Hawke

  We release our grip on each other, but rather than do without touching her, my hand comes up to slide my fingers into the hair at her temple. In deep, curving around the back of her head. I bend down, put my lips in a low hover over hers. "I know we just met and all, but is there any way I can talk you into taking a bath with me?"

  She giggles, a sound I haven't heard in years. It brings elation to my heart that I'm not sure I ever recall feeling. Slapping a playful hand on my chest, she says, "That's kind of forward, don't you think?"

  "I thought 'forward' was the point," I say, just before touching my mouth to hers. I give her the softest of kisses, more of a reclaiming.

  "Okay," she says softly, her warm lips still resting against mine. "Forward."

  --

  "Lean forward a little," I groan as my hands grip Vale by the hips. I'm lying in the tub, she's straddling me.

  Riding me, actually. Cock deep inside and it feels fucking fantastic.

  Vale obeys me, hands on my shoulders, and she leans forward.

  Perfect. My mouth closes around one sweet nipple and I suck on it as she presses her knees into the bottom of the porcelain tub so she can stroke up and down on my cock. I'm so fucking close to blowing, but I want her to come again. I got her off once with my hands, and that came on the heels of the water starting to cool and relaxation time being over. After she came spectacularly, back arching away from me as she sat between my legs and pressing harder against my hand, she immediately turned and climbed on top of my aching dick and has been bouncing up and down ever since. Her movements alone have caused more than half the water to slosh out onto the floor.

  It's wild, passionate, and unrestrained. No holding back. All in.

  The way we always were.

  "Need you to come, Vale," I say, letting her nipple go as I slide one hand from her hip to between her legs. I press my index and middle fingers against her clit and make short circles around the plump bud. Vale's head drops back but she moves faster on me, which drives my impending orgasm closer to the surface. My mind wants her to slow down a little so I don't leave without her, but my cock wants that amazing explosion it knows is going to come from deep within my balls. My hips involuntarily punch upward into her as she slams down on me hard.

  "Christ," I mutter, my fingers losing traction on her clit for a moment.

  Vale pays me no heed, bouncing harder, tits jiggling in my face. I sit up in the tub, hands going under her ass, and I help her along. Pull her up my cock, slam her down on it.

  "Yes," she cries out, eyes squeezed shut in rapture.

  So I do it again.

  The minute our flesh cracks like thunder from the impact because there's almost no water left to cushion the blow, Vale lets out a low keening sound of pleasurable release. My hands go back to her hips and I grind her down on me, feeling my balls shrink, knot tight for a moment, then liquid release blows out of me hot and deep into her body. My face falls to her chest, her arms circle around me holding me tight.

  We shudder and quake together, not swamped in bitter memories of the past but cataloging this one as the first in a new future together.

  Whatever that may be.

  "Wow," Vale mutters in a voice laced with mellow bliss.

  "Yeah, wow," I concur, wrapping my arms around her lower back. I sit up straighter in the tub, and squeeze her entire body to mine. "That was fucking fantastic."

  "It really was," she agrees, and although I can't see her face because mine is now burrowed into her throat, I can hear the smile in her voice.

  We quiet for a few moments. I can feel my dick deflating and yet I don't want it to leave the cocoon of warmth where it's nestled. There were countless times in the past after I'd fucked Vale that I wished I could just stay inside of her forever. It was my favorite place to be. It's where I felt whole.

  Vale gingerly pulls back from me and groans. "Damn...my thighs are going to be sore after that workout."

  "Rode me like a champ," I say with a laugh, my hands coming to her thighs to give her a light massage. My eyes cut down to the rose tattoo, only a portion of which I can see since her inner thigh is almost flush with my outer. I drop down my right hand that's rubbing the top of her left thigh and graze my fingers over the edge of the roses. "This made it easier for me," I tell her.

  "What's that?" Her head cocks to the side in interest.

  "To believe the real reason you broke it off. For so long I just believed you were done with me. But you weren't, were you?"

  Something crosses Vale's face then, so fleeting I almost think I imagine it. But I don't. I recognize what it is and immediately press her. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

  "No," she says immediately, and her voice is soothing...laced with comfort and care. "No, all that needed to be said has been said tonight."

  I stare at her, not sure whether to believe what she's saying. Her eyes are clear, boring into mine with surety.

  "It's simple, Hawke," she says quietly as her hands come to rest on my shoulders. "I made a bad decision. I hurt you because of it and you went a lot of years not knowing why I did the stupid things I did. I'm so sorry I caused you that pain, and I'm even sorrier that you endured more pain tonight learning the truth. It's in the past. You said we look forward, not back."

  Her words sound right. It really is pretty fucking simple.

  So I smile at her and nod in agreement. "Forward."

  "Forward," she agrees with a return smile. Then she pushes on my shoulders and attempts to stand. She makes it just high enough my cock slips out of her but not high enough that my hands at her hips halt her progress.

  "Where you going?" I ask.

  "I really do need to get home. I'm worried about Dad."

  "Remember when I said that wasn't going to happen?" I ask her.

  She nods.

  "Well, it's not going to happen," I tell her again.

  "But--"

  "You're staying here tonight. I'm not done with you by a long shot. Your dad is fine and we'll call him to check in, but you're staying all night, in my bed. Got it?"

  "But--"

  "Got it?" I repeat firmly.

  "You're such a control freak," she grumbles, but I can hear the capitulation in her voice.

  She's not done with me tonight either.

  Not by a long shot.

  I lean toward her, a kiss being warranted at this point to seal the deal, when my doorbell rings. Vale jerks in my arms in surprise and then laughs.

  "Son of a bitch," I grumble, holding still for a moment and wishing my visitor to go the fuck away.

  The bell rings again.

  Vale pushes up off of me, standing gingerly on the slick porcelain. She steps carefully out of the tub, cognizant of the standing water that I'll need a mop to clean up, and grabs a towel. This, of course, brings me eye level with her pussy, which I know is filled with my release from just a few minutes ago, and the thought of that gets my dick to harden again. I have to wonder the basic and primal reasoning behind that. Is it because I've gotten her pregnant before? There's no doubt that although we were young, had we known she was pregnant, and had the baby survived, it would have been one well-loved child.

  "You get the door," Vale says, breaking me out of my thoughts. "I'm going to call Dad and let him know I'm staying the night."

  Placing my hands on the edge of the tub, I pull myself up and out of what little water remains. I manage to pull the stopper so it starts to drain and step out.

  The doorbell rings again.

  I lean forward and give Vale a quick kiss on her head. I then snatch the towel out of her hand with a grin. "Be right back."

  "Hey," she complains, but I'm already wrapping it around my waist and walking carefully across the slick tile floor. The minute my feet hit the carpet of my bedroom, allowing them to dry, I pick up the pace as the doorbell rings again.

  I jog down the stairs, retightening the towel around my waist. Whoever the fuck this is better get ready to get gone soon
, as I've got a sudden urge to let Vale ride my face for a bit tonight. After all, she did so well riding my cock.

  I hit the bottom of the stairs, cut through the living room, and reach the entryway to the front door. I don't even bother with the peephole, not worried about someone trying to fight their way in on me. I'm high on all kinds of things right now...mainly Vale, the truth, and great make-up sex. What's to worry past that?

  I turn the dead bolt and pull the door open, only about a foot so I can hide most of my half-naked body behind the large wooden frame. Peeking my head around, my eyes flare in surprise to see Michelle standing there.

  "Hey, stud," she says with a mischievous smile. Shocked, I pull the door open all the way, my mind absolutely frozen in a spastic state of disbelief and awkwardness.

  Michelle reaches a hand forward and playfully pulls at the edge of my towel sitting against my hips. Her voice is husky, filled with seduction. "And look at you...absolutely ready for me. Guess this wasn't such a surprise after all."

  It's at this moment--this goddamn inopportune moment--that I hear Vale's feet practically skipping down the stairs. "I'm starving, Hawke. I'm raiding your fridge, okay?"

  I bow my head, utter a curse--or two--and then try to figure out what the fuck to do with this new fiasco.

  Chapter 20

  Vale

  I'm not sure why I feel so buoyant all of a sudden.

  Wait...yes I do know. It's amazing the metaphorical weight that can be lifted off your shoulders when you unburden a secret. Telling Hawke about the miscarriage and, more important, how bad that doctor made me feel about it, and even more important than that, how that drove my decisions...well, it was practically cathartic.

  Hawke reacted exactly as I expected him to. The initial swell of grief for a life lost. Then the outburst of anger for not calling him. For not allowing him to be my man in all respects.

  The horror over the doctor pinning the concept of fault on my young shoulders and his anger on my behalf that I bore that alone.

  The revisited pain from my unilateral decision to cut him from my life because in a matter of just a few hours, I had gone from believing Hawke was the best thing for me to believing he was the worst.

  Then he reacted in the way that defines the true essence of the man known as Hawke Therrien.

  He comforted me.

  Held me.

  Told me none of this was my fault.

  He accepted my reasoning, no matter how faulty it may have been at the tender age of twenty. He told me he understood and it was forgiven. I watched him cry tears for a baby that was never meant to be for us, the man wallowing in his own pool of grief, and yet he was most concerned about making sure I was okay.

  Hawke told me he wanted to move forward, whatever that may mean.

  He absolved me and was ready for us to give this another shot. The minute he gave me that cheesy grin, stuck his hand out for me to shake, and said, "Hi. My name is Hawke. Nice to meet you," I made the immediate and absolute decision that I wasn't going to bring any more hurt down upon either of us. I decided in that moment that I was letting all of my hurt go, just the way he was.

  That meant I was not going to throw in his face and start an argument about his own abandonment of me after I reached out to him via phone and email. I couldn't do that to him, not after I just dropped on his shoulders a baby created of love never meant to be and watched him reel from the misery of unfairness that he was just learning about. I just didn't have it in me to dredge up more crap that only served to rake against us like barbed wire.

  He said it was time to go forward, and thus I jumped on that progressive train.

  I decided it was time to leave the past behind me.

  Knowing Hawke the way I do, I was well aware that it wouldn't do any good to put my clothes on. He said he wasn't done with me, and that meant we'd remain naked until the next morning. So I grabbed another towel out of a small pantry closet that sat to the left of his vanity and wrapped it around me, securing the end into the top just between my breasts.

  Dying of thirst and a little hungry, I headed down the stairs toward his kitchen, intent on finding something to alleviate both needs. Three steps from the bottom, I call out, "I'm starving, Hawke. I'm raiding your fridge, okay?"

  He doesn't answer me, and as I reach the bottom landing, my body turns left to the living room rather than right toward the kitchen. Just as I round the wall separating the staircase from the living room, where the entryway sits on the other side, I'm struck stupid by Hawke standing there in his towel, with another woman.

  With her fingers in the edge of the towel.

  And a sexy look on her face.

  And Hawke making no move to dislodge said fingers or wipe said look off her face.

  Tall, lithe, silky auburn hair, and creamy smooth skin. She's gorgeous and she's staring at Hawke and he's staring at her, and I just hate her. And I'm not feeling too kindly toward him either.

  We all have bodily reactions that come at embarrassing times. We don't want these things to happen, but our bodies betray us. It could be the often amusing but sometimes awkward situation of a gurgling belch after drinking something fizzy to the completely dreaded sound of flatulence from an upset tummy. Hawke and I've seen pretty much everything there is with each other, but I guarantee you he has never heard the sound that involuntarily rises out of me.

  Like a screaming eagle. Or maybe a banshee. Definitely something full of outrage and hurt, I make a screeching sound that I had no idea existed. Hawke turns to me with a shocked look on his face. The woman's hand drops away from his waist and her jaw hangs wide open to see me standing there.

  "Move forward my ass," I screech again, and it's so loud and abrasive my own teeth hurt from it. I spin away and head for the stairs, intent on dressing and getting the hell out of here.

  But Hawke's words stop me dead cold. "Don't move another step, Vale, or so help me God, I will chase you down."

  Indecision rules, and even though I cast a glance back over my shoulder, I take a half a step toward the staircase. Hawke's eyes narrow at me and he warns, "Go ahead, Vale. Make a break for it, but I will catch you, and you'll end up right back down here, so you might as well just stay put."

  "You've got a lot of nerve--" I start to hiss at him, but he catches me off guard.

  Scratching his hand through his hair and shooting me a sheepish look, he says, "Vale. This is Michelle. We sort of see each other casually when our schedules allow."

  He's introducing me to her?

  He's fucking introducing me to his piece of tail he keeps on the side?

  "And what?" I ask with a sneer, my eyes never leaving his. "You thought you'd have both of us tonight?"

  Hawke ignores me and turns to Michelle. He gives her an apologetic look, which causes my rage to go nuclear. "Michelle. This is Vale."

  He says this while pointing toward me, almost as an afterthought.

  "Hi," Michelle says with a conciliatory smile, giving me an awkward wave from the other side of Hawke. I want to gouge her eyes out, but she'll have to stand in line; I'd like to get a crack at Hawke's first.

  Then Michelle spins toward Hawke, her eyes going wide. "Wait a minute...did you say Vale? As in the Vale?"

  Her voice is awestruck, as if she's witnessing a miracle. Hawke nods with a slight smile.

  She knows about me?

  I mean...how?

  No way Hawke would ever tell another woman about what we had, and more important, how I destroyed it. His ego would never let him share that.

  "Well, this was terrible timing," Michelle says with a short laugh, and Hawke actually chuckles.

  I'm back to wanting to gouge their eyes out.

  "What are you doing here?" Hawke asks with his head tilted.

  "Just thought I'd surprise you. You said last week you were up for some company and I got a few days off."

  "Come on in," Hawke says as he pulls the door open even farther and motions for Michelle to cross his thre
shold.

  This is the last straw for me. No way in hell is he going to have me, tell me he wants to move forward, and have a piece on the side to fill in the gaps. And I'm most certainly not going to stand here and watch this happen.

  As I spin for the stairs, I immediately start believing in my heart that Hawke is doing this to punish me. While he says things are forgiven and that we only have the future ahead, that can't be true based on the way he just invited her in. How she felt comfortable enough to come here and surprise him.

  I make it halfway up the stairs when I hear Hawke say something like, "Just have a seat. I'll be back down."

  I hasten my pace, bounding up the stairs quicker, hearing Hawke come after me. I jet down the hallway, make it through his bedroom door, and turn to slam it in his face, hopefully with engagement of the lock to keep him out.

  Except the minute I start shutting the door, he's there with his shoulder pushing it in on me. I give up on the thought of keeping him out while I gather my clothes and my dignity, and immediately turn toward the bathroom to get my underwear, bra, and T-shirt that were discarded there.

  Said intention is completely foiled with his arm around my waist, one large stride to the bed, and a toss of my body onto it unceremoniously. The towel comes loose and I squawk again in outrage as I grab the ends and try to pull them over me for some modesty.

  Hawke doesn't care. He's not looking at my body or my feeble attempts to get the towel wrapped back around me, instead advancing my way. In just moments, his big body is over mine, straddling me where he sits his full weight down on my pelvis, effectively pinning me to the mattress. Both his powerful thighs rest alongside my ribs and the towel around his waist opens up over his left thigh, threatening to reveal more to me.

  Ordinarily, this would be a mouthwatering temptation. Now I want to nut punch him, so he'd be wise to keep the towel as is.

  "What in the hell is your problem?" he asks me incredulously.

  "Isn't it kind of obvious?" I level a death glare at him.

  "All evidence to the contrary, it's actually not obvious to me," he says with what sounds like honest confusion.

  "Well, let's see...maybe that another woman showed up at your house with the intention of having sex with you while I was still here," I grit out with fury.

  Hawke shakes his head as if what I said saddens him. He looks at me with almost pitying eyes. "Poor Vale," he practically coos at me, and it's not done in a comforting manner.