Then I rushed down the stairs to see the living room dark but a light and voices were coming from the kitchen. Meredith was probably offering Hawk a beer. When Meredith was in my house, I gave up the position of Head Hostess. I’d learned it was the best way to go. She could probably go to the White House for a State Dinner and the First Lady would step aside and let Meredith take over.
I hustled to the kitchen and stopped dead in the doorway when I saw Meredith chatting with Detective Mitch Lawson.
I was freaked out last night, what with the fire and Dad and Hawk battling the flames with fire extinguishers, I hadn’t taken the time to admire yet again how hot he was. Now that he was in my kitchen and I was in a little black dress with hair out to there, when his eyes turned to me and he froze, I had the opportunity to process yet again how hot he was.
So I took it.
He recovered first.
“Gwendolyn.”
God, I liked it that he always said my full name.
“Hey, Detective Lawson.”
He did his small smile then he invited, “You can call me Mitch.”
“Um… okay.”
Lawson’s eyes swept me then he looked at Meredith.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Kidd, but could you give Gwendolyn and me a moment?”
“Oh!” Meredith cried at the same time she jumped. She’d been processing how hot he was too. “Sure. Of course. I’ll just…” she rushed to the fridge and grabbed two beers, “get Bax and I a drink.” She closed the fridge then rushed to the door of kitchen saying, “Nice to see you again, Detective Lawson.”
“Mitch,” he corrected.
“Mitch,” Meredith called as she continued escaping.
Oh boy. Alone in my kitchen with Mitch. No eight cops in the living room. No Hawk… yet. He was late.
I walked a bit into the kitchen. “Uh… is everything okay?”
His head tipped to the side. “Yeah, why?”
“Uh… you’re here and… uh… you’re an officer of the law and there’s the small fact my sister is in some serious trouble so…” I trailed off.
“I’m here because of your sister but not because anything is wrong.”
“Oh. Okay,” I replied.
“Or, anything else is wrong,” he amended.
“Oh. Okay,” I said again.
“I just wanted to ask a favor of you.”
I took a breath and then repeated, “Oh. Okay.”
And, by the way, I felt like an idiot repeating those two words but what could I say? I was in a little black dress waiting for Hawk and Lawson was hot and I knew he was into me and he was there to ask a favor. I didn’t know what to do. The situation seemed uncertain, not in a good way or a bad way, just in an unpredictable way.
He studied me a second then, his voice dipping quiet, he ordered, “Gwendolyn, come here.”
Without delay my feet moved me closer to him because I was a woman and when a hot guy told you in a quiet, deep, attractive voice to come to him, you just did it.
I forced my feet to stop when I was a foot away from him.
When I stopped, he said softly, “You look pretty.”