Hawke: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance (With bonus book Sons of Flame MC) Read Online Free PDF

and go for the eyes. Jason had long ago been sure that Nic and I both knew how to handle ourselves, how to keep from being a target, how to not get raped or robbed.
    But that was Jason. Captain America. Here to keep our city and its humble, helpless denizens safe from harm.
    I didn’t let him press the issue. My check came first, I paid, kissed cheeks, gave hugs, and hustled out into the city. It’s a scary place, don’t get me wrong. Especially at night. But, honestly, you get used to it. It was home. You couldn’t just be afraid all the time. You had to take chances once in a while.
    I just learned to pick my battles.

Chapter 3
    Naomi
     
    One bath, six hours of sleep, and three nearly tolerable patients later, and again I stood before Jack Hawke’s room, steeling myself and working up the necessary nerve that Nic and Jason were both so certain that I had.
    Take no crap, lay down the law, draw the line; eyes front and center.
    My mental checklist prepared and my nerve properly steeled, I took a breath and pushed through the door. Jack was awake, alert, and smiled at me when I came in.
    “Figure out how to fix me up, Naomi?” He asked. “If you want my advice, my suggested course of treatment would be less stressful for both of us, I’d bet.” There was that look again. Did that work on other women? Probably.
    “That depends,” I said as casually as I could, avoiding meeting that look because, if I was honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did work. “How long do you want to be in the hospital? Your insurance will cover the two and a half grand a day, right?”
    Jack’s smile faltered just a bit. “You got a little spark in you,” he said.
    I didn’t respond. Spark? Right now I have my own personal Sun. Try me. I realized I wanted him to, a little. Maybe I was extra spunky today. A little wine and good friends will do that for you. Take no crap.
    “The faster the better,” he said finally. “How long before I’m in shape to get some… exercise? In your professional opinion.”
    I tapped the clipboard twice on the side table, and then sank into the chair next to his bed. Phase two, lay down the law. “The whole point of what I do,” I told him, “is exercise. It’s painful, and grueling at times, but if you do what I tell you, you can be out of here in week. Maybe.”
    “Fixed up in a week?” He wondered. “Missy, you get me out of here in a week and I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.” It didn’t sound like he expected me to tell him to do anything he wouldn’t enjoy.
    Draw the line.
    “I can only do that, Mr. Hawke,” I said flatly, “if we can cut the crap and focus on getting you well. Every time I have to waste a minute fending off your advances, if that’s what you call making an advance, is a minute taken away from your therapy. It may not sound like much, but it adds up, and you’re not my only patient, or even the one in the worst shape.”
    “All business,” Jack muttered, but he didn’t seem as disappointed as I thought he should. It was clear I hadn’t been convincing, but at least I’d laid the groundwork. “Alright. Message received, Naomi.” What was he seeing when he looked at me like that?
    Not that I didn’t know what I looked like. And when I was done up right, I could turn heads. But now? In scrubs? No makeup, hair in a utilitarian bun to keep it out of the myriad possible disgusting messes I stood a high chance of encountering on any given day? People like me don’t look sexy at work. Trust.
    “Great,” I said, ignoring the way he looked at me while, at the same time, keeping my own eyes glued to his face. Eyes front and center. “Then let’s get started; we’ve already wasted some of those precious minutes.”
    Most of the damage was to his upper body. People don’t always realize how connected everything is to the core of your body, or how their muscles constantly worked to hold everything together until something interfered with it, or how much