Dakota placed a forkful of pancakes into her mouth, waiting for Hamilton to respond. She could add good cook to the growing list of positive traits. The food was delicious and he had moved around the kitchen effortlessly, making quick work of their meal.
“Tell me, what did my father do to you?” she rephrased her question when he still didn’t respond.
“What did your father tell you when you asked, because I’m sure you asked.”
“So, you think you know me that well, huh?”
“Mm-hm.” He continued eating.
Dakota studied his every move, loving how his long-sleeved henley bunched around huge bicep muscles each time he brought the fork to his tempting mouth. And the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he drank his juice. And how he looked at her with those dark, sexy eyes. And then there were those damn dimples that flashed from time to time.
She released a wistful sigh. She had it bad for this man and having him around was a wonderful distraction, taking her mind off the night’s events.
“You’re right, I did ask. Like you, he didn’t say much. Only mentioned a run-in when you were with Atlanta PD. Did you arrest him or something? Was it because of one of his wild celebrity parties? They tend to get out of hand.”
“Just drop it, Dakota.”
“I can’t. I don’t understand why neither of you won’t discuss what happened. Besides, the beef between you two is keeping anything from happening between you and me, and I want to know why.”
Hamilton set his fork down and leaned his forearms on the table. She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he struggled with whether to tell her. Whatever went down must have been serious. Dakota knew that she could eventually get the truth out of her father, but for some reason, she wanted…no, she needed to hear it from Hamilton.
“That’s the past. I don’t discuss the past,” Hamilton said. “So, you can either change the topic and discuss something else; or until we hear from Laz, we can keep our distance from each other. Your call.”
Dakota studied him. “Okay, I’ll drop it…for now, but when we start dating, and we will, I’m going to ask again.”
Hamilton laughed and leaned back. “You are a trip. You know that?”
“So I’ve been told.”
Dakota shifted in her seat and winced, her hip still bothering her.
“Still sore?” Hamilton asked. It was safe to say he didn’t miss much.
“A little.”
“Maybe you should’ve taken a hot bath instead of the shower. I’m sure it would have helped.”
“I can think of something else that could help.” Dakota wiggled her eyebrows at him, and he shook his head, smiling. Taunting him was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes.
“I guess the only thing left for us to do is to get to know each other better. What’s your favorite movie?” she asked.
“Animal House. What’s yours?”
“Love…wait. Animal House? Really?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, it was funny. Reminds me of my college days. What’s yours?”
“Love Jones. What’s your favorite color?”
He stared at her and then drained the last of his juice, setting the empty glass on the table. “Hot pink.”
Dakota laughed. She flicked the shoulder of her hot pink T-shirt. “You’re welcome to borrow it sometime.”
He grinned and those dimples made their appearance again. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m sure it won’t look as good on me as it does on you.”
Hmm…flirting. He went back to eating as she pondered her next question.
“What’s your favorite sexual position?”
Hamilton choked, coughing around a mouthful of food and patting his chest. “What?” His voice cracked and he reached for a bottle of water.
“You heard me. Your favorite position. Missionary position? Doggie style? Froggy style? What?”
He wiped his mouth, taking his time in responding. “Against the wall.”
Dakota’s mouth dropped open. “For real? Mine, too!” They burst out laughing. “I knew the moment I spotted you on the movie set that we were perfect for each other.”
“I have a question. What made you become a stuntwoman?”
“I’ve always been adventurous and wanted to do something outside of the box. At first, I wanted to be an actress. Tried that for a couple of years while living in LA, and quickly got bored. Then a casting director, who knew about my martial arts experience, approached me about being the body double for Zoe Saldana. I literally jumped at the opportunity and ten years later, I’m still at it.”
Hamilton didn’t speak, only watched her intently.
“Lately, I’ve been thinking of trying something different. Something less dangerous and not so physically draining.”
“Like what?”
Dakota shrugged. “Not sure. There aren’t many other careers that provide the excitement and adrenaline rush I get from stunt work. I also want to get married and have a family,” she said, wanting to get a rise out of him. He didn’t bite, and she continued. “Crashing through glass doors and leaping off buildings while pregnant probably wouldn’t work.”
“Yeah, I could see that being a problem.”
“Do you think you could marry someone who risked their life on a daily basis?”
Hamilton placed his elbow on the table and wiped his hand slowly over his mouth. “I think when I meet the right person and fall in love, it won’t matter what she does for a living.”
“Does that mean you do want to get married?”
Hamilton laughed. “Yeah, one day.” He told her that he’d been engaged to Dominic’s mother, but things hadn’t worked out. Dakota sensed there was more to the story, but it seemed to be another topic he didn’t want to discuss—yet.
They lobbed questions and responses back and forth for the next half hour, talking and laughing like old friends. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed a man’s company as much as she was enjoying his.
“When we get married, how—”
“You know what? I’m done with the questions.” Hamilton chuckled. “Maybe you should go to bed—alone—and I’ll clean up the kitchen.” He stood and started clearing the table, and Dakota joined him.
“I don’t think I’m ready to close my eyes. I’ll take care of the kitchen. I might not be a good cook, but I’m a beast at cleaning.”
“Want something to drink?” Hamilton asked.
“Only if it’s stronger than orange juice.”
“How about brandy?” He pulled a small bottle from the top shelf of the pantry and poured the dark liquid into a glass for her and made himself a cup of coffee. While she worked in the kitchen, Hamilton retrieved the television remote from the living room. She glanced up from rinsing dishes and loading the dishwasher periodically as he flipped through channels.
A photo of Sonny appeared on the screen and Dakota gasped. Hamilton stood and turned up the volume as he moved closer to her.
According to authorities, a man was killed during a drive-by shooting on Peachtree St. Sonny Jackson, age 34, known in the neighborhood as a street captain with the 4-1 gang. A woman was also killed. Her identity has not yet been released. Authorities are viewing these actions as a murder-for-hire with Mr. Jackson as the target. We’ll bring you more information as it becomes available.
“Oh. My. God.” Dakota’s hands shook. She didn’t realize she was still holding a ceramic bowl until Hamilton removed it from her hands and placed it in the sink. “I don’t understand. There was no one else in the hallway but Sonny and me. Who—”
“Calm down. Let me call Laz and find out what’s going on. Come on and have a seat.”
She didn’t move, she couldn’t move. Her mind raced a mile a minute. Had there been someone else there she hadn’t seen? Or did the media think she was dead?
Hamilton wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her away from the sink and over to the sofa. Once she was seated, he handed her the glass of brandy she had been nursing and then went back to the dining area where he’d left his phone.
“Laz, what the hell’s going on, man?” he asked seconds later. “We just saw the news report.”
Dakota set her glass on the table and watched as Hamilton paced the room. She couldn’t hear what Laz was saying on the other end of the call, but by the scowl on Hamilton’s face, it wasn’t good. A short while later, he pocketed the phone and grabbed the bottle of brandy.
“So?” she asked, her pulse pounding loudly in her ears. Hamilton added more of the dark liquid to her glass.
“You and Sonny were the only ones in the hallway, but according to one of Laz’s CIs, they—”
“CI?” Dakota questioned.
“Confidential informant. Word on the street is that the hit was definitely for Sonny. He’d stolen some money from the crew and…well, you weren’t the target.”
“But why did the reporter say two people were killed?”
“Laz leaked that to a reporter. They still haven’t found the car, but his CI has been running his mouth about Sonny having company when he got smoked. And if that’s the word on the street, Laz wanted to make sure that those involved, not think that there was someone out there who could ID them.”
Dakota shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. Someone’s going to know that there was only one dead body on the scene.”
Hamilton cracked a slight smile. “You don’t know Laz. He’s one of the best detectives on the force, and he has a lot of friends in high and low places. If anyone can make a dead body appear out of thin air, it’s him.”
Dakota stood and paced in front of the coffee table. “I don’t like it. I—I just don’t want this to come back on me in any way. What if someone saw me? What if someone figures out that I was in the hallway with Sonny at the time of the shooting?”
She gasped and her heart dropped at another thought, and her hand flew to her chest.
“Hamilton, there are cameras in the hallways.”
“When the cops reviewed the footage, all they saw was blackness. Seems the cameras weren’t working during that time.”
Dakota stared at him, trying to read into what he wasn’t saying with the nonchalant way he spoke to her. That couldn’t be true. Management took security very seriously. She found it hard to believe that the cameras suddenly stopped working.
Hamilton stood. “Dakota, we all were very careful with how we handled the situation after the shooting. You’re safe. Laz made sure that they questioned everyone on the first floor who was home. If anyone saw them going into your apartment, they wouldn’t have thought anything of it. They would have assumed that you were being questioned just like everyone else. I assure you, Laz hasn’t and won’t include your name in any of his reports.”
“But…” Dakota couldn’t wrap her brain around that. Would he lie on an official report?
She resumed her nervous pacing. Would it be so bad if it was made to look as if she hadn’t been in the hallway? God, she hoped all of this wouldn’t come back to bite them in the ass. So far Hamilton hadn’t steered her wrong, and with Laz’s swag, no doubt he was a badass. She just didn’t like the idea of being a part of any deception, especially where the law was concerned.
“Try to get some rest,” Hamilton said. He kept his distance, but the concern in his eyes couldn’t be missed. They had been having a great evening and despite the events at the apartment, she’d been able to laugh and forget, if only for a little while. Now, he was back to being professional and sounding all businesslike, and she was too exhausted to argue that fact.
“I need to call Ty,” she said. “If she hears about what happened at the apartment, I don’t want her to think that the body…I don’t want her to think it was me.” Dakota swallowed and stared at Hamilton. She wanted so bad for him to pull her into his arms and make her feel like this was all going to work out, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved to the kitchen and reached into the pantry for something.
“Here’s the thing.” His voice was muffled until he stepped out of the pantry with a phone. “You can use this burner phone, but you can’t give your roommate any details about you and Sonny being in the hallway.”
Dakota frowned at him. “Why not?”
“As far as anyone is concerned, you weren’t there. You were in your apartment and heard something but didn’t know what happened until the cops knocked on your door.”
“You want me to lie?”
“I want you to not volunteer any information and evade any questions that might put you at the scene.”
“Hamilton…I—I can’t.”
Now he stood in front of her, the burner phone in one hand, and his other cupping her chin. They were only inches apart.
“My number-one goal right now is to keep you safe. I can’t do that without your cooperation. Remember, whoever did the shooting is still out there. Until they are caught, we’re going to take every precaution.”
She pushed down the conflicting emotions building in her chest. Why’d he have to remind her? Would she ever be able to go back to her normal life?
As if reading her mind, he said, “You’re going to get through this and I’ll be with you for as long as necessary to ensure your safety.”
She nodded and accepted the cell phone.
“Go ahead and make your call. I’ll give you some privacy while you talk to your friend.”
Dakota watched him walk to the back of the house before she called Tymico.
“Hello?”
“Ty, it’s me.”
“Dakota! Oh my God. Where are you?”
“Ty—”
“I heard there was a shooting at the complex. Two people are dead. Sonny was one of them,” she said, her words flying through the telephone line faster than Dakota could think. She couldn’t get a word in.
“I’ve been calling you ever since I heard.”
“How—”
“I’m not going to lie. I thought it was you who they found with Sonny. You know how he’s always cornering you in the hallway. I was afraid that—”
“Ty,” Dakota interrupted, but her friend kept talking. “Ty!”
“What? Why are you yelling?”
“Because you won’t let me get a word in.”
“Oh, sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just wanted to call in case you heard about the shooting. How did you find out anyway?”
“Girl, Sabrina called a couple of hours ago,” she said of their friend who lived on the second floor. “She stopped by our apartment but didn’t get an answer. That’s when I started calling you.”
“Oh. Well, if you talk to her, tell her I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to fly home? And why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
“I’m with Hamilton.”
“Who? Hamil… Wait. What?” she screamed, excitement ringing in her voice. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been worried sick about you and you’re off on a romantic rendezvous.” Ty paused regaining her composure. “Tell me every detail. How? When? Last I heard, you were waiting for him to bring you your jacket. What happened when… You know what? Just tell me everything and don’t leave out a single detail!”
“Ty,” Dakota dragged out her friend’s nickname. “I’m so tired, I can barely think straight. Can we talk tomorrow? I only called tonight because…” She wasn’t sure what to say but figured it would be best to stay as close to the truth as possible. “I realized I had left my phone at the apartment and I didn’t want you worrying. I just want to go to bed.”
Her friend laughed. “Yeah, I bet you do. If that guy is as hot as you described, I’m surprised you even thought to call me.”
Dakota said nothing. She wished the night had been as juicy as her friend assumed, but then she recalled the kiss. Now that was something to talk about. Throughout the evening, Dakota was more convinced than ever that she and Hamilton were a good fit.
“Dee, your dad heard about the shooting. When he couldn’t reach you, he called me to see if we were okay. You should call him.”
Dakota sighed, exhaustion settling in deeper. She didn’t want to talk to him, knowing he’d have even more questions than Tymico. He would also insist on her moving in with him at the big house, the large estate he owned in Sandy Springs that she grew up in. The last place she wanted to be.
Once she finished talking to Tymico, Dakota slammed back the remaining drops of brandy lingering in her glass, then called her father. She braced herself for the questions that were bound to come. Here goes.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Dee Dee! Where the hell are you?”