Chapter Twenty-Four
Delilah woke knowing something was different.
First becoming aware she wasn’t on the floor, then she heard the mechanical clicking that reminded her of the old typewriter her mother had owned.
She had loved playing with it when no one was around to stop her.
It sounded like it was only a few feet away.
But the sound didn’t fit where she was, at least not that she remembered.
She lay still, the sound telling her she wasn’t alone, but she wasn’t sure who it was or what they might do once they realized she was awake.
It took a couple of minutes for everything that had happened to come back to her.
She remembered being taken from the pantry, the motorcycles and she couldn’t keep her face from heating at the way she’d begged Hawkeye to show her why so many women enjoyed sex.
That’s where she was, in Hawkeye’s room.
It seemed he wasn’t beside her any longer but where was he?
Almost as important, where was the typewriter?
Assuming that since she was in Hawkeye’s room, in his bed, and that he kept insisting she was safe here, she decided whoever was in the room probably wouldn’t hurt her.
She opened her eyes and looked around. There wasn’t much light.
What little there was seemed to be coming from the foot of the bed, same with the typewriter noise.
Lifting herself up on one elbow, she looked toward the foot of the bed.
All the screens she’d seen earlier were lit, things flashing and moving faster than she could keep track of them.
Hawkeye had his back to her, headphones on his head.
She went up on her knees and crawled to the foot of the bed, the stood.
His fingers flew over the keyboard and that was what had woken her.
She moved up behind him and set a hand on his shoulder.
Hawkeye jumped. He ripped the headphones off his head and spun around to face her. She stepped back, trying to get out of his way. He calmed as soon as he realized it was her.
“Sorry, baby, you surprised me. I guess I was kind of lost in what I was doing. You all right?” he stood and moved closer.
Delilah froze. Was he coming to comfort her or to slap her for interrupting?
Uncertainty held her in place until he’d wrapped his arms around her and tugged her close.
She laid her head against his chest and heard his heart thundering inside.
He might look calm on the outside but his heart was still racing.
“I’m fine. Why did you get up?”
“I had some things I wanted to look into. Did I wake you? I didn’t mean to.”
“You did and you didn’t. I thought I heard a typewriter. It didn’t fit with my dream, and that woke me.”
He winced. “Sorry. I forgot about the keyboard. I’ll order another one so it doesn’t wake you in the future.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that.” She didn’t want him spending money when he didn’t need to. Especially if he wasn’t going to keep her.
He leaned back and watched her face for a moment, then pulled her close again.
“Maybe I’ll see if Pike has an extra I can borrow for now. I tend to get up and do things online at random times and I don’t want to keep waking you. You need to get some good rest and me banging away will disturb you.” He smoothed a thumb over her cheek as if wiping away a tear.
“Now that I know what it is, it shouldn’t wake me. I like the sound, it was just out of place.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to keep you from sleeping.”
“I’m sure. What time is it?” she glanced at the single window high on the wall over the bed and saw only the pale grey of the night sky.
He twisted them around so he faced the computer screens.
“Almost 5:00. There’s nothing happening around here for hours yet, no one will bother you if you want to go back to sleep. Or is there something else? You slept through dinner last night. We can go get something for breakfast if you’d like.”
“We don’t need to go out. I can cook for us,” she said. It might be a different club than the Crows, but surely they had a kitchen here, too.
“Not going to happen, little dove. You are not going to turn yourself into a slave here, too. Besides, I’m sure that kitchen is nowhere you want to be or I want you to be right now.
Who knows what kind of mess the prospects left down there.
You can take a look if you want, after they’re up and have a chance to clean up after their partying.
They’re likely so drunk they can barely stand, if they’re not passed out somewhere.
” He tugged her tight against him before loosening his hold.
“I’ll take you out, and by the time we’re through eating maybe some of the stores will be open and we can pick up a few more things.
You’ll need more to wear than those sweats and cheap shoes.
” I know it’s not ideal, but I did get your clothes washed while you slept.
I snagged them when I thought you would only sleep for a couple hours yesterday and asked Andy, a brother’s old lady, to add them to the load she was starting.
She brought them by when they were done.
” He motioned to the dresser along the far wall.
She turned and looked and found a small stack of clothing sitting on top.
“Get dressed and we’ll go find something to eat.
I’m going to do a couple of things here real quick then I’ll dress, too.
” Hawkeye turned her around to face the dresser, then dropped a gentle kiss on top of her head before turning back to his computer.
He didn’t sit but bent over and did something with the mouse, then hit a couple of keys on the keyboard, making all the screens go blank.
“Thought you were hungry, little dove. As much as I love seeing you like this, no one else gets to look at you all naked.” He ran one hand along the curve of her hip then squeezed one cheek of her bottom.
“I know they’re not pretty or what you like, but they’ll do while we eat, then we’ll see if we can find you clothes you like better.
” He released her then stepped away. He went to the dresser, pulled out underwear and a t-shirt, and tossed them on the bed.
That’s when she realized he wasn’t wearing the same jeans and shirt he’d been wearing the day before.
He had on a pair of loose shorts that went to his knees and it looked like nothing else.
She stood, watching him, letting her eyes take in the tattoos she could see.
When he turned his back to her, she saw the same haloed skull from his vest on his back.
She couldn’t help but wonder how much that had hurt and how long it had taken.
There were a few others, but he wasn’t covered like some of the men she’d seen when she was with the Crows.
Maybe, eventually, she would ask what they meant. But not now.
He pulled jeans from the closet and turned back to the bed where he paused.
“You sure you don’t want to go back to bed? You look hungry but not for food.”
Delilah’s face heated. She dropped her gaze. She hesitated, trying to decide if she should apologize for staring or hurry and get dressed like he’d told her to.
Hawkeye tossed his jeans on the bed and closed the distance between them.
She didn’t think he would hit her but what if she was wrong?
Not sure what was coming, she didn’t move, just waited.
He stopped in front of her and waited, saying nothing.
They’d been standing for several seconds before she hazarded looking up at his face, wondering if the delay had made him even angrier.
But when she saw his face, he didn’t appear mad. He had a gentle, patient look on his face.
“You do know I was teasing, right, little dove?”
She frowned.
“Teasing? What do you mean?” She understood teasing, it wasn’t a hard concept, but how had he been teasing her? The tension of wondering if he was going to hit her slowly drained away, leaving her a bit dizzy.
He brought one hand up to smooth along her jaw.
“I like that you like looking at me, little dove. It’s okay if you want to do nothing but watch me all day.
But you said you’re hungry, so let’s feed you.
” He placed a chaste kiss against her forehead.
“I’m about to drop these shorts and get dressed.
You’re welcome to watch,” his voice dropped low, as if he liked the idea, “hell, I wouldn’t mind watching you get dressed, too. ”
Her stomach chose that moment to rumble. Hawkeye chuckled.
“Maybe the watching each other dress should wait. Put your clothes on, little dove, and let’s get you fed.
” He turned back to the bed, his hands going to the waistband of his shorts.
Before he had a chance to shove it off his hips, showing her his bottom, she hurried to the dresser, snagged the pile of clothes waiting for her and ducked into the bathroom.
It didn’t take her long to pull on the sweats and thin shoes, and only a couple of minutes longer to run the comb she found on the edge of the sink through her hair, then braid it so it was out of the way and neat.
By the time she stepped back into the bedroom, Hawkeye was dressed and once more seated in the chair for the desk, but this time he was pulling on his boots, not on the computer.
By the time she’d stepped into her shoes, Hawkeye was standing and had already picked up his keys and wallet from the desk. He stood beside the door waiting. She hurried to his side, not wanting to delay them any longer and risk upsetting him.