by Tasha Black
He carried her into her suite without hesitation, straight through the living room and into her own room, where he placed her down in front of her dresser.
She caught a glimpse of them reflected back and began to giggle all over again.
“Damn it, woman,” Hawkeye teased. “What is so funny?”
“Look,” she said, indicating the mirror.
They both turned to look.
The two people gazing back at them looked like a pair of chimney sweeps.
“Perhaps we’d better shower,” he suggested.
Suddenly Trinity felt unbelievably shy. She looked down to avoid allowing him to see her expression in the mirror.
“Shall we meet back here after we get cleaned up?” Hawkeye suggested kindly.
“Yes, okay,” she replied, and dashed off to the bathroom in her suite.
Once the shower was warm and the room was filled with delicious steam, Trinity stepped in.
The warm water soaked into her bones and she closed her eyes, enjoying it.
But she didn’t want to waste time. Hawkeye was waiting.
She soaped up and watched the dirty water swirl down the drain.
Her stress seemed to seep away with it, and all her worries about the future.
Hawkeye loved her - it was evident in all that he did. He would help her find a way to do her work.
If anonymity wasn’t in the cards anymore, maybe she could help the less fortunate in a more overt way. She might even be more effective if she had a platform.
She was squeaky clean and gathering her nerve to get out and find him when she heard a tap on the door.
“Hello?” she said.
“It’s me,” Hawkeye replied. “I finished and I wondered if you might need some help.”
“Sure,” she squeaked. “I was just getting out.”
She turned off the shower, took a deep breath, and opened the curtain.
Hawkeye held her in a gaze so smoldering it made the burning chapel seem like a deep freeze in comparison. He had one fluffy towel in his arms and another around his waist. Otherwise he was completely naked, his vast muscles sparkling with droplets of water.
“Oh,” Trinity said.
He moved toward her slowly, as if afraid he would frighten her off.
When he lifted the towel she raised her arms and allowed him to massage her heated skin.
“Oh, Trinity,” he said reverently.
She sighed.
He straightened up and took her hand, leading her back out to her bedroom.
Trinity was nearly trembling.
He seated her on the bed and knelt at her feet.
“Trinity Foster, I choose you as my mate,” he told her. “Will you accept me?”
“Yes,” she replied solemnly.
He pressed his head against her thigh
Trinity wove her hands through his hair.
Suddenly it didn’t matter that they were naked. Their words had already stripped them bare.
When he rose and crawled into bed beside her, Trinity stopped worrying about her inexperience. She’d gone all the way once before with a college boyfriend. It hadn’t seemed like such a big deal once it was done.
She had a feeling tonight was going to be different.
She lay back and turned on her side to face him.
Hawkeye slid a hand behind her head, caressing her cheek with his thumb.
He was so serious tonight, her light-hearted love. He gazed at her in wonder as if she were a treasure map - important, inscrutable.
She leaned forward and he rewarded her with a gentle kiss, and then another, less gentle.
Trinity felt his kiss down to her toes. She pressed her body to his, reveling in the warmth of his skin against hers, the way his heartbeat seemed to pulse through her own body.
He groaned and slid his hand slowly, so slowly, down to the small of her back.
Trinity caught his lower lip between her lips and sucked gently, loving the way he caught his breath as that big hard body squeezed her tighter, hands roaming over her hips, cock hard against her belly.
Hawkeye gripped her hips and dragged his lips from hers, his rough jaw tickling her cheek as he kissed his way to the shell of her ear.
“I never understood how sweet this could be,” he whispered. “It’s good that I didn’t. I would have been deranged trying to keep myself from your bed…”
Trinity shivered, his hot breath dancing on her nerve endings.
“Is it sweet for you too, my love?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she sighed.
“Close your eyes,” he told her.
She obeyed and felt his lips caress her neck, leaving a trail of pleasure behind, like a shooting star.
When he reached her breasts she opened her eyes again.
Hawkeye cupped one in his large hand, stroking the nipple with his thumb until she whimpered.
He lowered his head to nuzzle and nip, and finally suck first one nipple and then the other into his hot mouth.
Trinity lost herself to the exquisite sensations that seemed to travel straight to her sex. She moaned and sank her nails into his biceps. She needed more, needed him.
Hawkeye growled and abandoned her breasts for her belly, and then further still.
Trinity waited, her whole body surging with lust.
Hawkeye nudged her legs apart and showered the tender insides of her thighs with kisses.
Trinity gripped the sheets, desperate for more.
“So beautiful,” Hawkeye murmured, and nuzzled her sex.
Trinity felt as if she were floating with anticipation.
Hawkeye slid his tongue against her, slowly parting her folds, then lapping and swirling, driving her half crazy with his riotous exploration.
She cried out and he groaned against her, the vibrations nearly sending her over the edge.
He pressed a finger against her opening and she held her breath, lost in the sensation.
“Is this okay?” he asked her, his voice rough with lust.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, please, please…”
He smiled up at her and then lowered his head to pleasure her again as he pressed his finger deeper, finding a place inside her that made her toes curl.
“Oh,” she whimpered, lifting her hips to him helplessly.
He hummed in agreement and swirled his tongue upward, searching.
Trinity moaned when he found her clitoris and lapped at it lightly, teasing and manipulating with his curious tongue.
“Oh,” she breathed.
But it was already too much, she felt herself flying, her whole body taut with tension.
Then she was obliterated with the pleasure.
There was nothing in the universe except the waves of ecstasy that threatened to consume her as Hawkeye used his hands and mouth to draw out her rapture until she could no longer bear it.
23
Hawkeye
Hawkeye’s senses were reeling.
He was filled to bursting with the scents and sounds of his mate, her moans caressing his ears, his lips wet with the evidence of her pleasure.
His own body pulsed and pounded, frantic for satisfaction.
He had never known such joy or such agony.
Trinity held her arms out for him, beckoning.
He wondered at the raw need he saw in her eyes.
She had just screamed out her release, could she already hunger for more?
“Hawkeye,” she breathed in invitation.
He crawled up to press his lips to hers again, caged her head with his arms and kissed her desperately, hoping that plundering her mouth would be enough to keep him from pillaging the rest of her until he was sure she was ready.
When he felt her hips lifting to his he pulled back.
“Hawkeye,” she whispered again, her eyes pleading. “I need you”
The words filled his chest with happiness. But he had to be sure.
“I love you,” he told her. “I love you whether
we mate tonight or not. We can wait until you feel ready.”
Readiness was important to humans, especially female humans. It was more important than his desperate need.
“I love you,” she told him. “I’m ready.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, slid her fingers through his hair.
He pressed his cock against the warm heaven of her opening and nearly despaired. She was so swollen, so tight, he was afraid he would never be able to enter without harming her.
Trinity moaned and tilted her hips up, as if to ask for more.
He pressed forward gently, setting his jaw against the exquisite pleasure as he slowly found his way into her velvety interior.
“Ohh,” she sighed.
He held himself still as long as he could bear, hoping she would become accustomed to his girth.
But when she whimpered and jogged her hips up to him, he groaned and gave her a long, slow stroke.
The pleasure was devastating.
Whatever they had taught him in the lab, it was one dimensional - a game.
But this… this was all-encompassing.
Every frisson of pleasure was communicated between them, echoing from him to Trinity and back, each accentuating the other until he could hardly think for the universe of sensation.
And behind it all was the ascending drumbeat of the inevitable crescendo. No matter how he might want this to last forever, the ending was already written.
Trinity cried out beneath him, her breasts dancing against his chest.
He slid a hand between them to stroke her sweet little clitoris.
She cried out and her muscles tightened around his length.
Throwing caution to the wind, he gave in to his need at last, filling her with deep strokes and massaging her until he felt her thighs stiffen around his hips.
With a rough cry, he let go with her.
Stars exploded behind his eyes and the universe suddenly shifted.
The world slowed as the pleasure transported him, washing over him and through him.
He felt that he could see every detail, almost taste it.
Trinity’s beautiful black eyes shone like diamonds.
The curtain furled slowly away from the open window behind her.
Raindrops swirled into the room to adorn her hair.
No, not raindrops.
Snow.
At first he was afraid he had let his power slip again, but a moment later, he knew the truth. His brothers had told him it would happen when he truly clicked with his mate.
“Are you doing that?” she whispered up at him with a heartbreakingly lovely smile.
“No,” he told her. “You are.”
She looked incredulous, but he would explain later about how their union had allowed him to share his gift with her. They had plenty of time to explore what that meant, time to explore each other.
But no amount of time would ever make her understand how good she made him feel.
Or allow him to understand how he had been lucky enough to find her.
24
Trinity
The next evening Trinity and Hawkeye were ensconced at a round table near the back of their favorite diner.
Trinity sighed with contentment and looked around at her best friends.
Veronica was leaning forward, eyes sparkling, ready to hear a good story. Lobo sat beside her, leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face, as if he didn’t care what Trinity was about to tell them, he was just happy to be here.
On the other side of Lobo, Brooke drummed her fingers against the tabletop with characteristic impatience. Conan sat beside Brooke, gazing at her as if he were starving and she were a picnic lunch.
Next to Trinity, Hawkeye’s big presence was palpable even when she wasn’t glancing over at him, which she couldn’t seem to help doing almost constantly.
After all, he seemed too good to be true.
“So, what was the deal with Henderson?” Brooke demanded.
“Well, I wasn’t there of course,” Trinity said. “But Officer Lloyd was kind enough to share some info. He said it’s going to hit the papers soon enough anyway.”
“Besides, Trinity was instrumental in apprehending Henderson,” Hawkeye said proudly.
“Instrumental in apprehending,” Conan echoed appreciatively. “You sound like a police officer yourself, brother.”
“Who knows what the future will hold?” Hawkeye said with a shrug. “For now I only want to spend more quality time with my new mate.”
“Anyway,” Trinity continued, before he could share anything too private. “It turns out that Henderson was stealing money from the academy’s budget.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Brooke said. “He tried to say I had a conflict of interest in running a gym in my off hours and he was stealing from the academy the whole time?”
“Apparently. Captain Henderson was angry that the academy’s budget didn’t accommodate an annual raise and bonus for the captain,” Trinity explained. “He felt that since the big city academies had perks for their captains, he deserved them too.”
“So he just… took money?” Veronica asked with wide eyes.
“No,” Trinity said.
“Yes,” said Hawkeye.
“Well, yes and no,” Trinity allowed. “He had a spreadsheet. He figured out exactly what he thought he was entitled to, and then he took it on a schedule. They found it all on his laptop.”
“I thought there wasn’t money in the budget,” Brooke said.
“There wasn’t,” Trinity said. “He took it from the discretionary fund at first. Then from the capital improvement fund. But when they began renovations on the monastery in earnest he realized he would have to sell the old academy right away to get the money back in the capital fund before anyone noticed it was short.”
“And that’s why he was going to force us out,” Brooke breathed.
“Yep.” Trinity nodded.
“Wow,” Veronica said.
“I hope they’ll still let me buy the building,” Brooke said.
“Ostensibly, they still need to refill the capital fund right away,” Trinity said. “I don’t know where else they could get that kind of money so quickly.”
Brooke bit her lip and nodded.
Trinity hoped that the committee assigned to straighten everything out would approve moving forward with the sale of the building soon. It was important to her friend.
“Anyway, a member of the board already suspected something was off,” Trinity said. “That’s why they hired me to digitize the files in the first place.”
“Do we know yet what will happen to Rex?” Veronica asked.
“He’s out on bail for now,” Trinity said. “Hawkeye and I are going over tomorrow to check on him and his sisters. We’re hoping that since he cooperated with authorities he’ll be able to avoid jail time.”
“I can’t believe he actually set the academy on fire,” Brooke said. “I mean the break-ins I could maybe see, but the fire was really dangerous. A lot of people could have been hurt or worse.”
“Lloyd said they expected us to report the break-ins,” Trinity explained. “Henderson told Rex that once that happened he’d have the right to confiscate all the files to do an ‘investigation’.”
“But we didn’t report them,” Veronica said.
“Right,” Trinity agreed. “So Henderson felt he had no choice but to destroy the files. Rex didn’t want to do it, but Henderson told him he already had him on breaking and entering so he had no choice.”
“Wow,” Brooke said. Her expression told Trinity she would like to punch Henderson in the face. Trinity didn’t like violence as a rule, but after what he put them all through, even she could see the appeal of that.
“I’m glad no one was hurt,” Veronica said. “We were pretty lucky.”
“Six burgers, six fries, six cokes,” a waitress sang out, as she and two other servers handed
out their food.
“Excellent,” Hawkeye said, studying his meal with obvious delight.
Trinity might have been jealous of the way the servers eyed up Hawkeye if she hadn’t known that he was hers, heart and soul - hers so much that she shared his gift now. She still wasn’t sure exactly what she could do with it yet. But at least she knew her laptop would never overheat again.
There was a moment of silence as they all dug into their meal.
As far as Trinity was concerned it could not have been more delicious if it had come from a five star restaurant. She hadn’t eaten much the day before in her agony over leaving.
And today she and Hawkeye had barely been able to drag themselves out of bed and into clothes to meet with Officer Lloyd before meeting the others for dinner.
“So, um, do you mind if I ask where you guys are going?” Veronica asked nervously.
“What are you talking about?” Trinity asked.
“I was looking for you an hour ago and the door was open, so…” Veronica trailed off.
She’d noticed that Trinity had packed up everything she owned.
“Oh, I was just thinking of moving into Hawkeye’s suite, that’s all,” Trinity said lightly.
“Oh, good,” Veronica said with a relieved smile.
Brooke kicked Trinity hard under the table. She wasn’t as easily fooled as Veronica. But she looked happy too. Trinity hoped it was enough for her friend that she was no longer thinking of bailing.
“Glad you’re sticking around, kid,” Brooke said gruffly.
Hawkeye grinned down at Trinity. “I’m glad too,” he said.
“This is excellent news,” Lobo said. “Because Veronica and I received a phone call from Georgia. She and her friends and three of our brothers are coming to visit.”
Whoa.
“Why are they coming?” Brooke asked with interest.
“For the wedding,” Conan replied.
“The what?” Brooke asked.
“Gentlemen?” Hawkeye said.
The three pulled out their chairs and knelt on the floor.
Chairs scraped as people at nearby tables turned to look.
“Veronica,” Lobo said.
“Brooke,” whispered Conan.