think you’re really smooth, but you’re not.”
“Sure I am.”
“Go away.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do,” she told him.
“Prove it. This is your chance. I’m going to kiss you. I’m warning you so you have plenty of time to get in your car and drive away. I’ll even count to ten if you want. To give you a head start.” He touched her face again, rubbing his thumb across her bottom lip.
“I don’t have a problem admitting you get to me,” he murmured. “I like that you get to me.”
Indecision flickered in her eyes. He could feel the battle raging inside of her. Pride versus need. He knew which side he wanted to win.
CHAPTER FOUR
NICOLE KNEW that the sensible choice was to bolt for the safety of her car. Instead she gave in to temptation, put her hand on Hawk’s shoulder and asked, “Are you ever going to stop talking?”
“Right now,” he said, just before he kissed her.
She didn’t know what to expect. A strong, demanding kiss that made her feel practically unnecessary to the process? Feeling completely weirded out because she hadn’t kissed a strange man in years? Icky? Excited? Ra—
His mouth brushed against hers with a tender, erotic brush that took her breath away. Hawk didn’t just kiss—he invited, teased, aroused and promised, all with barely more than a chaste whisper of skin on skin.
Her brain shrieked, sighed, then completely shut down. Her body went from “fight or flight” to “take me now” in an eighth of a second. Heat poured through her, making her weak and shaky, something she usually disliked, but not right this second.
He put one hand on her waist, tilted his head and pressed more firmly on her mouth.
The moment was amazing. Sparking jolts of desire exploded all around them, landing on her skin and practically burning through her clothes. Without meaning to, she eased forward until they were almost touching. Almost…but not quite.
She told herself she should break the kiss—pull back, act mature, or at least indignant. Instead she stayed there, taking in the warmth radiating from him, and the promise of so much more.
He licked her lower lip, the tip of his tongue barely caressing her sensitized skin. She did her best not to jump, wanting to act casual and sophisticated. It was tough, considering the liquid desire that began to pour through her.
What was up with that? Until a couple of months ago, she’d been married and living with her husband. It wasn’t as if she was a sex-starved matron who hadn’t gotten any in years. Yet that was how it felt. As if she’d never really known what it was like to be with a man.
She told herself Hawk wasn’t all that different. That there was something chemical making her react this way, but it was meaningless. He wasn’t special. Which sounded great, but didn’t stop her from parting for him, or nearly gasping in pleasure when his tongue touched hers.
He moved inside, taking her with a sureness that made the trembling worse. He kissed her deeply, thoroughly, as if he had all the time in the world and planned to use every second to please her.
He explored and stroked, withdrawing, then plunging inside. He kept one hand on her waist and settled the other on her hip. Slowly, achingly slowly, he moved it down, over her rear, cupping the curve, then squeezing. Instinctively she arched against him, thighs touching, her breasts nestling against the rock-hard muscles of his chest.
Then her belly came into contact with something big and thick and …
She pulled back and stared into his fiery dark eyes. He was aroused. She’d felt his erection. Which meant he was excited by what they were doing.
Nicole liked to think she had herself pretty together. That she was confident and capable and finding her husband having sex with her baby sister hadn’t totally destroyed her self-worth. Still, it was something of a shock to realize that a few minutes of kissing had turned on a sex machine like Hawk. A good shock.
“Kiss me again,” she told him.
“You’re demanding.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Hell no.”
He pulled her hard against him, then claimed her with a kiss that made her insides clench. She rubbed her stomach against his erection, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake as it made her think about his offer to take her to bed. He moved his hands up and down her back, but didn’t shift them anywhere interesting.
Probably because they were outside in a parking lot, she told herself, wondering how tacky it would be to do it on the hood of her SUV.
He slipped his fingers through her hair and tugged slightly. They stared at each other. He smiled.
“You want me.”
“I’ll get over it.”
She said the words automatically, not sure she meant them. She did want him, and wasn’t that good? Except the last thing she needed right now was a relationship. Even one based on an explosive sexual connection.
He leaned in and nipped on her earlobe. She gasped and trembled.
“You’re wet right now,” he whispered. “If I were to touch you, you’d come for me.”
He was probably right, she thought, pulling back and suddenly feeling as if she were going to cry. The emotional outburst had nothing to do with Hawk and everything to do with her recent past. The body was willing but the spirit and the heart were too fragile.
“I can’t play that game,” she told him.
“Is that what they told you about me? That I play games?”
“It was implied.”
“What if they’re wrong?”
Meaning what? “I can’t take the chance.”
HAWK WAITED UNTIL TEN in the morning to knock on his daughter’s door. “Hey, sleepyhead,” he said as he pushed into the dark room and walked to the window. After opening the blinds, he faced the bed. “Do I have to tickle you?”
Brittany rolled onto her back and yawned. “Daddy, it’s Saturday.”
“You know, the calendar said that, but I wasn’t sure. Saturday. Huh. Thanks for the clarification.”
“I get to sleep in on Saturday.”
“It’s ten and I’m making blueberry pancakes.”
Brittany sat up. “I can’t eat those. They’ll make me—”
He held up his hands. “You know the rule. The
