by S A Monk
Hawk met her sharp cry with a hoarsely uttered shout as he came hard inside her, every muscle and limb taut and quivering with release. Pulse hammering, he held her pressed against the cool wall while her inner muscles throbbed and clenched around him, draining him until he was utterly spent. Pressing his forehead to hers, he sucked great gulps of air into his heaving lungs.
“You okay, honey?” he finally managed to gasp. “Was I too rough?”
“No, no....” Jenny was trying to catch her breath, too. “My goodness, that was....”
“Mind-blowing!” Hawk finished for her.
“Oh yeah, absolutely!”
She didn’t have the strength to stand on her own when he released her from his sweat-slick arms. She would have melted into a boneless puddle at his feet had he not scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Separating at last, they rolled onto their backs and stared sightlessly at the ceiling, tightly griping one another’s hand as they waited for their pulses to stop racing, their skin to cool, and their breathing to return to normal.
Hawk recovered first and scooted back up against the headboard. Jenny eventually managed to crawl into a sitting position beside him. Curving an arm around her, he nestled her next to him.
She rolled her weary head onto his damp chest. “This is how I was hoping the day would end. It would have been awful if we had let the Caldwells ruin it.” Hawk was quiet as she let her fingers wander idly over his damp chest, then down his stomach to the nest of black hair at his groin. “Anyway I want it, however I want it, huh?” He felt so good, she couldn’t get enough of touching him.
He felt himself growing firmer, and though he wasn’t ready to take her again, he didn’t want her to stop petting him, either. Her touch was something he craved. Without dislodging her long elegant fingers, he leaned over to get the two goblets and the bottle of champagne by the bed. “How about a glass to toast our good fortune?”
She lifted her head and gave him an inquisitive look. “Our good fortune?”
He popped the cork, which shot across the room, then poured the bubbly liquid into the two glasses. “To us.” He clinked his crystal goblet against hers and smiled. “That we’ve had the good fortune to be alone together like this.” His expression turned somber, though the smile lingered in his eyes. “I know the circumstances were terrible,” he said. “But you’ve been the one good thing to come out of your dad’s death.”
Jenny dropped her eyes to hide all the raw emotions surging inside her. It still hurt to think of her dad, but her grief was giving way to something new and a little frightening. She was falling in love, and she was frightened of all the uncertainties involved. There was a lot to lose if this relationship moved beyond a business one and failed.
Hiding her newly emerging feelings from the man beside her, she made her own toast. “Without your support, I would never have been able to deal with Daddy’s death.” That much she did know for certain. “Thank you, Hawk.”
They finished their champagne in silence, then refilled their glasses. Jenny raked her hand through her long tangled auburn tresses, and Hawk sifted a handful of it through his fingers as she sipped her second glass of champagne. “You have such beautiful hair,” he said as he brought a fistful to his face and rubbed it along his jaw. “It’s so soft and silky. It’s the same color as my horse.”
“Your horse?” she protested indignantly. “My hair reminds you of your horse?”
“No,” he chuckled. “It’s just the same red color.”
“It’s not red. It’s auburn. There’s a difference, you know.”
He grinned helplessly. “No, I didn’t know, but I stand corrected. It’s auburn, not red. My apologies. And you certainly don’t remind me of my horse. You’re gorgeous. And he’s… well, he’s good-looking, but.... he’s a horse and you’re….” He was at a loss for explanations as he watched her get ready to punch him. Holding up one hand to ward off any assault, he broke into a laugh and tipped her glass to her mouth. “Drink your champagne, while I just shut up before I put my foot in my mouth any further.”
“Good idea, cowboy.”
It was good to laugh with him like this. Laughter should be a part of lovemaking, though she’d never found a man who could make her laugh with him in bed, as well as burn and melt. Playing with one another and teasing each other had its own kind of intimacy, the kind that made you friends, as well as lovers. Hawk was generally easy to talk to, to be with, and to laugh with. It was part of his charm, and only added to her growing feelings for him. Looking at him, all warm and hard and naked next to her, she realized she wanted there to be a future with this man.
“How about sharing that piece of cake with me?” he asked, interrupting her wistful thoughts. “We left the reception too soon to have any this afternoon.”
“You were never really at the reception,” she reminded him.
Hawk took a bite, then presented the piece to her to bite into. “It’s definitely nicer eating it this way.”
“Umm, true,” Jenny murmured as she licked her fingers. Then, with a final swallow, she finished her champagne and handed her empty goblet back to him.
“Would you like more? There’s a little left.”
“No, thank you. I’ve had enough bubbly. It tends to go straight to my head.”
“Really?” Just as she reached for a napkin to wipe the corners of her mouth, Hawk leaned over and licked the frosting from her lips with the tip of his tongue. “Umm, I can think of a place or two I’d like to see it go.”
Jenny started to giggle as he tipped his glass and poured the remaining drops onto her tummy.
“Lord, give me patience this time,” he groaned as he bent his head and licked away every glistening drop. When he was finished, his mouth moved upwards to the round, plump curves of her breasts.
His slow skilled worship of her body left Jenny trembling and flooded with pleasure yet again. Slowly, she slid down the pillows as he continued to bend over her in a painstaking onslaught of her senses. When she started to wiggle and writhe beneath him, he placed one leg over her thighs and rubbed his knee against her springy auburn curls, finding just the right angle and pressure to elicit even more squirming from her.
Jenny let her eyelids flutter closed. She felt every splendid inch of him stretched alongside of her. Peeking down from under half-closed lashes, she stared at the erotic picture they made with him half-draped over her, his dark skin against her paler skin. Her eyes met his. He was watching her, his own eyes heavy-lidded with desire.
Until a bit of laughter crept into his expression, deepening the grooves on either side of his mouth and eyes. Before Jenny could guess why, he scoped a fingertip full of frosting off the plate by the bed and rubbed it over the peak of one breast.
She shrieked and arched off the mattress, but Hawk simply pressed his bent leg into her hips to pin her back down. Then with two fingers, he mercilessly smeared what was left of the cake over her other breast and down her tummy, around her navel.
“Hawk! You brat!”
“Brat? Geez, I haven’t been called that since kindergarten.”
Jenny wiggled and squirmed, but he kept her pinned beneath him and licked every bit of cake and frosting from her. His lips and tongue feasted on her. Caught helplessly under him, she reveled in the greedy, insistent path of his open mouth. Desire rose hot and wild along every nerve ending, every inch of skin. Her voice was thick and guttural as she begged him to end his torture and get on with it.
“Get on with it, huh?” he laughed against her skin, the vibration sending even more shivers across her flesh.
She reached for him, her nails digging into smooth rock hard flesh.
In response, he plunged a finger into her, whispering erotic details of exactly what he was going to “get on with” into her ear. She begged again, shamelessly, frantically. Her fingers slid down his spine and dug into his buttocks. She swiveled her hips, rotating them against his, goading him. He was fully aroused against h
er upper thigh, and she couldn’t believe his restraint.
His mouth traveled to hers once again and his tongue plunged instantly inside, doing exactly what she wanted his body to do. His kiss was long and deep— hot, fierce, carnal. Desperate to be completely and fully joined with him, she writhed wildly against his engorged shaft, using her body and her hands to place him at her entrance. When she dragged an agonized groan from him, she thought she had finally convinced him that was what she truly wanted.
Instead, the devilish man lifted his mouth from hers and gave her another sinfully crooked grin. Then, startling her, he flipped her onto her stomach. “Everything tonight, princess. Blame it on the dress and the underwear, the champagne, the cake, the dancing… you.”
Jenny groaned. He wasn’t finished playing! Lying on her stomach, face down into the sheets, she felt completely vulnerable and yet wickedly excited as he pressed his rigid shaft between her buttocks. It was something new for her, but she relaxed, trusting Hawk to be gentle and skillful. Daringly, she wiggled until she had him completely wedged between her cheeks, then squeezed him with muscles that had grown stronger from all the riding she’d done the past several weeks. The response from him told her that he liked her brazen movement. He pressed into her just a touch more urgently. The erotic sensation of him against her like that made her quicken, inching her closer to a decadent climax. Trembling, she looked over her shoulder at him.
Hawk slipped an arm under her waist and lifted her onto her knees. “Hard and fast or slow and....?”
“Any way! Just get inside me, quickly, deeply,” she interrupted with a gasp.
Hawk showed her exactly how he wanted her as he plunged into her slick, hot feminine passage. His penetration and the grind of his pelvis against her bottom was just as mind-blowing as their last position against the wall. When he rose behind her, grabbed her hips, and began driving into her, she climaxed so hard, she drifted on the fringes of unconsciousness. The pillow under her head muffled her scream of ecstasy.
Behind her, Hawk cried out her name in one final plunge as his own release ripped through every inch of him. Drained and spent, he collapsed on top of her. Still on her stomach, sated and thoroughly spent, Jenny lay beneath his greater weight, content to support him as long as possible. She heard and felt his labored breathing, rushing in and out of his lungs. His heart was a fierce drum beat. She could feel that against her back, too. They were joined in such an elemental way, it was shattering. Heart to heart. Skin to skin. In that moment, soul to soul. They remained in that position so long, they nearly fell asleep until Jenny finally wiggled a little.
“Hawk?”
“Umm,” he mumbled.
“You can’t sleep on me all night.”
With a murmured, slurred apology, he rolled onto his back and took her with him, so that she was on top of him. “Then you sleep on me.” He didn’t give her a choice.
“Need to rest for a while,” she muttered, collapsing against his chest.
With a chuckle, he reached down and pulled the quilt up over their intertwined bodies. “Yeah, okay...for a while.” Jenny tried to slide off his chest and lie beside him, but he wouldn’t let her. “Just stay where you are, sleeping beauty. I plan to take advantage of this position later.”
“It’s been a long day,” she murmured drowsily, rubbing against him as she got more comfortable on top of him. “You’ll be dead in the morning.”
“We don’t have anything to do besides sleep, eat,and make love... maybe take that fast car of yours for a drive,” he reminded her, his fingers finding the cleft between her buttocks. “Besides, I’d die this way any day. Now go to sleep, so I can wake you up… in a while.”
She didn’t need him to tell her twice before exhaustion claimed her.
CHAPTER 17
Nestled against Hawk’s side, with her head lying in the crook of his arm, Jenny felt sinfully, unprecedentedly wonderful. His stamina had worn her out, and this morning, after their long night of lovemaking, most of her muscles ached.
Going to sleep and waking in his arms, snuggled warmly against him was the most fabulous thing she had ever experienced. The man was amazing, addictive; a habit forming indulgence she didn’t want to be cured of. Quite frankly, he was a fabulously good lover. She felt even more certain this morning that she was falling in love with him. Despite her grief, she’d been attracted to him from the first moment she had laid eyes on him. He made her feel special, cared for, safe. She had no idea if he was in love with her, but he seemed to want her, with a passion that took her breath away. It was a beginning.
She listened to his softly hissing snore and cherished the intimacy of the moment. He was exhausted, and he was content. She’d been able give him some peace from all he’d been worrying about lately, and that made her feel good. He had been her refuge, and she wanted to be his.
Careful not to wake him, she shifted her body lower on his. From her new position, she could see the lower half of his long lean body— or at least the shape of it beneath the quilt that covered them. Gradually, she became aware of something else taking shape beneath the bedcovers. He was lying on his back, and below his waist, the quilt rose in a small tent.
Jenny gave him a quick look. He was still asleep, snoring lightly. His arousal intrigued her. She couldn’t resist investigating. She slid off his chest and scooted down, beneath the quilt.
Very gently, she fingered that part of him that tented the fabric, then, unable to resist, she gave him a quick touch with her tongue. He smelled like her, tasted like her. She loved the texture of him, so smooth; soft taut skin over hard bone. Her tongue swirled around him, as if he was an ice cream cone. Her teeth ever so gently scraped along his length. She wanted to explore every inch of him. Her own body began to tingle. She didn’t realize she’d disturbed him until she heard his deep throaty growl.
“Good God, woman, what are you doing down there?”
“Exploring.” Her voice was muffled by the quilt over her head.
“Exploring?” His short laugh became a strangled groan.
Jenny poked her head out from the quilt and smiled. “Don’t you like it?”
“Hell yes!” he hissed through clenched teeth. “But come up here. When I come, it’s going to be inside you.”
The promise of his words made every naked inch of her quiver. Grasping her under her arms, Hawk pulled her up onto him. When she was positioned where she wanted to be, she lowered herself onto his long, hard shaft and rose above him. Bracing her hands on his shoulders for balance, she began to rock back and forth. The velvety tip of him was pressed so high and deep inside her, it made her shudder violently.
Hawk moved her up and down on himself with such exacting accuracy that she was able to give herself up completely to his manipulations in exhilarating abandon. At some point, his hands moved from her hips to her breasts, and while his fingers kneaded and squeezed, the pads of his thumbs rubbed the erect peaks. She cried out with pleasure, calling out his name, her head thrown back in shivery delight, her long hair dangling down her back in wanton tangles.
Unraveled by the sight of her, he felt like he was touching her very womb. His release came seconds after hers.
Drained yet again, he crushed her possessively when she fell onto his chest. In the wake of their passion, they were silent. Hawk felt Jenny fall back asleep and followed her soon after.
By the time they woke up again, it was late morning. After a long tantalizing shower together, they decided to drive north to Leadville. They spent the afternoon in the historic mining town, visiting all the renovated Old West saloons, shops, and museums, then had an early dinner, and drove back. Like a kid with a new toy, Hawk drove the whole way, up and back with the top down. He opened it up a couple of times on isolated stretches of road, careful to keep an eye out for any state patrol.
The house was dark and silent when they got back that night. If Hank and Eli had returned from Denver, there was no sign of them. Alone one more night, they made g
ood use of their privacy.
∞∞∞
The beginning of the week had Hawk, Jenny, Hank, and Steve culling Scott Richard’s cattle from their own. It took a day to sort, then another to move them to the Box R ranch. Because it was across the highway, all of the cattle had to be loaded into a stock trailer to be transported across the busy thoroughfare.
Late Tuesday, driving his truck and empty trailer back from Scott’s, Hawk found himself thinking about the woman cuddled up, asleep, beside him. Her head was resting against his shoulder, and he rubbed his beard-roughened cheek against the top of it.
She always smelled like lavender or honeysuckle or mountain wildflowers. Her flowery scent never failed to tantalize his senses, overwhelming them the way she had overwhelmed his life this past month.
As he headed home, his head was filled with images of their last week together; the way she looked naked, her long lithe body writhing with desire beneath his; her thick mass of auburn hair cascading over her full round breasts and down her arched back as she rose over him; her deep chocolate brown eyes darkened to near black when she was on the verge of an orgasm; her voice husky with passion as she called out his name at the moment of her release; all the little cries he drug from her before that. All he ever wanted to do anymore was get back in bed with her and lose himself in her sweet heat.
But it was more than sex. Jennifer Fletcher was more than a beautiful woman whom he enjoyed in bed. She had a sense of humor, and she was bright and and capable. Once she began a task, she completed it. She was a strong, empathetic woman; one he thoroughly enjoyed being with her. That was more than he could say for a lot of the women he’d dated, including Cindy Caldwell, who outside the bedroom, could be an emotional roller coaster.
Tom’s daughter had swiftly become the most important thing in his life. What was he going to do if she went back to L.A. permanently? It would leave a hell of a big hole in his life. Taking her to bed had probably muddied the waters of their potential business relationship. But, hell, leaving her alone had never really been an option. He’d been way too attracted to her right from the beginning. And now he wanted her in his arms every night and working beside him every day.