“Had my guy draw it out,” Tack informed me then asked, “You like it?”
I didn’t have it in me even to be a little bit of a smartass.
I just answered, “Yes.”
“Right. I’ll give him a call. Get it set up.”
I clutched the sketch to my chest and fell forward, back curved, doing a face plant right under his throat.
One of his hands drifted up my spine and into my hair as he muttered, “Darlin’.”
I deep breathed.
“She really likes it,” he murmured.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Babe, you gotta get used to my sweet,” he declared.
“Never,” I kept whispering, “because you just keep getting sweeter.”
His other arm curved around me and held tight.
I let him hold me for a while, taking him in with as many senses as I could before one of my hands drifted out and my fingers skimmed the tattoo on his left shoulder.
“You never told me about this,” I said softly.
“Balance,” he stated immediately and I lifted my head to look at him.
“Balance?”
He nodded, his hand in my hair drifting to the side of my neck, taking my hair with it and his thumb moved out to stroke my jaw.
“Balance, baby,” he said softly. “Wind. Fire. Live free. Be wild. Raise hell. But stay safe. You don’t, the reaper’ll get you, one way or another.” He paused then finished, “That tat’s a reminder. Balance. Raise hell but stay safe.”
I nodded.
Then I lifted up a bit and put my sketch on the nightstand before turning back to Tack and sharing, “Honey, you know I’m going out with Elvira today. You don’t have a lot of time. You need to get down to business.”
Tack grinned. Then both his arms closed around me, he rolled me to my back, his mouth taking mine and he got down to business.
* * * * *
Gwen
Two hours later, Hawk and Gwen Delgado’s farmhouse, South Denver…
Standing at the sink in my countrified yet whimsical kitchen, I jumped as arms closed around me from behind and I felt lips on the skin behind my ear.
“You need to quit doing that,” I stated even though I hoped he wouldn’t, not ever.
I lost those lips, kind of. They moved to my ear.
“Doing what?”
I turned in Hawk’s arms and looked up at him. “Dematerializing and rematerializing without making a sound. I know you’re a superhero out there, honey, but in this house you’re just Cabe.”
“Babe, I walked through the door.”