Dan’s voice called from the back of the kitchen then, asking me to lock the doors.
“I’ll wait for you outside. Please talk to me.” Hawk’s eyes burned back at me, dark, pleading.
I nodded quickly, ushering him out the door before locking it behind him. He turned, waved once, then leaned against the brick wall, looking sexy as fuck. How was it possible Hawk was back and he was waiting for me to get off work, just like it used to be? I’d fallen into a time warp, except this time, it was all different. This time, I had Emerson.
I breathed deeply, steeling my spine before buzzing around to the tables and counters and giving them one final sweep with a damp cloth. Untying my apron, I went in back to find Dan.
“Headed home for the night?” He barely looked up from the stack of papers on his desk.
“Yup, unless you need anything else?” I stalled, dreading walking out those doors to face Hawk. Who knew what kinds of questions he might ask me. And I wasn’t ready to tell him anything. Not yet, maybe not ever.
“I’m good. Thanks, Morgan.” Dan dismissed me with a wave of his hand, and I trailed on soft footsteps out the back door. Shrugging my purse onto my shoulder, I made my way around the building and bumped chest-first into Hawk.
His arms came around me instantly.
My body wanted to melt into him, let him soothe away all the anxiety just like he used to do, but I’d gotten good at standing on my own two feet. Just because he was back now didn’t change anything.
“What do you want, Hawk?”
“I want to know about you,” he said simply. I’d missed that about him. So many people used so many words to fill their conversations without saying anything of value. Hawk’s words were short and to the point, and you never had to guess how he was feeling.
“Well, I’ve been waitressing here for almost three years—”
“Not that shit.”
I frowned, growing frustrated. “Then, what shit?”
“Don't bullshit me, Morgan.” He caught my elbow, hauling me a little closer to him. My stomach fell, my knees weakened, stubborn arousal chugging its way through my veins and landing between my thighs. Just the brush of his skin against mine was like a hit of heroin coursing through my veins. I hated being so at his mercy. I hated that he still knew that about me.
“Bullshit you? Why would I even?” I yanked my arm out of his grip and walked down the sidewalk.
“Talk to me.”
“You keep saying that without asking a damn question!” I screamed, speeding up.
“Christ, can’t we go somewhere private?” His face contorted into a frown.
“No! I mean, not my place. The babysitter is there.”
“Then mine.” His hand was at my elbow again, pulling me against him.
I shook my head, not because I didn’t want to, but because the fog his touch sent clouding my brain was almost too much to handle.
“It’s just a block and a half away. Give me fifteen minutes. And I’ll walk you home when I’m done.”
“I don’t want you to know where I live.”
“What? Why not?” His brow furrowed, offended.
I shook my head, feeling a little more helpless every minute. I wasn’t sure what I was doing here, the only thing running through my head that I was standing across from my best friend, and following him anywhere felt like the most natural thing on Earth. I sighed, “Fifteen minutes at your place. That’s it.”
He shook his head, hand looping with mine as he guided us the opposite way down the street. His fingers intertwined with mine made my stomach swim, my knees weak, the taste of his lips on mine still intoxicating.
Hawk took another turn down a side street, weaving farther away from my and Emerson’s house—at least he wasn't my neighbor. Small mercies for that.
My heart stuttered to a halt when we approached a small, very familiar apartment complex. The very same apartment complex we’d lived in together for the first two years of college.
The two years before he left.
The two years before my entire world changed.
“You live here?” I asked in disbelief.
He only nodded, hand firmer in mine as we walked across the parking lot. He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked a door on the bottom floor. “Only temporary. Got a place outside of town. This place had good memories, though.” He looked at me, a half grin turning his lips.
That grin.
Jesus, how could I have forgotten that grin?
It sent cartwheels flipping in my stomach every time.
What was I doing here?
I should have gone straight home.
“Seeing you today made me realize something, Morgan. Something that’s been buried a long time.” He was moving closer, his other hand catching mine. “I may have walked away from you then, but you’re just as much mine now as you were all those years ago.” His words crept up the curve of my neck, teeth nipping at my earlobe.