Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“And when did you get so chummy with my daughter?” Dad questions, draining the rest of his glass. He’s one to usually savor the taste of expensive liquor.
Hawke rests an arm over the back of my chair. “We’ve always been good friends.”
“Friends,” Dad repeats.
“Yes, Dad, friends. You should try it sometime,” I say, rolling my eyes and shoving Hawke’s arm away because I know he’s intentionally trying to piss him off.
“I have plenty of friends,” Dad replies, and my mother pats him on the back as if soothing him, and yet again, my mother and I try not to laugh.
We change the subject to their trip to Dubai and what Mom already has set up. My father watches her lovingly as she speaks about what she’s most passionate about. Besides the few jabs between my father and Hawke, the evening is actually the best I’ve had with my parents for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I always have fun with them, but I was especially nervous about coming over tonight after the weekend I’d had.
My parents are perceptive and can tell when something’s wrong. And with a father who can knuckle down my every step in a matter of hours, I don’t want to give anything away. Not unless I want to tell them. Nothing happened, I keep reminding myself. But it doesn’t make me feel any less spooked by the situation and the what-ifs that play out in my imagination.
But I’m barely thinking of that as I listen to my mother explain color matching and interior design ideas to Hawke. He listens to her intently as he shovels food into his mouth, and I’m surprised by how right having him here feels. I never would’ve thought Hawke would be a knight in shining armor, not that I ever believed in those types of notions. It seems he’s full of surprises.
I catch my father watching us. I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at Hawke, but I’m quick to shovel a forkful into my mouth. I’ve never brought a guy home, not to our family dinners. To events, yes, but not like this. I don’t want my father reading into it because there is absolutely nothing happening between me and Hawke.
At least, I don’t think there is.
CHAPTER 21
Hawke
“I’m not fucking you,” Ivy states as I pull up to the curb in front of her apartment.
“No, you did me one better. You fed me,” I say, patting my stomach. Dinner with her father was the hardest I’ve ever had to work for a meal. The asshole was killing me with questions and snide remarks.
“I know what it is you really want to eat,” she says matter-of-factly, and I lean over to grab a lock of her hair. Oh, all the ways I wish I could have this woman.
“Is it so bad to want you?” I ask honestly. I’m hopeful she at least invites me in. If I can get another few hours of peaceful sleep, that’d be ideal, but I don’t know if it was just a fluke.
“No, you’re only human. And I’m hot.”
“I’m hot too,” I fire back. It’s why we’re such a perfect fucking match.
She’s opening the door as she looks over her shoulder. “Goodnight, Hawke.” But she pauses before she gets out of the car. “And thank you for this weekend. I’m okay. I promise.”
I don’t entirely believe her. Or maybe that’s what I’m telling myself because I don’t want to leave her side.
“You know, you and I could hang more like this,” I suggest. “Everyone else in our group is coupled up, and as you’ve recently discovered, you have pretty shitty friends. I could be a good friend.”
She smiles as she jumps out of the car, then leans down to say, “Hawke, you and I can’t just be friends.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t been tempted by the perks, lover,” I say arrogantly.
“Goodnight, Hawke. I hope whoever you’re fucking tonight gets more than two minutes of your below-average hip thrusting.”
“Below aver—”
She slams the door, cutting me off. I open my door and stand, declaring, “I know I have the biggest dick you’ve ever seen. Women love my hip thrusting. And it definitely lasts more than two minutes. You’ve experienced it!”
Everyone within hearing distance stops and stares at me. Well, it’s better for the word to get around if she keeps saying shit like that. I have a reputation to uphold.
She looks over her shoulder, that mischievous smirk wreaking havoc on me as she waves goodbye.
That woman knows how to chew a man’s ego within seconds. Lucky for me, I have plenty of it.
I shrug and get back into the car.
I’m singing to the music blasting through the speakers when it cuts out and is replaced by the ringing of my phone. Dutton’s name appears on the screen. I answer, “Yo! Need advice on spicing up your marriage so soon after the honeymoon?”