from scratch and it turned out pretty well.
I loved the way that Butch reacted to the food I made for him. I had to wonder sometimes if anyone had ever bothered to cook for him before. He was always so impressed and complimentary. Maybe he was just trying to be nice, but I couldn’t help feeling lifted up every time he praised me.
“You know”—I picked up the notebook where I wrote down all of my recipes—“I started trying to perfect all the recipes in here when I was a teenager. I used to dream of starting my own café someday.”
“Used to?”
I gave him a small grin. “Yeah. Things don’t always work out.”
“That’s a damn shame,” he said, finishing off his burrito. “You’ve got a real talent for food.”
“You know, I thought it would be nice to have a good drink selection too. Smoothies and shakes and coffees. I thought it would be a good idea to get into business with the specialty coffee roaster in northern La Playa, Fletcher’s Coffee.”
“And the burrito goes on the menu?”
“Of course,” I said, but the excitement building inside of me wasn’t a good thing. We weren’t talking about something that was going to happen. I stifled my own enthusiasm. “In theory, it would be on the menu.”
Butch seemed to sense my shift in mood, and he reached out to trail his fingers along my forearm.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I stood, bending to give him a quick peck on the lips. “But I have to go. I’m due at the soup kitchen in ten minutes.”
Butch got up too. He always walked me to my car. This wasn’t a particularly bad neighborhood, but he insisted on doing it to make sure I was okay. This was the kind of thing that I wanted in a man. I didn’t need one that pulled out my chair and opened the door for me. I wanted a man that was strong and protective. One that worried about me even when there was no reason to.
* * *
“Sabrina, can you come into my office, please?” My father’s voice stopped me in my tracks on my way to my room. I had just passed his door, not even noticing that it was open until he called out to me.
“What’s up?” I asked, taking a seat on the couch by the window. He had chairs in front of his desk, but I didn’t like to sit there. It made me feel like one of his business associates instead of his daughter.
“I have some good news for you. I know that you have been looking for the right job since you got your degree, and I think I’ve found it.”
“You have?” We’d never even talked about this. I’d always assumed that my parents wanted me to get a degree in political science because I was marrying Hunter, who had such high aspirations.
“Of course.” He leaned forward, his arms resting on the big oak desk. The thing was an antique, with intricate carvings around the edges and a hidden compartment underneath. When I was growing up, I’d always thought that this desk was so big and impressive, the kind of workspace that an important man needed.
I still thought that.
“I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground, trying to come up with something that would suit you. I even considered a position with Jerry, but I know you don’t approve of his work.”
“Jerry?” I had no idea who he was talking about.
