41. Chapter 41
Chapter 41
I woke up in my own bed and tried to sit up, but a thick arm held me tightly against a hard body.
With a resigned sigh, I snuggled back into the warmth of Hawk’s embrace. “Why do you keep sneaking out of my bed at night?” he grumbled against the back of my neck.
It had been two weeks since I’d realized I was in love with this man, and my brain was fried as I attempted to think of ways to distance myself. His attentiveness made it difficult, and sleeping beside him only made it worse. Every morning when I woke up with our limbs tangled or him holding me protectively against him, I only fell deeper.
So, for the past three nights, I’d waited for him to fall asleep after our marathon lovemaking sessions and then quietly tiptoed to my own cold bed. And every single morning following, I’d woken with him wrapped around me. Naked.
Well, he was naked. I was wearing one of his T-shirts and my panties.
“You snore,” I lied, and his warm chuckle gusted against my shoulder .
“That’s never bothered you before.” He rolled me over and pushed up onto one elbow, his big hand cupping my face. “Tell me.”
I licked my lips and tried to think of how to phrase this. “I’m moving out in about two weeks. I thought we should probably… wean ourselves.”
He was silent for a moment, his dark eyes studying mine. They had more brown in them in the mornings, making him look softer somehow. Combined with his messy black hair and naked body, it was a damn fine way to wake up.
“Or maybe we should spend as much time together as possible before you go,” he rejoindered.
“Maybe,” I allowed.
“Is there something else bothering you, Bee?”
Yes, I love you, and you’ll never love me back.
“No, I just thought you might want some space.”
“I don’t,” he said immediately, pulling me beneath him. “I want the opposite of space.” He was hard against my stomach, which clenched at his proximity. “Don’t leave my bed again.”
His deep, demanding voice had my legs spreading so he could settle between them. Stupid legs. Couple of damn sluts.
“So you woke up and chose bossiness today, huh?” I rubbed my hands up and down his wide back as his lips tipped up on one side.
“How am I supposed to get morning sex if you’re in another room?” He slipped a hand between us and slid the crotch of my panties to the side. Then his eyebrows squeezed together and he muttered, “Damn furball.”
Confused and embarrassed, I asked, “What do you mean? I shaved yesterday. ”
He laughed and shook his head. “Not your pussy. I’m talking about the pussy walking around on my back.”
A second later, a tiny kitty tongue licked my finger, and I giggled. “Coconut, what are you doing up there?” I pulled her off Hawk’s back, and he rolled off me, stretching out on his side.
“She’s obviously cockblocking me,” he grumped, though he stroked her from head to tail with a big, affectionate hand. The kitten mewed at him and then hopped up onto his shoulder before making her way down to his neck. She made herself at home, curling up and promptly going to sleep.
“You do make a good pillow,” I informed him with a straight face, and he looked at me, deadpan. Leaning forward, I kissed his lips. “Do you want me to make breakfast, or are you saving your appetite for the shrimp and crawfish boil today?”
Hawk glanced at the window, where the sun peeked through a gap in the curtains and already appeared to be high in the sky. “We slept late. I’ll just wait. Unless you want something.”
“Nope, all good.” I pushed off the bed and went to the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked sexily disheveled from last night’s activities, and my lips were swollen and chapped. Smoothing on some lip balm, I gave myself an internal pep talk.
You can do this, Mal. Just get through the next week and a half, and then you’ll be in your dorm room. You can bury yourself in your schoolwork and try to nurse your heart back to something resembling normal.
All that went directly out the window when I walked back into my room to find Hawk on his back with Coconut snuggled on his chest. He was cupping her tiny body with one hand as they both slept, and my ovaries practically exploded.
The sheet was pooled around his waist, showing off abs cut from marble, and one tan leg poked out from beneath the covers.
He was absolutely gorgeous, and holding the small animal so tenderly only made me want him more.
Christ, Mallori. You’ve fallen in love with the perfect man.
A lone tear slipped down my cheek.
Well, perfect except for one small thing… he can’t love you back.
The party at Charli and Shark’s house was in full swing. Their son, L.J., had his third birthday earlier in July, so there was a Spider-Man cake, which I was surprised to learn Charli had made herself. They’d had what they called a “kid party” a couple weekends ago with his preschool friends, but this get-together was for their extended family, the people who worked for DFW Security Force.
That’s what I loved about these folks. They always celebrated everything together. Though most of them weren’t actually related, they were everything a family should be.
I wandered over to where Cam and Shark were standing beside a large metal contraption with steam rising from it. The air was tinged with spices that tickled my nose but smelled delicious.
“Hey, Marshmallori,” my cousin said, looping an arm around my neck and kissing the top of my head. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a crawfish on the front that read It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself.
“What’s up, Camel Toe? Your shirt is ridiculous. ”
“Thank you,” he replied, ignoring my insult.
“Can I do anything to help?”
“Nah, we’re just about to get the shrimp out.” He lifted the lid of the huge rectangular cooker, and fragrant steam rose. Shark stirred the contents with what looked like a metal boat oar, and the smell of seafood and spices became even stronger, permeating the air.
Cam lifted a handle and pulled the metal basket up, letting the water drain. The lid had turned into a kind of slide, and when he tilted the basket, the pink shellfish slid down and into the open cooler at the bottom.
“Well, that’s cool as hell,” I said, watching as Cam tilted the basket back down into the boiling water, which was a reddish-orange color. “What do you season them with?”
He nodded toward a large jar with a little orange powder in the bottom. “You can use this for any kind of seafood boil. Crab, crawfish, shrimp, whatever.” Patting the cooker, he said, “This baby can cook around sixty pounds at a time.”
My attention drifted to Hawk across the yard, adding salt to several large red coolers. “What is he doing?”
“He’s purging the mud bugs.”
“Okay, now tell me in English,” I retorted, and my cousin laughed.
“You add salt and water, and it makes the crawfish vomit out any mud or waste in their digestive tracts.”
“Well, that’s disgusting,” I told him with my nose scrunched.
“Trust me, you don’t want to eat them if they haven’t been purged. They don’t call them mud bugs for nothin’. Crawfish season has pretty much ended, so they’re harder to find right now, but Shark has a source.”
Mud bugs? Eww. Maybe I’ll stick to the shrimp.
Thirty minutes later, we were seated at long tables on the back lawn, and I was devouring crawfish like they were going out of style. These things were addictive.
“Look at you, Mal,” Bristol said as I twisted a crawfish and sucked the flavorful, fatty juices from the head. “Sucking head like a pro.”
Cam made a noise like he’d swallowed a cat, his eyes widening as he coughed. “Dammit, Bristol! That’s my cousin,” he scolded, throwing a small, boiled potato at her. She caught it, dipped it in her bowl of melted butter, and took a bite with a mischievous grin on her face.
“Oh, stow it, Ooocam. Mallori’s grown and can suck anything she wants.”
My cousin’s blue eyes flashed to me, and he looked appalled. I attempted to appear completely innocent as I squeezed the meat from a tail and ate it.
“I knew you’d be good at sucking heads,” Hawk said under his breath so only I could hear, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Or moaning aloud. I subtly jabbed him with my elbow and changed the subject.
“Are you all packed for tomorrow?” I asked Shiloh.
Her face beamed. “We are, and Bella is so excited that she gets to see Mickey and Minnie.”
The conversation turned to the Fitz family’s Disney vacation as we all continued to eat, and the guys teased Cam about channeling Clark Griswold. He really was. His itinerary was insane.
Blaire Broxton was called to the hospital for an emergency, but the rest of us relaxed, ate, and drank to our hearts’ content. I sucked the seasoning off my thumb and fingers once I was done eating. This food was delicious and seriously spicy.
A hand squeezed my bare knee beneath the table, and I glanced to my left to see Hawk staring longingly at my mouth. “You’re driving me fucking crazy,” he mouthed, and I reached over and trailed my fingers up the inside of his thigh.
“I think Mal and I are going to head out,” he announced, suddenly anxious to go. “We need to check on Nut.”
“Her name is Coconut,” I scolded for approximately the millionth time, but he just laughed.
After saying our goodbyes, we got into his Ford Raptor, and Hawk backed out of the driveway. Once we were on the interstate highway, I lifted the console separating us, and slid across the seat of the truck.
“So I was driving you crazy, huh?” I cupped his dick through his khaki shorts, loving how his hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“I think you owe me, Bee. I’ve had a full chub for two hours now.” He reached for his belt buckle and unfastened it.
“Keep your hands on the wheel, mister,” I admonished, taking over the task of undoing his pants. “I’m a head sucking pro, remember?”
He chuckled. “I thought Cam was gonna blow a gasket.”
Reaching into his underwear, I pulled out his erection, and grinned. “He’d have an aneurysm if he knew what I was about to do to this big cock of yours.”
Who the hell am I? And am I really about to give Hawk a blow job while we’re driving down the interstate in Dallas?
I answered my own internal question by leaning down and wrapping my lips around the head, sucking hard .
He sighed in ecstasy. “Goddamn, baby. Take me deep in that pretty mouth of yours.”
I did, breathing through my nose because my mouth was so full of him. “Shit, that’s good,” Hawk moaned, lacing his fingers into my hair. “Don’t… stop. Stop… Bee… please stop.”
His hand fisted my hair and pulled me off him. “You’re about to come already?” I teased. “I just got started, old man.”
“Fuck, my dick is on fire,” he hissed.
“I know, baby. I’m trying to take care of it for you,” I purred.
“No, Mal. I mean my dick literally feels like someone set fire to it.” His chest was heaving deep breaths in and out, and his face was pinched in pain. “What did… Jesus, the seasoning.”
“The what?” I asked, confused and concerned by how he was acting.
“The spicy seasoning must still be on your lips and in your mouth. Now it’s all over my very sensitive cock.”
The realization hit me, and I gasped. “Oh shit!” Reaching for my phone, I turned on the flashlight and aimed it at his crotch to assess the situation.
“What’s wrong with my dick, Mal?” he whimpered, keeping his eyes on the road because traffic was whizzing around us.
I clapped my hand over my mouth in horror. “Oh my fucking god! Get to a hospital. Now.”
Two hours later, a doctor handed Hawk a tube of some kind of ointment and a sheet of instructions, promising that there would be no permanent damage to his penis.
“The steroid shot works fast, and the swelling is already way better than when you arrived,” he said kindly. The man had been completely professional throughout this ordeal, though I’m sure he was laughing on the inside. “Use an ice pack when you get home though, and call me if you have any more problems. You should be able to return to your regular…” he cleared his throat, and a slight smirk crossed his lips, “ activities in a couple days.”
He left us alone in exam room three in the emergency department. “I’m so sorry,” I said as soon as he was gone. “Are you mad at me?”
Hawk reached for my hand. “No, Bee, I’m not mad. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was just an unfortunate circumstance.”
“Swelling your penis to almost twice its normal size would definitely fall under the heading of unfortunate.” I pressed my lips together. Now that the crisis had been averted, the ridiculousness of the situation was kicking in.
“Swear to god, if you laugh, you won’t be able to sit down for a week,” he growled, standing gingerly from the exam table.
Why is it that when someone tells you not to laugh, you’re overcome with the urge to do exactly that?
Turning my back, I covered my mouth with my hand but a snort still escaped. When I had composed myself, I pivoted around to find Hawk glaring at me .
“I heard that,” he said in an accusatory tone, though I could see the hint of a smile playing along his lips. “Let’s go before you cause any more trouble.”
I put his medicine and papers in my purse before linking my fingers with his and leading him slowly into the wide corridor.
Where we ran directly into Dr. Blaire Broxton.
Fuck a damn duck.
Her red hair was covered by a surgical cap, and she was wearing scrubs, obviously having just come out of surgery. Her green eyes widened in surprise at the sight of us.
“Hey, guys. What’s wrong?”
“Oh, um, nothing,” Hawk hedged.
“You looked like you were limping,” she said, tilting her head.
“I just… sprained my ankle,” he lied.
“Dammit, why didn’t you ask for me?” she reprimanded, turning to a computer in the cubby beside room three. “Let me look at your x-rays. They did take films, right?”
Her fingers clicked across the keys, and Hawk and I exchanged a panicked look. “Blaire, I’m fine. I’m just ready to get home and ice it. My ankle, I mean,” he added hastily, and I had that crazy urge to giggle again.
“I’m the orthopedic specialist,” she said, scrolling through what I assumed was Hawk’s chart. “I’d like to take a look and make sure you don’t need a follow up with me. Let’s see… today’s date…”
I could hear Hawk mumbling, “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” under his breath, and I tried to think of something I could do to distract her but came up with nothing .
Blaire’s eyes scanned the screen, and we both saw the instant she realized that the visit was most assuredly not orthopedic in nature. Her spine stiffened, and she immediately logged off the computer before turning toward us with hot-pink spots blooming on her cheeks.
“Well, shit. Sorry about that.”
Hawk closed his eyes and heaved out a long breath. “Sorry I lied to you. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
She shook her head. “No, totally my fault. I shouldn’t have looked without your express permission. I just assumed you were hurt and probably underplaying it like you guys always do.”
He scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything to anyone about this.” Like Cam , he said without actually saying it.
Blaire placed a hand on his bicep. “I would never do that. I take patient privacy very seriously.” Her gaze narrowed when she noticed we were holding hands.
Shit. I tried to pull away, but Hawk’s hand was holding mine prisoner in his huge grasp.
The pretty doctor’s eyes ping-ponged between the two of us, and she lowered her voice. “Do you two know what you’re doing?”
I answered. “Yes, and it’s only a temporary thing.” And I wished it wasn’t.
“Okay,” she said, caution ringing through the single word before she kissed both our cheeks. “I just got out of surgery, so I’m going to head home. Let me know if you need anything.”
As she turned to leave, she stopped and looked over her shoulder at Hawk. “And by anything, I don’t mean anything to do with your penis.” A reluctant grin spread across her face. “After tonight, I already know entirely too much about that. ”