23. Hawk
Hawk
From the moment she brought coffee to my room and said we needed to talk, I knew shit was off. We sipped our coffee in silence, the reality of whatever it was she had to say either too big or too scary for her. She never found the words, so I made her an offer.
“I’d like to make dinner for you at my cottage tonight. I’m going to head up there in an hour or so. I’ll give you the address. Meet me up there as soon as you can get there. I don’t think this is the place to have that talk.”
She’s quiet, looking around my room as if this is the worst decision she’s ever made.
Maybe last night put the final nail in the coffin.
Maybe seeing the darker side of the club was more than she could handle.
If she left my room for coffee, I can only imagine what she saw, and she must now be ready to run for the hills.
I text her the address and get dressed while she packs up her stuff. I notice the bottle of massage oil is no longer on my bedside table. I try not to read into it. I walk her through the mess of sleeping assholes and bring her to the parking lot.
“I’ll be there early,” I tell her. “By three. We’ll eat early so you have time to get home and get a good night’s sleep before school tomorrow.”
She lifts up on her toes and kisses me lightly. “Should I bring anything?” she asks.
I shoot a look at her backpack and lift a brow suggestively. She laughs, then climbs into the waiting cab. I shut the door for her and watch her pull away.
It’s been a ride, and if we’ve come to the end of the road, I’m going out with a bang.
“You need some help, hun?” Miss Regina from the best floral department in the county looks up at me. “Oh, hey there, young man. How was your last date?”
“Good enough that I’m back for more flowers, but I need something really special.”
Miss Regina disappears into the stockroom and comes back with a gorgeous vase.
“This is a bit pricey,” she says.
The vase is beautiful. It is big, though. “How much is it going to set me back?” I ask.
Regina pushes her thick glasses up her nose and grimaces. “Honey, I’m thinking north of a hundred dollars.”
“I’ll spend two. Make it perfect.”
She gasps before a smile spreads across her face. It takes about half an hour, but while I shop for groceries, Regina puts together the most stunning floral arrangement I’ve ever seen.
“It’s perfect,” I say. “I knew I needed the best.”
“This is going to be one heck of a date,” she says. “She’s a very lucky lady.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” I tell her as I walk toward the door with the vase of flowers in my hand.
“Come on back and tell me how it goes.”
I turn my head and nod back at her. Hopefully it’s good news and not the end of the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.
Her tires crunch on the gravel outside the cottage a little before three. She’s early. I have the flowers on the kitchen table and damn near everything ready.
I’m in the doorway waiting for her before she has a chance to climb out of her SUV. I can’t keep my eyes off her as she glides across the stones in her high heels like they aren’t a tripping hazard at every turn.
I kiss her cheek as she walks inside, the mood tense and the air thick.
She’s barely inside when she stops moving, her eyes locked on the vase.
“To make up for the ones you didn’t get on our first date,” I say, brushing my hand against her hip.
“Hawk,” she says, reaching up to cup my chin and scratch my jawline.
It might be one of my favorite things she does. It’s sweet and sexy all at the same time.
Maybe I read everything all wrong. Maybe this isn’t the end. What the hell do I know about relationships? Not a goddamn thing.
“Come on,” I say, leading her out toward the swing on the porch because we have a few minutes to kill. “Steak’s marinating.”
I grab two beers out of the cooler I set up outside so we can spend as much time in the fresh air as possible. She rests her beer in the little cupholder attached to the swing and closes her eyes while she rocks back and forth.
“This place is so incredible,” she says. “I can’t imagine what it was like to spend time here with your grandfather.”
The sun is bright on the water, and the cover above the swing gives us just a bit of shade. “This place is more incredible now that I have you to share it with,” I say.
I swing us a little harder, not realizing I’m nervous too. “Do you want kids, V?”
She sputters on a sip of beer. “I… Hawk, I’m thirty-five years old. It’s getting a little late for me to be a mom.”
“But if you could, would you want them?”
We are both facing the water, but I can see her nod out of the corner of my eye. “With the right person,” she says quietly.
I take that like a fist to the gut, but I keep going.
“I always thought a guy like me wasn’t worth a family of his own.
I married Sadie, but that wasn’t love. That was settling down and settling in with someone who…
Fuck, I don’t know. Point is, I didn’t know better.
I never felt for her what I do for you. I never felt for anyone what I feel for you. ”
She doesn’t say anything, so I continue.
“And I know I’m not easy to love. I do some dark stuff, and I’m not always on the side of what most people think is the right thing to do.
But I love hard, and I love deep. I’m loyal.
” I turn to face her. “And V, I’m falling in love with you.
I know it hasn’t been long, but I hope you see a future for us. ”
I pull the black velvet box out of my pocket. I hand it to her. “This is for you, if you’ll have it. If you’ll have me.”
She takes the box in trembling hands. “What is this?”
“Open it,” I tell her. “Just open it.”
She slowly creaks the hinge on the box. There’s a diamond engagement ring inside, an oval center stone surrounded by small round ones that form a sparkly band.
“I’d do this thing right this time, V. I want to marry you. I hope you’ll think about it.”
She slams the ring box closed and grabs my arm. “Are you serious?”
“Serious as a fucking heart attack.” I look at her hand on my arm.
“I want to see my ring on that hand. I want to see my baby inside you. I want to see you, every single day for the rest of my life. I hope you want that too. But if you don’t…
” I chuckle. “I’ll still feed you dinner and send you off with flowers. ”
“Hawk,” she sputters. “I can’t… I don’t…”
My heart sinks so low, I swear it shatters at my feet. She’s saying no. She doesn’t want me. I clench my teeth and look down at my hands. “Yeah, all right. I…”
“No, listen. I want this. I want you. Yes, we’re incredibly different, and I can’t pretend there aren’t some things about you that scare me. But I’m going to marry you, Hawk. Yes, I will marry you.”
She opens the box and pulls out the ring. “When the hell did you have time to get this?” she asks.
I laugh. “Got it the day after I paid a visit to Wilson. I knew then. It’s fast, but whatever. We’re grown adults. I’ve been married before, you’re a responsible, brilliant woman. We can do what we want, and I want this with you.”
She slides the ring on to her finger and holds it up to the sun. “It’s perfect.” Her voice shakes as she looks at it. “But this is crazy. You haven’t even met my dad yet or my sister.”
“I’ll meet them whenever you want. We’ve got nothing but time now.”
She looks stunned, but then it slowly seems to hit her. “We’re going to get married.”
I shift on the swing so I’m facing her.
She cups my face in her hands and pulls me close to kiss me. Her lips are soft and sweet, strawberry-red, and perfect. “I have to tell my sister,” she says. “Everyone we know.”
“Plenty of time for all that.” I hold her hand and look down at the way the sunlight glints off her ring. It looks like it was made for her. Like her wearing this very ring was meant to be. “I think we should make today just for us. Celebrate in private, you know what I mean?”
“I love that idea almost as much as I love you. Almost.” She kisses me again and, our beers abandoned, we head back inside the house.
Our clothes are off before we even hit the bedroom. My jeans end up in the living room. Hers are in the hallway. By the time we’re both naked, we’re racing toward my bed, kissing and laughing.
“Every day,” I tell her, rolling her onto her stomach.
I lower myself to her ass, and I run my fingers up and down the backs of her thighs.
“Every day of my life, I get to do this.” I breathe hot kisses against her ass cheeks and squeeze the lush curves of her thighs.
“And this.” I work my way between her legs and open them wider.
“Put a pillow under your belly,” I tell her.
She does, lifting her ass close to my face to support her stomach with the pillow. I spread her cheeks and lick her seam, already wet and ready. I take my time with her, not just because we have all the time in the world now, but because I love her.
I sweep my tongue along her pussy and squeeze her ass cheeks. She moans, her legs going slack except for when she nudges her ass close to my face. I slide one finger inside her and use my middle finger to press on her clit.
“Oh yes,” she moans, her voice muffled by the sheets.
I stroke her inner walls and tease her clit, taking my sweet time to touch her pussy. “I want you to ride me,” I tell her.
I switch places with her, the pillow under my head now, and my desperate cock bobbing in the wind as she climbs over my legs. She lowers herself on top of my cock and takes my hands, placing them on her tits.
“Touch me,” she says, and I know exactly what she wants.
I finger her nipples, flicking my fingertips against the thick, hard peaks. She rolls her hips lightly, her lips swollen and parted, her eyes glazed over with lust and something more.
She wants not just the pleasure my body can bring her.
She wants me. I can see it all over her face.
In the way her hazel eyes flare as she looks at me.
In the way she licks her lips and tosses her hair over her shoulders, her body beautiful and bared to me.
In the way she smiles at me, bringing me deep inside her body, her mind, and even her jokes.
She works herself against me, rolling her hips in a perfect rhythm until something powerful takes over.
She clenches her core and rides me harder.
She’s working herself into a sweat, but she won’t come.
She slows down, then speeds up, chasing her bliss and then torturing herself with a long, slow wait.
My cock is so hard I can’t think straight, I’m mindless, endlessly staring at her bouncing tits, her hair flying across her shoulders, her lips parted as she pants and gasps my name.
“Hawk,” she finally sputters, “Hawk, I’m…”
“Come,” I demand, losing my control the second I feel her pussy tighten around me. She’s clenched down on me so hard, I can’t stop it, and I climax.
And then we crash together. On the bed, curled together, our whispers and our promises the glue that, along with this ring, will keep us together.
Forever.