Page 14 of Out of Reach
CHAPTER NINE
Jude
Jude woke to the low rumble of Hawk’s voice in the next room. He didn’t come back from working out until late, and Jude was already sleeping. He only knew Hawk had slept in the bed because the sheets beside him were still warm. After deducing Hawk was on the phone, Jude got up to go to the bathroom, then padded barefoot into the living room.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the East River sparkled under the sun’s morning glare. On the couch, Hawk sprawled, cell phone to his ear while he scribbled on a notepad.
Jude shuffled sleepily into the small kitchen, pleased to find fresh coffee brewed in the coffee maker. When he peered into the refrigerator, he found it had miraculously been filled overnight.
Taking a Styrofoam cup from an opened bag, Jude poured himself some coffee, adding a little milk to it before walking back into the living room and sitting in the chair by the window to bask in the sunlight while he drank it, listening to Hawk’s occasional grunts into the phone as he continued making notes.
He shouldn’t have teased Hawk about sex. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been one hundred percent teasing, but what would be so wrong about doing it for old time’s sake?
Don’t be an idiot. You know it would have dredged up old feelings.Jude just hadn’t been able to help himself, and maybe he’d wanted to see how Hawk would react.
“What time is your appointment at the modeling agency?” Hawk asked, cutting into Jude’s thoughts.
“Noon,” Jude answered.
Hawk stood, shirt riding up to reveal a bit of sculpted abs covered in a smattering of dark hair. “I’m going to take a shower. You probably noticed Slade had groceries delivered. There are some of those bagels you like with all the seeds.”
“How’d he know I like those?” Jude asked.
“I told him.” Hawk disappeared into the bedroom, and a moment later Jude heard the shower turn on. He imagined Hawk slipping out of the cotton pants he’d been wearing, putting that awesome ass on display.
He slammed a lid on that train of thought.
Stop. It.
Shaking his head, he took another sip of coffee, telling himself to remember he was free to do as he wished for the first time in his life. No entanglements, and a modeling job waiting for him. The last thing he needed to do was rekindle old emotions. His trouble was he was too much of a romantic. What he and Hawk had had hadn’t been some grand love—hell, it hadn’t even been equal. Jude had lived at Hawk’s place while Hawk was deployed, and every six months or so, Hawk would return home and they’d fuck like maniacs until he was deployed again. Jude had been young, and he’d idolized Hawk pretty much from their first meeting. Seeing him in military garb in the coffee shop a few months after their first meeting had just sealed the deal. For the next few years, the man weaved in and out of Jude’s life like a needle through cloth, putting Jude through a succession of highs and lows that had finally proved too much for him.
And now he was back in Jude’s life.Once he realizes I’m not really in danger, he’ll go home, Jude told himself. Why didn’t that make him feel better?
“Fuck.” Getting up, Jude walked into the kitchen, found the bagels, and popped two of them into the toaster.Hawk remembered that you like these and asked Slade to buy them.
Why did he have to do something nice like that? Jude wanted to be angry at him.
By the time Hawk walked back into the kitchen, hair damp from the shower and freshly dressed in dark jeans, a pristinely white T-shirt, and his leather jacket, Jude had eaten both bagels slathered in butter.
When someone knocked on the door, Hawk stiffened and reached for his gun on the table. “Stay back,” he told Jude as he moved toward the door.
“Cheeto delivery!” a muffled voice called from the other side of the door. Relaxing, Hawk looked through the peephole before opening it to Andi.
“Cheetodelivery?” Jude asked, coming around the corner.
“Sean just can’t give us a normal code word,” Andi said, walking past both men to the kitchen and pulling a banana from the bunch. “Just thought I’d check on you guys before I hit the hay in 4G down the hall. Been up all night while Sean got his beauty sleep. He’s taking over out front.”
“Is all this really necessary?” Jude asked, leaning against the counter and watching Andi eat the banana in two bites.
“Yes, for now,” Hawk said firmly. “We’re leaving for Jude’s appointment in about an hour,” he informed Andi. “Slade says Prescott got up and went to the office as usual this morning.”
Jude resisted rolling his eyes. What did they expect? “I knew Sam was looking for me before you showed up at my door,” he reminded Hawk. “My boss at the liquor store said a ‘bad man’ had come by with my picture.”
“The hitman,” Hawk said.
“The description would fit any of Sam’s guys, honestly. I figured he was going to try to get me back. I still think that’s what this is. The call from Ricci proves it, don’t you think?”
“It doesn’t change the fact that a hit was taken out on you, and it came from Prescott,” Hawk said.