“She can let Hawk know if she needs anything.” He set his hands on her hips, and his tone was soft but resolute. “You know I’m right, babe.”
“Yeah, I know.” She pouted.
He kissed the top of her head, tucked her to his side, and curled his arm around her lower back. “Charlotte, make sure your mom’s burner has all of the same numbers you have.”
“Won’t they be able to track Eddie and Hawk’s phones if I contact them?” They were already putting themselves at risk by helping her. The last thing she wanted to do was lead danger right to them.
“Our phones are encrypted, and Sammy and the folks on our tech team are the only ones who can track them,” Hawk said. “So you can stop worrying about us, Charlotte.” He handed her the phones. “Why don’t you get those car keys for Cole. Then we’ll get the phones programmed and get one to your mom.”
She reached into her bag, grabbed the rectangular plastic keychain with the loaner car keys, and handed them to Cole.
“Thanks. Go ahead and take care of what you need to at work. I’ll give Calliope a call.” He grabbed his cell phone. “Hawk, while I’m doing that, why don’t you check Charlotte’s bag for a tracker, then call Eddie and have him take Donna to her place and wait there until Calliope shows up.”
“You got it.” He nodded. “Charlotte, can you remove everything from your bag for me, please?”
Hawk really hoped he didn’t find anything because she’d already dealt with enough.
“Sure.” She set everything on the table and held out her bag out to him. “Here ya go.”
He ran his hands over it, checking every pocket, every seam, the strap. Cole turned to him for confirmation, and Hawk shook his head.
“There’s no tracker, Charlotte.” He set her bag on the table in front of her.
Well, that wassomething, anyway.
“Excuse me for a minute. I’m going to call Eddie.” He tapped his phone screen and stepped away to make his call.
“Here, Charlotte, you can write the name and address of the garage on this.” Dulce hurried over to her desk, grabbed a legal pad, and handed it to her.
Charlotte set the new phones on the table, slipped her pen from her notebook, and quickly scribbled the information down.
“Here ya go.” She handed the pad of paper to Dulce and put everything but her sleek silver laptop back into her bag.
She powered it up, logged into the system using an installed VPN program, and opened her calendar. The virtual private network would provide her with a secured connection. The first thing she did was send cancellation notices for a few appointments, then she clicked on her employee portal and marked herself out for vacation for one week, starting today.
“Okay, that’s done.” She logged out of the system and snapped her laptop shut. She slid it and the phones into her bag and stood.
“I am so sorry you got caught up in all of this.” Dulce pulled her in for a hug. “I know things are moving fast and it’s kind of scary, but I promise you, these guys are so freakin’ good at this kind of stuff. I just know everything’s going to work out.”
“Thank you.” She was so grateful for her reassurance. “For everything.” Especially her friendship.
“You’re very welcome.” Dulce gave her a last squeeze and stepped back. She cast a quick glance at the guys and lowered her voice. “Are you going to be okay with Hawk pretending to be your boyfriend?”
“I’m fine with it if he is.” She hesitated before whispering her concerns. “I just don’t know how believable it is that a guy like him would be dating me.”
“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Dulce propped her hands on her hips and glared at her. “You are an amazing, accomplished woman, Charlotte. You have a huge heart, and you care more about other people than you do yourself. Any man would be proud to be with you.”
“Yeah, but he’s …” She glanced over her shoulder at Hawk, who stood with his broad back to them, then turned back to Dulce. “He’s just so … incredible.”
“Well, from the way his eyes are feasting on you right now, I’d say the feeling is mutual.” Dulce gave the slightest tilt of her head in his direction.
Charlotte risked another glance over her shoulder. Her gaze locked with Hawk’s, and she couldn’t look away. Her insides heated, and she realized that pretending to be his girlfriend would either be the best thing to ever happen to her or a complete embarrassing disaster.
A sense of excitement and anticipation kicked up her heart rate, and she decided she was going to enjoy the ride while it lasted.
CHAPTER TEN
Theburnerphonesittingon Leonard’s desk vibrated. The new leather of his chair creaked when he leaned forward to grab it and checked the screen.
