Page 28

Hawk jogged the last fifty or so yards to the house, clomped up the wooden steps to his porch, and tugged his keys from his pocket. He reached to unlock the door when it swung open.

He and Charlotte looked at each other for a long moment, then she bolted forward and threw her arms around his neck. He pulled her against him, lifted her right off the porch, and she automatically wrapped her legs around him without loosening her hold. He closed his eyes, buried his face against the side of her neck, and filled his lungs with her soft scent.

“Thank God you’re okay.” She levered back, held his head still and planted kisses all over his face, then took his mouth with hers and kissed him like he was the most important person in her world.

He kissed her back with an equal amount of enthusiasm. Having her here, waiting for him to return, was intense, and definitely something he could get used to.

“Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat behind them.

They broke the kiss, turned their heads, and saw Eddie standing with one foot on the bottom step, his hand on the rail. He had his customary shit-eating grin on his face.

“Um, hi, Eddie.” Her pink cheeks glowed beneath the porch light, and she slowly lowered herself to the ground.

“Hey, Charlotte.” Eddie looked at Hawk. “I hate to disturb this beautiful moment, but I thought you might want to say a few last words to Kimball before we take him away.”

Damn right he did.

“I’ll be right back.” Hawk kissed Charlotte, jogged down the porch steps, and headed over to the helo.

Kimball was seated on the grass next to one of the skids, his hands secured behind his back and his ankles connected by zip ties.

He and Viking reached down. They each grabbed one of his elbows and jerked him up off the ground, then tossed his fat ass onto the seat behind the copilot’s chair.

“Ahhh! My shoulders!” Kimball cried out in pain. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, dear, did we hurt you?” Eddie’s voice oozed with feigned remorse.

Kimball—proving what a dumbass he was—tried to get up and make a move on him.

“Sit the fuck down.” Eddie put a hand on each of the guy’s shoulders and, none too gently, shoved him back onto the seat. He lifted the harness over Kimball’s head and belted him in, then he patted his belly. “Might want to lay off the doughnuts.”

Hawk sensed Charlotte coming up behind him.

She moved to stand next to him, set her hands on her hips, and looked at Kimball.

Hawk’s instinct was to put himself between her and the murderous asshole and would have, if Kimball wasn’t restrained. But he understood that it was important for her to face down the piece of shit who had been tormenting her.

“You came here to kill me, didn’t you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Well, guess what. You failed … miserably, I might add. And you know what else?” She stepped closer to the helo.

Eddie, displaying the protective impulse he’d gained from having seven sisters, clamped his hand tightly on Kimball’s shoulder.

“I’m going to make sure your friend Leonard Everett—he is your best buddy, right?” She noticed his flinch at the mention of the name. “Yes, I thought so. Well, we are going to find out how he’s involved in all of this. And when we do, I am personally going to see to it that he faces justice and never sees daylight as a free man again.” Charlotte gave him a sweet and somewhat chilling smile. “And do you know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to make sure he knows it’s your fault, that you’re the one who put him there.”

She started to turn away and stopped.

“Oh, silly me.” She thumped the butt of her hand against her forehead and pivoted back to face him again. “I almost forgot the other thing I wanted to tell you.” She paused for effect, then hit him where it hurt. “Your girlfriend is toast, too.”

At that last jab, Kimball lost his shit.

“You bitch!” he shouted. “You leave Helene alone!” Spittle flew from his mouth, and he struggled against the three-point harness.

“Have fun in prison, Vincent.” Charlotte waggled her fingers in a little wave and turned to Hawk. “I’ll warm up that meatball stew now.”

She patted the center of his chest, and in all of her glorious righteousness and without a backward glance at the helo, sauntered up the porch steps, opened the front door, and went inside.

“Okay, that was pretty fucking cool.” Eddie sounded genuinely impressed.

Charlotte Cavanaugh was fucking magnificent, and Hawk intended to tell her that and much more.

Her taunt about Helene had provoked a very interesting response—Kimball’s reaction to her getting busted had been way more severe than how he’d reacted to the idea of Leonard Everett, his closest childhood friend, suffering the same dire fate.

That piece of intel could come in handy.

Kimball continued to shout obscenities long after Charlotte was out of sight.

“Shut the fuck up before I take off my shoe and shove my sock in your mouth. And I don’t want you contaminating them with that nasty mouth of yours.” Eddie looked over at Hawk with a grin. “Is that your mom’s meatball stew recipe Charlotte’s warming up?”

“It is.” Hawk crossed his arms over his chest.

Leave it to his friend to ask about food at a moment like this.

“Man, I love that stuff.” Eddie’s eyes rolled back, and he laid his hand on his belly. “I don’t suppose you could save some for me?”

Viking maneuvered his large body and sniper rifle into the seat behind Eddie.

Lucas climbed into the pilot’s seat.

“Belt up.” He flipped a bunch of switches and pressed some buttons, and the helo blades slowly began to turn.

“I’m sure there will be plenty left for you.” Hawk chuckled and ducked his head as the blades sped up.

“Sweet!” Eddie grabbed the door handle. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He sat next to Kimball in the seat behind Lucas and rolled the door shut.

His teammate had an uncanny ability to compartmentalize. Most people who didn’t know him would think his joking, making light of things, and inability to commit to one woman meant he wasn’t a serious guy.

Hawk knew differently.

Eddie had some pretty dark things in his past that not many people knew about. It was part of what drove him to do the kind of work they did.

“Good work tonight.” Cole strolled up to Hawk, careful to keep his head down. “Andi arrived a couple of hours ago and is at our facility, ready to question Kimball.”

“She’ll get the truth out of him.” Hawk would love to be there to witness the interview, but it was more important to spend time with Charlotte and make sure she really was okay.

“No doubt,” Cole said.

“Tell her that Helene is Kimball’s weakness.” Hawk told him about the man’s reaction to Charlotte’s threat of her being busted.

“I’ll pass that on to her.” Cole climbed into the empty front seat and raised his voice enough to be heard over the helo. “Oh, by the way, Boone Langston accepted the job offer, and he’ll be joining Dark Ops in two weeks.”

Cole had been trying to hire Calliope’s half-brother ever since learning about his background.

“Does Calliope know yet?” Hawk asked.

“Yeah, she’s pretty happy about it. She’s assumed her new role as his big sister with her usual balls-to-the-wall, hold-nothing-back style.” One corner of Cole’s mouth tilted up. “I get the impression Boone is a pretty agreeable guy, so he doesn’t seem to mind her overprotectiveness.”

Calliope had only learned of her younger brother’s existence a few months ago. When she was about two, her mother took off and divorced her dad via mail. A few years later, she got pregnant by another man, gave birth to a son, and gave him up for adoption.

Boone was one of the lucky ones. He was raised on a ranch by a wonderful couple who weren’t able to have children of their own.

“His background with Air Force Special Recon will be a great fit for the team.” Hawk had crossed paths with a couple of those guys in Afghanistan.

Special Recon Airmen, SRAs, were trained in multiple specialties and worked deep behind enemy lines, similar to what he’d done as a Marine. SRAs were not the kind of men to be messed with.

“Agreed.” Cole reached out and wrapped his hand around the door handle. “Hawk, this thing is far from over, so watch your back.”

“Always.” He stepped back.

Cole nodded and swung the door shut.

Hawk turned away to protect his eyes as the helo rose up off the ground, banked to the left, and flew away.

Once they were out of sight, he hurried up the steps and into the house. He locked the door, tapped in the security code, and followed the wonderful smell of stew coming from the kitchen.

“Hey, the stew should be ready in about ten minutes.” Charlotte set bowls on the counter right next to the holstered 9mm he’d given her earlier. “Are they gone?”

“Yeah, they’re taking Kimball to the Dark Ops facility. Andi flew in a few hours ago from our PacNW location to interview him.” As a deputy, Hawk had always referred to them as interrogations. Andi preferred to call them interviews. She said it sounded less combative and hostile. “She’ll find out what he knows.”

“Helene is his Achilles heel, ya know.” She reached into a drawer, grabbed a couple of spoons, and set them in the bowls. “You should use her as leverage against him.”

Hawk walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“I told Cole about the reaction you elicited from Kimball, so that’s exactly what they’re going to do.” He kissed the side of her neck. “You’re very smart, you know that?”

“Not really.” She tilted her head to one side to give him room to nibble on her ear. “Kimball is impulsive and really bad at masking his emotions. What I don’t get is, what’s in it for Helene? I know that woman—there is no way she would be interested in someone like him.”

“They’re bringing her in for questioning.” Hawk pressed a kiss beneath her ear. “Do you think her boss put her up to it?”

“Considering what we’ve learned about Pennington, I wouldn’t put it past him.” Her pulse quickened beneath his lips, and her head dropped back against his shoulder. She reached behind her and weaved her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. “He—he—” She swallowed. “He has a lot of money and power—both things Helene is drawn to.”

Hawk dragged his lips down the side of her neck.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” He whispered in her ear, “Care to join me?”

She wiggled from his hold, hurried over to turn off the burner beneath the stew, then grabbed his hand and started toward his bedroom.

He chuckled and let her pull him down the hall.

Someday, they’d get around to eating that stew. But right now, he couldn’t think of a more pleasurable way to work off post-op adrenaline than sharing a hot shower with Charlotte, then burying himself deep inside her. That was a hell of a lot more fun than running ten miles.