It would be so easy to fall into bed with Hawk now and let their bodies do all the talking. It would be magnificent and passionate and intense and all the great things that they are when they’re together, when they’re joined. The world seems to come to a complete stop around them as the kiss makes her knees weak. But this was partly why Melissa had walked away tonight, and if she just succumbs to the chemistry between them, then she knows she’ll be angry at herself in the morning.
“Stop.” At first, Melissa barely recognizes her own voice. It’s so husky and sounds like it’s been wrenched out of her.
Hawk goes completely still, as if he’s been frozen in time. He pulls back and looks at her, his eyebrows raised, making sure that she really had meant to say it. “Stop?” The question in his eyes speaks volumes.
Melissa pushes away from him, getting some distance between them before she has a chance to change her mind. Her body is a complete traitor to her whenever Hawk is involved. Hawk is still watching her with a wary expression, looking at her as if she’s a ticking time bomb.
“This is why I didn’t tell you I was leaving.” Melissa can’t help but feel a little silly now that she’s about to say what it is that’s been bothering her.
Hawk looks at her blankly, the blood seeping back up towards his head slowly. “I’m gonna need a little more than that, ‘Mel.” He folds his arms, never taking his eyes off of her.
“I knew that if I walked in while you were showering, we’d end up doing this.” She gestures vaguely between them, feeling a little silly that she can’t even say the word after they’ve been so intimate so many times.
A wicked smile breaks out on his lips. “And that would be bad because…?”
Melissa has to stop herself from falling into the trap of Hawk’s eyes. “Because I feel like we’re either at each other’s throats or falling into bed.”
Hawk frowns at her, looking like he’s trying to process what it is that she’s saying. “You’re telling me that you’re mad because I want you all the time.”
His frank words accompanied by his frank stare make her blush and wonder if she’s not being a little neurotic. “I’m not mad, not about that.” She shakes her head, trying to get her thoughts into some kind of order. “I’m mad about you telling me what to do. The reason I walked out was because I wanted to be able to talk about it without it degenerating into an argument or hot shower sex!”
Hawk’s mouth tips up in a smile. “Hot shower sex?” He watches with amusemen,t as her face starts to burn.
“You know what I mean!” Melissa folds her arms over her chest, suddenly wishing she was wearing something that gave a little more coverage than the silky camisole and shorts that did nothing to hide how hard her nipples were at the mere thought of Hawk in the shower.
“Okay.” He nods slowly, processing. “One thing at a time then; I’m not trying to tell you what to do, ‘Mel. I’m just trying to keep you safe; there’s a difference.” He holds up his hand to stop her from interrupting him. “I don’t want you involved in what’s going on between the club and Wes because you’ve done enough already. It’s up to us to get ourselves out of this mess. I don’t want you anywhere near it.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Hawk. You can’t just order me around and expect me to obey like a dog!” Melissa realizes she’s dangerously close to shouting and swallows hard, forcing herself to quieten down before Ali comes out and gives them some more choice words.
“Is that what you really think? That I’m some kind of Caveman?” Anger flares behind his eyes.
“You have a way of assuming that I’m just going to do as you say. It doesn’t sit well with me.” She shrugs, trying to keep her voice reasonable.
“I want to keep you safe, Melissa; that’s all. I didn’t realize that was so bad.” Hawk looks so sincere that Melissa has to stop herself from reaching out to him.
“I want to help the Kings. I’m part of the reason why this has all happened, and I want to help fix it. It’s important to me. You’re all important to me.” Melissa stops short of saying what’s in her heart; it doesn’t feel like the right time. Chicken.
“Alright.” Hawk huffs a sigh.
“What?” Melissa blinks at him.
“I said, alright. You can help.” Hawk throws his hands up in surrender. “But anything to do with him getting what he wants out of you is off the table. I don’t even want to hear you talk about it again.”
Melissa considers this for a moment, wondering what other options they have, but she nods. Pimping herself out to Wes is the last thing she wants.
“And the minute I think you’re in any kind of danger, you back off. Got it?” He levels her with a serious look that makes her swallow hard, suddenly nervous about what she’s getting herself into.
Stand up straight, Potter. You can do this. “I can look after myself you know. I thought you’d have figured that out by now.” She lifts her chin.
“Don’t push me, Melissa. Wes may have a crush on you, but that doesn’t mean he won’t lash out if he’s backed into a corner. I’ve seen it happen time and time again, and I won’t allow you to get caught in the fallout. And it’s not just him we need to worry about; it’s the Kings, too. If any of them find out that you’re involved in the Tribune…” Hawk doesn’t finish his sentence, but he doesn’t need to, they both know what he’s leaving out. His dark eyes are stormy, and there’s no hint of a smile on his luscious lips. “Now, do we understand each other?”
Sufficiently cowed, Melissa nods. This must be what the Kings see when they look at Hawk. Despite the fact that he’s just a prospect, they show him a whole lot of respect. It’s not hard to see why. He has an intensity about him that makes his presence known as soon as he enters a room, and it makes it impossible to look anywhere else but directly at him.
“Good.” He nods, satisfied that she’s not going to make herself a target for Wes to lash out at or for the Kings to make an example of. He strokes Cat, who has taken up residence by his feet, behind her ears before he stands, moving towards the front door with those fluid steps of his.
“Where are you going?” She frowns at his back, as he stops just in front of the door he’d been hammering at so violently only a few minutes ago.
“Home.” He says the word simply, as if there were no other possible answer.
“Oh.” Melissa blinks at him, surprised. She just stops short of asking him if he’ll stay, needing to conserve at least a little of her self-respect.
He raises an eyebrow at her, reading her thoughts the way that he always does. “You said that we were either fighting or fucking.” Melissa shivers at how he says the word, imbuing it with a huge amount of sexiness. “So I’m proving you wrong.”
Melissa takes a step towards him, stopping just short of actually touching him. “What do you mean?” She’s pleased that the panic she’s feeling at least isn’t showing in her voice.
“I mean, that if you think we need to pull back on the physical side of things, then that’s what we’ll do.” He shrugs, but his eyes are full of amusement. “You want more middle ground; I can do that.”
Melissa frowns up at him, trying to figure out where the catch is and why he’s acquiesced so quickly. It takes all her strength not to completely retract what she’d said, to say to hell with it all, she wants him in her bed tonight. She swallows hard. “How much more middle ground?” Her voice isn’t quite as strong as anymore.
“Well, that’s all up to you, ‘Mel.” Hawk smiles and leans into her so that his mouth is only an inch away from hers.
“Is it?” He smells of soap and the warm manliness that makes her stomach do little back-flips. She licks her lips, straining her neck up towards him, to meet his mouth, to taste him, for that deep kiss that she knows will turn her insides weak.
“I’m not going to touch you, Melissa.” He pulls away from her slightly so that she’s focusing on his eyes instead of his mouth. “I’m not going to touch you until you beg me to.” The wicked gleam in his eye turns her throat dry. “See you tomorrow, Melissa.”
“Tomorrow?” Her voice is so husky the word is almost inaudible.
“Tomorrow. For the car?” His expression tells her that he knows exactly what her body is going through, and he’s enjoying the power he’s wielding.
“Right.” She doesn’t think she’d be capable of anything more than monosyllables.
“See you tomorrow, ‘Mel.” He gives her one last look, devouring her with his eyes, before he leaves, closing the door softly behind him.
Melissa stands there staring after him, wondering if she’d just managed to screw herself over massively. When she goes to bed, she stares up at the ceiling, knowing that she should be tired, knowing that she should be overwhelmed after the events of the day, but she’s too tightly wound. Sleep takes a while to come, and when it does, she knows that she’ll dream about Hawk.
***
Melissa squirms, lifting her hips, desperate for him to touch her somewhere it will do some good. Between her legs she’s dripping wet, she moans, needing him inside of her, filling her up. She reaches out, her hand closing over his shaft. She licks her lips, wanting to taste him, wanting to suck on his tip, which she knows will be as hard as rock.
“Not until you beg.” His voice is low and hoarse, his breath against her ear making her tremble.
“I want you.” She reaches up to pull his head down to hers, but he stops, a few inches away from her lips, driving her mad with need. She wriggles underneath him, stroking his shaft, feeling the hardness of his erection against her hand.
“Good girl.” He breathes approvingly. “But that doesn’t sound like begging to me.”
“I want you inside of me.” Melissa writhes, her hand own hand dropping down to her pussy, the need between her thighs turning into a certifiable ache.
Hawk stops the progress of her hand, tutting at her. “That’s cheating, ‘Mel.” His voice is dripping with sex, just the sound of his voice is making her wet.
“I’m so close.” Her words come out as a plea. She needs this release, desperately, but the expression on his face tells her that he’s not going to give it to her. He’s enjoying watching how he’s turning her inside out far too much.
“Not yet, Melissa, not yet.” His voice is soft as a whisper, and she hears her own mewling cries of desperation.
Beep, beep, beep.
Her eyes fly open, squinting against the early morning light streaming through her bedroom window. She slams her hand down on the snooze button of her alarm, just managing to stop herself from launching it across the room. Melissa sits up in bed, wishing she could go back in time to the point just before she’d woken up, to the point where she might have received some kind of satisfaction.
Her body is covered in sweat, and she’s breathing hard, her heart racing. She shifts uncomfortably, knowing that her shorts are soaked through and not just from her perspiration. She’s woken feeling frustrated, her body craving pleasure and her throat dry. She slumps back into bed feeling wrung out.
She had been the one to worry over the fact that they couldn’t be in the same room with each other without ripping each other’s clothes off. She had thought she was being the grown up, the one that was looking at the intensity of their relationship and wondering if it could last for the long term. Now, she wasn’t so sure. The one thing that she was completely sure of was that this wasn’t going to be the last of the dreams that left her feeling like she was missing something as vital to her as air.