“I wanted to work with Daddy,” she said, and he looked at her in surprise.
“Mr. Wellington?” he asked. “You two hate each other though. And didn’t you always want to be a model?”. He used to tease her that a model was– someone who was paid to do what she did best, lying on a chair with her tits out. In truth Kathryn form, she’d been furious at him first, before admitting that that was pretty much the truth. Then they’d made up just as furiously.
“It’s love/hate, even though it’s more on the hate side, yes. Daddy is so old fashioned. He thinks that the only one who can properly run a business is a man. I’m too this or not enough that, and he always blows off all my ideas. Admittedly, I haven’t done much to prove myself to him, but he also has made it just about as difficult as possible. So now he wastes his time with trying to set me up with all these rich guys.” She sighed, and Hawk laughed.
“So, like, some random dude he finds on the street is going to be better for you because he has money?” he scoffed. She shook her head.
“Sure, or maybe he just wants me to spread my legs and pop out some brat who can take over the business when he is old enough to take over.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke, and she was surprised when Hawk put his hand on her leg.
“I don’t mean to jump the gun, but I would hate for you to be reduced to just being breeding stock for his company.” He gave her a look, and though he was being serious, she burst into laughter.
“Could you make me sound any more like a cow if you tried?” she asked when she had finally gotten control over herself. He smiled at her and shook his head.
“You’re one of the gorgeous women in the world, Kathryn, but you are more than. And you deserve far more than that,” he said.
Kathryn blinked in surprise. Men always had ulterior motives. But, as Hawk turned his attention back out the window and pointed out more things to her that she never would have noticed had she been on her own, she couldn’t help but feel confused all over again. This wasn’t the Hawk she had known when she was in college. There was something about the Hawk that was kind—even caring.
This Hawk was almost a gentleman of sorts.
She quickly told herself to stop thinking such things. She and Hawk had a history, and it hadn’t worked out. Of course, it wasn’t going to work out again. They had been there, done that, and that would be enough for both of them.
Hawk was Hawk, and not even she could change that.
Chapter Thirteen
Hawk
Throughout the afternoon, Hawk found it harder and harder to keep his eyes off Kathryn. It seemed everything they did was more fun than anything that Hawk had done with another woman in the past. He had, of course, done many things he enjoyed with many other women in his adult life, but at the same time, he had never had this kind of connection with any other woman but Kathryn.
Of course, he remembered faintly when they were dating in the past and the two of them had spent hour after hour together. Back then, things had been a lot different between them, and they had been bound entirely by lust, both of them perfectly willing to admit it. A relationship in any true sense of the word—or at least in the sense that Cole now defined it—it was not, nor had they wanted that.
Now, Hawk was seeing something different between them. Now, it was as though there was a connection that had never been there before. Perhaps it was because they had both grown up—perhaps it was because they had both changed. Either way, it was as though he was with the same woman from the past, but she had become someone new while also retaining some of the old he’d been so familiar with.
She was still very clearly selfish and thought of herself above all, but at the same time, it was as though she had stopped thinking that the entire world had been put there to serve her. Her high maintenance attitude was present, but now she apparently planned to take care of herself. She no longer wanted Hawk for his body and his money – his body, yes, but not his money.
Throughout the afternoon they talked of many different things, surprising each other with the change in their personalities. Kathryn was surprised to learn how cultured and artistic Hawk had become. Instead of being solely worried about where his next lay was coming from—which admittedly was still uppermost in his mind—he was now able to identify art and artists, statues and history around the town.
He pointed things out to her and taught her things that she didn’t know about the city, including various paintings they found in different places. But, perhaps the most surprising thing of all was when he took her to a little café on the corner of the Strip, treating her to the most local cuisine she had had in as long as she could remember.
He followed up delicious diner fare by treating her to a wine she didn’t even know existed in the United States, and though it wasn’t flashy or showy, there was something about the way they were having fun that made her not miss the luxury of high end dining. Hawk could see that she was appreciating everything he was doing for her and showing her, and that appreciation was brand new. She’d taken such things for granted before.
Hawk was also making a point of showing her a whole new side of him. The more comfortable he became spending time with her, the more he told her of the situation he was facing with the hotel and the two men who were involved in the contract. Kathryn listened to what he had to say in silence, and after he had finished, she continued to be quiet for a while. Thoughtfulness was another new character trait in her. Thinking before speaking had never been a strength for either of them.
“You really don’t have to say anything. I was just telling you what was happening. To be honest, I am rather annoyed that the one thing that I am supposed to be taking care of for the company is the one thing that is being handled by con men, but that’s my luck, right?” He looked over at her as he spoke, and she laughed.
Hawk smiled. It sounded good to hear her laughing again, and he wanted to make her do it again and again. He wanted to make her laugh almost as much as he wanted to make her moan, and he felt that he was just as good at both. And the more time he spent with her, the more he thought about her lying under him on the bed and moaning as she writhed beneath him.
He shook his head, reminding himself that they couldn’t do that again—and that she might not want to do that again. Perhaps she was just as happy with it being a one-night stand as he was, something that had happened, but couldn’t happen again. They had tried before, it wasn’t going to happen again, and they both had to accept that.
But when the afternoon started to wane, he began to dread going back to the hotel room. Suddenly, her hotel room seemed so far away from his own, and the more he thought about bidding her goodnight as he had just a few nights prior, the less he wanted to. He couldn’t believe Dan Wellington had cut off his daughter the way that he had. Given the thoughtful comments she made about Hawk’s business situation and the savvy advice she occasionally offered, she showed that she had it in her to be a valuable asset to her father’s company, if only he’d see her as more than an asset to be bargained.
Although Hawk knew she was nervous about everything now that she’d lost a major source of income, he had no doubt that she was going to come out on top as she always did. Finally, he suggested that they head back to the hotel, telling her they should get cleaned up and go to dinner.
“Dinner? Are you sure you are Hawk Parker? I seem to remember him not being the dinner type after spending a day looking at art and such,” she teased. He laughed and shook his head.
“Maybe my brothers are rubbing off on me. I don’t want to give them that credit, but shoot, there is something about being stuck in Vegas for work that makes one not mind going out for dinner,” Hawk explained.
She agreed, and the two of them headed back to the hotel. But when they got to her room, she convinced him to come inside.
“I’m only going to grab a couple of things, and we can head out. I thought that this was a rather versatile outfit when I put it on. I have to admit that I didn’t know wha
t you had in mind when you said we were going to spend the afternoon out on the town, and I wanted to be ready for anything,” she laughed, and he shook his head.
“You should know that Vegas only gets wild after dark,” he said.
To his surprise, Kathryn sighed.
“Are you all right?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Just tired. I was up a little late last night,” she said with a mischievous grin. He gave her a look that was just as naughty and walked over to her.
“What were you doing?” he asked playfully. She looked down as he put his lips to her neck, nibbling at where her neck met her shoulder. She put her arms up and around his head, enjoying the kiss.
“I had an old friend over, and let’s just say we caught up on some things we were missing,” she said. He laughed and brought his hands up her waist and to her breasts, cupping them through the gauzy shirt she had chosen. She turned and looked at Hawk full in the face, a serious look in her eyes.
She was going to say something, but he put his finger to her lips first, then pressed his lips to hers. She seemed reluctant to kiss him at first, but the more he kissed her lips, the more she began to kiss him back, and the passion began to grow between them. She put her arms up and around his neck once more, this time facing him.
He wrapped his arms around the base of her back, pulling her into him, feeling the pleasure of her breasts pressed against his chest. It wasn’t long before the clothing started coming off both of them, and he took her to the bed. As they had the night before, they began taking full advantage of each other, sucking and kissing every part of the other person that they could.
As Hawk entered Kathryn that night, he felt something shift in him. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt as though he was home. There was something about this moment that was more than just the sex. He felt that he belonged inside her, that her pussy had been made just for his cock, and that he could never feel complete again unless he could do this often.
They climaxed at the same time, and as he rolled off of her and onto the bed, she lay next to him, catching her breath. Hawk wasn’t sure if he should say something, or if there really was anything to say. He was enjoying the best sex of his life with Kathryn Wellington, and he wanted to ignore all the extra feelings he was having toward her.
She suddenly grabbed the phone off the nightstand and hit a button, then held it to her ear.
“What are you doing?” he asked, and she smiled at him.
“I thought we could eat in tonight; room service has some pretty good dinners, you know.” She began giving the clerk her order, but Hawk started climbing on top of her once more.
“I know,” he said. She gave him a sly smile as she finished the order, and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was.
It was going to be a wild night.
Chapter Fourteen
Kathryn
Kathryn slowly opened her eyes, feeling fuzzy in her brain. She rolled her eyes. She hadn’t gotten drunk the night before, but she always felt this way after drinking champagne. She wondered why she had had champagne, then she remembered Hawk had insisted that they order it with dinner for some reason. She was already spending enough money on her miniature vacation that she hadn’t thought champagne would add too much to the tab, but when he insisted that he pay for it, she hadn’t argued.
They’d ended up with three bottles before the night was out and had spent most of the night enjoying each other’s bodies. Kathryn rolled over on her side now, wondering how she was going to feel waking up with Hawk still in her bed.
But her heart fell.
She could see the place in his pillow where he had been lying, but he wasn’t there. The sheets had been thrown back on the bed as though he had just tossed them out of the way when he had gotten out of bed, and she wondered why she hadn’t woken up when he had. She didn’t feel that she had gotten too buzzed the night before, and thought she would have woken up easier.
If Hawk had wanted to slip out of the room unnoticed, then it was possible that he had deliberately tried to leave without waking her. Of course, in spite of herself, she couldn’t help but wonder why he would have left that way. She’d thought they were having a lot of fun together, and though she’d admitted to herself before she even began sleeping with him that she knew it wasn’t going to lead anywhere, she still felt a sting to find that he had left.
She leaned back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if she should send him a text message or just let it go. Kathryn wanted to think about her time in Las Vegas as a time for her to do what she wanted when she wanted and forget all about everything else. When she got back to New York, she could make some more permanent decisions, but right now, she was going to focus on having fun.
Hawk was known for being wild and free, and it was unlikely he was giving any more thought to what they were doing than he was giving thought to brushing his teeth in the morning. After all, Dana was the only woman on the planet who had managed to convince a Parker brother to marry her, and Kathryn knew it was unlikely any of the others would follow suit. Not that she’d been thinking of marrying Hawk. Whoa. Where had that thought come from?
Just as the disappointed feeling was starting to fade out of her chest, the door to the bathroom opened and Hawk walked back into the room. Kathryn sat up in surprise, looking at him with wide eyes. He had wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist, and as he walked into the room he smiled at her.
“I didn’t think you would mind if I decided to take a dip in the shower. I mean, I could have gone to my room, but I didn’t want to walk that far.” He walked over to the bed and sat down, and she smiled. She wanted to ignore the pounding of her chest. She couldn’t believe that he was still in the room—that he had spent the full night and hadn’t run for shelter as soon as the light started to peer through the curtains.
“I don’t mind at all. Pretty sure the bill is the same either way. I just had the hotel soap and stuff though,” she said. He chuckled.
“That’s all I have in my room, too. I’ve got standards, but for this price I’m going to take full advantage of all that the room has to offer.” He gave her a look, but she seemed confused.
“Aren’t your brothers paying for the room while you’re down here? It’s strange if you had to pay for the penthouse suite when you didn’t want to come down here in the first place,” she said thoughtfully. He sat for a moment, looking like he was rubbing the fuzziness out of his own head.
“Technically, we’re all paying for it. It’s under the company name and card, and I am told that it belongs to all of us, or I wouldn’t be in this mess anyway,” he said. She laughed.
“It’s hardly a mess when you’re all getting equal and share in the assets,” Kathryn remarked.
“I was doing just fine without any of those assets before Dad died.” He spoke with a rather dry tone, and her face fell.
“What?” he asked, and she shrugged.
“I mean, I have all this debt that I am going to have to pay back. I would take any kind of assets, even if I did have to work for them,” she replied.
To her surprise, Hawk didn’t tease. “I’m sorry. I know you want a job with your dad and here I am with a job just handed to him and acting ungrateful. It doesn’t mean I want to have any part of the company anymore, but at the same time, I feel bad that I hate it so much with you in the situation she was in.”
Kathryn barely had time to absorb the fact that she was seeing actual thoughtfulness and empathy from Hawk, who once upon a time hadn’t known the meaning of those terms any more than she had, when he turned on the bed, allowed the towel to fall open, and revealed that he was naked. She knew that he was doing it on purpose to cheer her up, and she smiled at the gesture. She held her hand out to him.
“Why don’t you come back to bed? We’re on vacation, or at least I am. If you don’t have anything that you have to tend to right away, why don’t you enjoy a few more minutes with me before you have to go?”
she asked. He smiled as he climbed on top of the bed heading for her, and she opened the blankets.
He stopped when he was just above her, however, and smiled down at her.
“Hey,” he said. She looked up at him with a small smile, and his own warm smile eased some of the anxiety that Kathryn was determinedly tamping down, refusing to consider ramifications until this vacation was over. “It’s all going to be okay. I promise.”
She nodded. “Of course it is. Things always work out for me, don’t they?”
***
Kathryn pulled on her dress and looked at herself critically in the mirror. Once again, she had spent most of the day with Hawk, only having to share him with anyone else when he was on the phone with Blake. He didn’t mention her being there, and she didn’t know if the other brothers knew that she was, or if Dana had kept the information to herself.
Of course, she was likely to have told Cole, and Cole loved to share everything with Blake. But then, what did it matter? Hawk had asked her if she would like to go with him to dinner, and she had agreed. He told her to put on something that she looked nice in, but that she could also move in.
Kathryn knew just how to dress when she was with Hawk. She wanted to look her best, but at the same time, she knew they wouldn’t be sitting around and doing nothing all night. No matter where they started for dinner, it was likely they were going to end up somewhere on the Strip doing something fun.
She liked that about Hawk. He wasn’t a boring date by any means, and no matter what they were going to call what they were doing right now, she could call him her date for the night—and as such, she knew they were going to have fun. When she finished putting on her makeup, she walked back out to the other room, smiling as Hawk adjusted his jacket in the mirror.
“You look good,” she said with a smile. He looked up with a bit of a surprised expression, as though he wasn’t used to receiving such compliments. She smiled warmly and walked over to her suitcase, pulling out her heels. She loved how strappy they were yet classy. She could make some major moves in those heels, and she figured if Hawk had his way, she was going to need them.
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