CHAPTER TWO

“It was time to go to the mountain. And the mountain looked good in biker boots.” - Gia

 

I can do this. He might not even be in there. She coached climbing out of her car, she looked across at her father’s favorite hangout. The motorcycle club was a big, gray sprawling building on one level on the outer limits of Austin Texas. If she looked to the left, she’d see inside the auto repair shop that was four cars deep. Across the courtyard were offices and further still was extensive Texas fields. It was out of the way of everything. Not convenient to meet her dad for lunch, but when she’d made the offer, it was with ulterior motives.

He might not even be inside.

Here she was, highly skilled in her field of psychiatry and she felt as though she was ready to have a fix of her drug of choice.

Gia’s belly was rolling in the same way it did that time she skied in Austria and she faced the highest mountain. Daunting but ultimately one of the greatest experience of her life.

She could do this.

She could walk in there in hopes of seeing Hawk.

She just had to throw caution to the wind and push herself down the mountain.

Strange really. For a woman who’d attended college a whole two years early and spoken in keynote psychiatry seminars just this past summer for some of her peers, those nervous times were nothing in comparison to how she felt taking step after step towards the entryway.

Her heart thumped loudly.

She swallowed repeatedly.

Hell, she’d lived her whole adult life crushing on this man. He’d rejected her in varying ways, even when he didn’t know it and she’d survived. This was nothing, she coached herself. Lifting her purse onto her shoulder, she clutched it like she thought she was about to be strip searched at the airport.

“Hey, look who it is!” She heard in a smoke-rasp boom the moment she was inside. It was months, maybe even a year since she was last at her dad’s MC.

Did she like the self-contained world these men and women made for themselves?

Not really. It was like a world within the real world, she couldn’t fully understand their society mind-set and she’d always known they practiced more towards the illegal way of life.

Her uncle Rex was a great example of that.

If anything, it intimidated her.

The same life her brother embraced, thrived in, scared her.

And she was in love with one of them.

Fucking ironic.

She smiled and waved to Jace, he greeted her in a back-slapping hug that could have ruptured a lung. “Hey, Jace. How are you doing? How’s Josie and your boys?”

“You’re looking real pretty, darlin’ I was just telling your old man here you need to stop by more often. My brood are doing good. Cam got accepted into Stanford for environmental science. Can you believe that shit?” He said with pride brimming out of him.

Gia smiled and patted his arm. “That’s amazing, it’s a great college.”

“Yeah. The boy will turn out alright, I reckon.” His other son was in prison for armed robbery.

Gia pressed a kiss on her dad’s cheek. “Hey, dad. Sorry, I’m late. I hit traffic on the way here.” While the two friends ended their conversation, she was scanning her gaze.

Searching him out.

Her heart tripled in beats. Palms sweated.

 “Ready?” Her dad asked, and she tried not to smile with disappointment at not initially seeing Hawk. “We can hit up that Mexican place you like.”

“Sure, dad.”

And then the crowd of guys in the direction of the bar area parted.

“This one must get all her smarts from Annie. It’s not from you, Dog.” Laughed Jace, though she barely heard a word of praise for her mom.

What with her eyes locked on the big, blond brute straddling a bar stool. Part way facing the room he had a black boot braced on the floor, the other was on the stool rung.

Jesus.

His massive body was just … sprawled.

Big, beautiful and just present.

A little dirty, a little angry. All masculine.

The first hit of Hawk was always staggering, especially long periods of not seeing him.

His shoulders seemed more defined, like you could cut glass on them and carry a donkey on each one with no exertion at all.

People came up to greet her. Gia smiled and said her hello’s, all the while her eyes were on Hawk.

And then he turned.

Just raised that blond head and stared directly at her as if he’d been waiting for the optimum time to clash gazes.

Gia took everything in. From his long, tapping fingers. The cant of his head. The way his thick hair brushed his shoulders and met up with the messy beard.

She wished she could see his mouth under all that hair.

But his eyes.

Oh, dear god. His eyes.

Crystals.

As a woman, there’s not a more intoxicating feeling in the world than being visually undressed by the man you crave. Pure lust warmed her body until her fingertips tingled.

One of the older men asked about her work and she tried, she really tried to smile and give him an answer that made some sense, so she could give him the chance to reply and let her look back at Hawk.

He was still watching her!

Oh, god.

Her knees were jelly.

She felt the blush as she smiled a little and gave her bag a lift on her arm though it didn’t need it.

The fire was licking her all over.

Arousal and all those banked feelings for him were there as always.

Bigger. Bolder.

For years she’d wanted this man and it never wavered.

It was present and as new as it had been on day one.  

He looked so introspective, she thought.

He was about as opposite as the men she’d dated as he could get. Where they wore suits and four hundred-dollar shoes, Hawk was in simple denim jeans that clung without being tight. A sleeveless black Misfits T-shirt, the front of it tucked into his jeans, his leather vest all the bikers wore, and a chain hanging out of his pocket.

Had a man been sexier?

All her hormones were barking as she tried hard not to sweep her eyes over the veins and dusting of light hair on his forearms.

This was true arousal, she thought. This was chemistry at its basest form.

Raw and unfettered and crawling across the floor to the object of her sexual longing.

Swallowing hard, it was only her dad’s voice that diverted her attention and when she looked up into his face, he was stony. His eyes bounced behind her and Hawk.

“Ready?”

“Yeah. Take my keys, I won’t be a minute.” She told him.

“Why?” His brow furrowed. “Where are you goin’?”

“I saw Hawk, Ambrosio’s friend from Colorado over there. I just wanted to say hi for a quick minute.”

For once she just wanted her dad to not do his overbearing father thing and question her. But he got that look on his face, the one that said he was about to get real mad, real quietly.

“What in the good fuck do you wanna talk to the likes of him for?” He questioned in a hushed snarl.

Gia rolled her eyes. “You do remember your grandchild, yes? Ambrosio’s daughter? I wanted to ask him how she was.” Though she knew, Gia was in constant contact with Zara in a group text app and she’d already been twice to visit the gorgeous princess. Once right after Harper was born and then again at the beginning of spring. Being so far from her niece was the reason she’d put great thought into relocating so she could be a bigger part in her life. It wasn’t as though Ambrosio would ever come back to Texas, not while he was head of his own MC plus the state of his relationship with their dad kept the pair far apart.

Nothing to do with Hawk living in Colorado, a pointed voice whispered.

“Hmm.” Ajax retorted. She saw by his eyes he didn’t believe her excuse. “Don’t take too long, I’m starvin’.” He took her keys, gave an ugly stare she wondered about towards Hawk and then strode off.

 

******

 

No one approached Hawk usually.

She didn’t seem to have that problem swishing her hips, her eyes focused and smiling like she could give a fuck he was glaring even as his blood turned to cold slop in his veins. Terrified of her growing closer. Look at her so brave, he thought.

Hawk was never prepared to be this close to Gia, no matter how much he thought he could handle it, it still fisted his gut. Up close he saw every fleck of color in her eyes. There was enough sharp wit in her tongue for her face to already be slipping into a grin even before she said anything. She’d tease, he knew that, and was braced for the sweetness of her tone. Gia was about the smartest person he knew, but she had the humor of a teenage boy.

Gia was unforgettable, and he’d tried countless times to wash her from his brain. She’d grown into an incredible woman and he wondered not for the first time why some idiot hadn’t married her yet.

He could get lost in her eyes if he weakened for a second. He couldn’t, wouldn’t. He’d been compelled in her innocence, intelligence and tenacious energy for life when she was little more than jailbait and him too fucking old to be looking that way at his friend’s sister.

Lust and irritation tag-teamed inside his head, boiling his blood, making him sound gruffer than he intended.

And he was fully-fucking-erect before she’d even opened her gorgeous mouth.

When she leaned back like that, popping her hips out naturally, he had all kinds of thoughts that made his palms sweat. Thoughts of grabbing onto those narrow hips and—shut up, shut up, shut up. Too late, that train left the station, filling his revolting brain with vile thoughts of getting her off in all the ways he could think of, using his mouth, his fingers, his dirty dick, he wanted it all until there was no more come in her. His mind was a hazard zone, a no-go area for her, but he seemed to have lost that memo because all locks flung open and let in the filth.

Dick hurting.

More guilt.

There it was. Tickling the back of his fucking throat. That batshit crazy need to quench his thirst in her over and over until he was dead. She got within miles of him and that was all he could ever think about. An itch. A pull. A fucking magnetic enticement to the one woman he couldn’t have.

The savage possession at no time altered. If anything, it was as fucking monstrous as him. It lingered and clung to his skin making Hawk think things he had no business thinking about. He already knew if he allowed himself to fall and sink into her she’d be the best pussy he’d ever had.

She’s a fully-grown woman now, a voice all slick like a horny motherfucker whispered. No longer an innocent baby, take her, fuck her, fill her up, plant your nastiness in her.  

 

 

******

 

Here goes nothing. One by one her nerve endings started to hum the closer she got to being in the same breathing space of Hawk.

Gia was not afraid of confrontation of any kind, good or bad. This felt so much different.

Life changing, possibly.

It could be the start of something amazing, she thought. A story to tell the kids.

Whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself, dummy, the man doesn’t even look happy to see you.

He watched her walk over and for the first time in her life Gia was conscious of her stride. Was it too long? Too lumpy? Not enough sway. She was no runway model and didn’t think she had much hips to be enticing, but she’d taken a big effort this morning to look as good as she felt and to feel confident in that vanity, so she lifted her chin and smiled the closer she approached.

Nothing altered on his face. Not a flicker of emotion she could guess at.

“Hi, Hawk. How are you?”

His chin tipped. “Gia.”

One word.

That was it. And she was dying inside to jump into his arms.

Every organ swelled.

To look at Hawk, you wouldn’t ordinarily think he was a handsome man at first, he had too much hair for one, it hung in straight blond sheets on either side of his face and met up with the long, messy equally straw colored beard that framed his lips. The black t-shirt hugged his thickly defined biceps. Tucked into his washed-out jeans her eyes went down and found his clunky biker boots to be surprisingly attractive on his long legs.

She got close enough to be struck with that stare.

The one that could turn her inside out.

The unblinking, shrewd stare that went from her face down to her chest, down and back up again making her feel touched over ever inch.

She had to remind herself this was what she’d planned and to please remember to breathe!

His eyes were the clearest blue, almost white in some lights with a pinprick of black for his pupil.

When she inched close enough she picked up his smell. Clean and masculine. Nothing fancy or expensive she guessed.

It was just Hawk.

Just perfectly him.

“At least you’re not racing off this time.” She chuckled nervously referring to when she walked into Gem’s Eatery and there he was. He’d grabbed his wallet and left with barely a chin lift.

Nerves dogging her voice box, she cleared her throat and brushed wisps of hair from her face, he followed her hand but came right back to her eyes.

The look was unnerving.

And hot.

So incredibly hot.

Like he already guessed why she was in front of him.

“Are you here for long?”

“Not long, no.” His voice raspy and sexy and oh, god, she was so hot when he streaked his gaze over her face in that slow unhurried way she wished she’d gone for shorts instead.

Since he wasn’t trying to lead the conversation, and cognizant of her father waiting for her outside she tried to spit out the words she’d come to say and ended up by rambling.

Gia was not a rambler for goodness sake.

“I was just talking to dad,” okay, that was weird, Hawk’s eyes darkened, and a scowl tightened his mouth. “About Harper. Have you seen her?”

“Yeah.”

He was not making this easy. Goddamn.

But then, Gia never thought he’d be easy. Everything she knew about Hawk was the opposite of easy.

“Let’s go, mikrí kóri!” She heard her dad hollering her childhood nickname little daughter from the open doorway. She held out her hand for him to give her a minute.

“Look, I have to run, impatient, starving father outside. Hawk … can you drop by my place tonight? I want to talk to you about something.”

Both blond brows fell over his eyes so dramatically she almost laughed.

Instead, she did something she hadn’t done in years. She reached out a shaking hand and laid it on his bare forearm, the soft hairs tickling her palm. He flinched under her but didn’t pull away.

“It’s important. Please? Any time after I finish work at six.”

“What is it, need someone killing?” She could tell he meant it sarcastically.

Dropping her hand, Gia grinned and began to step away. “Something like that.”

His brows did that thing again, only in the opposite direction up towards his hair this time and his mouth dropped open then shut just as swiftly. “You’ll come?”

Hawk was her brother’s vice president. Whatever that role meant in an MC, but she wasn’t a Marinos in name only.

Gia was also nosy.

And had made it her sly business over the years to squirrel enough information about Hawk as she could from everyone in his club.

Who knew criminally minded bikers were such gossips? Her favorite gossip was her darling uncle Jed. That man could talk for hours on the phone.

“To hear who you want murdered? Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.”

It was the most words he’d said to her in however long. Gia beamed him a grin and watched his eyes go up and down her legs.

Oh, dear god. He was checking her out. He was checking her out! She was no longer resenting wearing her pink skirt.

Thank you, Grace Kelly.

“I’ll text you my address.” She finger-waved and almost fell over her own feet when he added; “I know where it is.”

Why was Hawk knowing her address so fucking hot?

If she wasn’t going back to work in an hour she’d drown herself in a celebratory martini.

 

******

 

“You kept that quiet, son.” Coughed a tickled voice behind him. When Hawk was finally able to drag his filthy eyes from Gia’s retreating ass and watch her climb into her car, he swerved on his seat to see the old man grinning like a damn fool at him. With his missing front teeth and wrinkly tanned skin, he was a walking mummy.

Hawk rolled his eyes. “What you harping on about, old timer?”

“Dog’s girl.”

His heart was still banging under his ribcage.

Fuck.

She’d been right there, so close he could have roped arms around her and buried his nose in her throat. Her scent already attacked rendering him dumb as a fucking post throwing out one-word answers.

His dick hurt, he heeled his groin telling it to calm down.

Go to her house? Her actual house. The house he’d stood outside a million times and watched lights pop on and off, that house?

What the fuck did she want from the likes of him?

Maybe she really did want someone knocked around.

For a flicker of a dark, nasty second Hawk smiled to himself. He hoped it was that lanky briefcase shithead. He wouldn’t mind putting the hurt on that one at all. It would be his absolute pleasure.

Krusher’s voice waded through his dark fantasy. “You got a thing for the sweet girl dontcha? She’s a good one is that Gia. Smart too, heard she went to some fancy school and now has her own doctor practice or something. She’s always been sweet to me.”

Course she has, he scoffed. Gia was sweet to everyone. Even dickheads like himself who didn’t deserve it. How cruel had he been to her over the years and still she came back, offering him wishes on his birthday, texting random shit that made him smile and look at time and again like a fucking teenage girl with a crush. This one-time Snake almost caught him nose deep in his phone re-reading messages from Gia and Hawk punched the top of his bicep so hard to get him the fuck away he was knocked over his own bike ass first.

Hawk kept his trap shut about Gia. This only made Krusher cackle. “I got eyes in this old head, son. She’s sweet on you, too. I can tell. She looked at you the way my Stella looked at me when we were first courtin’.”

Nails raked on the inside of Hawk’s skull. She was sweet … on him?

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, old man. You been huffing the pot again? Chewing the ganja brownies?”

Krusher laughed good naturedly. Hawk had no idea why the old man kept on hovering around him like a gnat.

He also didn’t know why he allowed it.

Scowling, he rose and patted his pocket to check for his wallet and keys. He had two dickheads to trail behind for a few hours.

“Keep out of trouble, old man.”

“Take her flowers, son. The ladies love flowers. And try to smile.”

Crazy old fool. He rolled his eyes and strode towards the door to climb on his bike.

The noise between his ears was a dull roar.

He was seeing Gia later.

His obsession was practically licking its chops for a genuine look at her without doing it sneakily.

He was so fucked.