Chapter Twenty-Four #2
While Hawk parked the equipment, Alex walked around to the back of the house and watched as the branches of the evergreen pines slowly stacked snow up, one flake at a time.
And quiet.
Why was snow so quiet?
Alex reached down and picked up a handful and wondered just how many individual flakes made up what was in her gloved hands. Tens of thousands? A million?
The sound of Hawk’s footsteps crunching in the snow behind her prompted the immediate manufacturing of a snowball.
If you didn’t have a snowball fight, did snow even happen?
Surprise would give her the upper hand.
“What are you looking at?” he asked from several feet away.
“Nothing.” Alex turned and pulled her arm back.
She noticed the second Hawk realized what she was about.
The first throw hit Hawk on his right shoulder. “This is how we’re going to play?”
When he reached for the ground, Alex took off in a run, scooping snow as she went.
A snowball whizzed by, missing by inches. “Ha!”
She fired another round. It didn’t get anywhere close.
And before she could make more ammunition, Hawk hit his mark on her chest. “Game on!” she shouted.
Laughing, Alex found shelter behind a chair and started rounding balls.
She made four before she realized the world was too quiet.
“Hawk?”
He didn’t reply.
She snuck a peek and didn’t see him.
Alex stood to get a better look, and a snowball smashed into her back.
“How the?” She didn’t even aim, she just threw the snow in Hawk’s direction.
He was laughing and walking toward her, both hands full. “Know where your opponent is at all times,” he suggested.
She backed up. “You wouldn’t hit an unarmed woman, would you?”
He pulled an arm back.
Alex turned, laughing, and ran.
Hawk made chase, his snowballs launched, and all Alex had the time to do was bend to the ground to pick up an armful of snow and toss it on him as fast as she could.
He dodged and weaved as if he were on a football field. Both of them running around each other, snow flying.
She felt snow falling down the inside of her jacket and hanging from her hair. And in the split second she stopped and realized that cold, Hawk pounced and rolled them both on the ground.
Alex couldn’t stop laughing. She used her body weight to roll on top of Hawk. Her legs straddled his waist.
“This is more like it,” he said, his voice a low, playful growl.
“Like this?”
“Yeah.”
Alex wiggled her hips against his.
Hawk gripped her thighs.
And then Alex smashed two hands filled with snow on his face.
Feeling quite pleased with herself, Alex shifted her weight to stand up.
Hawk wouldn’t have it.
Those muscled, capable arms wrapped around her waist, and the next thing she knew, she was on her back with both of her arms stretched above her head, where she couldn’t repeat the snow-in-the-face move.
They were both breathing heavy, with smiles so big, Alex’s face hurt.
“Now what are you going to do?” Hawk asked.
What was she going to do?
Stare at his smile.
Enjoy the sparkle behind his eyes and the way his gaze drew her in.
With her chest still heaving, her smile slowly fell. She bit her lip and saw Hawk’s gaze fall to her teeth.
Alex swallowed and moistened her lips with her tongue.
“Fuck,” Hawk whispered before his lips crashed down on hers.
Cold lips quickly warmed with the sheer intensity of their joining.
The weight of him pressing her against the snow-covered ground was a sensation she could drown in and never regret.
She opened her mouth to his, soaked in the taste of him.
Hawk kissed her so hard and so long, she started to forget where they were.
His hands released hers and moved to her head.
She felt the thickness of his gloves and the cool splash of snow that pressed into her face simply because of where they were.
All thoughts of snowballs and playing in the snow were gone, and a whole lot more filled Alex’s mind on what they should do next.
Hawk’s kiss eased just enough for Alex to choke out, “Inside.”
He nodded and was off her in two seconds, his hand grasping hers to help her off the ground.
On her feet, she lifted on her toes and locked her lips to his.
Hawk hummed over her and grasped her hips.
She hopped up and wrapped her legs around his hips before he walked them to the back door of the house.
Hawk struggled to hold her and open the door. Lord knew Alex wasn’t making it easy on the poor guy. She nipped at his lip, sucked in his tongue.
They made it inside, the back door crashing as it shut.
Hawk walked her straight past the mudroom and deposited her on the top of the dryer in the laundry room.
Their lips stayed pressed together, her legs spread with him settled oh so comfortably between them. And they both started tugging at their clothing. Gloves flew, boots were kicked off.
Hawk shed his coat and tossed it to the side. When Alex went to do the same, Hawk caught the back of her head, grasped her hair, and pulled it just enough to bare her throat. His lips grazed where her pulse danced and shot a wave of awareness between her thighs. “Yes,” she whispered.
She wanted this man, this feeling. Each time their lips met was like a declaration. A branding. This is mine. I’m claiming it, and no one else can have it. That’s what Hawk’s touch was telling her.
Alex was here for it.
All of it.
She tugged at his snow pants.
Hawk struggled to get them off. Down to their regular clothing, Hawk claimed her mouth again. This time when she wrapped her legs around his hips, he was much more capable of maneuvering around the house. But he didn’t take them far.
He kicked at the ground-floor guest room until the door banged against the wall.
Alex laughed under his kiss and fell with him on the bed.
Hawk stopped then, their eyes opened. “You’re so goddamn beautiful, Alexandrea. I want to hear your cries in my ear when I make you come.”
His words alone made parts of her body pucker and spasm. “Yes, please,” she said with a smile.
A leg slipped between hers and pushed hard against her core.
Her eyes rolled back, along with her head.
“Just like that,” he muttered, his lips pressed to her ear.
She pulled his shirt over his head, and her hands finally met with his flesh.
Corded muscles of his shoulders and back. All the promises his clothing tried to hide but couldn’t were now out for her to touch and taste.
She raked her nails over his back and felt him shudder.
That was control.
Control she never wanted to give up.
Their lips met again, hot, wanting.
The feel of Hawk’s palm sliding under her shirt felt like fire and ice. Still chilled from outside, but so hot deep under her flesh.
He paused, hips hovering over hers. “Condom?” he asked.
She shook her head. “IUD.”
“You sure?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
The man took directions well.
He rolled them over, pulled off her shirt. Palms cupped her breasts through her bra. Hawk lifted his head, buried his face, and licked.
This was passion, this was what poets wrote about. Alex wondered, briefly, if the intensity of this moment, this man, was because it had been so long since she’d experienced anything like this. Or was it him? He was so damn intent on touching all of her. Rolling her on her back, then on top of him.
She reached for his pants, brushed her hand against his straining cock under the fabric.
Hawk moaned and stilled.
She brushed down the length of him and back up, loving the way he shuddered.
When she moved to pull his pants down, his hand caught hers. “Not yet,” he whispered.
And before she could protest, he rolled her onto her stomach. Strong hands started at her waist and painted her back. His lips brushed her shoulder, then the other one.
He lifted her hips and tugged her pants down.
When she tried to move, he held her down with one hand on the small of her back. “Let me,” he said.
With only the bed under her, her body stretched out and nearly naked for him to do whatever he pleased with, the vulnerability of her position was filled with excitement.
Hawk dropped her pants to the floor.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stand long enough to shake the rest of his clothing free. Then he was back on her. Quick fingers unclasped her bra, he kissed the space where the strap had been. Trailing his hands down her back, he reached her hips and played with the strap of her panties.
She closed her eyes, waiting for him to touch more, anything.
Alex arched into his hands and gasped when he spread her legs. The feel of his lips on the small of her back made her close her eyes. The next sensation was Hawk running his hand down her bottom before reaching between her legs. Fingers pushed past her underwear and slid over her sex.
Alex moaned and rode up on his hand. Her body responded, asking for more with a jolt.
Hawk sprawled out beside her, his fingers moving in lazy circles.
Every inch of his body molded to hers, his sex pulsed on her back and promised to fill her ... soon.
“So damn beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.
Only she was having a hard time concentrating on his words. She was wet and open, and Hawk was ... close, she was so close.
He pressed his cheek against hers.
Alex craned her neck and kissed him. Only she couldn’t hold on.
“Let me hear it, Alex. Let me hear you cry out.”
Fingers swirled and played, in, around. And then she was over. Over the crest, over the wave, and her cry filled the room in her release.
“Yes, just like that.”
Her body started to go lax, but Hawk wouldn’t have it. He rolled her on her back and claimed her lips. Her panties hit the floor, and the length of him found her.
Their eyes met, their kiss hovered, and Hawk pressed himself home.
Her back arched, and pleasure started to build once again.
This Viking of a man pressed her back into the bed, filling every part of her. His name on her lips, his hands everywhere on her body. Gentle and then not, playfully controlling with the promise of ecstasy on the other side.
Alex surrendered.
Trusting everything Hawk wanted of her.
Their bodies rose and fell together. He told her—showed her—how beautiful she was to him. Until whispering became too much and all that was left was to find the peak together and hope they would softly land on the other side.