His arms gave me a squeeze. “Anything, Gwen.”
“Ginger out of trouble and safe,” I answered.
His eyes studied my face for awhile after I answered. Then he said, “Next up.”
“Next up?” I repeated, confused.
One of his arms left me so his hand could bunch the hair at the side of my neck. “Next up, Gwen, the next most important thing you could have if you could have anything.”
“Hawk, I don’t understand.”
“Anything, no matter what it is.”
“Hawk –”
“Answer me, Sweet Pea.”
“Hawk, I don’t –”
“Gwen, answer me.”
“Simone and Sophie alive and you with them and happy like you were in that photo,” I blurted and his face froze into that blank mask.
Staring at him, sleepy and confused, I suddenly understood that mask. It slotted into place when he was hiding something important from me.
“Which would mean, of course,” I kept blurting, “that you would never darken my door.”
The mask fell away instantly and he grinned, huge, his dimples popping out and dang, it killed me, but I had to admit I really missed those dimples. Then he twisted his torso and I was on my back in the couch, his upper half on top of me, my h*ps in his hips, my legs dangling over the back.
His fingers trailed my hairline and tucked my hair behind my ear as he went on. “What’s next?”
I felt my eyes get squinty. “Why are you asking me this?”
“What’s next, Gwen?”
“I’m still sleepy,” I dodged.
His face came closer and his thumb stroked my jaw when he whispered his demand, “Baby, what’s next?”
God!
Okay, he wanted to play this game, whatever. I’d play.
“Meredith being my real mom not my stepmom.”
He nodded and his thumb swept my lower lip. “What’s next?”
“You want to clue me in, Hawk?” I requested.
“What’s next?”
Apparently, he didn’t.
“There isn’t anything next,” I declared.
“Bullshit, Sweet Pea, a woman who wants a pair of seven hundred dollar shoes, she’s gotta have a next.”
“A diamond bracelet from Tiffany’s,” I replied then went back on it. “No! Wait. Leo to get Cam an engagement ring then a diamond bracelet from Tiffany’s.”