“It really is.” He stopped and watched the gate close in the rearview mirror and proceeded forward on a road that wasn’t really a road. It was basically two ruts worn in the dirt and gravel and surrounded by tall grass that came almost up to the truck’s windows.
With the window open, she could hear the tires crunching over gravel, the tall grass rustling, and ayip-yip-yipfrom somewhere that was carried on the breeze.
“Coyote pups.” He raised his arm and pointed off to her right. “There’s a den in those woods. They cry for their mother when she leaves them to hunt at night.”
“I think I’ve heard them a few times when we’ve been camping.” She’d never been sure what the sound was.
Hawk reached over, lifted her hand, and kissed her knuckles without ever taking his eyes off the road.
The memory of his words, “The first time I have you …”had Charlotte squirming with anticipation in her seat.
Were things between them moving too quickly? And why did the possibility of getting something she so desperately wanted fill her with an urge to retreat?
Of course, she knew the answer to that question.
She’d spent her life protecting herself from awful things that might happen at the expense of wonderful things that could’ve happened.
Charlotte refused to do that with Hawk. She was going to take what she wanted and, if necessary, fight to keep it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Leonardrolledintohisdriveway and noticed there were no lights on in the house. He checked his watch—almost eight thirty. He thought about what day it was and remembered Melissa had babbled something to him about going over to her friend’s house to play bunko.
Her friend’s husband—who’d made the mistake of sticking around for one of their hen sessions—once told Leonard that what they really did was sit around, drink wine, and trash their husbands.
He really didn’t give a shit why she was gone, just that the peace he’d enjoyed while cruising around in his baby would last a few more hours while he had the house to himself.
“I might even watch a ball game.” He reached up and pressed the button to close the roof of the car. The motor hummed and the well-oiled metal frame was nearly silent as it stretched open like a mammoth butterfly wing and gently settled into place.
He pressed the button on the remote clipped to the visor and waited for the garage door to open. The caddy took up every inch of one side of the garage, so slowly and with great care, he pulled forward, careful not to scrape the passenger side mirror against the wall. Once it was parked in just the right spot, he cut the engine and swung the door open just enough to squeeze through the opening.
Leonard walked around the back end of the car to give it a once-over before heading to the door leading into the house. Confident his caddy was clear of the garage door, he pressed the button on the wall. The motor hummed and the chain rattled against the bar as the door was lowered into place.
“Sleep well, baby.” His phone buzzed in his pocket as he stepped into the dark kitchen. He snatched it free, checked the screen, and took the call.
“Where the fuck have you been, Vinny?” Leonard’s anger masked his concern for his friend, whom he hadn’t heard from in hours.
He hung the keychain on the hook by the door.
“I was taking care of things with the Cavanaugh broad.” He was breathing heavily, and it sounded like he was running. “I was finally able to track her location, and I’m heading out to pull some guys together to go after her.”
“Wait … back up a minute.” Leonard strolled over to the refrigerator, opened the door, and the inside light spilled across the tile floor. “If you were able to track her phone, why didn’t you do that earlier?”
Last update he’d gotten from him was that he’d lost her.
“She must’ve shut her phone down, so I wasn’t able to track her.” There was athumpof a car door closing in the background.
Leonard closed his eyes and tapped the phone against his forehead to gather his patience. Yelling at Vinny was a waste of time—the guy grew up getting his ass chewed out by pretty much everyone and had become desensitized to it.
“But you just said you tracked her location.” He grabbed a beer and slammed the door shut.
He held the phone between his ear and shoulder, twisted the cap off the bottle, and tossed it onto the counter. The damn thing sailed across the slick Formica, dropped off the other side, and landed on the floor.
Leonard loved Vinny like a brother, but his friend wasn’t playing with a full bag of marbles. Let’s just say, starting in about the sixth grade, his attendance at school had been spotty, at best. Him graduating from high school had more to do with the faculty being tired of dealing with his shit than it did with him meeting even the minimum standards.
But he was street-smart, loyal, and would do pretty much whatever Leonard asked him to do. Considering the players in this deal with HRA, he needed someone he could trust to have visibility to what was happening over there and who was looking out for Leonard’s best interests.
“I got a call that she went back into the office and was getting ready to take some time off.” A car engine started.
