Page 10

Chapter nine

Mika

I woke up to the sound of snoring next to me and rolled over to find Seph curled up in a ball, pressed against my side. I reached for my phone and looked at the time. 6:30. It was early, but I was surprised I’d managed to get any sleep at all—and I probably wouldn’t have if Hawk hadn’t been here.

I normally started my day with a cup of coffee, but I didn’t want to wake Hawk if he was sleeping, so I planned to just take a peek and see if he was up. Apparently, Seph had other plans because the second I opened the door, she hopped off the bed and ran around me and out into the living room. I had no idea dogs could go from snoring to running in the blink of an eye, but it seemed like she could. I hurried after her and bit back a laugh. She’d gone straight for Hawk, who was lying on the couch, and proceeded to lick his face.

“I like to wake up to kisses, but I prefer a little less tongue,” he mumbled, scratching her behind her ears.

“Sorry about that. She snuck by me. The plan was to see if you were awake, not to slobber all over you.”

He cleared his throat and sat up on the couch. “Do you have any coffee, by any chance?”

“I do. What’s your preference? Dark roast, medium roast, flavored coffee? I have it all.”

“I’m good with whatever you prefer, as long as it’s hot and strong.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a how I like my men joke in there somewhere,” I said.

He chuckled. “I’m sure there probably is.”

“I need to let Seph out, and then I’ll put the coffee on.”

He reached for his boots. “You get the coffee started, and I’ll let her out. I need to take a look at your backyard anyway.”

“My backyard?” I asked.

“We both know that asshole’s going to come back, so I want to see what we’re working with as far as security goes. How long is Seph going to be staying with you?”

“Just a couple days. Why?”

He looked up at me. “Because my place doesn’t have a yard, so I’m hoping we’ll be able to stay here at least as long as you have Seph with you.”

And with that, he strode to the back door, opened it for Seph, and followed her outside.

We’ll be able to stay here? What was he talking about?

Shit . Did he think I’d hired him as a bodyguard? I mean, Mary Ellen paid me well—better than I’d ever expected—but not enough to pay for a twenty-four-hour bodyguard. This was totally on me. What did I think was going to happen when I called a literal bodyguard for help? I would find out how much I owed him for the night, and then he could be on his way. I had Seph here with me, so I’d be okay until Andy and Jesse returned. That would give me a couple of days to figure out what came next.

I’d started the coffee brewing and was trying to decide what we could have for breakfast when the back door opened and he came back in.

“I was going to make some breakfast. Are you a breakfast eater?”

“I am, but you don’t have to cook for me. We can go get something if you’d rather.”

“I don’t mind. I actually really like to cook. How about scrambled eggs with bacon and toast?”

“Sounds good to me.”

I got to work in the kitchen, and he took a seat at the table.

“So, do you have any idea how Butch might have found you?”

“None. I mean, there are ways, I guess. I transferred my CNA license to the state of Texas, and I have utilities and things in my name. I don’t know. But, Hawk, this isn’t your problem. I know I called you, but I was panicked, and I wasn’t thinking.”

“We’ve been over this, Mika. I told you to call me if you needed me. You did exactly the right thing by calling.”

I looked up from the bowl where I was beating the eggs. “Hawk, I’m a personal companion. I can’t afford a bodyguard. I should’ve thought of that before I got you involved in this.”

“Mika, I want you to listen to me.” He gave me a look that told me he wasn’t playing around. “I’m not here representing Three Bears. I’m here because you’re in danger, and I can help.”

“But—” I started.

“No, no buts. There’s no way I’d leave you here on your own when there’s a man who’s already hurt you threatening you.”

I felt much safer with him here. The idea of trying to deal with Butch was terrifying. There was a reason why I’d run away last time, but that didn’t mean I could let my problem become a problem for Hawk.

“Won’t your boss be mad at you for wasting time on someone like me who can’t pay?”

“First of all, I don’t have a boss, babe. I am the boss.” He paused for a minute and let that sink in.

“Isn’t Wolfe the boss?” I’d only met him a couple of times at the club, but Wolfe just had this presence that made me believe he was the one in charge no matter where he was.

Hawk laughed. “It’s called Three Bears Tactical for a reason.”

“So you, Wolfe, and…”

“Gator.”

“No way. Really? He doesn’t seem like a business owner at all. He’s too—” I paused, trying to think of a word that described Gator, but nothing was coming to me.

“Rough around the edges,” Hawk said.

“Exactly.”

“I know. He’s a fun guy, but I can tell you when your back’s to the wall, there’s no better guy to have by your side.”

I thought Hawk was wrong because if my back was against the wall, Hawk’s the man I would want by my side.

Hawk

Mika went back to cooking breakfast. He shoved the bowl of eggs he’d been whisking to the back of the counter. He went to the air fryer, put some bacon in, and turned it on. Then he turned back to look at me.

“If you could stay until Jesse and Andy get back, I guess that would be okay, but when they get back, I can always go stay with them.”

“And when Andy’s on shift and Jesse’s at work? What will you do then?”

“I—” He paused and let out a sigh. “I don’t know, but you can’t just put your life on hold while we wait for Butch to show back up.”

“First of all, I can, and I will. Next, we aren’t just waiting for him to show up. I already have our best person working on gathering as much info as possible on both Butch and the Iron Jackals.”

“Do the other owners know you’re using Three Bears resources to help me?”

“Why don’t you let me worry about my business, and you worry about your bacon?”

“Oh shit! The bacon.” He rushed over to the air fryer, pulled it open, then let out a relieved sigh. “It’s okay.” He glared back over his shoulder. “You distracted me.”

“So it’s my fault if you ruin our breakfast?”

He stiffened for a second, so I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile so he would know I was teasing.

He let out a little sigh then smiled and said, “Exactly.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re something else, mouse.”

“You keep calling me mouse. What’s that about?” He poured the eggs into the pan and then looked at me, waiting for an answer.

“You’re small, you’re adorable, and when you’re trying to figure something out, you do this cute little thing where you scrunch up your nose. The first time you did that, I had this thought that I wanted to put you in my pocket and take you home with me.”

“You did not.”

“I did, too.”

“And when exactly was that?”

“The night of Mars and Samuel’s Christmas party.” I was probably giving him way too much leverage there. If he figured out just how long I’d been keeping an eye on him, it probably wouldn’t make him happy.

“That was the first time I met you.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or not.” He stirred the eggs and then grabbed a plate. “I like my scrambled eggs kind of soft. Is that okay with you? I can cook them longer if you want.”

“Soft is fine. And why wouldn’t you think it was a compliment? I said you were adorable.”

“Yeah, well, people don’t normally equate adorable or cute with sexy now, do they?”

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “Is that what you want, mouse? For me to find you sexy?”

He let out a little gasp like he hadn’t how that would sound before he said it. “I, umm, I—” His mouth opened and closed like a fish. “I didn’t say that. I know you’re here to protect me, not to, umm, you know. I just meant I didn’t know if adorable should be taken as a compliment or not, not that…” He huffed and reached for the plate. “Never mind. The eggs are ready.”

I got up from the table and went to stand beside him.

“Mika, I want you to listen to me. Adorable is a compliment. And just to be clear, I do think you’re sexy. I have since I first laid eyes on you. I thought that once you were done with class, I’d ask you out, but now we have this little Butch problem, and that has to take priority. I need to focus on keeping you safe for now. There’s a reason why we frown on our bodyguards getting involved with our clients.”

He raised one adorable—and yes, I meant that in a good way—eyebrow at me. “Yeah, but I’m not a client, right? You said you aren’t charging me.”

“That’s right, you aren’t. But your safety matters just as much to me as it would if you were a paying client. Hell, it matters more, to be honest, so the rule stands.”

He carried a platter with eggs, bacon, and toast to the table. Then he went to the fridge and grabbed a couple different jars of some kind of jam.

“I get these at the Farmers Market. The sweetest lady makes them. She offered to help me learn to make them if I wanted to.”

“Do you make things like jams and jellies?”

“I never have, but I’d like to learn.” His cheeks colored. “I love the idea of doing things in the kitchen like that, especially if I can use locally sourced fruits and berries and things.”

I nodded. “My grandmother used to make wild plum jelly, which was my favorite. She also made homemade pickles.”

I hated that he’d been scared, but this was giving me an opportunity to get to know Mika better, so at least there was that.

“My grandmother makes all kinds of fresh jams and jellies and cans lots of food. She has a huge garden that they use for most of their food. I wish I’d taken the time to learn from her when I lived there.”

“And where is there?”

I’d resisted the urge to run a background check on Mika because it seemed like a violation of his privacy. It had been tempting, but now that we were talking, I was glad I was learning about him firsthand, not from some report.

“I’m from a small town in Kansas. My whole family lives there, pretty much.”

“Do you get to see them much?” I asked. It had devastated my mother when I chose to settle in Vesper instead of going back to Houston when I got out of the military, but I made a point to get home a few times a year, and she seemed happy with that.

“I didn’t at first, but I went home for Christmas this year, and that was really nice. My grandmother isn’t getting any younger.”

I put some of the homemade jelly on my toast and then took a bite of my eggs. Damn, they were good. I mean, eggs are eggs, right? I didn’t think I’d ever had any that were this good.

“These are really good, Mika.”

“Thanks. I just add a little seasoning to them to jazz them up a little.”

“Well, I like them.”

He seemed really pleased that I enjoyed his food, and I wondered what else he cooked. We took our time chatting over our meal, and when we were done, I offered to clean up.

“No, sir. You’re here as my guest, and you’re doing me a favor. No way I’m letting you do dishes.”

“Well, at the very least, let me help.”

“You can help by taking Seph out back again and playing with her.”

I didn’t think that was helping at all, but I didn’t see any point in arguing with him.

Mika

I waited until the door closed behind Hawk and then let out a long breath.

I was pretty sure Mars would say I needed to spend some time in meditation or something, but I didn’t really think that was going to help me right now.

I’d been foolish to think I was safe from Butch. That a few hundred miles would be enough to give me a fresh start. I should’ve kept going east until I couldn’t go any farther. That wasn’t what I’d done, though, and ifs and buts weren’t going to fix my problem. The problem was, I didn’t know what would.

I didn’t want to keep running for the rest of my life, but what else was I supposed to do?

I could get a dog, but honestly, all that would accomplish was giving Butch some other way of hurting me because I’d believed him when he said he would kill Seph.

I could shift to some kind of martial arts classes instead of self-defense, but it would take me forever to be good enough to do any damage.

I just wasn’t the fighting type.

A gun might be an option, but I’d never even held one, much less shot anything. I firmly believed guns were something you needed to master before you pointed them at another human. Plus, I wasn’t actually sure I could pull the trigger even if my life was in danger, so that wasn’t a good plan either.

I hadn’t felt this helpless since I got on the bus in Las Cruces two years ago, and I didn’t like it any more now than I had then.

I just wished I knew what to do.

I got to work loading the dishwasher and cleaning up my mess. I was just finishing up when the back door opened, and Seph came barreling in with Hawk right behind her.

He was such a strong man, and I don’t just mean physically. He was former military, a business owner, and an excellent instructor.

I was a hot fucking mess, and he had his shit together.

The last thing I wanted to do was seem like a helpless damsel in distress—or, in my case, I guess, a dude in distress.

I didn’t want him to see me as someone who needed rescuing. I wanted him to see me as—

As what, exactly? I’d already decided he was too much for me. Too big, too strong, too domineering, too everything, so why did it matter how he saw me?

But it did because the truth was, he was also too protective and too caring.

He was everything I thought I was getting in Butch—except he wasn’t some asshole poser.

He was the real deal.

You could tell by the way he interacted with Tucker and the other students in his class. The way he’d dropped everything to come to my rescue last night. He was just an overall good man, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with that.

I dried my hands on the towel I’d tossed over my shoulder and then hung it on the door to the oven.

“You all done?” he asked.

“Yeah, all finished.”

“Okay, let’s talk about your security here at the house.”

“It’s a rental,” I warned. I didn’t know if he was getting any crazy ideas about what all I should change.

“Right. But there are still some things we can do to improve the security here. For example, we can put cameras in various locations outside—front and back. Visible cameras are often one of the best deterrents. Especially for a guy like Butch, who’s involved in questionable activities. I’m sure he doesn’t want his face plastered all over the news.”

“I would imagine not.”

“We can also reinforce the doors, replace the locks with something stronger, and install an alarm system. I doubt your landlord would mind any of those changes.”

“If anything, I guess he would be getting an upgrade.”

I liked my landlord, and if he knew I was in danger, he might even offer to take the cost of those things off the rent.

But I would never ask him to do that. This was my problem, not his.

“Any other ideas?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not right off the top of my head. I don’t like that you don’t have a secure way to get from the house to your car. I wish you had a garage, but I can’t change that unless you want to come stay at my place until this is resolved.”

“Resolved? How is this going to be resolved, Hawk? I can’t just stay with you for the rest of my life, just in case my psycho ex comes back.”

“Mika, listen to me. I don’t know how yet, but I will take care of this for you. You won’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life.”

He looked so serious and so determined.

I didn’t know how he was going to manage it, but I believed if anyone could, it was Hawk.

That was why I called him, and knowing he believed he could handle it gave me a small measure of hope that maybe everything would be all right.