Janita found herself smiling too. Then they both laughed. In the little time she’d known his mother, she knew how exacting she could be too.
Then the laugher died down as reality set in again. She patted his muscular chest. “I’ll leave you to it,” she said as she began to leave.
But he took her by the hand and pulled her back in front of him. “Join me,” he said.
They were eyeball to eyeball. And Janita was amazed at how much she wanted to say yes. But she knew she had to say no. Every man she’d ever been with used and abused her, especially after she said yes. She was done with that. “Not a good idea,” she said.
“Definitely not,” he agreed. “Join me,” he said.
Janita stared at him. He admitted he would give her nothing in return, but he was still man enough to admit he wanted her?
Then his look changed to a kind of vulnerability she hadn’t seen in him before now. “I need it, Janita,” he said to her.
It seemed so uncharacteristic to her that she found herself searching his eyes for the meaning of it.
But he quickly pivoted back to his old confident, maybe even arrogant self again. “Let’s dirty up the water together because you need a bath too.”
She grinned. He had such an odd charm. But this man was off limits to her and she had enough sense to know it even if he pretended not to know. Her grin was gone. “Still not a good idea,” she said. Then she told him to leave his dirty clothes on the outside of the bathroom door so she could wash them, and then she left the bathroom.
Hawk was stunned that she turned him down outright once again. But oddly enough, he wasn’t sure if he was pissed with her, or pleased. Probably a little of both.
But truth was he didn’t just need to be with her, but he wanted to be with her too. And like every Webster, what Hawk wanted, Hawk got.
He got in that bathtub alone. But the night was young and he was certain his loneliness was very, very temporary.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
By the time Hawk got out of the tub and wrapped one of her beach towels around his naked body, Janita had already gotten his clothes, put them in the washing machine, and taken a bath herself. He found her in the kitchen. She grinned when she saw him. “You take longer baths than most women,” she said.
He smiled too. “It felt so good I kept dozing off.”
“I know what you mean. I could have stayed there all night too.” Then she saw what he was wearing. Ornotwearing. “I have an oversized bathrobe hanging on the back of my bedroom door. Why don’t you go get it?”
“No robe of yours is going to fit me,” he said, and Janita laughed. She knew it too. “But I’m good,” he said. “This big beach towel is enough coverage for me.”
Janita ignored that little comment. “Your tracksuit is in the dryer. It should be ready in about an hour.”
“Damn, Nita,” he said as he sat down at her small kitchen table. “You’ve been a busy bee.”
“Always,” she responded. She loved the way he called her by her nickname.
“What are you cooking? It smells good.”
“I’m heating up my dinner from yesterday. I figured you might be hungry.”
“You figured that right. What’s the dinner?”
“Neckbones and rice.”
Hawk hesitated.“Neckbones?”
Janita looked at the brother. “You’ve never heard of neckbones before?”
“Of course I’ve heard of them. I work in the music industry. What do you take me for?”
“That’s a strange answer.”
“How is it strange?”
