In Hawke's Eyes (2 page)

Hawke chuckled. “Thank you. I haven’t been told lately that I have a face only a mother could love.”

She joined him in his humor. “That’s a good thing.”

“As to your question, I’m single because I haven’t met the right woman yet.” He seemed to hesitate. “I thought I had some time ago, but it turned out I was wrong.”

Stephanie touched his hand, and again, lust rose inside her. She drew back. “I’m sorry. It sounds like you were hurt. I know how that is.”

“And you?”

A twinge touched her heart, but it had been a long time. She attributed the sensation to loneliness more than missing her husband. “I was married, but five years ago, he was killed in a boating accident. Now there is only my daughter and me. She’s ten.”

He put a hand over hers in her lap. “And your eyes?”

That startled her. Most people avoided asking about her vision, maybe thinking the subject taboo. She appreciated Hawke’s straightforwardness. Was the man as perfect as he seemed?

“I was in a car accident seven months ago. Glass from the window got in my eyes and scratched the corneas. I have to have them replaced, but the doctors gave me a year to heal before that happens. Not long now, thank goodness, but I can only see shapes and shadows mostly. If I get really close, I can make out a bit more.” She shrugged, for some reason feeling embarrassed. The thumb still covering hers stroked her skin. Why was she letting a man she didn’t know stay so close? Not that men beat her door down or that she had to fight them off. A young daughter and being blind kept them at bay. Those it didn’t showed their true colors real quick, so dating wasn’t often. Hawke seemed different, and their attraction surprisingly strong.

“I say all that’s left is Meechi and me, but there’s her father’s family.” Aware she rambled to cover her nerves, she couldn’t stop. “They’re a challenge, and trust me, less is more.”

“I get the impression they make you feel you can’t take care of yourself and your daughter.”

She snorted. “They
try
. Melanie, my ex-mother-in-law, couldn’t care less about me. It’s Meechi she’s interested in. Damn, listen to me going on and on. So self-centered. What about you? Do you have kids? Any siblings?”

He grew quiet, and Stephanie wished she could see into his eyes to know what he thought.

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Of course, I’m going to think you’re a suspicious character, just sayin’.”

He laughed. “I don’t have much in the way of family. We’re scattered here and there and not much in contact. The person I consider my brother, my greatest friend…well, we had a falling out, and I don’t think I’m welcome in his life anymore.”

She pulled her hand from beneath his and patted it. “I’m sorry, but if he loves you as much as it sounds like he does, it’s not over. You should try talking to him.”

“Toron is…”

“What?” She leaned closer and squinted, trying to make out his expression. Meechi told her that was annoying to others, but the habit came from seeing just enough to try harder for more. At least Hawke seemed unperturbed. He didn’t move out of range but rather accepted her scrutiny with quiet confidence.

“He’s stubborn.”

The tuning of instruments started up, alerting Stephanie the break was ending. She wished they had more time to talk about Hawke, but she wanted to enjoy the rest of the show as well. Hawke slid his chair nearer and began his narration. A tingle started in Stephanie’s core as she listened in rapt attention.

Chapter Two

Hawke convinced Stephanie to allow him to see her home. He talked her into a few more dates over the next few days, and the more he saw her the more he liked the tiny mocha beauty. He had been watching over her for a while now, ever since the night he pulled her from the car wreck. He saw it happen. Some sense had drawn him to her, and the moment he laid eyes on her, he was lost to do anything other than make sure she was safe.

Hawke hoped Stephanie wasn’t a substitute for Sienna, Toron’s mate. They were both chocolate beauties, small of stature compared to him, and firecrackers when it came to fighting for what they believed in. While Stephanie might put on a big show, he saw vulnerability in her as well. She needed his protection, and he didn’t think it was because of her sight. He told himself to keep it casual. Falling for Sienna should have taught him a lesson, but Stephanie called to him. Even when he slept in his bed at night, he felt her, longed to be with her.

The pull was the reason he found himself yet again in his hawk form outside her window, listening to her breathe while she slept.
I’ve become a damn stalker. It was different when Toron asked me to watch over Sienna, but no one asked me to watch Stephanie. If she knew…

He would not reveal what he was. That would only scare her and the last thing he wanted to do. As yet, Stephanie hadn’t introduced him to her daughter, but he had seen the little girl a few times. She looked like her mother, petite with a narrow face and big pretty brown eyes. Unlike Stephanie’s smooth cocoa skin, Meechi’s complexion was much fairer, as if from mixed blood. The knowledge gave Hawke a bit of hope. Stephanie might be open to an interracial relationship.

Feeling a nip in the air, Hawke stretched his wings and craned his neck with a squawk. An answering sound came from several streets away, but he recognized the call from a regular bird and not a shifter. On the street below, a shadow shifted positions, not natural. Hawke peered into the darkness. Human, he determined, and was just about to dismiss the man when he stopped in front of Stephanie’s building. Something in the way he hitched his shoulders and peered down at the sheet of paper in his hand put Hawke on alert. Hawke spread his wings and left the branch to fly over the man. He dipped his head and blinked a few times. The writing on the page came into view with no problem, and Stephanie’s name had been etched at the top.

The human entered the building. Hawke prepared to land and shift to his human form, but the man returned moments later. He strolled around the exterior of the building, his head swinging side to side as if to determine whether anyone watched.

I see you, and if you think you will hurt her, you are wrong.

The man came to the spot where Hawke already knew her balcony lay. He’d watched her come out onto it time and again and followed her movements beyond the sliding glass whenever she left the blinds open. Tonight she had left the door open to let in a light breeze. Hawke landed on the rail and looked down at the human. The man started at seeing Hawke.

Please come up here, so I can take out my frustrations on you.

The man hesitated. Hawke knew he appeared bigger than the average hawk, and he liked it that way. Having the reasoning ability of a human, he could take down any one of them or even a bigger animal shifter. His talons and curved beak would make short work of any enemy.

The human stepped back a pace and scratched his head. He took out a cell phone, and Hawke hoped he would use it so he could listen in, but the man tucked it away and turned back the way he came. When Hawke was sure the man had vacated the area, he spread his wings to take off.

“Oh wow, a hawk. How cool.”

Hawke froze at hearing Meechi’s voice. What was she doing out of bed, and why wasn’t she afraid of him? He twisted his head left and peered at her. She inched closer, holding her arm out. Bad move.

“Come here, boy. You want to sit on my arm? Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”

No! I would hurt you, damn it. Go to bed, Meechi.
Of course he said none of that out loud, and he had no intention of sitting on her arm. A screech startled them both, and Stephanie darted out onto the balcony and jerked Meechi to her.

“What is that shape, Meechi? It’s so big. Get your butt in the house, and what are you doing up?” She shoved her daughter behind her. “Shoo, shoo!”

“It’s a hawk, Mommie. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“No, it’s not beautiful. They’re predators. It could have hurt you. Who the heck has a pet hawk around here? Shoo, damn it!”

If Hawke could have sighed, he would have. She’d said he wasn’t beautiful, and the disgust in her tone told him revealing his animal side any time in the future would be a bad idea. He took to the air and returned to the trees far enough that the humans couldn’t see him. Tonight, he would continue his watch, but tomorrow, he had investigating to do.

* * * *

“Meechi Ward is her daughter’s name,” Hawke’s friend told him on the phone, and he frowned. Stephanie had told him she and Meechi’s father were married, so why not take on the man’s name?

“What else can you tell me about her?”

His friend worked in law enforcement and had access to databases that were off limits to Hawke. Where his friend couldn’t get to, being bound by the confines of his job, Hawke could. Over the years, they scratched each other’s backs. While he and Jim were close, he didn’t trust him with the knowledge that he was a shifter.

“She’s a little heiress,” Jack told him.

Hawke’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“Her father left her a pretty big stash. She’ll come into it when she’s twenty-one, but right now she gets a monthly allowance. If her mother wanted to dip into it, they could live in the lap of luxury. Looks like she barely takes any. The fact that he left it all to Meechi has been stuck in his family’s craw since the father died.”

Hawke spun the pin in his hand and tapped it on the desktop. “You get all that from your database?”

Jim laughed. “No, five years ago when the old man hadn’t even turned cold in the grave yet, the mother, Melanie Ward, sued Stephanie. She was backed by his two brothers and a sister. Stephanie won the case hands down because the will was iron-clad. Must have been a good guy to make sure his daughter was looked after.”

“Or he knew his family were all greedy assholes.”

“There’s that too.”

“Thanks, Jim. You’ve been a big help.” Hawke disconnected the call and considered all he learned. On the day Stephanie had her accident, with nothing better to do, he had looked into the circumstances of the wreck. The other driver, killed in the crash, had scarcely had enough alcohol in his system to swerve the way Stephanie claimed he had. He wondered if it had anything to do with Stephanie, but it seemed unlikely. Nothing happened since that incident, and he would know, since he kept watch over her. Maybe they were cowards at heart and lost their nerve after her severe injury. Having another thought, he sent off a text message to Jim and waited for the response to his question.

“No, the other driver had no connection to her dead husband or his family’s corporation,”
Jim replied.

Hawke swore. No, this was a good thing. If the in-laws weren’t serious about getting Meechi’s money enough to kill Stephanie, then she would not be further hurt by them. Still, something was going on, and he intended to get to the bottom of it.

When his cell phone rang, Hawke glanced at the display and warmed at the sight of her name. He stabbed the connect button, not caring to let it ring more than once. “Hello.”

“Hi, Hawke.” The breathless quality to her voice stirred his desire, and his cock grew hard. He imagined kissing her full lips and sliding his hands over her lovely body. “Hey, are you there?”

He cleared his throat and brought his thoughts back to the moment. “Yes, sorry. You’re not calling to cancel, are you?”

“No, of course not. I wanted to see if you could come a bit early and take me to pick up Meechi from daycare.”

“Sure, what time do you need me there?”

“Is four okay? I don’t know if you can get off work sooner.”

“No problem.”

They hung up, and Hawke stood from his desk. The small office he rented was one he used upon occasion when not chasing down a lead for a case. Private investigations alleviated the boredom his life would be since he had no other obligations. As he took the elevator to the parking garage beneath the building, he wondered how great it would be to have a family of his own. Thoughts like that led him to think about Toron. A year and a half had passed since they last spoke. Did his friend have any more children? He knew Toron and Sienna had married because she’d sent him an invitation to the post office box he kept. Hawke hadn’t attended, nor had he contacted her, as much as it hurt. He respected Toron’s wish not to see him, and he couldn’t forgive himself for ever trying to take Sienna for himself when anyone could see she belonged to his friend.

After he showered and dressed, Hawke brought an extra set of clothes to his car. He slipped behind the wheel and started out toward Stephanie’s apartment. He arrived an hour early in his eagerness and had to sit outside. When the time came for him to go inside, he stepped from his vehicle, smoothed his shirtfront, and started up. Stephanie answered on the second ring, and he took in her beauty. She wore a teal dress that hugged her figure and stopped half way down her thighs, which were bare. Her full breasts were accentuated behind the thin material with a low cut at the neckline. They didn’t allow him to linger anywhere else, but he forced his gaze back to her face.

“You look beautiful,” he murmured and moved past her when she backed up to let him in.

“Are you sure? I usually get Meechi to help me, so I chose this dress because I know I can’t mismatch anything with it.”

Hawke didn’t know what came over him. She rambled because she was nervous and unsure of what he thought of her. All he could do was demonstrate the impression she made by sweeping her into his arms. He crushed her close to his chest and raised her chin. Pausing an instant to hear her surprised cry, he covered her mouth and forced her sweet lips apart.

He wanted to take the kiss deeper, but he waited to gauge whether he disgusted or frightened her. When he ran a hand up her side, and the soft curve of her breast invited his palm, he gave into it. His thumb impacted with her taut nipple, and she arched into his touch on a soft moan. He dragged her tighter to him, up onto her toes and lowered a hand to her ass. So round and soft, it demanded that he squeeze and stroke it, but as soon as he did, Stephanie wiggled in his arms. With reluctance, he let her go, disappointed that he’d been so caught up in touching her he didn’t have the chance to push his tongue into her delicious mouth.