by Addison Fox
“I’m glad you stopped in.”
“Me, too, Mr.—?” She left the question hanging there, waiting for an answer.
“Huntley. Hawk Huntley.” Hawk extended his hand over the counter, only to be met with a quick wink along with a firm shake.
“It’s good you’re here. This town needs some new blood. It also needed things like Claudia’s shop.”
“New blood? But I’m not staying.”
“Of course you’re not.” She turned on her heel and headed for the door, her movements swift and hurried, as if she’d delivered her message and then needed to be on her way. It was only when she got to the door, the bells tinkling as she opened it, that those hurried movements slowed.
“Make no mistake about it—we need a few new things in this town to shake us up. Shadow Creek’s stood still for so long it’s a wonder we haven’t dried up and turned to dust. I, for one, am glad to see the signs of change.”
“I guess you are.” Hawk said the words to no one but himself, but it was several long moments later when he finally pulled his gaze off the front door.
* * *
Claudia hit the off button for her steamer with her toe, satisfied that Maggie’s dress had been pressed to perfection. She’d give it a few moments to let the steam evaporate and then it was getting folded to go into the box for one very special delivery.
She’d laughed to herself more than once as she considered how Priscilla Todd’s arrival had coincided with Hawk’s complaints over the chores she’d given him. And she was just petty enough to admit that it had been great fun to listen at the door as he attempted to keep up with the woman’s barrage of questions.
She did miss racking up another sale on the Todd charge account, but figured it was just deserts for tossing Hawk to the wolves.
Not like the man needed any help. Standing around looking like a rock mountain of eye candy shouldn’t be all that hard. If she played her cards right, Pris would have it all over town in under an hour that there was a man managing the till over at Honeysuckle Road, and the corresponding traffic would start pouring in.
The thick, heavy box was already open and waiting for Maggie’s dress and Claudia carefully folded the long leaves of tissue paper that met her exacting standards into the bottom. The dress box was a vintage find she’d discovered online. She’d liked it so much she’d ordered several more wholesale to decorate her front windows.
“I’m going home.” The door to her studio swung open and her big mountain of eye candy filled the frame.
“Okay. I’ll see you later.”
“I mean home, home. To Houston. I’m heading home after the wedding.”
The news shot a small dart into her chest, but she couldn’t say it was totally unexpected. The man had been living in a hotel. And he wasn’t from Shadow Creek. Nor was it fair to expect him to decide to move there after a week.
But damn it all. Claudia added a few more inventive curses to the first and wondered when she’d begun to think of it as a possibility.
“That’s fine. We can call you if we need you and I suppose you’ll keep me posted on the Krupids.”
“That’s all you can say?”
The shifting from foot to foot she’d observed earlier had changed. Morphed, really, as he moved into a pacing movement in front of the studio door.
“I suppose you’ll keep me posted, please?”
“You don’t care I’m leaving?”
“I didn’t say that. But your mind seems made up.”
Wasn’t it?
She didn’t dare hope otherwise, but when Hawk shifted from pacing near the door to prowling across her studio, a small kernel of hope speared up from the churning swirl of nerves in her stomach.
Was it possible he didn’t want to leave?
“What if my mind isn’t made up?”
Claudia chose her words carefully. Hawk Huntley was a free man and she had no business thinking otherwise. “Then I guess you’ll need to spend time deciding what you want.”
“What if I know what I want but am afraid I ruined it?”
And then she stopped caring if he had a choice because hers had long since vanished. “Do you think maybe you can come over here and put me out of my misery while you try to figure it out?”
The man might be an infuriating mix of stubborn pride and Southern gentleman, but when something dark and dangerous lit in his gaze, Claudia considered herself the luckiest of women.
And when that prowl turned into a full-out stalk as he closed the distance between them, she stood up and reached for him.
The anxiety of the last few days faded as she went into his arms. Whatever they still needed to figure out—and it was a lot—this was right.
Real.
And oh so wonderful.
His mouth crushed hers, his arms pulling her against that hard chest. The interest she’d tried so hard to push aside was given full reign as she ran her hands over his chest before dipping to where his T-shirt hung over his jeans. She ran her fingers beneath the hem, gratified when she finally touched warm, heated flesh beneath her fingertips.
The attraction that had burned between them from the first rose up, the flames flying high as she ran her hands over the muscles of his stomach. Thick indentations outlined the firm barrels of muscle and she plied her fingers over the grooves, practically shivering from the glory of finally touching all that raw musculature.
Hawk’s mouth devoured hers and she was rapidly losing any ability to reason when a vague notion filled her thoughts.
“The door.” She whispered the words against his mouth before his lips took her under once again. She kissed him back, then spoke louder when she had an opportunity to come up for air. “Hawk! The front door.”
He smiled, his mouth curving over hers. “Already locked it.”
She did pull back then, a mock sense of shock filling her. “Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Nah. Just wildly hopeful.”
She leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. “Consider me suitably appreciative.”
“Perhaps you can show me?”
Claudia’s last thought as she pulled him close was that she was going to have an awfully short run as a proprietor if she couldn’t find a way to keep her shop open.
* * *
The warm welcome in her eyes was all Hawk needed as he and Claudia drew close once more. With her back in his arms, he braced himself for the sensual feast that was this woman. She was everything he’d imagined and more, from her warmth, her humor and her deep devotion to family.
She was also gorgeous. Bright and luminescent, she captivated him so that she was all he could see. All he wanted to see.
Even the night before, when he’d told himself he needed to leave her alone so he could continue to fight against the demons of his past, he couldn’t deny her heartbreaking beauty. She was an enticing, exiting woman wrapped up in a delectable package.
And God help him, he could not resist her.
Hawk knew he was weak. Knew he’d given in to the need to hold her close and touch her and feel her warmth. But try as he might, he couldn’t fully fight the desire that refused to listen to reason. That rejected his self-censure and the monastic existence he’d lived for the past few years.
He fisted his hand in the long wave of blond hair that spilled over her shoulder, the soft texture his for the taking. With his other hand, he explored the curves of her body, tracing the arc from shoulder to breast, to hip and back again. The light moan that had Claudia pressing against him, filling his hands, had him growing bolder in his explorations. But it was the play of her own explorations, her hands fluttering over the waistband of his jeans, that stole his breath.
She knew what she wanted and as her fingers reached for his zipper, parting th
e material of his jeans, Hawk knew he was lost. Whatever willpower he believed he possessed—and he was red-blooded enough to know he had his limits—Claudia Colton had the ability to destroy them all.
“Why don’t we move this upstairs?”
“Hmm?” Her query was a cross between a whisper and a purr, and, when her hand wrapped around him fully, Hawk nearly abandoned his plan to take her upstairs. “You were saying?”
“Vixen.” He said the moniker through gritted teeth, his body leaping against her palm without any additional provocation. Head bent, he pressed his forehead to hers as a wave of the most glorious sensation rippled through his body. Like a tsunami gaining power, it started somewhere deep inside, building through him until he was nearly shaking from the effort to maintain his control.
“Do you know what you do to me? And how long it’s been?”
The words ripped from his lips and it was only once she contained her movements, her hand still pressed intimately against him, that he realized what he’d said.
More, what he’d implied.
“Claudia?”
What had he done? His body cooled rapidly at the evidence she was sorely unimpressed with his confession. Worse, it was one more reinforcement—delivered by his own hand—that he couldn’t get over his wife. Couldn’t move past her death.
Only in this sense, he hadn’t. Not until now.
A three-month bender after he’d quit the force, with a series of nameless, faceless women, had left him feeling more empty and alone. It had been unfair to them as well as to him and he hadn’t touched a woman since that time. Hadn’t allowed one to touch him.
So now here he was, three endless years later. A freaking eternity.
“I guess I should—” He shifted to pull away from her but she didn’t let go. Didn’t disengage from his arms or remove her hands from the most intimate of positions.
“Shh.” She pressed her lips to his, her voice low. “You’ve just given me a gift and I’m savoring it for a moment. Just for one quiet moment.”
“A gift? I just—”
She kissed him once more. “I said shh.”
The awkwardness vanished once more, despite—or maybe because of—the intimacy of their position. And it was in the quiet, his heart thundering in his chest, that Hawk had to admit his choice had been the right one.
The women he’d been with after Jennifer’s death had deserved better. Jennifer’s memory had deserved better. And now, he saw so clearly, Claudia deserved better, too.
He was able to give her that.
He hadn’t been capable of all that many good choices over the past four years. The dead-end apartment, the near total focus on his cases and far too many nights spent drinking his dinner from a whiskey bottle. But he’d held his ground on the sex.
And perhaps he’d been rewarded for his patience.
As Claudia Colton’s lips moved over his and her hands filled with him, Hawk realized he’d been rewarded in a myriad of ways. With her generous smile. Her innate poise and grace. And with her body, pressed to his in the most carnal exploration of his life.
If he’d only reach out and take what she offered. Accept all of it. The risks. And the glorious rewards.
He wanted to. He wanted to so badly.
With renewed urgency, his lips met hers, pressed and sought, consumed and devoured, as they pleasured each other. His hands drifted to her breasts, the points of her nipples firm and hard against his fingers. Hawk learned the shape of her, learned what made her moan, and in the meeting of their flesh he gave her pleasure. Received it in return.
He was so hard he marveled that he could still stand upright, but still, the battle for pleasure raged on between them.
How was this possible? For her to come into his life in such a rush, and then open herself so generously. For her to accept him for all he was and all he’d been.
Her voice was husky, her pupils wide black disks inside the gray when she gazed into his eyes. “Now what was that you were saying about going upstairs?”
“Are you sure?”
She gave him a light squeeze in answer. “I’d say that’s a yes.”
“Don’t get grabby.” He stilled her hand, gently removing her hold. “And give me a chance to collect myself.”
“What fun is that?”
He pressed a hard kiss to her sexy, pouty mouth. “Give me a few minutes to get this under control and I would be more than happy to show you.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
His gaze alighted on the dress. “Can we leave the dress here?”
“It’s fine. We’ll package it up later. After.” Her words were full of promise as she took a moment to rearrange her blouse. “Are you sure you locked the front door?”
“Positive.”
“The Main Street business association is going to kick me out.” She shook her head but couldn’t seem to muster any real apology or remorse in her tone. “Somehow, I think they want their shopkeepers to keep more regular hours.”
“Consider it a start-up commitment as you open for business.”
“Start-up commitments?”
“You’re consulting with your own personal security expert. If anyone asked, he came to help you identify the best places to install perimeter cameras.”
“Nice try. I have those out front.”
“You need an upgrade out back. And while you were at it, you decided to add on to your apartment security, as well.”
“You’ve got this all figured out.”
“I’m a full-service security specialist.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, a sexy smile filling her face as her hands played over his ass. “Is that what they’re calling it these days? Full-service?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That ‘ma’am’ routine worked on Pris Todd but it won’t work on me.”
“You prefer something else?”
“I sort of like ‘vixen.’”
“I’ll be sure to remember that.”
Hawk got stuck in her arms once again as they fell into another hot, steamy kiss. At this rate, their first time together was going to be on the floor of her studio and, while the thought wasn’t a deterrent, he had something else a bit more romantic in mind.
Softer, too.
“Vixen is the perfect word.”
“You bet your sexy ass.” She added a light swat firmly to his backside before she swung away to grab her purse. The jingle of keys confirmed she had it and Hawk reached for the knob. He dragged open the back door, only to find River Colton standing on the other side, his hand lifted as he prepared to knock.
Chapter 15
Claudia would have laughed at the twin looks of surprise on River’s and Hawk’s faces if she weren’t so disappointed to see her brother standing at her back door.
She loved him, of course. And she was so glad he was home, back in Shadow Creek. They’d worried about him for so long, his time in the marines shrouded in danger.
But could he have picked a worse time to show up?
The burn in her cheeks grew a bit hotter as she pictured what she and Hawk would have looked like, falling all over each other up her apartment steps, and decided River could have picked a worse time.
About two minutes later than his actual arrival, as a matter of fact.
The heated moments in Hawk’s arms still flushed her skin, but that was the last thing she wanted River to see. She so did not need him going all big-brother protective on her, especially since she was perfectly able to make her own decisions when it came to who she had sex with.
When, of course, she and Hawk finally got to have sex.
“River.” She pulled him close for a quick hug, whispering up a silent prayer of thanks that she’d t
hought to rearrange her clothes before heading up to her apartment. Although anyone paying attention could likely guess what she and Hawk had been up to, at least her shirt was put to rights and her skirt came to above the knee, just where it belonged. “I’m so glad to see you, but what brings you by?”
“The front door was locked.”
“I closed for the afternoon.” An impromptu decision for an impromptu interlude. “Hawk’s helping me package up Maggie’s wedding dress for delivery.”
The dress worked as far as excuses went and River sauntered over to where it still hung on the frame, giving her the final few moments she needed to fuss with smoothing her hair. “Maggie’s going to look gorgeous.”
“She’s absolutely stunning.”
“Thorne’s not going to know what hit him.”
“Most men don’t,” Hawk interjected, a bright wink in her direction. “Why don’t I give you two a few minutes? I wanted to fiddle with the position on the cameras over the front of the store anyway.”
He disappeared out of her studio as quickly as he’d come in earlier and Claudia gave herself a moment to watch him go. The man’s backside view was as enticing as the front and she barely suppressed the sigh that crept up her throat.
“And there’s the reinforcement I needed to confirm I walked in at the wrong time.”
“Nonsense.”
“Come on, Claudia.”
She waved a hand at him. “No, you come on. You’re my brother and I’m glad you’re here. That said, I can’t believe you’re really all that concerned with shopping this fine Thursday afternoon, so what has you out and about?”
Since the subject of her sex life wasn’t one either of them was all that keen to discuss, it proved fairly easy to distract him.
“Did you know La Bonne Vie is up for auction?”
“No.” She shook her head, the reality of his statement sinking in. La Bonne Vie. Her childhood home. “It’s really going up for sale?”
“In a few weeks. Feds have hung on to it long enough, I guess. Apparently new management wants to get out from under it all.”
“And we didn’t get any notice?”
