35. Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Holy shit, I had sex! With Hawk!
“I finally understand what all the fuss is about,” I said as he carried me into his bathroom.
His grin was wide as he sat me down and began running water in the huge corner tub. “Glad to be of service, ma’am,” he drawled, testing the temperature with a hand under the faucet before slinging the wetness away in tiny droplets.
“Will you get in with me?” I asked when he turned around, and a small wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. “I mean, you don’t have to. You probably take showers because you’re, you know, a man.” I waved a hand awkwardly up and down to encompass his very obviously male, nude body.
His look turned thoughtful as he tilted his head to the side. “Okay, be right back.” Then he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before leaving the room, giving me a glorious view of his perfect backside.
I sat gingerly on the edge of the tub and stuck my feet in the rising water, smiling as I remembered how it had felt to have Hawk on top of me. Inside me .
He returned a minute later with one of my hair clips. After wrapping my ponytail around and around until it formed a giant bun on top of my head, he clipped it in place. Taking me in, he winked one of those dark eyes, and things fluttered low in my belly.
“You look cute,” he remarked, and I scoffed as I glanced in the mirror over the sink.
“I look like Marge Simpson.”
Hawk laughed as he sprinkled something that smelled divinely like him into the water before taking my hands to help me into the tub. “Sit carefully, Marge. You’re going to be sore.”
“Great, a new nickname,” I complained as I sank into the fragrant, steamy water, trying not to wince at the dull ache between my legs.
“Don’t worry. You’re still my Little Bee,” he said, climbing in behind me. It was seriously the goofiest nickname ever—besides Marge, of course—but I secretly liked it. His arms went around me, and I reclined back against him, allowing my eyes to close.
This was utter bliss, sitting in a tub with the sexiest man alive while he rested his cheek on the top of my head. “Are you okay, baby?”
“Mmhmmm,” I hummed as he began to scoop up handfuls of water and trickle them over my chest. “What is this scent? It smells like you.”
Hawk picked up a brown jar and read the ingredients aloud. “Eucalyptus, sandalwood, cassis, and Haitian vetiver.”
“Ohhh, Haitian vetiver. That’s so much better than Colombian vetiver.”
His chuckle rumbled against my back. “Vetiver is a bunchgrass.”
“Well, that clears that up. Why am I not surprised you know that? ”
Hawk reached forward to turn off the taps, and we fell into a comfortable silence, simply soaking in the hot water and each other.
Comfortable. That word encompassed so much about the man I was living with. After my initial freak out on the first day I arrived, he’d made me feel at ease. At home.
Which I knew was a huge concession on his part. Hawk was a very private man. He’d told me no one knew about the things he’d shared with me regarding his sister, and it made me feel special that he’d trusted me enough to tell me. It made me thirsty to know even more about him.
“Tell me three things about yourself,” I said.
“Well, my name is Tate Gentry. I’m almost thirty-five years old…”
I slapped his thick thigh. “No, dip-ass. Something… unique.”
His warm lips closed around my earlobe and sucked before he nipped me. “Number one, I don’t like being called dip-ass.”
“Noted.” That wasn’t really what I meant, but I let it slide.
“Number two, I actually prefer baths to showers, though I usually shower most of the time out of convenience.” Well, that surprised me, and I smiled at the thought of this big man chilling in a bubble bath.
Hawk drifted his hands up and down my torso, settling on my boobs, which he massaged with gentle, kneading fingers. “When we were deployed to some really shitty places, everyone else always talked about how they couldn’t wait to get stateside and back to whatever they missed. Their own bed, burgers, pizza, women, whatever. But I just wanted to get back home and soak for hours in a bath.”
I tilted my head on his shoulder to look up at him. “And the third thing? ”
“I’ve never taken a bath with a woman before.”
I wasn’t sure why that made me giddy, like teeny champagne bubbles were tingling my belly, but it did. “So I got to be one of your firsts tonight too?”
He rubbed his nose against mine, his voice husky. “Yeah, Little Bee, I guess you did.” Then his lips covered mine with the perfect amount of suction. His probing tongue sought entrance into my mouth, and I granted it willingly, tangling my own with his in a languid, delicious kiss.
I could still taste myself on his lips, his tongue, and it felt so intimate, knowing where his mouth had been just a little while ago. His big hand slid up and cupped my throat, and I freaking melted into him.
Lia, the character in my book, liked when Lorenzo gave her what she called a “hand necklace,” but I hadn’t really understood why until Hawk had done that to me in the Den tonight. It made me feel… claimed. In the best possible way.
He released me, sliding his hand back down into the water and around my waist. “Your turn, Bee. Tell me three things.”
I leaned back into him, swirling one foot in the water. “Let’s see. I’ve been to all fifty states except for South Dakota, North Carolina, and Alaska. Mostly for dance competitions.” Squeezing his knee, I asked, “You’re from North Carolina. What’s it like?”
“I don’t know. It’s nice, I guess. A good place for an outdoorsy kid like me to grow up. We lived near Camp Lejeune, which is in the southeastern part of the state.”
I giggled, and he tickled his fingers against my ribs. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m just imagining a little nine-year-old Hawk with a full beard running around in the woods.”
His lips curled into a smile against my temple. “You’re crazy. I only had a mustache when I was nine,” I teased. “But I did spend a lot of time outside.”
“Jennifer too?”
“Lord no. She might have gotten dirt under her fingernails,” he said in mock horror. “When my dad was home, we always did things outdoors. He’s the one who taught me about plants and stuff.”
That’s why he loves working in the yard.
“You miss him.”
I felt his exhale against the side of my face. “I do. He was gone a lot, but when he was home, he was a great dad. Spent all his free time with us. A lot of family stuff, but he made time to do things with us individually too.” Hawk’s voice went quiet. “He was so fucking strong… until he wasn’t.”
Kissing his chin, I nuzzled my nose against his jaw. “I’m sorry, baby.”
His eyes were trained on the water. “I guess that’s why I’m so closed off. I don’t want to allow myself to be vulnerable to any other person like he did.”
“I don’t think you’re closed off. You talk to me.”
He was silent for a long moment. “I do, but mostly it’s to shut you up, Little Bee.”
“Well, that was rude,” I said with faux outrage, smacking the side of his head with my wet hand .
He laughed his deep, rumbly laugh and kissed my neck. “I’m teasing. I like hearing you talk. Speaking of that, we got off topic. What’s your number two?”
“I don’t know. I can’t think of anything interesting.”
“Hmm, what’s your favorite childhood memory?”
Images flashed through my mind, and I smiled. “Not one specific one, but I’d have to say when my family went on vacations with my dad’s brothers and their families.”
“So Cam’s family?”
“Yes, and our Cousin Collin too. Cam’s brother, Graham, liked spending time inside reading, and Collin’s brothers didn’t hang out with us much, so it was just us three. I was a lot younger than them, but they let me tag along. We fished a lot.”
“You like fishing?”
“I do. It’s so relaxing.”
Hawk linked his fingers with mine on his thigh. “Are we going to tell Cam?”
He didn’t have to specify; I knew what he was asking.
“It’s none of his business, and I can’t think of any reason he needs to know. It would only piss him off, and I don’t want to affect his friendship with you.”
Nodding, he said, “Agreed. Now what’s your third thing?”
“I’m afraid of snakes. They freak me the hell out.”
Hawk lifted his hips and dug his penis into my back. “You didn’t seem too freaked out by this one earlier.”
“I said snakes, not worms,” I told him airily, earning me a pinch to my side. “Ow! You brute!” I squirmed away and turned around in the tub to find him scowling at me .
“A worm? Really?”
“It’s a very big worm,” I soothed. “Like a super worm.”
He rolled his eyes wryly and picked up his black bottle of body wash before smoothing it over my skin. “I want you to smell like me,” he explained at my questioning look.
“Then I should get to wash you with mine.”
His lips quirked up on one side as he thoroughly— very thoroughly—soaped up my breasts. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Such a double standard,” I sighed, earning me a glare.
“Fine, next time we take a bath, you can wash me with that stuff you use.”
“There’s going to be a next time?” I voiced the concern I hadn’t really let myself think about yet, though it had been brewing somewhere in my brain. Would he want me again?
“I fucking hope so.” Then he added “As long as I don’t have to go to work the next day. The guys would never let me hear the end of it.”
I looked down to where he was still washing my breasts with his hands. “I think my nipples are clean now.”
“One can never be too careful with nipples,” he retorted before rinsing me off.
Squirting some of his body wash in my own hands, I rubbed them together and began washing his body. The man was built like a brick shithouse, broad and muscular, without an ounce of fat. I loved running my hands all over him.
When I got to his shoulders, I noticed the bite mark there, and gentled my touch. “Did I do that?”
He looked down at it and shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t Nut. ”
“Stop calling her that. Her name is Coconut.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the teeth marks. “Sorry about that.”
“Any time you want to mark me, feel free, baby,” he replied in a voice with a hint of rasp. “As long as I’m inside you when you do it.”
When I reached for his face, he caught my wrists and stopped me. “You can wash any part of my body, Little Bee, except for my beard.”
“Why not your beard?”
He flashed a mischievous look. “Because I want to smell like my last meal for a while.”
Despite the cooling water, my skin flushed. Damn, this man has a mouth on him. And I’m totally here for it.
Once we were out of the tub and dried off, Hawk dropped one of his T-shirts over my head, sans panties, and lifted me onto the bed. Climbing on behind me, he wrapped those big arms around me and buried his face in the back of my neck.
Like I’d done every night this week, I waited until his breathing deepened and snuck out of bed to head to my own room.
Or at least I tried. I was halfway off the bed when large hands pulled me back. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“You, uh…” I turned over to face him, finding his sharp eyes shining in the faint moonlight peeking between the curtains. “You said you like to sleep alone.”
Hawk stared at me for a long moment, and I could almost hear his brain turning. Then he yanked me hard against his body and kissed my lips .
“Stay.”
It was only one word, but it held enough power and intensity to make the back of my neck prickle.
So I stayed.