After Alexa went home to work on her unpacking, Hawk paced the floor with Damian, thinking about all that had happened through the day. He started by recalling each of his jobs that day. That got him fired up, but then he thought through the encounter with Natalie. And then he got really pissed.

 

What in the world was wrong with him? She was hot and she’d been cool with him. She’d said no strings attached. She wasn’t looking for a relationship, just a good fuck. So what was the problem? Why the hell didn’t he take her up on it and just jump her? There was no good reason. He told himself it was because of Damian, but that was a cover.

 

It wasn’t like him at all. He’d gotten a reputation in his MC for screwing anything that moved. And when something presented itself in such an easy way as Natalie had he normally wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Maybe it was this new fatherhood thing. Maybe it was making him soft, being with this baby all the time.

 

And there was another thing nagging at him. As hard as he tried to push it back down, it was there. It crept into his mind, into his heart. Alexa. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the first time he saw her. And then she’d been there to help him care for Damian. She’d stayed all night and all day. She said she’d help him out watching the baby until he found a new babysitter. She was fabulous. Smart and together, gorgeous and caring. She had a thing for bikes and babies.

 

But there was something else. She seemed a little too perfect. A little too convenient. Who gave up their whole day and accepted a job offer on the spot from someone they’d known a day? Something about her being so helpful reminded him of those goofy chick flicks where a mother paid a woman to change her son and all the sudden his dream woman walks into his life. Until he finds out she’s something totally different.

 

He certainly didn’t have a mother to do something like that. None of the guys in his MC, those who knew him best, would pull something like that. It was too cruel in the end, likely too expensive, and they would never even think to do something like that in the first place. Hugh was gone, and there was no one else who cared so much for him that they’d hire a woman to keep him company.

 

But maybe she had a different game. Some kind of gold digging thing? With her own house and car and career that seemed unlikely. Could she be some sort of baby stealer? That made him stop cold. What if he came home one day and she was gone and so was Damian? No. He had far too many connections in those sort of markets to have something like that go down without him being notified and even if it did he’d be able to recover his nephew and kill his neighbor before she got too far.

 

He was being silly. He looked down at Damian and bounced him. This baby was making him nervous and worried and paranoid like he’d never been in his life.

 

“It’s all your fault,” he said in a cutesy baby tone.

 

Damian gurgled back at him.

 

What he really needed was to get his ass to bed and see the guys. He had to get over to the Kings of Chaos headquarters. Get away from this dad life and drink some beers and shoot some pool with the guys for a while. That’d get him thinking clearer.

 

He left in the morning after Alexa arrived, exactly at the time he’d asked her to. She was cheery and bright eyed, and that made him even more suspicious. But she also looked hot in her fitted top and skinny jeans.

 

While he was working, he tried to figure out what her game could be. She didn’t seem to need or want anything from him. He really didn’t know much. Not enough for him to be trusting her with his baby, that was for sure. What had he been thinking leaving Damian with her without even running a background check or anything?

 

He could call and have one run. Then he realized he didn’t even know her last name. What an idiot. Such a basic thing he’d completely overlooked. His face grew hot and he felt like needed to get home as quickly as possible. He had one more job that had to be done that day. The rest could wait.

 

He hurried back and did not call or text her to let her know he was coming. Better that way. Keep her on her toes. He burst in through the front door.

 

The kitchen and living room were empty. “Alexa?”

 

He turned down the hall where the bedrooms were. A shadow moved in his bedroom, then Alexa appeared, holding Damian. He narrowed his eyes at her.

 

“Oh thank, God, it’s just you,” she said. “I heard a loud bang and the door opened. I didn’t think you’d be home yet. I thought someone was breaking in so we ran to hide.”

 

“In my bedroom?”

 

“I thought you probably had weapons in there. Guns or knives or something, and that would make it the safest room in the house.”

 

 “Gosh.” She put her hand over her heart. “My heart is racing. I was scared to death.”

 

“Sorry,” he said. “Come sit down. Let yourself calm down a bit.”

 

She followed him into the living room where he took Damian from her and sat on the couch.

 

“Early day?” she asked.

 

“My schedule can be all over. Sometimes it goes like that. If I can’t find the cars I’m looking for, there’s little for me to do.”

 

She nodded. “Makes sense. It’s nice being able to make my own hours. I guess I’m a little spoiled by it.”

 

“What is it you do?”

 

“I work from home.”

 

“But what do you do while you’re working from home?”

 

“Oh, I just started a private investigator business. It’s kind of fun. I get to play detective all day, figure things out, find things out about people.”

 

He narrowed his eyes again. Was she finding things out about him? He had plenty to hide, and there was plenty that could be found if someone knew where to look. “Oh yeah? And what sort of things do you find out?”

 

“Oh, it’s mostly jealous wives thinking their husbands are cheating. I track them online, occasional stake-outs. I don’t do that often, though. Usually, the husband isn’t really cheating. The wife is just insecure or something.”

 

He stared at her. Was she for real? Suddenly, she was talking like she was clueless girl fresh out of college, new to everything. She hadn’t seemed like that at all before. She’d come off as having lived a hard life. “What did you do before?”

 

“Just went to school. Community college. That was all I could afford. I worked my way through college, doing whatever I could. Retail, doctor’s office receptionist, call center worker. And watching tons of crime investigating shows in my free time.”

 

“You find those informative, do you?” Those shows were a bunch of fake crap and everyone knew it.

 

“No.” She laughed. “Those shows are so fake. They just kept me inspired, thinking of how I’d do that stuff for real someday, solving real crimes. Some day when I can move on from cheating husbands to real stuff like finding missing people, missing kids especially. I think that’s where it’ll really start to pay off. If I can find a kid whose parents are out of their minds with worry and bring him or her home… what’s better than that?”

 

“Not much, I guess. Are you any good at your job?”

 

“I’m still learning and starting out, but my clients have been happy so far. The one time I did find evidence of a cheating husband, the photos and emails I gave her was enough for her to take him to court and get more than her prenup allowed her. That was a huge win. She was devastated by what he did. She didn’t want to have to move her kids out of their home, and with my help, she didn’t have to.”

 

“How many cheating wives have you caught?”

 

“Surprisingly, I haven’t had a single husband come to me yet. Maybe men aren’t as suspicious as women. Or don’t have the same intuition for that sort of thing. Or maybe they just don’t care as much.”

 

“I’d care if my old lady was cheating on me,” he said. “I’d have her ass.”

 

“What’s what makes you special. You care. You’re raising this baby that isn’t even yours, taking on a huge responsibility. That says a lot about you, Hawk.”

 

“Does it, now?”

 

She pulled her mouth into a half smile. “Why do you think I’d offer to help you so much? I barely know you. But I see that you’re selfless, that you’re loyal and loving, or else you would have let Damian go somewhere else. You were concerned when he was sick and did what you had to do for him. It takes a strong character to do all of that.”

 

“You like a strong character?”

 

“Who doesn’t? I don’t know anyone who would say they want someone selfish, unloving, and disloyal. Do you?”

 

“I guess not. You just might be reading too much into it. I’m not that great of a guy.”

 

She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve always been good at reading people. I wouldn’t survive as a PI if I wasn’t. You don’t have to try to play it off and act tough around me.”

 

He sat and bounced Damian on his knee. “You think that’s what I’m doing? Sitting her, playing with a baby, acting tough? What does your boyfriend think of you being here like this with me?”

 

“Don’t have one. I’m single.”

 

“And what about your family? They nearby?”

 

“What’s with the twenty questions tonight?” she asked.

 

“I realized that you’re staying here with my baby all day and I don’t really know much about you.”

 

“Well, I have family. My sister lives a few hours away. My parents live near her.”

 

“You moved away from your family?”

 

She shook her head. “They moved away from me. My sister got married and moved for his work, then had a baby. My parents wanted to be closer to their grandchild.”

 

“So, they all abandoned you?”

 

“Pretty much.” She sighed. “Sometimes it really sucks. I get lonely. I miss them. I can only go visit so often, you now? It’s nice to have blood close by.”

 

“It is.” Hugh used to live just a few minutes away, in the city. They saw each other all the time. They only had each other since their mom died. He felt the ache in his chest flare up when he thought about Hugh. He squashed it down and went on. “You have any kind of background check or clearances? Figured I should have that if you’re going to be watching Damian.”

 

“Right. That makes sense. I had all that done in school. I can probably find a copy if you want.”

 

“That would be cool.”

 

He stood and went to his office to get his checkbook, then returned to the living room. He handed Damian to her. “I’m going to write you a check for yesterday, today, and the rest of this week.” He filled it out and paused when he got to the name spot. “What’s your last name?”

 

“Oh, actually, make it out to Caitlyn James.”

 

He gave her a suspicious look.

 

“That’s my legal name. I go by my middle name.”

 

“Okay.” Could be the truth. But that was unusual. Why wouldn’t she have mentioned it as soon as he started writing the check? He wrote the check and tore it off, then gave it to her.

 

“Thanks.”

 

He took the checkbook back to his office and stopped to send a quick email to a guy in his MC who had access to certain databases. “Can you look up Caitlyn James for me?”

 

He closed his laptop and walked out of the office, turning right down the hall to head to the bathroom. As he turned, Alexa came out of Damian’s room. They passed each other in close proximity. He could feel the heat coming off her.

 

“He fell asleep. I put him in his crib,” she said.

 

Hawk took a deep breath and stared into her eyes. He wanted to believe everything she was saying. She didn’t look away from him. That was a good sign.

 

But as he kept looking at her, something shifted in the air around them. He felt himself leaning toward her as she leaned toward him. Clearing his throat, he stepped back.

 

“Thanks,” he said and ducked into the bathroom.