Page 11 of Unexpected Ever After

Night Hawke

(A Second-Generation Hawke Family Prequel)

Gwyn McNamee

Chapter 1

Isaac

There are few guarantees in life—death, taxes, and that the night is going to end with my dick buried inside that redhead across the bar.

God fucking willing…

She tosses back her head, laughing effortlessly at something her blond friend says, the sound light and airy. Sexy as fuck. It goes straight to my cock and makes it swell against my zipper.

What is a girl like that doing in a dive like this?

I shift on the stool, surreptitiously adjusting my semi, keeping my gaze locked on her. She casts a furtive glance at me out of the corner of her eye—at least the tenth time I've caught her doing so since Coen and I arrived almost an hour ago.

Her amber eyes meet mine for a split second, and the corner of her red lips twitches before she returns her focus to her friend at their small high-top near the pool table.

An energy radiates from her, a vibrancy and pull that makes me want to ditch Coen in favor of a much more interesting evening. After the last few months, nothing sounds better than celebrating my accomplishment with her under me, over me—however she wants it.

I raise my empty beer bottle to the bartender and incline my head, indicating I want another. He grabs one from the fridge and brings it over, sliding it across the marred wooden bar top to me.

“Thanks, man.” I tilt it at him in recognition. “Hey”—I tip my head slightly toward the girl—“you know her?”

He follows my focus and shakes his head. “No. First time she's been in here. At least when I’ve been working. I would remember a girl like her.”

No shit.

That isn’t the type of girl you forget.

Her hair spills down past her exposed shoulders and over the cutout at the back of her skin-tight, short, black dress that shows off her curves and more of her flawless, alabaster skin.

She’s the kind of woman who can burn you and you’d let her, just to be that close to the fire sparking in her eyes.

And I want nothing more than to sink into her heat tonight.

I take a sip from my beer, the tingle of Coen’s hard gaze coming from my right—judging me when I haven’t even done anything yet. Trying to ignore him would be futile, so I slowly turn my head toward him. “Problem?”

He raises a dark eyebrow. “I thought we came here to have a beer to celebrate, not for you to pick up some chick.”

I shrug. “I'm not doing anything of the sort.”

Coen snorts and shakes his head, taking a pull off his beer and letting the bottle dangle between his fingers. “Not yet.”

A grin pulls at my lips, and I playfully bump my shoulder against his, the way I always have when we’re ribbing each other. “Am I that predictable?”

Coen lets out a mirthless laugh. “I can't remember a single time you and I have ever gone anywhere together where you haven't ended up trying to pick up a girl, Isaac. Why would tonight be any different?”

I point at him. “First, I don't like the implication in that comment—even if it might be true. Second, tonight shouldn't be any different. In fact, this is exactly the type of night I should be having—looking for some fun instead of sitting at the bar, drinking alone with my brother, who has been a sad-sack buzzkill since he landed in Chicago.”

He sighs deeply and glances toward me, pain flashing in his familiar blue eyes. “Am I really that boring? That awful to spend time with?”

“Fuck you, dude. Don’t be a drama queen. You know that's not what I'm saying. It's just that after three days of Hawke Family Time, I was glad to see them off at the airport this morning—”

He scoffs. “Oh, what? So, you're pissed that I decided to stay the full weekend? And here I thought it was so we could spend some extra time together.”

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