Hawk & the Lady - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,52

I sassed, but she didn’t pull me up on it.

“I will trust you, Leah. If you’re as serious about Patrick as you say you are, then you’ll have no problem having one harmless dinner with Edward.”

I nodded. “All right.”

It did indeed seem a small price to pay to have her on side.

For all her faults, she was my mother. The woman who birthed and raised me. In her own way, she loved me and I loved her. As much as I hated the cookie cutter mould she wanted me to fit into, I did want her to be proud of me, to approve of me.

So, yeah. One dinner with Edward. If those were her terms, that’s what I’d do. Then my life might actually feel like it was entirely my own. My own to live with a man I cared for and who cared for me.

It was just one dinner. What could go wrong?

****

Later that night, I was lying in bed with Patrick and tried to come up with a way of broaching my feelings for him.

“We never really talked about when this would end…” I started.

As soon as it was out, I couldn’t decide if I regretted bringing it up because he’d be all ambivalent about it, or because what if I was wrong about how I felt and it all went south.

“We haven’t,” he agreed, rubbing his thumb over my skin. “Have you thought about when it would be?”

Hedging all bets, I aimed for semi-playful as I said, “I’d love to see Mother’s face if it never ended.”

He chuckled. “So would I.”

I looked at him. “You would?”

His eyes found mine and I was so hopeful that I read in them what I thought I was reading into them. “I would.”

“So maybe it doesn’t have to end?” I suggested somewhat hesitantly.

His smile melted every last piece of resistance my self-doubt was trying to feed me. It was mirrored in his eyes as they shone down at me. “Maybe it doesn’t,” he said softly before he kissed me and I knew I was unconditionally his.

16

Patrick

I wasn’t quite ready to go throwing around any four-letter words beginning with ‘L’ or anything, but I still felt good. I wasn’t the only one who felt something different about our relationship. It felt like a ridiculous cliché that a fake engagement had ended up in us actually wanting to be together. At least, that’s what I thought she’d been saying to me a few nights earlier.

I kind of understood the whole ‘Walking on Sunshine’ song that Bert burst out singing whenever she was in a good mood when she was younger. Because it felt like that. Leah made me feel like that.

Suddenly, Chaos humming around the office made a weird sort of sense. Mainly because I’d just realised I was doing the exact same thing, complete with hip wiggles and jazz hands as I made myself a coffee.

I turned from the machine to find Chaos and Rollie walking in. Rollie made a beeline for the Krispy Kreme packet on the counter.

“Ha!” Chaos smirked. “She got you.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Dude, you two are like the same person,” Rollie said as he shoved a doughnut into his face. “If Chaos hums because of a chick, you hum because of a chick.”

“Say it, don’t spray it,” Chaos said, wiping down his spotless jacket lapel.

“I’m just saying.” Rollie shrugged.

“But you’re not, though,” Chaos said and I huffed, “It’s not cause and effect.”

“Nah,” Rollie agreed. “It’s just ‘cause you’re the same. You know?” He bundled up a couple more doughnuts.

“You planning on a sparring session later, Roll?” Tank’s deep voice rumbled humoured disapproval from behind me.

“I’m celebrating,” Rollie told him indignantly.

“What are you celebrating?” Tank sounded like he didn’t believe anything was worth celebrating with a pile of doughnuts, but he’d known Rollie as long as us and knew Rollie didn’t need much of an excuse to pack in the junk food.

Rollie pointed at me. “Hawk’s whipped.”

Tank turned his careful gaze on me. “Whipped?”

I shrugged. “I may have had a conversation with Leah regarding the status of our relationship and we might have agreed not to end it.” I did a little excited shuffle.

“That’s great news, mate,” Chaos said as Rollie whooped doughnut through the air.

I looked to Tank for some kind of reaction. Any reaction. I’d have taken a scowl and a hiding at that point. It felt like forever since things had been normal between us and I was kind of hoping that we could use