Savage Collision: A Hawke Family Novel (The Hawke Family Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

of his body makes me cringe.
    Pulling the card from the envelope, my heart races when I see the elegant, sloping scrawl of the writing in the note, certainly not Nora’s handwriting.
    Ms. Eriksson –
    Dinner.
    Friday.
    Angelo’s.
    8:00 p.m.
    Savage (504) 202-5555
    That pompous bastard!
    I throw the card onto my desk and, knocking my bags down to the floor, drop into my chair in a huff.
    That arrogant prick!
    Who the hell does he think he is? What makes him think I would ever even consider going to dinner with him? He didn’t even ask. He just demands with a goddamn four-word note?
    Presumptuous fuck!
    A litany of curses spew from my mouth as I stare at the beautiful flowers taking up the majority of my desk. As if it isn’t bad enough I haven’t been able to stop fantasizing about him since I met him, now he’s demanding my presence at dinner?
    I won’t go. He can sit there, alone, waiting for me. That will teach him a lesson about how he treats women—damn pussy peddler.
    And Nora defended him! Thinking back to my conversation with her earlier this week, I find it hard to believe we were talking about the same man.
    “He’s not as bad as you think,” she’d insisted.
    “Yeah, right. He pays women to shake their asses and tits for pervs. I’m sure he’s an angel.”
    She’d sighed and rolled her eyes at me. “Really, Dani, he’s not a perv, at least, not with us. He’s really a good boss and doesn’t ever cross the professional line with anyone.”
    The way she told it, he’s some kind of fucking saint, acting like an overprotective big brother to all the girls working for him and taking care of them whenever they get into any kind of trouble. If she had her way, he would win a fucking Nobel Peace Prize.
    “Professional? You call parading naked women across a stage for men to gawk at professional?”
    She glowered at me, and I knew I said something I shouldn’t have. “Look, Dani, I get that you don’t approve of me dancing, but it’s my decision, not yours. I’m happy doing it, so why can’t you just leave it alone? Savage is a good boss who takes care of us. He always thinks about the girls’ well-being. I’ll be okay.”
    Well, she may have full confidence in her boss’ motives and glowing character, but my experience with Savage couldn’t have been more different. The man is self-centered, arrogant, holier-than-thou…and fucking beautiful. How the women at the club are immune to his good looks and radiating sexuality is beyond me.
    I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since the second I saw him sitting regally behind his desk, the master of his pussy universe. He doesn’t belong in an office. He belongs in the movies, preferably a porno, where I can see what he has under those clothes. His broad shoulders and the fabric straining across his biceps had me practically begging to touch him.
    I shake my head.
    No, fuck him. He can sit and wait for me, forever. I am not giving in to his arrogant demand.
    The card goes into the garbage can under my desk and I turn to my computer and pull up my email. I barely have time to read the first one when I hear a familiar squeal from behind me and drop my face into my hands, letting out a groan.
    I should have trashed the flowers, too.
    “Ho. Ly. Shit! Who the hell sent you roses? Have you been holding out on me, girl?” Caroline grabs the back of my chair and spins me around to face her. She glares at me momentarily before she begins digging around in the flowers.
    “What the hell are you doing?”
    “Looking for a card so I can find out who sent these, since you have obviously been keeping important information, like the fact that you have a new fuck buddy, to yourself. Oh, my God, is it that guy from the bar the other night? Max?”
    I surreptitiously push the garbage can further under my desk with my foot while Caroline is still nose-deep in the long stems. The last thing I need is her finding the card and asking all sorts of