It’s only when Melissa is out in the cold night air that rational thought seems to penetrate her brain. She plants her feet, and Hawk looks at her questioningly. “Doesn’t your girlfriend mind you taking strange girls on your bike?”
“Girlfriend?” He says the word as if it were a foreign concept and Melissa makes a note to herself that it should set alarm bells ringing. Hawk is clearly not the kind of guy that stays with one girl for long. Between his impossibly good looks and his confidence, it’s not hard to imagine that he probably has his pick of girls and is more of a love ‘em and leave ‘em sort. She doesn’t know why that makes her feel a little deflated.
“The waitress…Felicia.” She gestures vaguely behind her, releasing her arm from his grip in the process to allow her to think a little clearer.
Hawk laughs, a deep warm chuckle that she feels right down to her core. She folds her arms over her chest, and her chin goes up, not enjoying the fact that he seems to find her so wholly amusing. Hawk catches her expression and seems to register the fire behind her eyes. He holds his hands up in a surrender pose and has the decency to look a little contrite.
“Hey, don’t get mad, although it kinda works for you.” He throws her a cheeky wink and Melissa finds it hard not to smile. His expression sobers, like he wants her to take on board what he’s saying. “Felicia is a friend, that’s all. We’ve known each other a long time. She’s not my girlfriend.” Melissa feels the tension go out of her body at his words and the green-eyed monster of jealousy goes back into her box. Hawk watches her as if he can see through her and knows what emotions she’s going through. The thought of that is both disconcerting and exciting. “Better now?”
Melissa gives him a warning look, but it’s hard to keep up when a smile is creeping onto her lips.
“Good.” He nods, like he hadn’t expected any other outcome. “So tell your friend you don’t need a ride and let’s get going.” He strides purposefully towards one of the many motorbikes sitting outside the bar, clearly expecting her to follow.
Melissa looks down at her cell where she’d already drafted a text at the start of the night with the word ‘Monopoly,’ ready to send at the first sign of trouble. Without analyzing what she’s doing, she deletes the word and fires off a message to Ali to say that she’s making her own way home and not to worry. She shoves the cell back into her bag, knowing Ali will be lighting up her phone with message after message quizzing her and she’s not quite ready for that yet.
She takes a deep breath and follows Hawk who is now straddling his gleaming black and silver bike and holding out a helmet for her. They lock eyes and there’s a definite attraction between them. It’s an undeniable pull that clouds her mind.
“Don’t be scared, Melissa.” The serious look that Hawk gives her makes her wonder if he’s talking about the bike or something altogether different.
“I’m not.” She grabs the helmet, pulling it on and settling herself on the bike behind him.
He lets out a low chuckle. “Where we headed, Melissa?”
She smiles at the way he says her name. It feels almost intimate. She rattles off her address and he lets out a low whistle.
“So you’re a ‘right side of the tracks’ kind of girl. I can work with that. Hold on.” She doesn’t have time to ask what he can work with or to protest at the fact that he’s classified her as an ‘uptown girl.’
As the bike starts to move she lets go of any reticence and wraps her arms around his waist, feeling the warmth of his body through his leather jacket. He guns the engine and she holds on even tighter, partly out of a sense of self-preservation and partly because she just likes the feel of his strong body against hers. Between that and the powerful engine vibrating between her legs, it’s hard to concentrate on anything but how good she feels.
They zip through the streets and Melissa feels a euphoria that she hasn’t ever experienced before. It isn’t exactly a stretch to understand why bikers love the rush. By the time they pull up outside the little house that she and Ali are renting, the adrenaline is still pumping around her system. She pulls off her helmet and jumps off of the bike feeling pumped.
“That was amazing!” She’s breathless and her eyes sparkle with excitement.
Hawk looks at her in a way that makes her heart do somersaults in her chest. Zing, she thinks to herself. She breaks eye contact, handing him back his helmet and trying to get her brain back under control and stop it from going off on tangents to do with Hawk’s eyes, his strong hands and what she’d like him to do with them.
Stop it, Potter. Get a grip.
“Thanks for the ride and for your help earlier.” She waits a beat. “I guess I’ll see you around?”
Hawk doesn’t say anything. He just keeps looking at her until his eyes slide past her to the car behind. His eyes widen and he jumps off his bike to take a closer look. “Holy shit! Is that a ’75 Mustang?” He runs his hands along the damaged bodywork, looking like a kid at Christmas.
Melissa tries not to sigh at the realization that Hawk is more interested in her classic car than her. It’s a sobering thought and enough to snap her out of her daydreaming. “Yeah, it’s seen better days.” That’s probably the understatement of the century, she thinks to herself as she looks at the dented and rusted bodywork. “It was my mom’s. She’s had it since forever. It was my graduation present.” Melissa can’t help but smile when she talks about her mother. They had always been close and the fact that she would give Melissa the car that had meant so much to her completely outweighed the fact that the car was more or less a wreck.
“Helluva present.” Hawk plants his hands on his hips and surveys the car, looking impressed despite the sorry state it’s in.
“It was. I just wish it didn’t cost me so much to keep it on the road. I feel like I’m taking it to the garage for one thing or another more than I take it anywhere else!” She hugs herself to keep warm.
“You take it to a specialist? Someone that deals with classics like this?” Hawk squats down, inspecting every inch of the Mustang.
Melissa huffs out a laugh. “Specialist body shops cost money that I don’t have. I just take it to whoever will give me the best deal.” She shrugs. “I’m taking it in again tomorrow. It’s been making this weird sound and I’m just waiting for the day when the engine falls right out.”
Hawk looks at her as if she’d just told him she was a serial killer and shakes his head. He pulls out a card from his back pocket and hands it to her. She takes it automatically and reads the address of a place called ‘The Shop’ in the Pearl District, one of the trendier parts of town. She looks up at him with a raised, questioning eyebrow.
“It’s the body shop where I work. Bring her by tomorrow and I’ll take a look, see what I can do.” He gives her a measured look.
“Her?” Melissa teases him.
“The car.” He gestures towards the Mustang. “Trust me, it’s a she.”
“You’re a mechanic?” Melissa looks between him and the card she’s holding as the wheels in her brain start turning. She hadn’t thought about the Caged Kings having real jobs outside of their illegal dealings. But it made sense. They would need legitimate businesses to launder their money.
Hawk shrugs. “I’m pretty good with my hands.” It’s a line, but it’s a good one and Melissa feels the heat rushing to her cheeks. “So you’ll come by tomorrow?” He watches her expectantly and it’s the hint of vulnerability in his question, the fact that he seems to care about her answer that cinches it.
“Sure, that’d be great.” Melissa tells herself she’s going to go to the body shop because seeing Hawk is a good way to learn enough about the club to write a really good story. He just might be her way in. She tries to persuade herself that her decision has nothing to do with how handsome he is, or the way he makes her feel.
Hawk nods like he hadn’t expected any other answer from her and she wonders if she’s imagining the look of relief that flits across his face. A purring sound coming from Hawk’s feet breaks the moment and Melissa watches as he breaks into a smile, scooping up the grey ball of fluff that’s been entwining itself around his feet.
“Hey, little lady.” Hawk scratches behind her ear making her purr even louder. “She yours?”
Melissa swallows hard. The sight of this strong, sexy man going all soft over her kitten is enough to knock her off her feet. “Yeah, that’s Cat. I found her and just couldn’t bring myself to take her to a shelter.”
Hawk raises an eyebrow at her. “Cat? So how many times exactly have you watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”
Of all the things Hawk could have said, that is the one that she was least expecting. “You like Audrey Hepburn movies?”
He looks embarrassed, like he’s just been caught out and the sheepish grin makes the butterflies in her stomach take flight again. “Felicia likes Audrey Hepburn movies. That’s one of her favorites.” He shrugs and Melissa feels a stab of jealousy again at the intimacy he shares with the petite blonde waitress. A buzzing sounds from his pocket and he pulls out his cell, frowning at the message before he places Cat gently back down on the floor. “I have to go.”
Melissa shakes herself out of the doe-eyed staring she knows she’s probably doing. “Right, sure. I didn’t mean to keep you.”
Hawk smiles at her and closes the short distance between them. For one delicious moment she thinks that he might kiss her, but he just reaches up and tucks a strand of wayward auburn hair behind her ear, his fingers tracing a hot line along her cheek. His eyes flick down to her lips that she’s just moistened with her tongue and she feels the warmth of his stare. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Melissa.” His voice is husky and she knows hers would be the same if she had recovered the power of speech.
Without a backward glance he heads to his bike, guns the engine, and is gone, leaving Melissa staring after him. She forces herself to turn around and head towards the house, picking Cat up as she goes. The events of the day play through her mind, from her conversation with DeVry to the electricity that shot through her when Hawk touched her cheek.
You’re supposed to be investigating the Kings, Potter, not going all gooey over one of them.
She has to remind herself that the Kings are the bad guys, that they believe they’re above the law. But it’s hard to think of Hawk as a bad guy. Something inside of her won’t let her believe it. Her mother had always told her that she sees the good in people, no matter what, Melissa wasn’t sure if that was a failing or a virtue. When it came to Hawk, she knew what she wanted to believe.