Cam and Tracy had called. Cam because she heard talk at the Station about the firebombing. Tracy because she heard about the firebombing from Cam.

Troy didn’t call and this was either because he was nursing his wounds or because Cam and Tracy had kept this news from him because they thought he was probably nursing his wounds.

I gave some time to considering calling him but ended up deciding to give him time to nurse his wounds. Or at least this was what I told myself I was doing. Really, I was chicken.

Everyone knew that I was no go zone for chitchats outside of initial briefings about my childhood home getting firebombed, all of which were done. They knew I was about work and focus. So when my cell phone rang, I was surprised.

Then I figured it was Troy.

I picked it up, looked at the display and it said, “Hawk calling.”

I stared at it. I didn’t have his number programmed in my phone mainly because I didn’t have his number.

I flipped it open and put it to my ear wondering if Tracy was playing a practical joke and, if so, how did she pull it off and, more importantly, why?

“Hello?”

“Babe,” Hawk replied.

Nope, not Tracy playing a practical joke.

“Hawk?”

“Little black dress, high heels, seven thirty,” he stated.

I blinked. Then I asked, “What?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight what?”

“Tonight, you in a little black dress and high heels. I’ll be there at seven thirty.”

Ohmigod! Hawk was asking me out on a date!

My belly got squishy.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked just to confirm.

“Sweet Pea, I’ve been fuckin’ you for a year and a half.”

My belly stopped being squishy.

“I know.”

“So no, I’m not askin’. I’m tellin’ you, dress, heels, I’ll be there at seven thirty.”

Uh… what?

“So, you’re not asking me out on a date, you’re telling me we’re going out on a date,” I guessed though I knew it was accurately.

“That’s about it,” he replied.

“You can’t tell me we’re going on a date!” I snapped.

“Just did, babe.”

“Con,” I muttered because that was a serious con.

He chuckled his deep, manly, amused chuckle, then he ordered, “Get work done, I want your focus on me, not work.”

“I don’t think I’ll have time for a date. I’m buried.” This was a lie. With the work I got done last night and today, I was catching up. I totally had time for a date and I had a life creed that stated that any opportunity to wear a little black dress was to be taken up, no ifs, ands, or buts. However, I was making an exception.

“Was made pretty clear last night even before I fought a fire side-by-side with your old man that I had their blessing, Gwen, don’t think they’d step in if I dressed you myself and carried you kicking and screaming to my car.”

This was, unfortunately, true.

I shifted focus to something else annoying.

“Did you program yourself into my phone?” I demanded to know.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“When?”

“Before I handed it off to Fang.”

“Fang?”

“My boy who brought you your shit.”

Jeez. That guy’s name was Fang? I could see it, I’d noticed his eyeteeth were somewhat prominent but I couldn’t imagine he’d be okay with that nickname considering it seemed to be making fun of this unfortunate dental anomaly and he looked like he could hammer a human body through cement with his fist if he thought someone was making fun of him.

“Why?” I continued.

“Why what?” Hawk asked.

“Why did you program yourself into my phone?”

Silence then, “Babe.”

As usual, there was no more.

“Babe what? We’ve had a non-relationship for months, now we’ve shifted and I’ve explained I’m uncertain about this shift and our future.”

“You can be as uncertain as you want, Sweet Pea, I’m certain enough for both of us. Dress. Heels. Focus. Seven thirty.”

I opened my mouth to say something but I had dead air.

I flipped my phone shut. Then I stared at it.

Then I tossed it on my desk and snapped, “God, he’s so infuriating.”

But even as I said it, I knew deep down that firstly, I was happy I had the opportunity to don one of my little black dresses and secondly, I was just a wee bit excited that I finally, finally had a date with Cabe “Hawk” Delgado.

I went back to work pretending that I wasn’t thinking that I hoped I got to ride in his Camaro.

* * *

It was nearly seven thirty, Dad was home and in my office watching television while Meredith was pottering around, likely rearranging all the stuff in my drawers and cupboards in the kitchen and I was in the bathroom freaking out about my date with Hawk.

This freaking out business was partly due to the fact that I was getting ready for my date with Hawk and not sticking to my guns about not going on a date with Hawk and the fact that again, I was likely making stupid choices about all things Hawk.

It was also partly due to the fact that I really, really hoped he liked my dress.

The commandos were done with my security system and I knew this because Smoke had given Meredith and me a rather long lesson on how to use it.

It seemed complicated. I’d never had an alarm system but I figured usually you punched in some numbers and presto! – security. But mine included panic buttons in my office, my bedroom, kitchen, living room and, overkill, the bathroom. It also included different codes for different types of alarms, say, windows and doors only or to activate the sensors in the house. There was also a different code that sent the message to “base” that there might be an unknown situation and they should come in “soft” whatever the hell that meant.

Neither Meredith nor I were good with remembering numbers and when Meredith ran to get a piece of paper to write them down, Smoke looked at his feet, a muscle clenched in his jaw then he herded Meredith and I into my kitchen. There, he sat us at my big, battered farm table and quizzed us on the three different codes until we memorized them.

He wasn’t really patient with this endeavor, especially when Meredith leaned into me and whispered, “I don’t understand what the big deal is, sweetie, I mean, I don’t want to embarrass you but your Dad and I, we do know you and Hawk are…” her voice dropped, “intimate.” I avoided Smoke’s eyes as Meredith went on. “I mean, it isn’t like he isn’t here looking out for you.”

I bit my lip and shrugged. I didn’t know what else to do. She thought Hawk and I were an item because Hawk was making her think we were an item and I wasn’t helping matters by playing his game. Clearly, she thought I was safe under his care. I didn’t want to mess with that. Especially not the day after her home had been firebombed because of one of her daughter’s shit.

I also didn’t want to talk with my stepmom about being intimate with anyone. Meredith was cool, she’d always been cool but she was also the only Mom I knew and she was definitely a Mom and she had been from the very beginning. You didn’t discuss sex with hot guys with your Mom, especially not super-multiple-orgasm sex.

Dad, by the way, learned the codes in about two seconds. He’d always been good with numbers. It was his way.

The doorbell chimed then clunked as I was staring into the mirror lining my lips and suddenly I felt butterflies in my stomach. The kind I felt when I first saw Hawk and the kind I’d denied feeling every time since when he visited me.

“I’ll get it!” Meredith yelled from downstairs and I sucked in breath and finished with my liner, filling in with lipstick.

Trust Hawk to press my doorbell for the first time now. I probably wouldn’t get butterflies in my stomach if he suddenly materialized in the bathroom. I’d probably get annoyed.

I ran to my room, grabbed my clutch and wrap then ran to the door and closed it a bit so I could look in the full-length mirror on the back.

Little black dress, check. In fact, it was my numero uno little black dress. The best of the lot. Sleeveless and it had a deep vee in front that showed cleavage, a way deeper one in the back and it had a blousy drape around the middle but clung like a second skin to my hips and the tops of my thighs were it stopped. It was way short. So short, it was almost Darla-slash-Ginger mini-jeans-skirt-short except without the skank component. And it was made of an awesome material that even on the blousy parts it caught at flesh and revealed things it was pretending it conceal. It was fabulous.

High heels, check. In fact, they were strappy sandals, black, sexy spiked heel. They made my legs look brilliant. Killer.

Hair out to there, smoky makeup.

The whole thing, the be all you could be of date apparel.

I hoped.

I rushed out of my room shouting, “See you later, Dad!”

“Have a good time, honey!” Dad shouted back. “Tell Hawk not to worry about the doorbell, I’ll fix it this weekend!”

Bonus to Dad being evacuated to my house due to smoke and fire damage. Resident handyman.

“Will do!” I yelled, though I seriously doubted Hawk was losing sleep about my clunking doorbell.

Then I rushed down the stairs to see the living room dark but a light and voices were coming from the kitchen. Meredith was probably offering Hawk a beer. When Meredith was in my house, I gave up the position of Head Hostess. I’d learned it was the best way to go. She could probably go to the White House for a State Dinner and the First Lady would step aside and let Meredith take over.

I hustled to the kitchen and stopped dead in the doorway when I saw Meredith chatting with Detective Mitch Lawson.

I was freaked out last night, what with the fire and Dad and Hawk battling the flames with fire extinguishers, I hadn’t taken the time to admire yet again how hot he was. Now that he was in my kitchen and I was in a little black dress with hair out to there, when his eyes turned to me and he froze, I had the opportunity to process yet again how hot he was.

So I took it.

He recovered first.

“Gwendolyn.”

God, I liked it that he always said my full name.

“Hey, Detective Lawson.”

He did his small smile then he invited, “You can call me Mitch.”

“Um… okay.”

Lawson’s eyes swept me then he looked at Meredith.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Kidd, but could you give Gwendolyn and me a moment?”

“Oh!” Meredith cried at the same time she jumped. She’d been processing how hot he was too. “Sure. Of course. I’ll just…” she rushed to the fridge and grabbed two beers, “get Bax and I a drink.” She closed the fridge then rushed to the door of kitchen saying, “Nice to see you again, Detective Lawson.”

“Mitch,” he corrected.

“Mitch,” Meredith called as she continued escaping.

Oh boy. Alone in my kitchen with Mitch. No eight cops in the living room. No Hawk… yet. He was late.

I walked a bit into the kitchen. “Uh… is everything okay?”

His head tipped to the side. “Yeah, why?”

“Uh… you’re here and… uh… you’re an officer of the law and there’s the small fact my sister is in some serious trouble so…” I trailed off.

“I’m here because of your sister but not because anything is wrong.”

“Oh. Okay,” I replied.

“Or, anything else is wrong,” he amended.

“Oh. Okay,” I said again.

“I just wanted to ask a favor of you.”

I took a breath and then repeated, “Oh. Okay.”

And, by the way, I felt like an idiot repeating those two words but what could I say? I was in a little black dress waiting for Hawk and Lawson was hot and I knew he was into me and he was there to ask a favor. I didn’t know what to do. The situation seemed uncertain, not in a good way or a bad way, just in an unpredictable way.

He studied me a second then, his voice dipping quiet, he ordered, “Gwendolyn, come here.”

Without delay my feet moved me closer to him because I was a woman and when a hot guy told you in a quiet, deep, attractive voice to come to him, you just did it.

I forced my feet to stop when I was a foot away from him.

When I stopped, he said softly, “You look pretty.”

He told me I looked pretty.

Nice.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“Goin’ out with Hawk?”

I pressed my lips together. Then I nodded.