Page 20 of Damaged Protector

The T-shirt he was wearing matched the furnishings and the man himself. Large and dark. It stretched across his chest, and the seams of his short sleeves seemed to be straining with the effort to contain his biceps. They were so big, I could probably use one of them as a recliner.

“Welcome to Casa de Hawk,” he said.

Something niggled at the back of my brain, and I took a closer look at Tate. “Wait a minute! You’re Hawk, Cam’s old Navy buddy.” He gave a brief nod of assent. “I saw pictures of you from years ago. You were less hairy in this area,” I told him, circling my index finger toward his face.

“Yep, pretty much everyone calls me Hawk now, but Tate is my given name.”

“Ah, you can say more than a few words at a time. I was becoming concerned,” I babbled. “Tate, huh? Anyone ever call you Tater?”

“No,” he said flatly, though I think his beard twitched again.

“How about Tater Chip?”

“Nope.” Yep, his furry chin definitely moved that time.

“I’ll just call you Tater Tot.” Whyyy? Why can’t I shut the fuck up?

Bright white teeth shone through the dark beard, and ohhh, my! The smile totally transformed his face, and his black eyes sparkled, drawing me in like a moth to a flame. Tate “Hawk” Gentry was devastating when he smiled.

Then he warned, “Yeah, you do that and see what happens,” and the grin on his face did nothing to suppress my shiver.

Holy hell, I’m going to be living with this very attractive beast of a man for the foreseeable future. Lord help me!

Chapter 6

Cam’s cousin was a funny little thing, but she was a bit of a babbler. Maybe she was intimidated by me. I was a man of few words, and I had a bit of an overbearing presence. It tended to keep folks at arm’s length.

Which is exactly where I liked them.

At one time, I lived with Woody, Tank, and Bode, but that actually hadn’t bothered me. We’d been in much tighter quarters when we were SEALs back in the day, so sharing a spacious house wasn’t all that bad.

Now, however, I’d been living by myself for a while, and I was set in my ways like an old man, despite being only thirty-four. I wasn’t a fan of having people in my personal space. Woody always said I was about half an inch from yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

As if reading my mind, Mallori looked up at me with huge eyes—similar to Cam’s blue ones but with a hint of green as well.

“I’m really sorry to impose on your home. I know it has to be a pain in the ass.” White teeth dented a full bottom lip as her chin dipped. Ah, fuck. I resisted the urge to place my fingers there and lift it back up.

I hadn’t been thrilled when Shiloh called and told me the situation, but Mallori was just moving to a new state by herself, and I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable while she was staying here.

Which hopefully won’t be for long.

I brushed that errant thought away and heard myself say, “It’s no problem. I have plenty of room.”

The corners of her lips rose, and damn her face lights up when she smiles.

“Thank you. I’ll try not to be any trouble.”

“We’ll see about that. You are kin to Cam after all.”

She laughed, and it was deeper than I expected, as if the sound came from low in her belly. “That’s true. And I’m also related to Bella.”

“Jesus, please tell me you don’t make a habit of flooding people’s houses.”

“I never have before, but I bet I can figure it out,” she retorted, and I chuckled.

I liked that she seemed to be relaxing a bit more around me. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

“Come on, and I’ll show you to your room. Then I’ll bring your stuff inside.”