What was happening to me? I had become some kind of sexual goddess I didn’t recognize. I never did shit like this. Definitely not in front of a man. But I couldn’t stop. Hawk opened his mouth to tell me what to do, and I did it.

And it was all pure pleasure. Fucking erotic pleasure I didn’t know existed until I met this man. Maybe that was why I took the stupid job at Catch. I thought I needed money, but really what I needed was him.

A man who could free the sexual hellcat in me. A woman who had always been buried under my skin, but I didn’t know how to let her out. With him it was as natural as breathing and holy shit it felt so good.

Hawk climbed on the bed in front of me. I expected him to come up behind me and take me. I loved his cock like that. I loved the heaviness of his body on me. His breath on my neck. But instead, he stroked his cock while I moved my fingers in and out of my swollen pussy. And damn it, I liked it.

“Fuck me, Julie,” he ordered.

I looked up. “Anything you want.”

“I want you to climb on me and ride me so hard you think we’ll both pass out. Fuck me, your way.”

He grabbed one of my hands, sucking my fingers into his mouth before urging me onto the bed. I was drawn to his shaft like a magnet. I kicked one leg over his waist and as his hands gripped me he jostled me downward until I was speared by the width of his cock.

“Oh shit,” I whispered. My tits jutted forward. And I lost my senses. I rode hard. I rode fast. I bucked and gyrated. I found a rhythm spurred by the deep quickening in my core. I wanted an earth-shattering orgasm, but I wanted to make him come too. I wasn’t coming without him.

His fingers dug into my ass and I knew I had him. I knew he couldn’t hold off either.

His jaw clenched. His body tensed. And then he jetted his release inside me as the orgasm shattered around me. My muffled cries escaped softly as I lowered myself to his chest.

“Fuck, baby.”

I nodded sleepily.

He stayed inside me, but I could feel the hot stickiness slide between my legs. “Don’t move,” I begged. “Let me fall asleep with you inside me. Is that ok?”

He growled lowly, and I knew he felt it too. We had fallen off the cliff together and there was no going back.

I looked at the faces of my students. Hunter sat in the back of the classroom. His hair was combed today and he was smudge-free. I smiled, knowing it was because I had made him soak extra long in the tub before school.

Hawk had made him special pancakes shaped like footballs. And he had the best lunch of any child here. Not that I was bragging, but we had done everything we could to make sure his Monday was the best start to the week.

I was worried he would fall back into that slump of depression again. But so far he seemed bright-eyed and excited about the day.

I’d heard him tell more than one of the other students about his day at the game. I worried about that football. He kept it tucked under his arm and it was resting on his desk. What if he lost it? What if one of the other kids took it?

The children were busy working on their spelling words for the week. We had moved into some three syllable words and I knew it was a big challenge.

Hunter stuck his tongue out, focusing on his paper.

My heart did this little pitter patter thing when I looked at him. Why couldn’t every day be like yesterday? It felt right. The game. Waiting for Hawk afterward. The three of us having dinner. And then once Hunter was asleep, we had all the time we wanted together, exploring and devouring each other’s bodies.

Did life actually get better than this? I was sleeping with a man built like a god. A man who couldn’t stop pleasing me. And I had this child in my life that I had fallen in love with. There was a reason we had all come together.

One of the children raised their hands. “Miss Bristow, what if we can’t get one?”

I walked over to her desk. “It’s not a test, Kimmy. Just write them three times each.” I pointed to the columns on her spelling journal.

I walked back to the front of the class when I spotted Hawk on the field.

What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to show up until after school.

“Keep working, kids. I have to check on something in the hall.” I eyed them, but they looked intense.

I tiptoed along the hall, careful not to let me heels touch. Just as I was going out the door to the playground, Hawk walked in.

“Hey, baby.”

I grinned. “What are you doing here?”

He held up a folder. “I couldn’t wait.”

“Wait for what?”

I could see the excitement on his face.

“I thought it would take longer. I mean it is going to take a long time. I know that. But I thought it would be longer before I had the information.”

“Hawk, slow down. What are you talking about?”

He handed the file to me. I flipped open the cover.

I read the title of the document. My eyes darted to his. “What is this?”

“It’s for Hunter.”

I closed my eyes and reached out so I didn’t fall. My knees suddenly forgot how to hold me up.

“Whoa.” Hawk steadied my arm. “You ok?”

“I don’t get it.”

“I asked Savannah to find out what I would have to do to get legal guardianship of Hunter. To adopt him. And she got all the paperwork together. I haven’t started it yet, but she says I meet the criteria. I can apply to be his guardian.”

“Just like that?” I asked stupefied by every word coming out of his mouth.

“Just like that.” He grinned. “And it might help that she knows some people and I happen to have millions of dollars to speed the lawyer part along.”

I didn’t know whether to be sick or happy. Cry or laugh. The information packet fell from my fingers and hit the floor. I stepped over them and walked down the hall.

“Wait, where are you going, Jules?”

“I have a class in the middle of a spelling lesson.”

“Should we tell Hunter together tonight?”

I spun on my heels. “We? You’ve done this much on your own. What we is there, Hawk?” I knew they were coming, but I thought if I walked away fast enough I could keep him from seeing the tears as they fell.

“Are you pissed at me?”

“This isn’t the time to talk about it.” The bell was about to ring for recess and in a few minutes the hall would be littered with screaming children who had forty minutes to get the wiggles out.

“I showed up to tell you what I thought was some pretty damn incredible news and you’re crying.”

My chest literally hurt. It felt as if my heart was breaking. I thought when Hunter was adopted I would be the one taking him home. I never thought about this happening. That Hawk would swoop in and take him.

I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t form thoughts or sentences. I spun away from him and marched to class.