H is for Hawk (Men of ALPHAbet Mountain)

I leaned in.

Our lips touched gently at first, and then I pulled her tighter. My tongue slid into her mouth, and I tasted hers, passion growing between us quickly, right there on the dance floor. My cock hardened and pressed into her stomach, and she moaned gently into the kiss, only making me want her more. The sudden and intense desire to be inside her overwhelmed me, and it was everything I could do not to sweep her up and carry her away right then.

The music stopped, and the emcee started speaking. The bride and groom were holding court on one end of the building, and the party was still going strong. As our lips parted, Dee slipped her hand into mine and started to lead me away. I followed like a sailor after a siren, helpless not to heed her call.

We got to the edge of the floor, and she leaned up on her toes to kiss my cheek.

“I have to go see my sister for a bit,” she said. “I’ll be back around, okay?”

I nodded, watching her in a daze as she walked away, looking back over her shoulder at me briefly.

I went back to Rose and tended to her while I waited for Dee to return. When she did, she looked like she was ready to go.

“Hey,” I said. “I was wondering. Would you like to come over for a bit?”

“I was hoping you’d ask that,” she said.

Happily, I packed Rose back up and said goodbye to Desiree and her husband Aiden and Hank and Lana. I drove up to my place as calmly as I possibly could, and when we arrived, Dee took Rose and helped put her down for the night. We went back into the living room, and I poured us both a glass of wine, which this time she accepted gratefully.

“Thanks,” she said, then looked down at her glass as if she was thinking about something. “So, I spoke to Wendy.”

“Oh?” I asked. I had managed to avoid Wend during the reception.

“She explained what happened that night. She knows she should have let you talk. She actually feels really guilty about all of it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I wish she would have. Then you would have known that I didn’t stand you up out of malice. I wanted to be there, Dee. I wanted to take you to prom and spend that time with you. But my mother had gotten sick and I needed to be with her.”

She nodded. “I know that now. I’m not angry anymore.”

“Thank God,” I said. “I don’t know what I would do if you were.”

“Did you really care about me the way you said you did?” she asked abruptly.

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I always have. Still do.”

“Me too. It never really went away.”

“No, it didn’t,” I said.

There was silence for a moment, both of us seeming to try to figure out where to go from there. Dee shook her head and brightened up, apparently deciding just changing the subject was what she needed for right then.

“Oh, I wanted to tell you when we got somewhere calmer,” she said. “Desiree’s family are… very interesting. Very good at tracking people.”

“Really now?” I asked.

“Yeah, kind of like you with hawks. Only, with humans.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s good. Do you think they could help me find my sister?”

“They already have,” she said.

“What?”

“Desiree called in a favor,” she said. “They take favors very seriously in her family. So, they found your sister. Apparently, it didn’t take them all that long either. She already agreed to sign all the paperwork you need to adopt the baby. All you have to do is sign it and go through the legal part of the process.”

20

DEANA

Hawk’s face lit up as I told him about finding Kim and that she’d agreed to let him become Rose’s legal guardian. It was the step before him being able to fully adopt her, and he looked absolutely ecstatic to find out he was well on his way. I was expecting him to be happy. I knew he was worried this was going to be a long, drawn-out, complicated situation. He was afraid no one would be able to track Kim down, and that would stop him from being able to get the legal process underway.

But it had gone so smoothly, and now he knew it was really happening. Rather than having to worry about what was going to happen from day to day, that suddenly CPS was going to decide it wasn’t a good situation for the baby and take her, Hawk could feel confident knowing she was legally under his guardianship. She was his, and no one could take her.

And soon, far sooner than he thought, he would be able to adopt her and be her father.

He let out a joyful laugh and swept me up into his arms. Squeezing me tightly, he swung me around, then set me back on my feet. His eyes sparkled as they met mine. They searched my face like there was still a tiny part of him that wondered if it was really true, if maybe I was just playing some kind of joke on him and he didn’t get the punchline.