I quickly scooted out of the booth, realizing that Hawk was right behind me. Before I could question him, he grabbed my arm and proceeded to jerk me in the direction leading to the back of the bar. I glanced around the bar wildly, but I didn’t see Dane’s men anywhere.

“They left, but they’ll be back.” We entered a dark hallway, and halfway down he stopped us at a door. I expected him to knock, but instead he lifted his leg and kicked the door in, causing the occupants in the room to scream out in fear. “Out!” he snarled.

I barely had time to acknowledge the naked couple before they snatched up their strewn about clothes and rushed past us. As the man passed me I recognized him as one of Hawk’s men. We made eye contact long enough for him to wink at me. Once they cleared the threshold, Hawk pulled me inside and slammed the door behind him.

“Take your clothes off.”

“What?” He had to be kidding.

“Take your clothes off.”

I know that my jaw dropped at his demand. When I realized that he meant it I began to back up, slowly shaking my head. “You’re crazy!” I whispered sharply. Okay, maybe I had removed my shirt in the restroom, but that had been of my own accord, and he’d said “clothes,” as if he meant everything.

“Take your damn clothes off.” So far he hadn’t moved from his spot, yet I’d backed up until my back was against the wall. “Those men knew how to find you, which means there’s a bug on you somewhere.”

I tried to decipher what he was saying, but my brain wouldn’t wrap around the idea that he thought I had a bug on me. He took a menacing step toward me, and that was all I needed to do what he wanted. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid of Hawk, only of what having his hands on me would make me feel. I was attracted to him in a strange way that left me confused. Maybe it was because I knew that he wasn’t attracted to me, and I looked at it as a challenge.

I quickly removed my hoodie and handed it to him, kicking off my shoes at the same time. As Hawk began going over it I unzipped and rolled down my jeans. I quickly began to unbutton my shirt when a memory reminded me of something.

“Just a minute.” I waited for him to look at me. “There’s no way there can be a bug in these clothes because they aren’t mine. I took them from a laundromat.”

He hesitated for only a second. “I want everything.”

Deciding not to argue with him, I finished with the buttons, removed my shirt, and threw it at him. He caught it to his chest and I swear I saw the tiniest curve of his mouth that revealed that he was amused at my irritation. He examined my clothes thoroughly, finding nothing, as I expected. Then he turned those dark eyes on me, running his gaze up and down my body and missing nothing.

Leaving me hot.

“Everything,” he demanded. “Or did you borrow your underwear, too?”

No, the underwear I had on was mine, a thong Dane had purchased from Victoria’s Secret, and the only thing that he liked me to wear under my clothes. The way Hawk’s gaze moved over me turned me on when it shouldn’t have. I was no stick figure, my short height gave me curves I’d spent half my adult life hiding, until I’d realized that some men liked meat on their women. The coffee eyes on me now revealed that Hawk was no exception.

I swung around, wondering if I would be able to remove my thong, which was silly when I thought about it, because my backside was completely naked to him right then. I pulled it down, catching Hawk’s hiss when I bent slightly to work it over my knees and down my legs. I tossed it over my shoulder in his direction. Completely nude, I reached for the top sheet on the bed before facing him again.

“Satisfied?” I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw that he still had my thong in his hands. There was no way a bug could be hidden in that tiny, see-through thing.

Hawk’s expression was savage. Something strong and basic had come over him. He reminded me of a bronze statue, solid and strong, powerfully intimidating. I was a prisoner, held captive by the intensity in his eyes. Slowly hand moved upward to his face, pausing right beneath his nose. His nostrils flared, and his eyes closed, as he crushed the bunched thong and inhaled deeply.

Ohmygod, I’d never seen anything so compelling, so erotic. Lust slammed through me, flushing heat over my whole body. I held my breath and watched his eyes open slowly, lazily, revealing the truth. He was aroused. No, scratch that. He was ravenous!

“Toss me your shoes.”

What? Was I reading him all wrong? Seeing something that I only wanted to see? But then, everything I’d learned during my short acquaintance with Hawk came back to the surface, reminding me that he ignored his emotions, and his body’s cravings. I didn’t think that he was afraid of letting go, he didn’t strike me as a weak man, but as someone who thrived on absolute, total control. That made him very dangerous.

I grabbed my Valentino sneakers and tossed them to him. He caught them with one hand. He examined them thoroughly, frowning when he came to the pyramid studs decorating the side. One of them appeared to be loose and with little effort he was able to remove it. He held it up for me to see, but I had no idea what he wanted me to acknowledge.

“It’s decoration.”

He shook his head. “It’s GPS.”