by Christa Wick
"What the fuck are you doing in this house, McKinley!"
I froze, panic settling inside me like quick drying cement. I knew the voice and tone, only I hadn't heard Beau use it since—well, since he'd taught Bobby Jackson a lesson in manners. Hawk took another step back from me, turning so that I was out of harm's way.
He almost avoided Beau's swinging fist.
Almost.
"Beau Kelly!" My tongue unstuck but the rest of me was useless.
Was this paralysis what Hawk had felt seeing his dad in the office and me wearing heartache all over my face?
I didn't have time to consider the question. Beau was too worked up. I doubted he could even hear me with all the blood pounding through his thick skull.
Beau pulled back to deliver another punch. Hawk moved more swiftly, catching Beau's arm and spinning him. In less than sixty seconds he had my brother's chest planted against the kitchen table with Beau's wrist bent at a controlling angle that I knew had to hurt like hell.
"Beau, calm down." I stepped to the table and placed my trembling palm against his cheek. "I can handle Hawk McKinley myself."
"You were crying." A deep scowl lined his face but he stopped trying to break free from Hawk's expert hold.
"Yes," I agreed. "And I'm probably not done crying, but I will handle this."
"Fine." Beau closed his eyes, his body relaxing. Hawk released him and he straightened slowly then turned and glared at Hawk.
"I'm only through with you until she says otherwise, asshole."
Hawk gave a slow nod, his body remaining tense and alert. Beau left the room and I headed for the freezer to grab a bag of corn for Hawk's cheek. He let me approach, but wouldn't take the cold pack. Instead he turned me and planted my butt in a kitchen chair.
He stared down at me, not saying a single word. I started to squirm, feeling guilty because Beau hit him and because he was right about some of the things he had said. Hell, he was right about all the things he said. I hadn't believed in either one of us. I'd been afraid to tell my parents—my wonderful, understanding, loving parents—that I was seeing him. I'd made him hide and then, when he wanted to explain, both times, I'd run away.
I knew I should acknowledge the truth. More than that, I should tell him I loved him. All those weeks of seeing one another, I hadn't admitted it. I wouldn't even call him "love" like he called me. It was time to pull up my big girl panties and say exactly what was on my mind, and in my heart.
"You don’t have to forgive me for believing what your father said."
Okay, rough start there. That didn’t quite come out the way I intended.
“What I mean,” I clarified, “is that after I calmed down, I realized I didn’t believe that you’d only been chasing me to spite your father. So you don’t have to forgive me for that.”
He cupped my chin and forced my gaze up. “Is that true? You really don’t believe the things he said to you?”
“Not that part.”
His face narrowed in on itself. I looked down at my lap where my hands twisted around one another. “But you believed the rest.”
I nodded. “The rest wasn’t untrue. A lot of the folks in my town do treat me like crap, and I don’t look like what a billionaire’s wife probably should. I’m not refined or cultured.”
“No. You’re the woman who stopped to save my dumb ass in the middle of a deserted road, fixing my car with her own tools, and leaving me with a jug of water she needed for her own truck.”
Well, when he said it like that…
“I only ever chased you because I wanted you, Virginia Kelly."
I gave him a small smile. "I already told you I know that."
"Do you know that I think you're beautiful? Do you really know it? And believe it?"
His grip tightened when I closed my eyes, so I looked back up and nodded.
"Good. Because I meant what I said that day in the office. You are nothing like the women I had relationships with in the past. I meant it as a compliment, a big one. It means you give, you care, you listen. Your heart is out, open and exposed.”
He laid his forehead against mine. “When you walked out… That about decimated me, baby. It was the first time in my life I can ever remember being truly afraid. I was terrified I’d lost you."
I’d been afraid, too. “Then why didn’t you come back here before today?” I asked. Not in recrimination, but because I really wanted to know what had been going through his mind for the past few weeks.
“I needed to take care of business, Ginny. Literally. I wasn’t sure if you were going to believe that I wanted to marry you for you unless I was already CEO when I asked you to be my wife. I didn’t want to risk you possibly saying no, and I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing tears in your eyes again.” He smoothed his thumbs over my cheeks. “So I worked day and night to get the company. My company. I wanted it locked up tight before I came back here so you’d know exactly who you were going to be marrying in a couple of months.”
Despite everything, I smiled at that. The last part was definitely Hawk.
“I wanted you to know without a doubt in the world who I am, and how much I love you. But believe me, baby, it killed me to stay away. I almost drove straight over here a dozen times, picked up the phone to call you even more than that.”
He released his hold on my face and dropped to his knees. His hands smoothed up and down my legs as he rocked absently. I could see he was fighting to find the right words when a soft throat clearing behind me redirected our attention.
Daddy stood at the kitchen's threshold, his cane in hand. His face was solemn, serious. He nodded at Hawk, gave a little jerk of his head then walked away. Hawk stood, his face knotted with an emotion I couldn't read, and followed respectfully after Daddy.
I waited, every muscle in my body tense as my ears strained for the sound of another scuffle. By the time Hawk returned just a few minutes later, I felt ready to faint before he had a chance to say anything.
He got down in front of me again, this time on one knee. His left hand closed in a fist, he reached in and pulled something from it.
"That's Daddy's wedding band," I whispered, looking from the ring to Hawk's face.
He nodded then captured my hand. "Your father wanted me to do this right."
“You mean the part about you asking for my forgiveness?”
He chuckled and slid the ring on my finger. "That, too. Tell me you forgive me, Ginny. Tell me you forgive me because you love me, and that you’ll spend the rest of our lives loving me.”
I got down on my knees right in front of him, traditions bedamned. “Yes to all of it, Hawk.”
He stopped to kiss the hand he'd just put the ring on. "Is that also a yes to having my babies?"
“Yes.”
He flipped my hand so that it was palm up then planted another kiss. "Yes to darning my socks and being at my beck and—"
I pushed at his chest, and laughed, but then shuddered when he finished the rest of his sentence with a whisper in my ear.
Two throat-clearings sounded from behind us this time, and I flushed bright red when Hawk asked, “So, is that a yes, Sweet Tea?”
I yanked hard on his ear lobe for making me blush in front of my father and brother before whispering my answer into his ear.
…Along with my own set of marriage stipulations that had his ears reddening up quite a bit.
20
Ginny
Staring down at the platinum and diamond wedding set on my finger, I felt a wave of warmth bubble through, just like I always did when it’d hit me that I was now a married woman.
I turned in the backseat of the limo to snuggle closer to Hawk.
My husband.
Behind us, the short skyline of Tupperville faded to dust on the horizon. We were on our way to the airport in Midland and the private jet that would fly us to New York to refuel before carrying us the rest of the way to Dublin for our honeymoon. My parents, Beau and Shelly would be joining us in a
week, all of us housed in a castle my new husband had rented for the occasion.
I stayed snuggled against Hawk until it was time to leave the limo and get on the plane. Entering the aircraft a few steps ahead of him, I stopped and stared. "It's like a flying double wide, but fancier."
Hearing a giggle from one of the flight crew, I snapped my mouth shut and tried not to blush. I needed to learn not to say stuff like that anymore. Things were only going to get fancier as I moved deeper into Hawk's world. I just hoped I could adjust with half the grace he had shown in entering mine.
"You are exactly right, baby." Taking my hand, he led me to a white leather couch and sat me down. He nodded at the crew. "If there are any emergencies, please advise us over the intercom. Otherwise, we are to be left alone."
They nodded, smiling and discreetly backing away from the forward area of the cabin to disappear behind a solid panel of polished wood.
"Emergencies?" It was my first time flying—ever—and I didn't like the sound of that word.
Hawk laughed, his hands curling around my elbows and drawing me up. "There won't be any, baby. It's just my way of letting them know I'll have their heads if they interrupt me taking my bride."
"Taking me where?"
"Oh…" Blushing as his meaning sank in, I looked around the cabin. It was furnished like a fancy, but functional, living room. Except for the plush carpet, the white couch he'd just lifted me from provided the only suitable place for the "taking" of a bride.
I looked at the panel the crew had disappeared behind. I could hear the low hum of sounds through the wood and my cheeks got hotter. "Aren't they all just on the other side?"
"That's why I'm taking you behind door number two." Hawk coaxed me toward the far end of the section we were in. He slid another panel open, revealing a king-sized bed and, beyond that, another open panel showing a large bathroom complete with a garden tub.
"Hawk, there's a bed in this plane! And a tub!"
He responded with another soft, sweet laugh that I could feel against my bare shoulder. "That's our bed, baby. And you're going to spend about eighty percent of your flight in it—both flights."
His fingers moved along the back of the dress I'd changed into after the ceremony. It was almost as fancy as the wedding gown, its back a maze of ties that Shelly and Momma had helped me fasten.
Hawk undid the ties one-by-one, planting a kiss for each knot conquered, his mouth trailing from my shoulder, up my neck, to my ear.
The outer shell of the dress fell to the ground, leaving me standing in high heels, white stockings and a matching corset with the thinnest swatch of white satin masquerading as panties. Hawk turned me to face him and groaned, his eyes soaking in the way the corset molded my pale flesh.
His hands trailed from my shoulders, down my sides, to my hips.
"Mmm, more ties." Finding the ribbons that held my panties together and on me, he smiled. A naughty light glittered in his gaze as he slowly untied them. Freeing me, his eyes fluttered shut as his fingers stroked the silky red triangle of hair where my thighs met. "Ninety, sweet tea."
"Ninety?"
"Yeah, ninety percent." His eyes opened to reveal a smoldering, sensual blue fire. "In that bed, my mouth on you, my cock in you."
He pressed on the top of my shoulders, pushing until I sat on the edge of the bed. He wanted me in the center of the mattress, but I wasn't ready to start the obeying part of the vows I'd taken. I unthreaded his belt and slowly worked the button and zipper open as I kissed a line down from his navel.
"Willful little brat," he teased, his fingers knotting in the thick, red curls I'd dressed my hair in that morning.
My lips closed around the head of his cock, earning me an approving murmur. His grip tightened and he rose up on his toes as I took in more of his length. Too big for me to suck all the way in, I wrapped my palms around the base and stroked. I could taste the bead of pre-cum pearling against the flat of my tongue. I pulled back, teasing the slit as I stroked harder.
"So good, baby." He let me suck and lick as he rocked back and forth on his heels. When he started to swell bigger and his balls pulled tight, he pushed me away. He drew a shuddering breath in but denied his release.
He spun, landed on the bed next to me and pulled me across his lap before I realized what was happening. He had my belly across his thighs, my bare ass up in the air. Realizing what he was about to do, what he'd threatened any number of times, I gasped.
Hawk chuckled as his hand started to lovingly caress my butt cheeks. He ran his fingers between my folds, finding me dripping with arousal. "This pretty little ass needs spanked, love."
I bit my lip, thighs and ass flexing in anticipation, but he continued to rub and stroke at my flesh. "Or maybe this lovely, wet pussy.”
I started to shake at the threat, need churning inside me. He rubbed my slit, spreading my juices and making me squirm. He stroked and teased until I was moaning and relaxed.
Swat!
"Hawk!"
Another chuckle, the sound a sweet hymn to my ears. He returned to stroking me, his fingers detouring time and again to leisurely fuck in and out of my pussy. He drove me right to the edge, my legs splayed, the core of my sex exposed and vulnerable.
He tapped fast and light against my perineum, reeling my climax in before letting it unspool back to the brink of satisfaction.
"Hawk." I squirmed, needy, aching. "I can’t wait much longer."
"Baby needs to come?" He tapped harder, faster.
"Yes, oh, please." I was about to, with or without his permission. I sucked two deep breaths in…ready…rolling…contracting…
Swat!
Fingers deep, hard, twisting, his thumb pressing against the pucker of my ass, the flesh slick from the juices he had pulled from me.
"Come for me, Sweet Tea." The thumb threatened, enticed, penetrated. "Come so I can fuck this pretty little pussy."
I jerked, my release freeing the scream stuck in my throat. My hips crested high, held, crested higher. Hawk rolled, flipping me on my back and pushing me up the mattress. He took my hand and kissed it before placing it against my mound.
"Stroke yourself, love."
He watched me as he stripped his clothes off then he dove onto the bed, his chin pushing my hand away. Hot, wet kisses were followed by his fingers as he moved up my body. Then his cock, bare and throbbing, slid into the spot his hand had just vacated.
He planted more kisses on my neck, bruising the pale skin beneath. His fingers made quick work of the corset, and then it was my breasts between his lips, his hands molding and squeezing as he sucked the hard tips.
Something pulled at me and I clutched his shoulders. "What was that?"
Hawk lifted his head, grinning. "Love, we've been taxiing for almost ten minutes. That pressure you just felt is lift off and it's only going to intensify for the next few minutes."
He licked my nipple, kissed it, before asking teasingly, "Do you want me to stop?"
"No, don’t stop," I moaned. He was in me, so thick and hard, the roof of my pussy already pushing down with need against his length. The gravity pull magnified the sensation.
Groaning, Hawk buried his face against my throat. His cock dragged in and out of me, the shaft and head all fat and throbbing. I contracted around him, my muscles wringing and tugging his cock. He lifted his head, his hands framing my face. His thumbs hooked the sides of my mouth and then he kissed me, his strokes longer and more urgent as the pressure of lift-off climbed ruthlessly toward its apex.
Pleasure yanked my hips up, my mound rubbing and banging against his tight, muscled lower abdominals.
"So good, baby." He bit at my lower lip, his thumbs still acting as bits. "Come with me. Don't hold back this time."
My entire body seized up. I exhaled, the first quiver of release vibrating through me as my pussy tightened around him, tugging sharply to pull him deeper.
He came then, strong jets shooting inside me three times, four, filling me to
the brim without a single barrier between us.
Panting, I collapsed onto the mattress, all the pressure leaving our bodies once the plane reached its altitude. Hawk relaxed against me, his weight supported by his arms as his breaths fell hot and fast against my ear. He kissed my cheek, my mouth, his hands soothing my jumpy flesh.
When I had calmed, he settled the bedspread around us. Cradled within his arms, I burrowed to my favorite spot, my cheek and one palm pressing lightly against his chest as his hand stroked my hair.
His lips pressed against the top of my head, muffling his sleepy murmur, "Just let me catch a quick nap, baby. Then we can start on one of those marriage demands you had for me…seeing as we started this trip trying for one of mine.”
The man knew good and well that trying for babies was on both of our lists, but he still liked to tease me about the things I’d whispered in his ear that day he’d proposed.
It went both ways though. Because I took just as much pleasure reminding him how we’d made it through the entire list that very night.
…And how I’d been adding more items every day since.
Epilogue
Hawk
-- Five Years Later --
A warm blob squirmed against my chest just as lips no bigger than the petals on a rosebud smacked softly as they parted.
I gave a little jiggle and the squirming stopped. The lips re-sealed.
Unable to stop myself, I brushed the back of my finger against my infant son's cheek. His head swiveled in search of something to suck on.
"Patience," I said, my whisper drowned out as the Dean of the Gabelli School of Business handed out another diploma and a small roar erupted from the recipient student's family.
"Three more names to go," Michael Kelly said, his finger seemingly glued to the spot on the graduation brochure where Ginny's name was printed.
"Should I take him?"
Turning to look at my mother-in-law, Liz Kelly, I smiled but shook my head. I appreciated the offer, but I wanted to be holding my son as his mother received her Bachelor of Finance degree.