Hawk

by Amber Malloy

  “Hey, we’re not done here yet,” one of the firemen barked. They were checking out the sprinkler system in the other rooms.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t be in the way.”

  “If that’s the case, please invite the whole block to traipse all over the place.” He threw his hands in the air with an exaggerated sigh. “We need to figure out if someone hacked your system initially.”

  Lexi went to the alarm panel and bypassed the system’s code to take it offline. The high-pitched squealing abruptly stopped.

  “A glitch, right?” Lexi easily lied. She knew well enough that this personal attack had nothing to do with teenagers running amuck. Josh was written all over it. He wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted—the company…or something much worse. Moe’s bar would have sustained astronomical damage had she not updated all the alarm and sprinkler systems earlier this year.

  The bell above the door interrupted the racing thoughts in her mind about Josh’s next move. “Finally!” Big Al shouted. “I thought we’d freeze our asses off, and trust me, I got a lot of ass to burn through.”

  Turning away from the fireman, she waved the regular to the back of the bar. She’d have the waitstaff set out the indoor heaters. “Peaches is making hot chocolate. I’ll bring it to you guys in a minute.”

  Cheers of gratitude went up as the seven of the regulars stepped around the broken glass and headed to the game room.

  “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll stay at your house for the next couple of days, but only if you have plants. If I don’t see so much as one green leaf then—”

  “Boy Scout’s honor,” he promised with a hearty chuckle. “Promise.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dropped off at the curb by the car service, Hawk slung his bag over his shoulder and headed up the gravel driveway. He stopped at his cast-iron double doors to punch in the key code. Their game against the Toronto Wolverines had been cancelled due to inclement weather, which meant he was home two days earlier than he’d originally planned.

  The minute he heard about the break-in at Moe’s, he’d panicked. Initially Hawk had no idea how to get Lexi to stay at his house, but he knew he wanted her to be safe. The whole plant idea had been quick thinking on his part.

  He opened the door and stepped into his converted shipping warehouse. One of the dumbest ideas he’d ever had hadn’t turned out that bad. Hawk dropped his bag in the entranceway and took in the large, indoor, towering Ficus trees he’d bought for immediate delivery minutes after Lexi had accepted his offer to stay with him.

  A dreary film of gray seeped through the wall window that faced his garden. The natural colors from outside wove their way inside his house in a majestic manner. Several trees lined his entryway, providing a lively brightness that hadn’t been there previously.

  “Lexi?” His voice bounced around the concrete walls that suddenly felt cold. Has it always been like that? Hawk couldn’t remember that large, empty feeling in the past. Mainly on the road, he didn’t clock that much time in the place. He headed down the hall. Once he passed the living room, more gradients of blue and gray tones welcomed him. It was clinical in appearance, but he never considered the lack of warmth in his home. Serene maybe, but for the first time he realized this shit wasn’t at all inviting.

  “Trashcan999, you got the shot. Take it!” Lexi yelled. Picking up his pace, Hawk followed the sound of her sweet voice to his media room—the only spot in the whole house that he allowed a ridiculous display of his Y chromosome to shine. “Come on, you little fucking shit.”

  “Chill out, you bossy bag of bones!” The nasal twang of a teenage boy practically blew out his eardrums. Hawk turned the corner into the room and stumbled back a step. Lexi was instant eye porn. Surrounded by framed old jerseys, hockey sticks and awards, she sat half naked on the media room floor playing his Xbox.

  As the game reflected back in her hot nerd glasses, he took in her teeny, tiny boy shorts and belly shirt. The pure lack of clothing was enough to make him hard, but with her smooth legs tucked underneath her body, the total recall of them around his waist came to mind.

  Shit! Where Lexi was concerned, he was doomed. Up until this point, he’d behaved himself. However, he didn’t think he could fake the nonchalant funk any longer. Contemplating his next move, he scratched his beard to hide his smile. God, I’m into this woman.

  “Hey, you little tools, I’ve got to go.” She vigorously tapped on the remote control.

  “Why, grandma, is it time for your soaps?” Several of the little minions cackled in unison.

  Hawk reluctantly tore his eyes away from her level ten cuteness that began at the top of the curly waves of her head down to her bubblegum-pink-painted toenails. Above his fireplace, where the big screen TV hung, Lexi’s soldier avatar patrolled a busted village. On the side panel of the screen, it showed her teammates’ icons and their whereabouts.

  “Why do you guys want to do everything the hard way?” She sighed. She swiftly hit the controller, and a bomb exploded across every screen, except for hers.

  “What the shit-stained-hell did you just do?” several teen baby voices hollered at the vision of lust in front of him.

  “No one has that code. It’s an urban legend. How did you get that code, Cutie32?”

  Lexi stretched across the floor, reaching for the console, and she hit the power button, quickly muting all the obnoxious whining.

  “Someone’s home early?” Lexi made eye contact with him for the first time since he’d walked into the room.

  “Game canceled.” Thank goodness! He wouldn’t have missed this for the world. “So…uh, glasses?”

  She touched the round, black rims that covered her dainty face. “Yeah, I usually wear contacts, but—”

  “Remy got it right,” he muttered under his breath. She was definitely a hot nerd.

  “Huh?”

  “And the video game.” Quickly changing the subject, Hawk hitched his thumb toward the system. He didn’t get much use out of it. He had occasionally played from time to time, but in no way displayed Lexi’s high level of skill.

  “Oh, do you mind?”

  “Of course not. I just didn’t take you for a gamer.”

  When she held out her hand, Hawk reached out to help her stand up. Goodie! A better view of her body.

  “Not a fanatic, but I dabble,” she admitted.

  “Confession…” His voice lowered to a register short of a growl.

  “Can I hazard a guess?” Lexi stopped him. Already amused by her, Hawk nodded. “This”—she made the ta-da motion with her hands at her barely-there ensemble—“is some sort of eighties movie flashback. Am I right? I mean, those are the only movies you ever talk about, so-o…”

  Damn, she’d hit that nail on the head. “Uh.” He rubbed the corners of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. “The movie Tomboy mixed with Weird Science is going on a loop in my head right now.” He settled upon the truth. “Those two movies were cult classics.”

  “Gotta admit, I’m a little worried about this obsession of yours.” As Lexi pushed her glasses back onto her face, her mouth turned down in a judgy pout.

  “Those movies had great moral lessons.”

  “Most eighties movies objectified women’s bodies. If the Me-Too movement could go back in time, they’d have a field day with that genre.” Lexi placed her hands on her hips with a smirk.

  “There may have been a boob or two on the screen, but the all-around wholesomeness of that decade suppressed those small moments of sexism,” he admitted.

  “Such as?”

  While Hawk rocked back on the heels of his boots, he mentally accepted her challenge, despite his mind screaming, It’s a trap! She was walking him straight into this fight with her distracting, sexy awesomeness.

  “Sixteen Candles,” he muttered.

  “Final answer?” She raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrow in question.

  “No, no, not that one.” Sure, there was that cute table sce
ne with the birthday cake, but the rest of that shit was sketchy. “Hold on. Let me think.” Where was Alex Trebek from Jeopardy! when he needed him? Hawk wiped his brow, afraid that she would see she had him sweating.

  “Here… I’ll throw you one.” Lexi took a step closer, leaving barely an inch of space between them. “It borders on stalkerish, but it’s at least in the sweetest way possible…I mean, for the eighties.”

  “Honestly, that sounds like ninety-eight percent of the rom-coms back then.”

  “Puck,” she called out, “play that song in the movie where the guy holds the boombox over his head.”

  Confused at what she was doing, he opened his mouth to say as much, but she put a finger to his lips to shh-h him. “In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel, 1986.” One of the most famous love ballads of the eighties blared over his sound system. Hawk could practically feel the surge of serotonin spark in his brain.

  “How the hell—?”

  “Sorry… I wanted to test a thing I was toying with, and since your place is perfect… Don’t worry. It’s not keeping a record of any conversations. The server is private and the app doesn’t activate until five seconds after you call its name.”

  “Puck?” he asked.

  “Easy enough to remember, I hope?”

  Stunned speechless, he didn’t answer her right way. The silent seconds that went by must have made her nervous, he assumed, by the way she bit down on that plump lower lip.

  “I’ll deprogram it before I go back to my place if it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “Uh, what was it you did before you came to Chicago?”

  Tilting her head to the side, she ran her hand down her body. “Which movie does this outfit remind you of?”

  He made a note to circle back to that question later, but his mind was overloaded with the soundtrack from Say Anything and every other eighties fantasy he could imagine. “Both. Tomboy was about a hot chick who could do anything a guy could do but better.”

  “And the other one?” Lexi placed her hand on the belt of his jeans.

  Used to only the groupies pulling this aggressive sexy act, Hawk cleared his throat. He had stopped his whole snow cone runs in his twenties, which was the name they’d called the hockey groupies. They were great for one season, but once it was over, the taste for them was also gone. However, if he’d met Lexington Waters back then, he would have been seriously a goner. He swallowed back the urge to pounce. “Weird Science, two nerds make the perfect woman to be their girlfriend.”

  “How is this moment anything like those movies?”

  “Have you seen you?”

  A low, meowing chuckle emanated from her.

  Too tempted, he lowered his head to sniff her soft curls. Honeysuckle and pineapple filled his nose. Everything about Lexi meshed into this amazing hot nerd. “Okay.”

  “Hmm-m,” he hummed.

  “We have to exorcise this obsession out of you.” In one swift motion she had his jeans unbuttoned and hand in his pants.

  “Whoa.” His hard dick jumped within her grip.

  “This is the most eighties thing I can think of.” She sank onto his custom jersey shaped rug, pulling his pants down with her.

  “With the glasses on?”

  “Of course.” She practically swallowed his whole rod.

  ‘Oh, thank you,’ he mouthed as the woman he’d hard crushed on for months teased his dick. She slid her way up his pole, then pulled his tip out with a loud, smacking pop.

  Lexi’s porn star stare seemed to issue him a dare. Up for the challenge, he refused to glance away. While she tickled the head of his dick with her tongue, she pushed her glasses farther back onto her face. He groaned under the weight of her control, and pre-cum seeped out of his tip. She placed small kisses to the mushroom-head of his dick.

  Not set up for this type of torture from this girl, Hawk slipped his rod into her mouth and gave it a few good pumps. He touched the back of her throat with his dick, and she choked on his length before he reached down and grabbed Lexi under her shoulders.

  “Teasing over,” he growled. Bringing her face-to-face with him, he took control of the situation and feverishly attacked her mouth.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lexi had planned a whole day full of video games, merlot and pizza. If anyone had told her a fine-ass hockey player would come home early, she would have at least worn something sexy from Lady Fenty.

  Instead, Hawk had walked in on her sporting nothing but her favorite bum-around clothes and cussing out the teen-turds. Needless to say, when he’d stepped into the room, she hadn’t expected his reaction to her outfit.

  Hot sex with an athlete wasn’t on her list, but since one had shown up, why not? Lexi hadn’t thought twice about dropping to her knees and controlling that dick. Sadly, he’d stopped her before she could really make him beg.

  Snatching Lexi from her knees, he brought her nose-to-nose with him. Powerful and strong, Hawk bruised her lips with his before he maneuvered his tongue into her mouth.

  “Hmm-m,” she moaned. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, Hawk trailed his rough hand down the front of her stomach. His hazel eyes glowed while he slipped into her panties.

  “Fu-uck your pussy,” he huffed into her mouth. “So damn sexy.” Lexi sucked on his tongue. For a split second, their eyes connected before he touched her clit. Thumbing her nub, he pumped his finger into her slick hole.

  Gladiator strong, he held her with no effort and walked her toward his black leather couch. Turning around, Hawk plopped down on the cushion. Lexi gazed into the eyes of a man who was a beautiful blend of rock star and superhero.

  As Hawk inched his way up the bottom of her tank, his big, hard hand gently touched her nipple. “So fucking soft,” he muttered.

  Lexi had never felt very feminine. With her bigger-than-life parents, she had no idea if it had to do with her techie background, her lack of girlfriends, or her shitty ex-husband. Josh had never made her feel sexy or pretty… Their relationship was more friends with benefits. In other words, she had a business partner who she occasionally screwed.

  While Hawk softly caressed her breasts with his rough hands, Lexi realized everything about him was a contradiction. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside, he played one of the most brutal sports, but he was all heart. She honestly didn’t know what to make of him.

  Grabbing her tank from the bottom, she pulled it over her head, allowing him full access to her breasts. A million thoughts raced through her mind as he leaned forward and flicked her nipple with his tongue.

  The one thing that frightened her the most was that if she wasn’t careful, she would lose herself completely to this man—and she couldn’t do that again.

  Batting away the nagging swirl of emotions that distracted her from immense pleasure, she moved against his crotch. Her underwear created a thin barrier between them, which muted the sensation of skin-to-skin contact.

  “Didn’t I warn you about teasing me?” Hawk cupped the underside of her breast to lather her nipple into a pebbled bud.

  “Oh,” she moaned. Lexi wanted it all—slow, fast, and hard. While she was struggling to get her underwear off, he took her whole breast into his mouth. Hawk swirled his tongue around her nipple, causing her pussy to clench.

  “Sssshit,” she hissed, failing horribly at freeing herself from her underwear. In the least sexy manner possible, she kicked them off. Grabbing his hard rod, she lifted her ass up enough to split her pussy lips with his tip.

  “Argggh.” He dropped his head back on the arm of the couch with a groan as she slid down his shaft.

  Rotating her hips, she moved up and down on his dick. A million sensations attacked her. Elation bloomed in her chest and warmed her entire freaking being.

  Hawk placed his huge hands on her hips to control her movements. The last year had handed her a storm of crap. Lexi deserved this sexual high that would release her from obligation and duty, even if it was for a short amount of time.

  As s
he allowed the strong smell of wood, sage, and citrus to consume her senses, Lexi rode the jock’s dick. Fuck! Hawthorne Maze was the whole package, but she refused to think about anything other than getting off.

  When he closed his eyes and bit his lips, a wistful expression softened the athlete’s face. She leaned forward to kiss his perfect mouth. Lexi worked her thigh muscles and slid up and down, up and down.

  Tightening her pussy walls around his shaft, she hit her natural high with a scream. Hawk’s breath quickened, and Lexi fell on top of him in a lump. Seconds later, he followed her to the other side of bliss.

  She didn’t know how long they had lain quietly on the couch entangled within each other’s arms before the doorbell rang.

  “Lexi.”

  “Huh?”

  “The door?”

  “Oh yeah.” She lifted her head up to peer into the hazy blur of his eyes. “Pizza.” Her chin bounced off his hard chest from the rumble of his chuckle.

  “He’s right on time.” Hawk planted a kiss on her forehead and rolled her to the side to grab his pants. While she studied the awesome view of him shoving his hard ass into denim, he hopped his way out of the room.

  Flipping on her back with a groan, Lexi attempted to stifle the spinning thoughts that battered around in her orgasm-addled brain. If she weren’t careful, she would fall for a that freaking man.

  Chapter Twenty

  A half-hour before game time, the Northern Royals stretched out their muscles in the gym. Still early in the season, the press deemed the team’s performance off to a shaky start. No one had taken into account the number of players who had retired or got traded. Sports analysts had made it seem as if they were entitled babies who should have been able to instantly gel together.

  In less than an hour, they would play against one of their fiercest competitors and would need to be on their A game to pull it off. Less worried about stomping the Texas Wigeon into oblivion, Hawk was more concerned about Lexi rooting him on from the stands. He rarely invited anyone other than Knox, and that douche had been too busy this last year to even notice the freaking season had begun.