Hawk collapsed next to me on the closet floor. The vibrator hummed somewhere behind me, but I liked the low glow it cast. It somehow made the space feel intimate and sensual. But wasn’t that how everything was between us now? I rolled toward him, resting my hand on his bare chest.

“I liked that.” I smiled, kissing the hard plane of his bicep.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “What was that?”

I felt satisfied. I felt goddess-like. I felt like a girl in love.

“Amazing,” I answered.

“You like your present?”

“Can we use it again tomorrow?” I giggled.

“It was that good?” he asked.

I moved to climb on top of his sculpted body. My nipples draped over his skin and I scooted backward, letting his cock rest between my folds. We both sighed with the new position.

“I think you’ve opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know I would like,” I purred, my body alive with sensation.

“You’re not exactly shy,” he remarked.

“Not with you.”

I’d never been this daring. This free. This experimental. First I had let him tie me up with a scarf and now I’d let him fuck me with a vibrator. What else would I try? What else would he show me that I would like?

He squeezed my ass, gripping it with his palm. “Don’t be. Never be shy with me, baby. I love fucking you. I love your fucking body. And I’ll do whatever it takes to show you.”

I didn’t know if he could see my smile in the pink light of the closest, but it was there.

“Should we go check on Cameron?” I suggested.

Hawk’s chest rumbled with laughter. “You think this is what parents do? Fuck in hidden closets and then tuck in their kids?”

I giggled. I’d never thought about it. I didn’t know what they did. How did my friends with kids balance marriage and children along with their careers? I thought about the tired faces I saw every morning in the teacher’s lounge. Moms who were up all night with a feverish baby. Moms who spent extra hours on homework. Moms who tried to squeeze in a girls’ night and stayed out too late because they were desperate for something of their own.

But I’d never thought about those tired faces from this. From mind-blowing, can’t-get-enough-of-it sex. Because those women put time and energy into their relationships. Because they stayed up all night having one epic orgasm after another.

“I guess so. I hope so.” I planted a kiss on his firm lips. I wanted that to be true. I wanted this to be our new reality.

“Shh.” He silenced me, turning off the vibrator with a quick flick.

“What is it?”

“It’s quiet out there. Completely quiet.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t think we need to leave the closet for a long long time.”

I wiggled back on the length of his cock. It was hard again. Wide and pulsing. The wetness dripped between us. The aftermath of our storm of passion.

“Oh?” I answered innocently.

The hum started up again and I felt the tingles shiver through me from what I knew was coming next. My body was on fire.

“You’re not going to be shy are you?” he asked.

I shook my head slowly. With Hawk I was anything but shy. I was the woman I’d always wanted to be.

* * *

“Hey, Daddy,” I greeted my father, standing and kissing him on the cheek.

We both had Saturdays off. Hawk had taken Cameron with him to the stadium. I decided to call my dad and see if he wanted to meet for lunch.

“Hey there, beautiful. You sure look happy today.”

I couldn’t help but flashback to last night and the erotic session in Hawk’s arms. I wondered if that had anything to do with how beautiful I looked today.

“Do I? Thanks,” I said, taking a seat and signaling to the waiter that we were ready to place our drink orders.

Once our waiter had the order we had a chance to talk.

“So, how are things going in the Hawkins household?” he asked.

“Pretty good. I have to say I am surprised by how attentive Crawford is to Cameron. They seem to be a good match.”

“That’s great news. I was really hoping so. Crawford is a good guy, he’s just had a rough past and can’t seem to let go of some that anger. I’m hoping you can help him with that.”

“Me?” I squeaked, choking on my water.

“You know what I mean. You’re great with these kind of kids.”

“Crawford is not a kid, dad. I wouldn’t even consider putting him in that category.”

“I know that, but I think if someone had taken time with him when he was a child then he might not have the anger inside him he does now.” My father leaned back in the booth.

“I don’t think he’s that angry. I think he’s misunderstood.” He wasn’t the same man I had met that night at the bar.

The guy who had slugged the slimy biker was still buried under there somewhere, but that wasn’t the man I had spent my days and nights with lately. The man I gave myself to was someone who cared about a lost child. A man who opened his home and his heart to a kid who needed help. A man who brought me out of my shell. I smiled.

“How serious is it between you two?” he asked.

“Daddy!” I took another gulp of water.

“Well, he has Cameron. You love Cameron. And I can see it between you two. It’s there.”

I blushed. If my legally brilliant, but socially awkward father could see what Hawk and I shared I wondered how obvious it was to everyone else.

“I do love Cameron. And we’re taking things day by day.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, sweetheart.”

I closed my eyes. “I know, Daddy. I know. I’ll do my best not to let that happen.”

It was my biggest fear too, but I didn’t know how to do this any other way, but to be all in. How did I give Hawk half of myself? How did I pull back at this point? He invited me into his bed. And for a man who had never dated the same woman twice that was huge.

“I’m talking about both of them.” He eyed me.

I nodded. It was the biggest gamble of my life. Everything I had with Cameron was now tied up with Hawk.

“You know what? It sounds scary. And it seems like everything is moving really quickly, but it doesn’t feel like it’s wrong. It’s like we were supposed to be a family all along.”

“And you think Crawford thinks that too? Has he asked you to marry him?”

“What?”

“Marriage. That thing people do. Your mother and I did it quite well.” I saw the sad smile run across his face.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “We haven’t even talked about it.”

“Do you need me to talk to him?”

“What? Oh God, no. Absolutely not.” I was mortified. “I’m not going to have my father strong arm my boyfriend into a proposal.”

He chuckled lightly. “Thought we could have a conversation man-to-man. Ask him what his intentions are.”

“His intentions right now are to win the Super Bowl.” I stared at my dad. “He has a lot going on. Can you not meddle, please?”

“Ouch.”

“You know what I mean. Let us work this out. I’m happy. We’re happy. You don’t have to worry so much.”

“I’m your father. I’m always going to worry.”

I smiled. “I get that.”

“So about the game tomorrow?”

I straightened my shoulders. “Right. Meet me at the front gate and then we can go into the family box together.”

“Never thought I’d be sitting in the Sharks’ family box.”

I looked at my father. “That makes two of us.