“That’s a hoot, Hawk! Weren’t you mocking me this past year while Brielle put me through the ringer?”
“Well, that was you. It was much more fun to watch.” Hawk had definitely enjoyed how uncomfortable Brielle Storm had made his friend.
“Yeah. Well, payback’s a bitch,” Colt said with an evil grin.
“We’re in a school, Colt,” Hawk reminded him. He looked around and was grateful not to see any kids listening in. “And what are you doing here anyway?”
“I had to drop off the green paint I picked up.”
“Well, you did. Now leave,” Hawk said, not in a mood for visiting.
“If I promise to be good, will you tell me about your troubles?”
What the hell. “The entire situation is ridiculous, Colt. I barely know this woman, but suddenly I can’t seem to think of anything else but her.” Blowing out his breath, he waited for Colt to mock him.
“Maybe you should just take her out, see where things could go,” Colt told him as they both turned to stare at the woman in question while she moved through the gym hanging decorations.
“Nah. Women are great and all, especially for one thing. However, they’re also pretty much interchangeable, and most important, they’re always temporary. Natalie lives in this town, so she’s automatically out. I don’t sleep with women here, you know that.”
“Yeah, I remember that rule. That was until I met Brielle . . .” Colt said with a knowing laugh.
“You’re not being any help at all, Colt. This woman is just too damn complicated. Too messy. Too . . .”
“Too what?” Hawk’s eyes narrowed. Was his best friend mocking him?
“Hell, this is insane. I just need to get over myself, quit acting like a damn teenager.”
“All I can say is, good luck, buddy,” Colt said before laughing and walking away.
“Thanks a lot!” Hawk replied, but all he got back was a chuckle from his engaged and far too happy friend. “They all fall sometime,” he muttered, and tried to focus on what needed to be done for the pageant to be a success.
Thirty minutes later, when he took a step back and knocked into Natalie, nearly tripping over her as she leaned over a chair, he was barely able to stop the groan that seemed hell-bent on escaping from his dry throat.
Her ass should have Warning: Lethal pasted right on it, because for a woman who had shown up in town in such uptight clothing, she’d sure found her own casually hot style during the last week. The jeans were enough to give him a heart attack, and the tight sweaters she’d decided to wear with those jeans didn’t leave much to his imagination.
Conversation. That’s what they needed. Then he’d discover she wasn’t so appealing after all. He’d grow bored and the fact that she had a great body wouldn’t matter, because he couldn’t stand a woman who didn’t know how to hold her own while talking.
He cornered her by the gym wall. “We never finished the discussion we began at Thanksgiving, Natalie.”
“We’ve talked plenty of times, Hawk,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“Not about anything important. It’s usually just you telling me what to do.”
“Isn’t that what women are supposed to do?”
Her sass had him smiling. “That’s what my mama says, anyway.”
“Ah. I like a man who knows that he’s supposed to listen to women,” she said, making his stomach clench.
“So you like me, huh?”
This was where he expected her to blush and run away. That was her usual reaction when he flirted with her. This time, she must have had a bowl of Wheaties for breakfast, because she took his breath away when she winked at him.
“Nah. I think you’re a pain in the butt, Hawk, but you do make a great worker bee.” She turned.
“No way,” he said, stopping her easily and trapping her against the wall with a hand on either side of her head. “You don’t get to make a statement like that and then just walk away.”
Her breathing hitched, making his groin tighten, and he leaned just a bit closer. Conversation certainly wasn’t helping him get over his fascination with Natalie Duncan.
“Hawk, I get to say whatever I want and then walk away because it’s my prerogative.” She looked a bit jittery, but not nearly as spooked as she’d been a week ago.
“Then you’ll have to learn that if you play with fire . . .”
“If I play with fire, what?”
Amazing. She wasn’t backing down.
“Then the fire chief has to come put out the flames,” he said. Their bodies were practically touching now; Hawk had forgotten they weren’t the only two people in the gym.
“Well . . .” she said, making his heart thunder. “In that case, I’ll have to . . .” He waited with bated breath, and she looked deep into his eyes. “. . . stop playing with fire.”
It took several heartbeats for the words to process in his muddled brain. When he realized she was through with this little dance, he pulled his hands from the wall, releasing her.
After watching the sway of her hips as she walked away, Hawk leaned against the wall for several agonizing moments, unwilling to turn and show everyone in the gym just what effect Natalie Duncan had on him.
When he knew it was finally safe to turn, he looked out and saw Natalie going about her business as if nothing had just happened. That irritated him more than anything else. How could she play so hot one minute and then so cold the next? What was her problem?
As things were wrapping up for the night, Hawk watched Natalie climb up a ladder, those jeans hugging her ass to perfection and putting far too many images in his head while he was in a room full of giggling children.
He had to wonder again what in the hell was wrong with him. Again, he thought about calling in a crime report on the town’s three meddling women, who were currently up on the stage, paintbrushes in hand, heads bent close as they planned something else that was sinister, he was sure.
Hawk looked on nervously as Natalie stepped close to the top of the ladder, stretching her body as far as it would go to hang a star from the ceiling. His stomach flipped over when he saw the bottom of the ladder wobble. She was going to fall and crack her head wide open!
Rushing away from the wall he’d seemingly been holding up, he grabbed on to the bottom of the ladder to steady it, and got a far too close glimpse of the soft white inch of skin showing on her stomach as she stretched out her arms.
Just when he began getting a good handle on himself and his lustful thoughts, he heard an oof and felt the ladder wobble dangerously. He looked back up just in time to see Natalie slip from the rung she’d been barely holding on to. Letting go of the ladder, he held out his arms, then groaned as she landed safely against his chest, her arms automatically reaching up around his neck.
“Oh my gosh!” Her eyes were wide, her mouth open, and her cheeks flushed.
Hawk didn’t even think, didn’t hesitate. He simply closed what little gap there was between them. He might regret this later. Hell, he would regret this later. But right now, oh yes, he had to taste those lips. Feeling almost as if he were in a trance, he ran his fingers through her long and beautiful hair and pulled her head closer to his.
Hawk tried to rein himself in, but he gave up when his lips brushed hers and he felt her breathing change. His first taste of her was like an explosion of flavor, cherries and mint and heat. A whole hell of a lot of heat.
He held on to her tightly as his mouth demanded her full attention. There was no struggle, no awkwardness. It was as if they were made to fit together. He could go on kissing her all night long.
After a few more seconds, he realized he was on the verge of losing control, and only then did he pull back. As her eyes fluttered open, Hawk knew the truth. He would have sex with this woman. And it would be out-of-this-world incredible. He could fight it all he wanted, but it was going to happen. And it was going to happen soon. His raging hormones demanded it.