Page 13 of Hawke

Charlotte smirked, and when she didn’t answer, my temper escalated further. The blonde seemed amused I had even asked.

“Answer me,” I repeated. When she remained silent, I closed the remaining distance between us, pinning her against the wall. Now nose to nose with her, I tried to maintain some semblance of control. It proved to be a much more difficult task as it had been that one day in my office.“Who. Is. He?”

Charlotte’s lips remained closed as she used silence to toy with me. It would figure the one time I wanted a submissive to speak, she’d defy me instead.

I knew she’d have to be able to see how jealous I was, and even now, I had no idea why the woman being with anyone bothered me. It wasn’t as if I wanted her for myself.

Or at least I shouldn’t.

My nostrils flared, and I growled low in my throat before speaking.

“Is he your husband? Your boyfriend? Your lover?”

Staying tight-lipped, she raised her hand, but before she could strike me, I grabbed it along with her other, then pinned them both above her head. My eyes met hers, and I saw arousal flare in those cerulean depths. A sharp exhale from her had my gaze moving lower to her lips. When her tongue darted out to moisten them, I couldn’t think of anything else but tasting her again.

Using the weight of my body to press her into the wall, I lowered my mouth to hers. Other than a small smile on her part, she stood there, mocking me with her stiffness. My tongue traced her lips, prompting them to part. Her control was stronger than mine in that moment because she didn’t comply.

I sank my teeth into her bottom lip, tugging on it until she moaned. That response allowed me to thrust my tongue into the warm depths of her mouth. Charlotte’s body softened against mine. I couldn’t get enough of her. In a battle for supremacy, teeth and tongues dueled until I finally conquered her resistance. Then, I pulled away, leaving her gasping for air.

Repeating my earlier question, I didn’t even try to hide my irritation. “Who the fuck is the man you’re dining with?”

Eventually, she opened her mouth, but I had to read her lips because she spoke too softly for me to hear her over the thunderous sound of my pulse in my ears. “He’s my brother.”

Relief swept over me until I fully realized what the hell I’d just done.

What is it about this woman? And why does she have this strange pull over me?

Slightly panicked over what I had just done, I quickly stepped back. I didn’t dare to look at her, instead turning and disappearing down the hallway.

When I arrived back at my table, I swiftly settled the check and took the large carryout bag with him. As good as the food on the menu sounded, I knew it wouldn’t compare to the addictive taste of the female I had just accosted near the bathroom.

9 – CHARLOTTE

Shaking my head as I watched Hawke leave, I brought my shaky fingers to my lips. They still tingled from his kiss, and I exhaled sharply while leaning back against the wall. I closed my eyes for a moment before reopening them. Feeling the heat rise in my cheeks, I then turned and re-entered the bathroom.

Just as I had suspected, my lips were swollen and my cheeks a bright shade of red. Turning the tap to cold, I let the water run for a few seconds before splashing some of the cool liquid on my inflamed cheeks.

What was it about Hawke that allowed him to affect me the way he did?

The man was both hot and cold, but he had the uncanny ability to switch between the two moods so effortlessly. Trying to figure him out would certainly make me dizzy, not that his kiss hadn’t done so already.

I raked my hands through my hair, then patted my face dry before leaving to rejoin my brother. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be able to tell what had just happened. Talking about one’s love life with a sibling wasn’t high on the list of things I wanted to do tonight of all nights.

I breathed slowly, and deeply, as I walked back to my table. I didn’t dare look around the dining room for any sign of him, instead concentrating on keeping my recently regained composure intact. When I arrived at my table, Chase was typing something into the keypad of his phone.

“An important message?” I asked as I slipped back into my seat.

My brother looked up, and his eyes narrowed momentarily before he shrugged. “Unofficial police business.”

I pursed my lips together and studied the man in front of me. Chase Maxwell was four years older than me, and he was the eldest of my three male siblings. At thirty-one, the man worked entirely too hard. I’d often teased him, questioning when he’d settle down with a woman so he could give me a niece or nephew to spoil. The horror that’d appeared was reason enough to mess with him.

Chase worked with the FBI as a profiler. He enjoyed his job immensely and Cortland, my other older brother, worked for the Hostage Negotiation Team. The two siblings had always been close, and they often worked on some of the same cases together.

I used to feel so superficial when people would mention Chase’s and Cort’s careers before asking me what I did. While extremely proud of Platinum Dreams, being an event planner was nowhere near as important or exciting as what my older brothers did. Luckily for me, our younger brother Cooper, who was twenty-three, had been in college for four years and still had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. He loved the campus lifestyle, and sometimes I’d wonder whether it was part of his indecision on choosing and sticking with a major.

“Well, it looked important,” I replied before grabbing a garlic breadstick from the small basket on the table. “How’s Ayden doing? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Ayden Santiago was sex on a stick. The Latino heartthrob had often filled my fantasies as well as those of Emery’s over the years. In fact, I was fairly certain he was single once again. He’d overcome a lot in his lifetime, and he was as close to me as any of my siblings were.

---