Chapter Ten

The wine was going to her head.

Everything about the dinner went past delicious and straight into sumptuous—from the delicately glazed fish to the creamy rice and oak-aged chardonnay. Positively exquisite, and Jeni could barely taste any of it. She was too focused on the man beside her, and the subtle but distinct tension brewing between him and Gia.

It was almost as intoxicating as the wine, and even more provocative, because it was unpredictable. Wine was easy. Drink another glass, get a little fuzzier, a little freer. But this…

It could go nowhere—or everywhere.

Hawk was smiling, his eyes alight with amusement, and Jeni struggled to keep her mind on the story she was telling. “So anyway, the guy has tons of money he could invest, but he only speaks French.”

“And I only speak Spanish. And Italian. And some Russian and German, I suppose…” Gia trailed off and wrinkled her nose. “But the only French I know is one very dirty joke.”

Hawk frowned. “Where the hell do you find someone who only speaks French?”

“North.” Gia refilled her glass from the second bottle of wine and rolled her eyes. “He made an absolute fortune with…something. Now I can't even remember what it was. Do you, Jeni?”

“Mining. This big operation, just him and his brothers.” Jeni tipped her glass toward Gia, who poured the rest of the second bottle into it. “So I came up with this brilliant plan—I'd just learn. What's the big deal, right? I had three days to get it done.”

Hawk tugged on a lock of her hair. “You were going to learn a whole language in three days?”

“Oh, she learned a lot of it. She knew tons of words.” Gia tapped the side of Jeni's head lightly. “This little brain of hers is a wizard at memorizing things. She can probably still read French. But when she tried to pronounce it…”

“It was a disaster.” Jeni's cheeks heated as she recalled trying to stumble her way through the simplest of conversations. “Neither of us could understand a goddamn thing the other was saying. We were communicating with notes when Gia stepped in.”

“There is one universal language,” Gia murmured. She stroked a finger down to curl another lock of Jeni's hair around her finger, and the embarrassed heat in Jeni's cheeks turned into something else entirely. “He was actually sweet once I got him on his knees. Especially when he saw the flogger. Begging is downright poetic in French.”

“She's being modest. She had him crying for his maman—and loving every second of it.” Hawk was watching her with a warm, lazy smile, and Jeni cleared her throat. “So he bankrolled the entire expansion, and Gia paid him back in record time. With interest.”

“Naturally.” Gia sighed wistfully. “Business was good in those days. Everything in Eden was so placidly dull. Sneaking out here to enjoy fine wine, good conversation, and a little mild perversity was practically a rite of passage for anyone who wanted to be someone.”

Hawk tugged at Jeni's hair again, but beneath the table his other hand found the slit in her dress and eased the fabric aside. “Only mild perversity? That's disappointing.”

“Maybe I have a different definition of mild than you do,” Gia replied, running the backs of her fingers over one of Jeni's flushed cheeks. “Or maybe not. Does he tease you terribly, Jeni?”

She gulped the rest of her wine, then looked at Hawk. He stared back at her, his expression as tight as his hand on her leg, laden with unspoken command.

Answer her.

She couldn't look away as she obeyed. “Sometimes,” she whispered. “If I get too greedy.”

“So all the time?” Gia smiled fondly as she glanced at Hawk. “Ace talked to me, you know.”

“Oh?” Hawk's earlier unease had vanished. Something about the silent undertones to their conversation tonight had grounded him, and it was more than just Gia putting him at ease.

The darkly confident Hawk who'd flipped her onto her stomach and fucked her breathless had returned.

And Gia could tell. “He thought you might need some guidance, like Cruz did in the early days. Someone to show you how good it can be to put a sweet, trusting little angel on her knees. Or over yours.” Gia's voice dropped to a husky whisper as she stroked Jeni's flushed cheek again. “But that's not what you need at all. You know exactly what you want.”

Hawk's fingers slipped up Jeni's inner thigh. “I want her.”

Jeni's heart thumped harder. It would be a strange sensation for most people, she supposed, listening to a conversation that was about them but not for them. A discussion that had everything to do with their needs and desires, but didn't require their input, not yet.

For her, it was like the wine. It flowed through her, warming places that even Hawk's touch couldn't reach.

Gia touched the collar at Jeni's throat. “You already have her. So tell us what you really want, Hawk.”

No, Gia wouldn't be like Ace, blunt and confrontational, challenging Hawk's claim and undermining his feeling of control. Gia was too clever, too subtle.

Gia would make him admit the truth.

His hand rested heavy on Jeni's thigh, his fingers spread wide. The silence built between the three of them until the tension hurt, but when Hawk's voice came, it was rough with desire. “I want someone to help me find the lines.”

“You want to learn how to hurt her without hurting her.” Gia sat back and reached for her wineglass. “How to do it just right.”

Hawk finally looked at her, his eyes intent. “Does Gia know how to do it just right, Jeni?”

What she knew was both simpler and more complex. She knew the places pain could take someone, how the mind and body would react in different ways. How some people would scream, and some would cry, and some would enter a sort of ecstasy that was almost religious in its transcendence. When you put lash to flesh, it stripped away all pretense and left behind only the purest bleeding truth.

Hawk could take her to that truth with a word or a look. It was a different sort of trust, the kind wrapped up in dominance and submission, something Jeni craved as much as the pain. But if she could have both, and have it with Hawk—

“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Gia knows.”

He cupped her cheek, turning her so that she couldn't see Gia, only him, as he leaned in close. “Would you like it, Jeni? If I asked her to show me. To help me.”

It wasn't a question, not really. But she nodded anyway.

Hawk swept his thumb over her mouth, then teased at her bottom lip. “Is there someplace private we can go?”

Everything was private tonight. Gia wouldn't have invited them over if she were open for business, and her staff knew exactly when to make themselves scarce. But there was one place Jeni needed to go. One place that meant something. “My room.”

“Why don't you show him there?” Gia slipped out of the booth. “You two can discuss things, and I'll be along once I've settled the place down for the night.”

Her room was in another wing of the house. Jeni gripped Hawk's hand and led him down the quiet, dimly lit hall. Her stomach fluttered, even through the relaxing edge of the wine. “Now I know how you felt,” she confessed.

“About what?” He squeezed her hand. “Showing you my room?”

“Yes.” She paused at the door, then pushed it open.

Inside was the same as the day she'd left. White and blue walls, a patterned carpet over the hardwood that Gia had imported from somewhere, white furniture, and a huge bed that took up the entire center of the room.

It was nothing like her room back at the compound, which was draped with mismatched silks and pillows in bright, clashing colors. But it was still a part of her, and having him here felt like showing him every secret she hadn't realized she was keeping.

He tilted his head, his gaze drifting slowly across the room, cataloging everything. “It's not what I expected.” He laid his hand on the back of her neck. “But it fits you.”

She wanted to turn to him then, feel his hands slide down, all over her—but she'd seen the questions in his eyes at the table. “What do you need to know?”

His fingers tightened slightly—possessive, pressing the leather of the collar closer to her skin. “I need to know if there's anything you don't want to happen. Any way you don't want her to touch either of us.”

She wasn't accustomed to being on this side of things. If this question had been asked before any of her previous sexual encounters, it had never been directed at her. She'd always been the temporary visitor, the guest. The reason they needed the rules.

It was arousing as hell. “No,” she whispered, tugging at his jacket, watching his eyes. “I know what's mine.”

His lips curled into a smug smile. “You'll use your safe word if anything is too much?”

“Yes.” She clenched her hand in the warm leather. “You should, too. If you need it.”

He dragged his fingers down her shoulder and hooked one under the edge of her dress, pulling it down. “How would you wait for Gia, if I wasn't here?”

“Naked. She'd like that.”

Hawk leaned down until his lips brushed her ear, and his words came on a low, sexy-as-hell growl. “Then do it, Jeni. Get naked.”

The shoes had to go first. Jeni bent to unbuckle them, acutely aware of Hawk's gaze on her. Then she straightened, stepped out of them, and reached for the side zipper of her dress. A slow, sexy unzipping was hard at the best of times, and her hands were already shaking. It only got worse when Hawk shrugged out of his jacket, his shoulders flexing as he moved, and dropped to the padded bench at the foot of the bed.

Her dress hit the floor, and she left it there. She had things to do—things like kneeling beside Hawk, the plush rug soft under her knees.

He stroked her hair, his touch as tender as the look in his eyes. “Tell me one thing you want from tonight. One fantasy.”

A gentle flush was already sweeping through her, warming her until her skin prickled and her nipples hardened. “I want to make you feel this good. I want to show you that I can.”

“How good do you feel? Show me.”

Jeni shivered as she eased her legs wider, baring herself a little more to his gaze but mostly to her own touch. She glided two fingers over her slick pussy, shivering again when she grazed her clit. Then she raised her hand, showing him the wetness that clung to her fingertips.

“So ready.” He caught her wrist and dragged her hand up, close enough for him to swirl his tongue around her fingers. “Does it turn you on so much, imagining trying to please both of us?”

“Yes.” She glanced at his lap, at the hard length of his cock still trapped in his jeans, and swayed closer. “What turns you on this much?”

“You.” Hawk caught her chin and tilted her head back. “Knowing Gia will see how sweet and obedient you are for me. Because no matter who's touching you, you're mine.”

There it was, the very edge of the darkness she craved. “That's it,” she whispered. “If I could have one thing tonight, it would be for you to let go. Whatever filthy thing you want, I'll make it beautiful for you.”

His chest heaved. His eyes blazed. But before he could respond, a soft knock sounded at the door. Hawk held her chin, held her gaze. “Come in.”

The door opened, but Jeni couldn't turn her head. She heard it close again, then the soft click of Gia's heels as she circled the edge of the carpet. “My, what a lovely sight.”

Jeni had been naked in front of Gia—for Gia—hundreds of times. But she'd never knelt for her. This was entirely new territory, and having it all happen under Hawk's hot, watchful gaze…

There it was again, the tingling, plucking at the parts of her that needed so much to give in.

“We talked,” Hawk said, his voice beautifully dark. “Jeni wants to be a sweet girl, do anything that pleases me.”

“Of course she does.” Gia's footsteps became muffled as she stepped onto the carpet, and Jeni could feel her behind her. “What would please you first?”

His thumb edged up over her lower lip, but this time he worked it into her mouth, onto her tongue. “Having you show me how hard I can fuck this sweet mouth.”

Jeni moaned, the sound subdued by his thumb, and laid her hand on his knee.

A light touch drifted over her hair, a moment before Gia asked, “May I?” Hawk nodded, and Jeni felt the brush of Gia's skirts on her bare back, sensuous silk that slid over her as Gia circled her and sank to the bench next to Hawk.

She was waiting, too. Not for Hawk to command her, but for Hawk to give her permission to command Jeni. Because they might be under Gia's roof, enjoying Gia's hospitality…

But Jeni belonged to Hawk.

The same realization flared in his eyes. His lips curved into a smug smile as he eased his thumb away and sat back. “Be good for Gia,” he murmured. “Obey her. Can you do that?”

There was nothing he couldn't ask of her. “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, Jeni.” Gia's voice held nothing but warmth as she stroked Jeni's cheek. “You shine for him, don't you? It's beautiful. Now open his pants, and we'll show him how much brighter you can glow.”

Her fingers skipped over his belt buckle. She stroked the soft fabric of his T-shirt, and he dragged it over his head. The warm lights burnished his skin, and Jeni stared at him as she undid his belt.

Gia's touch shifted to the collar at Jeni's throat. She traced the silver medallion with a smile. “I understand this now. It's charming, the way she matches you.”

Hawk's chest rumbled with something too low to be called laughter. “Charming isn't exactly what I'd call it. Hot as fuck, more like.”

“I imagine so.” Gia reached lower, stroking over the swell of Jeni's breast to circle one nipple. Jeni arched reflexively, seeking more, especially when Gia's next words rolled over her. “You should get her some clamps. They look so beautiful on her, and she squeals when they come off.”

Hawk stared at her breasts, already locked deep in the fantasy, so deep that Jeni felt it pulling at her, too. He could be so gentle, but there was another part of him, one that could be so deliciously rough. One that would pinch and tug and twist until she was sore as hell, on fire with possibility.

She popped open the button on his jeans and smoothed her hand over his caged erection as she reached for his zipper.

Gia's thumb and forefinger pinched tight without warning, turning the pain from her fantasy into shivery reality. Jeni's eyes fluttered shut, and her hands fumbled.

“Shh,” Gia soothed, rubbing away the sting with the pad of her thumb. “You see how little it can take to get a reaction? Pain isn't always about how much. Especially with someone so desperate to please.”

Hawk reached for Jeni's other breast, his fingers broader and rougher than Gia's, though they mirrored her slow caress. “Then what's it about?”

The toe of Gia's shoe nudged the inside of Jeni's knee, commanding her silently to spread her legs wider. “Knowing her, darling. When she needs you to break through what's holding her back, and when she's already so exposed that you can shatter her with the lightest touch.”

Hawk slid his free hand over Jeni's, pinning them both in place against his open fly and the erection straining behind it. “Open your eyes.”

She obeyed, her ears ringing, her heart thudding painfully.

His thumb circled her nipple, slow and taunting. He teased it to a taut, aching point, his gaze locked on her face as if she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. “You're exposed. Naked for us. Wet. We're going to play with until you can't take another second of it and beg to stop coming.” His fingers pinched tight, sparking bright pain through her. “And then I'll make you come one last time, just to please me.”

Jeni didn't fight it. She fell into it, embracing the way the pain buzzed along her nerve endings. She didn't make the choice to move, not consciously, but somehow she freed Hawk's cock, wrapped her hand around the thick base, and shuddered when he groaned and twisted, jolting her with another delicious wave of stinging pain.

Gia's fingers were cool on her flushed cheek. “Beautiful girl. You know what he wants. Don't make him tell you again.”

Tell, not ask, because nothing about this night would be as polite or simple as a request. Jeni bent her head and touched her tongue to the head of Hawk's cock. She licked him in long strokes and short flicks, leaving him wet enough for her hand to glide easily, following as her tongue retreated.

Every caress trembled through him, but he held back until she looked up, met his eyes, and closed her lips around him.

“Fuck.” It exploded from him on a growl, and he thrust his hands into her hair, tangling the strands around his fingers until her scalp tingled.

Gia placed her hands over his. “Tighter. Sometimes the sweetest gift you can give her is to put her exactly where you want her to be. Don't make her guess. Let her relax and know she's pleasing you.”

He hesitated. They were poised at the edge of something, another cliff where he might turn away from his darker desires instead of indulging them.

Please. Jeni uncurled her fingers from his cock and touched his arm.

He clenched his fingers, and the tingle in her scalp turned into a burn. He held her gaze as he guided her head down until his dick was almost—almost—choking her and kept her there for an endless moment. When he finally pulled her back, it was with a harsh command. “Suck.”

His voice was equal parts desire and demand, only this time they weren't warring for control. They were in exquisite harmony as he pushed her down and hauled her up, teaching her the right rhythm, the one that would turn his wicked desires into perfect pleasure.

It was Gia who tilted the balance, luring Hawk deeper into fantasy with a husky suggestion. “You want to know how hard you can fuck this sweet mouth?” She dragged her nails lightly down Hawk's arm. “Stand up, darling, and find out. Because you're not there yet, not even close.”

Hawk dragged Jeni's head up as he rolled to his feet. She almost fell over, but steadied herself with one hand on his bare hip. He gave her a moment to settle herself, then cupped her cheek. “Is Gia right? Is it a gift, not having any choice now that you've decided to please me?”

Did he really not understand how arousing it was to be exactly what he needed? “The gift is having you trust me this much,” she told him softly.

His lips curved. “That's what I was going to say.” He pressed his thumb to her chin and guided her mouth open. “Gia?”

“Yes, darling?”

His smile widened. And even though he was speaking to Gia, the crude words were all for Jeni. “Hold her in place for me. I don't want her distracted from sucking my cock.”

Gia slipped from the bench and skated her fingernails up Jeni's spine as she settled at her side. “Arms back.”

Jeni was so entranced by Hawk's expression that she didn't move fast enough. Gia slapped her hip, forcing her to attention, and she folded her arms behind her back.

“I know, love.” Gia pinned her arms. The supple leather of Gia's bodice brushed Jeni's naked skin, evoking a shiver. “I know that's a beautiful cock, but you have to earn it, don't you?”

She was caged, trapped, but she still had her voice. “Every delicious inch.”

Hawk made a low noise. “Good girl,” he rasped, gripping his cock with one hand. The other pulled tighter in her hair, holding her head in place as he rubbed the crown across her lips. He groaned when he slid between them, pushing forward until her mouth grazed his fingers where they curled around his shaft.

It was nothing she couldn't handle, not even as deep as before. But there was something provocative about being held still while he moved. He could choke her, overwhelm her in pursuit of his pleasure, and she'd be helpless to stop him.

It was painfully erotic.

He eased back and then forward again, watching her face as he fucked into her. His speed increased, his fingers still around his shaft as a guard, but his thrusts were sharper now. Rougher. He dragged her to meet his advances, forcing her to sway with his rhythm.

“How wet is she?” he growled.

Oh, God.

Gia slid her free hand down Jeni's body, her touch familiar and knowing. She teased two fingers over her clit, just hard enough to leave Jeni chasing the caress, then thrust them deep into her pussy.

The sudden rush of pleasure screamed through Jeni. She whimpered and fluttered her tongue over Hawk's dick, silently begging him to hurry, please, hurry.

But Hawk had something else in mind. He waited as Gia worked a third finger into her, fucking them in and out until the slick sound of it filled the room. He waited, until Gia finally answered him. “She's so wet you'd drive all the way home with the first thrust.”

His chest heaving, Hawk dragged Jeni's head back. “Show me, Gia. Wrap those fingers around my dick and let me feel it.”

Jeni licked her lips and held her breath. Gia had slapped men for far less presumption than this—but now she only brushed a kiss to Jeni's temple and eased her fingers from her body. Her fingers glistened as she curled them around Hawk's cock and stroked him lazily.

Hawk hissed, and Jeni exhaled sharply. She'd never seen him so close to giving in. It was like every command he issued was a test, a tiny step further to see if she and Gia would balk. And when they didn't…

His face was tense with lust, every muscle in his strong body quivering. Jeni leaned in, pulling against his grip on her hair, and circled her tongue around the slippery head of his cock.

He shuddered. “Jeni—”

Gia dropped her hand. “Go on, Hawk. Give her what she wants.”

He did, dragging Jeni into a slow thrust that went on and on. He tasted like hunger, like her, and her rough moan was cut short when he drove deep enough to choke her. She swallowed him instead, working her throat around his cock.

Everything froze. Hawk's muscles turned to steel, the tension palpable as he let out a tortured groan. Gia stroked her cheek, murmuring encouragements and compliments that faded into white noise. Jeni stayed—her lungs burning, tears streaming out of her eyes. Willing the moment to last forever.

But it couldn't. Hawk pulled back with a hiss of loss, then thrust forward again, over and over, fucking her throat with a wildness that proved the last of his control had shredded away.

“Fuck—” The words began with his next thrust, short and breathless, filth falling from his lips with the fervency of a prayer. “So fucking good, taking all of me. Your hot mouth and pretty lips. Take it, Jeni. Take—fuck—”

So close to the edge. Jeni wanted to reach for him, to hold him as he tipped headfirst over it, but she was still trapped in Gia's arms. Hawk came with a harsh groan, spilling hot and thick across her tongue with every desperate, jerky thrust.

He stilled finally, and Gia stroked Jeni's cheek, wiping away tears. “There you go, sweet girl. You did so well. Didn't she, Hawk?”

His knees folded, and he sank to the carpet in front of her. “So perfect,” he agreed in a hoarse voice, cupping her other cheek. “Better than any fantasy.”

She tilted her face to his touch and let the peace of the moment wash over her. She knew she was a wreck—tangled hair, smeared makeup, a sheen of sweat covering her skin—but when he looked at her like that, it didn't matter. Nothing did.

She felt perfect.

He kissed her, teased his tongue over her lower lip, coaxing her to open for him. She floated on the slow, lazy kiss until he gripped her chin and turned her toward Gia.

Softer lips. A quicker tongue. Gia kissed with an edge, with scraping teeth and the bite of fingernails at the back of her neck, promising pleasure inseparable from pain. They traded her back and forth, kissing and stroking and petting and praising, until—

Jeni opened her eyes. Hawk was kissing Gia, his open mouth slanted over hers. His tongue flashed as he coaxed her lips wider, and a quick pulse of lust rocked Jeni. Watching him like this was a kind of torment, one that came with its own reward. She was always so wound up when he touched her, aching for relief, that she could never fully appreciate his raw animal appeal.

She appreciated the hell out of it now, watching him turn it on Gia. Gia, who had been touching her all night, who had given Hawk more than anyone could have asked for already.

Gia, who had done it all just for Jeni.

Her head was tilted, baring the vulnerable line of her throat. Jeni licked a path up the side of Gia's neck, over her jaw, then touched her tongue to their joined lips. “This is what I want now.”

Hawk broke away. “What, sweetheart?”

She tangled her fingers in his hair, then stroked the back of his neck. “It's Gia's turn.”

Gia shook her head. “That's sweet, love, but unnecessary. Tonight isn't about me.”

“Bullshit,” Hawk rumbled, rising slowly to his feet. He loomed above them as he lazily refastened his pants, then extended a hand to Gia. After a pause, she accepted it and allowed Hawk to help her up. Jeni stayed where she was, watching as the delicate moment played out.

Hawk stroked Jeni's disheveled hair. “Tonight is about Jeni. She wants to get you off. I want to get you off. Let us.”

Not quite an order, but more than a request. And Hawk meant it—he wanted to see Gia satisfied. Not just because Jeni wanted it, but because he wasn't the type of person who would use someone in pursuit of his own pleasure without offering pleasure in return. Not even if they were willing.

Not even if they expected it.

Gia framed his face, her lips softening into a sweet smile. “No wonder you're wild about him,” she murmured. “He's exquisite, Jeni.”

“I know.” He was gorgeous—and he was hers.

Gia moved toward the bed, and Hawk extended his hand again. When Jeni slipped her fingers into his, he pulled her up against him. The hair on his chest chafed over her breasts, and his jeans scraped teasingly against her bare thighs. “Did you leave things here? Floggers, whips?”

Her breath seized in her chest. “All of that.”

“Show me.”

She walked to the cabinet set along the far wall. It was just another piece of furniture in the same sophisticated style as the rest of the room. But inside lay all the items the O'Kanes displayed so brashly—leather and suede and steel, all locked away, waiting.

Hawk traced the supple leather of one whip before dragging his fingers through the falls of a deerskin flogger. “Join Gia on the bed. I'll pick something.”

“Do you need—?”

He smiled at her. “I know what I want tonight. Go.”

Gia was standing by the bed, her hair gathered up off her neck, clearing the way for Jeni to reach the clasps along the back of her bodice. “Who helps you with these dresses now that I'm gone?”

“It turns out Lance makes a tolerable lady's maid.” Gia smiled over her shoulder. “He's getting downright possessive of my wardrobe. I had to ease him back before he terrorized the washwomen.”

Lance could terrorize anyone just by existing. The man was huge, and it was hard not to laugh at the idea of his massive fingers trying to navigate tiny buttons, tricky zippers, and gauzy fabrics. But he was painfully loyal, completely devoted, because Gia had picked him up off the street and given him a job, a purpose. A life.

That was Gia. She gathered people who'd been tossed aside, thrown away, and she made them her own, just as Dallas did.

The thought sobered Jeni as the leather parted, revealing Gia's smooth skin. “You know I'm still here, right? Just because I left the job behind doesn't mean I left you.”

“I know, love.” Gia turned and took Jeni's face between her hands the same way she had Hawk's. But her smile was softer this time, her eyes warm with affection, and her voice dipped to a whisper. “I always thought Dallas and Lex would be the ones to take you away for good. They'd care for you and keep you safe. But Hawk will make you his world.”

Jeni had never been anyone's world before. She waited for the panic, the fear—she wouldn't be enough, no one could be—but it didn't come. Instead, what flooded her was strength and certainty.

Jeni matched Gia's smile as she eased the leather straps from her shoulders and let the heavy dress drop. “Then I'll have to return the favor, won't I?”

In Hawk's earliest days as a member, Dallas had sent him out with whoever needed backup. Boots-on-the-ground training and a side of friendly hazing all rolled into one, because brotherhood was something you had to earn.

Ace had always been the worst. Not because he liked to haze, but because he liked to talk. Hawk and Jasper could cover the entire market plus another ten blocks without feeling compelled to exchange more than a few necessary words.

But Ace? He never shut up.

Even that might have been tolerable if they shared an interest—any interest. Finn and Bren loved to talk cars, Cruz and Zan liked to talk weapons. But Ace only seemed to have three settings: art, booze, and kinky fucking. And Hawk had still been trying to convince himself so damn hard that that last one wasn't a shared interest at all.

Jeni's cabinet was a goddamn treasure chest of delicious perversion. Leather cuffs that would fit around her wrists and ankles, connected to delicate lengths of chain. Equally delicate looking strands of pearls that his imagination could already conjure uses for. Vials and bottles stacked in neat little rows, some recognizably products of Tatiana's robust business in massage oil and lube, some tiny and elegant, screaming money.

And hanging on a row of hooks in the back…

Ace would probably call it a modest collection. But Ace was the one who'd dragged him into the leatherworker's shop in the marketplace on every fucking trip. Ace was the one who waxed fucking poetical about choosing the right tool for the job.

Ace was the one who'd had a shit fit the day Hawk had wanted to get the fuck out before temptation overrode his good sense, so he'd gone ahead and asked how many fucking floggers one man could possibly need.

The tirade had lasted the entire way home. About the types of leather and the weight and the width and why it mattered. About the art of knowing when someone needed something sharp and stinging, and when they needed deep and solid. And there might have been a few jabs about how a man would have to be a boring-ass lay if he thought a partner always wanted one or the other.

Hawk had tried to let it roll off, but some part of him had hoarded every precious scrap of knowledge. Deep down, in the same place where he'd locked away his lust for Jeni and all the urges he'd never considered indulging. So he knew he wasn't ready for the whip, and that the flogger made from thin strips of oiled leather would sting more than he wanted when she was still tender from the other night.

He picked the other one—soft, supple leather in strips almost as wide as his thumb. As he gripped the handle, his heart thudded faster, which should have been fucking impossible. His heart had stuttered when Jeni slid to her knees, and shattered the first time she swallowed his cock, so desperate to please that she'd let him fuck her. Use her. Violate her.

Except it hadn't felt like a violation. It had felt joyous, and he was a walking dead man who'd somehow ended up in heaven.

He turned back toward the bed. Jeni and Gia were curled together, their limbs entwined. Gia had shed her dress and shoes, leaving her clad only in sleek black lace lingerie that sure as fuck hadn't come from one of the factories in Eight. It was probably irreplaceable.

And Jeni was goddamn close to ripping it.

Gia slipped a hand into Jeni's hair, and Hawk tightened his fist until he could feel every subtle ridge of the flogger's handle. He waited for that dark pit of jealousy to open up and swallow him whole, and he braced himself to fight back, to deny it, to rise above it.

What rose instead was even less civilized. Certainty, raw and undeniable. Jealousy fed on insecurity, thrived on doubt, and Hawk had none tonight.

Jeni was utterly and completely his.

As he crossed the room, she proved it by breaking away from Gia's kiss. She stared up at him, like a compass swinging back to north. He brushed his fingers over her flushed cheek and couldn't stop the smile that curved his lips. She was disheveled and so aroused she had to be aching for release, but no frustration showed in her expression. Just bright, shining trust.

Even heaven couldn't be this sweet.

“Keep going,” he murmured. “You have about sixty seconds before I get my pants off and my fingers inside you. Think you can make Gia come first?”

She muffled a laugh against Gia's shoulder. “Hell, no.”

Gia's laugh was deeper. Warmer. She watched Hawk over the top of Jeni's head as he tossed the flogger on the bed and reached for his pants. “I wouldn't be so sure. The two of you are hot enough to get anyone off.”

The two of you. That's what they would be, if they managed to survive this war. If Jeni kept his collar—or even exchanged it for his ink wrapped around her throat. They'd be an entity, their names flowing together into one word. Dallas-and-Lex. Jas-and-Noelle.

Hawk-and-Jeni.

He popped open the button on his pants. “Sixty...fifty-nine…”

Jeni smiled softly as her hand vanished beneath black lace. Gia's head fell back against the pillows, her lips parting on a soft moan. “Does he think he has sixty seconds?”

“Shh, don't tell him all my secrets,” Jeni whispered. “Not yet.”

And there, at last, was the jealousy. Not a raging fire inside him, but a single blade honed so sharp it cut deep and left him quietly bleeding.

Gia could get all over Jeni, inside her. She could lick and stroke and fuck her past the brink, and Hawk could watch, smug in the knowledge that Jeni had placed her body firmly in his keeping. Everyone who touched Jeni did so at his command, because that was the arrangement they'd made when she'd allowed him to wrap that leather around her throat.

Maybe they'd rushed it. War made people rush to snatch at whatever they could get, just in case it all slipped away. Jeni had given him everything she could. Recklessly, even.

But she couldn't give him this. You couldn't rush the kind of easy affection she and Gia shared, the quiet understanding where Gia only had to lift her hips and Jeni was there, sliding her underwear off her hips and down her legs.

It wasn't choreographed. It wasn't a performance. Oh, they'd get off on knowing how hot they were making him, how tempting it was to wrap his hand around his cock and fuck his fist to the tempo of Jeni's fingers. But he'd cataloged Jeni's performances, all of her masks and how different she was when she wasn't wearing one. This was real, precious—an understanding of each other's bodies that had grown over months and years instead of days and weeks.

Hawk might not have years. Fuck, he might not even have months. He could spend every waking moment inside Jeni and it still might not be enough to get them to where he needed to be, to the unassailable confidence that he knew her better than anyone else. That it wasn't just her body he'd laid claim to, but her mind and heart.

He'd fooled himself into believing he knew her just because he'd watched her. Because he'd been a silent, longing observer. And he'd had to believe it, because the alternative was facing the truth.

They were running out of time. And he'd wasted so fucking much of it.

Jeni licked the curves of Gia's breasts above the delicate black lace that hugged them, then glanced up at Hawk. She held his gaze with one full of heat and desire—invitation. Challenge.

He'd wasted so much time. But wasting more wouldn't change that.

He slid onto the massive bed, hiding a smile at how easily the pieces fell into place. Gia might be humoring him with the illusion of control, but it wasn't stopping her from nudging them along. She'd reclined against the pillows at the head of the bed, with plenty of room for Jeni between her legs—and plenty of room for Hawk behind Jeni.

Hawk wondered how many men had gone to bed with Gia and walked away convinced they'd somehow gained the upper hand, oblivious to her quiet authority because those men equated dominance with bluster and show.

Ego was the enemy of control. And control was what he wanted more than anything.

He settled behind Jeni, savoring the view. Jeni, naked, her ass still sporting bruises from his hand, her skin flushed, her hair wild and her thighs wet.

Thwarted arousal. He trailed his finger up the back of one leg and thrilled at her shiver. “You've been so patient, Jeni.”

She laughed and rubbed her cheek against the inside of Gia's thigh. “That's an overly generous assessment.”

“I don't think so.” The flogger lay next to his leg, tempting as hell, but he kept stroking her, both hands sliding over her hips, up her back, down to massage her ass. Slow, gentle, precise—because she melted for him. No, not melted. Softened. Like clay under the heat of his hands, so easy to mold. He coaxed her ass higher, her knees wider. Nodded to Gia, who gathered Jeni's hair up into a shining rope she wrapped around one hand.

He didn't even have to give the command. Just a few fingers against the back of her neck, a slight pressure, and maybe she knew him a little after all, because she immediately lowered her open mouth to Gia's pussy.

Gia's throaty moan filled the room. Under Jeni's devastating tongue, she'd be writhing her way to orgasm in no time at all.

He planned to get Jeni there first.

But he was the one who groaned when he slid his hand between her legs. Slickness and heat greeted him, so much of both that he immediately pumped three fingers into her.

She tensed and shuddered. Her body tightened, gripping his fingers, as if silently begging him not to pull them free and leave her burning.

Giving her what she wanted meant his fingers were there to feel the helpless flutter of her inner muscles as he lifted his other hand to her clit. This time, she moaned huskily, and her fingers bit in to the soft skin of Gia's thighs.

Gia dragged Jeni's head up, her breathing rough. “Let me see it, Jeni. Show me how you come for him.”

Jeni's back arched as another shudder took her. “Fuck, Gia—” Her voice broke on another moan. “You have no idea—”

He knew this about her, at least. That she liked firm, quick pressure. That when he thrust his fingers into her, slow and deep would get her going, but nothing would send her screaming over the edge like fast and rough.

As much as he craved control over her, she craved his loss of control over himself. So he gave her a taste of it, fucking her hard with his fingers as he worked her clit. “Show her, Jeni. Do it. Let go.”

Jeni's legs shook, then gave way. Their hands were the only things holding her up, and that seemed to make her shake harder as she hovered in that fevered, blissful moment before orgasm. Then she was there, her pussy clenching around his hand as she cried his name.

Hawk eased back, not ready to overload her senses. Instead, he petted her hips and her back, leaned over her to kiss her temple while his cock ground against her ass. “Is that better?”

She answered with a soft noise of frustration. “Don't stop.”

“Begging for mercy already?” He nipped at her ear and slid his fingers over Gia's, where they lay curled in Jeni's hair. “Focus, sweetheart. Focus on pleasing her for as long as you can, no matter what I do to you. Do you understand?”

He could almost feel the denial trembling through her. But when she spoke, it was with a seductive whisper. “Yes, sir.”

“Good girl.” He gripped her hip and straightened again. Gia had Jeni by the hair, so he stroked to the base of her neck and let her feel the bite of his fingers as he guided her head back down.

Gia sucked in a harsh breath as Jeni's tongue glided over her spread-open pussy, but her dark gaze seized Hawk's. Watching him, assessing even as Jeni moaned and licked deeper.

Holding it together, coolly collected, while Hawk was scrabbling for the self-control not to drive into Jeni and send them both spinning into oblivion.

That sharp stab of jealousy eased. Every day with Jeni, every moment, shredded his defenses and threatened his discipline. The more he got to know her, the harder it was to resist falling into her, because every bit he uncovered only made him want her more.

Gia had the knowledge, the long-standing affection, and maybe she knew Jeni's body in ways it would take Hawk years to learn. But if she could hold herself above the pleasure of having Jeni on her knees, working to get her off with such sweet obedience…

Fucking hell. Gia didn't deserve her.

The corner of the other woman's mouth quirked up as if she'd heard the thought, as if she could read every damn emotion churning through him.

He didn't care. He slid his hand possessively down Jeni's spine and reached for the flogger. The handle fit perfectly in his palm, smooth and cool. He let himself get a feel for the weight of it. The balance.

Bringing it down against her skin would spark a reaction, fast and easy. But tonight wasn't about that. It was about feeling out Jeni's boundaries, knowing Gia was there, ready to stop him if inexperience pushed him too far.

He knew how she reacted to fast and easy. So he trailed the falls across her hips and gave her something far more devastating—anticipation. It made her twist beneath the flogger, chasing the tease as surely as she would have chased the pain.

As hungrily.

“Shh.” He gripped her hip with his other hand, stilling her movements. Then he dragged the soft leather across her skin again, letting it tickle her sides and map the graceful arch of her spine. “Stay focused.”

She dropped her hands to the bed and clenched them in the luxurious sheets. The muscles in her arms tensed. Her body trembled.

Waiting was its own sort of agony, a gentle burn he could nurture until it consumed her. First a tiny flick of his wrist, just enough for the leather to kiss her skin. She started, just a little, the barest hint of movement. But the sound she made—relief and need and a longing so fierce he felt it stab through him.

He wasn't the only one feeling it. Gia's head tilted back and her back arched, her lips parting. She murmured something, obscene words of encouragement that melted past him. Nothing seemed as vital as watching Jeni's reactions as he went back to teasing her, not even Gia's sharp gasp or the shaking moan that heralded her first orgasm.

So Hawk focused on Jeni. On the way the leather fell against her skin—no easy rhythm she could anticipate, no pattern she could learn. Sometimes he teased until she stopped straining into it, then landed a gentle blow. Sometimes he gave her several in a row. But always light, never enough to bring more than the softest color to her skin.

More pressure than pain, but it didn't seem to matter. Before long, Jeni was reacting to every touch as though it was a blow, shivering and even lifting her head to gasp his name.

When she lowered it again, she laid her cheek on Gia's thigh and murmured something too soft for him to hear.

“We can't hear you, love.” Gia reached for Jeni's chin, tilting her face up. “Say it again.”

Her only response was a long, lazy moan.

Hawk dropped the flogger to the bed, wrapped an arm around Jeni, and flipped her onto her back. She sprawled languidly with her hair spread out across Gia's chest, her eyes full of the same glazed pleasure as the night he'd spanked her.

Gia ran her knuckles down Jeni's throat. “I've never seen her let someone this far inside her head.”

Not the words he would have thought to use, but they fit. They resonated. And all of Ace's rants about choosing the right tool for the job clicked together to form a picture that was far bigger than pain and pleasure and physical sensation.

Those were the tools. The goal was this—Jeni, stripped bare and open to him. Needing him. Because, in this moment, she did. She'd trusted him so much that she had let go of the world, and until she came back to it, she was his responsibility.

His, in a way that truly did fracture his control.

He touched her knee, and she opened her legs and reached for him. Need and want and hunger and yearning tumbled over each other in her eyes—an actual impossibility, so maybe he was just seeing what he wanted. What he felt.

Desperate.

He leaned into her, and Gia was right there, the answer to the only question holding him back. “What do I do when she's like this? Do I stop?”

Jeni whimpered, and Gia stroked her throat again with a soothing noise. “You take care, Hawk. You remember that she might say yes to anything right now, just to please you. So you don't ask for anything you don't already know she needs. If you're not sure, don't do it.”

Simple, absolute permission to do the one thing he and Jeni both needed.

He had his hands hooked under Jeni's knees before her next whimper. Pushing them up and out, he drove into her pussy in one long stroke that forced a moan from him.

Jeni arched into him with a dreamy hiss. “Yes. Yes.”

Gia's hands covered his, and he let her take over, shuddering when she urged Jeni's legs wider. He gripped the headboard instead, trapping Jeni between their bodies, letting every rough thrust grind her back against Gia. Not just for the sensation of hot skin all along hers, but because Gia was right.

He was in Jeni's head. And he wanted to stay there forever. “Is this what you needed? Both of us fucking you?”

“Yes—” The word dissolved into a hitching breath as she touched his face. “Because you needed it.”

They could spiral forever like that, each swearing they only craved what the other needed. It would be true, but also shallow. Someone had to be the selfish one, the one who let their partner give. The one who took.

For Jeni, he'd embrace selfishness.

And oh, it was so easy. To fall into the way she felt around him, the tight, hot clasp of her pussy, the primal satisfaction of the helpless, hungry noises she made when he fucked deep. “That's right,” he groaned. “I need you just like this. Open and wet for me. All mine, to fuck as hard and as rough and as long as I want. Tell me, Jeni. Say it.”

“Yours,” she whispered, a hoarse sound that seemed torn from her throat. “I have been forever. Longer than you know.”

That was a dangerous fucking thought, seductive in all sorts of ways that played hell with his self-control, and he had to cling to Gia's reminder. Take care.

Easier said than fucking well done, with Jeni squeezing his cock like just the thought of belonging to him was enough to get her off.

He dragged in a breath between clenched teeth. “Did you ever touch yourself, Jeni? Did you slide your fingers between your legs and pretend they were mine?”

“You know I did.” Her glazed eyes sharpened. “They could have been yours. I tried.”

So much wasted time. So fucking much. He drove into her again, as if the intensity of it could make up for all the weeks he should have been inside her. “Show me. Touch yourself, only this time you'll come all over my cock.”

She traced her fingers over his lower lip. He opened his mouth and dragged his tongue around the tips before sucking them hard. When they were slick and wet, she slipped her hand down her body.

Even without looking, he knew the moment she touched her clit. She shuddered beneath him, exhaling roughly, and he could see the fantasy in her eyes, watch as this moment overtook the one in her memory.

It was almost as good as rewriting history.

He seized her mouth, spearing his tongue between her lips with the same ferocity as his next thrust. Rough and wild, because she was already tightening again, her pussy gripping him as she whimpered against his lips, and he couldn't hold on. He didn't want to.

Hawk gave her what she wanted, let her be what he needed. Selfish and greedy, he fucked her over the edge and kept fucking her. He rode her orgasm until she was trembling and the clasp of her body was desperate, continuous, one endless rolling peak that left her screaming.

And when he slammed into her one last time and let the fire consume him, it was because he wanted to come inside her, to fill her, to know he'd marked her in the basest way possible.

Jeni clutched at him, her fingernails cutting into his shoulders as the last of the tremors shook her, and whispered against his neck. Her breath was hot on his skin, carrying praise and promises and vows, all kinds of things he couldn't listen to when she was over the edge like this. Floating.

Take care. Not just with her heart, but with his, too. It was too soon to accept forever from her, even if he wanted it. Even if she was offering.

He kissed the words from her lips and eased away, feeling the tiniest dart of guilt as Gia gently coaxed Jeni's legs down. He'd damn near forgotten her in the end, which would have felt like even more of a shit thing to do if she hadn't been smiling like a satisfied barn cat.

They moved together, getting Jeni under the covers and snuggled down against the pillows. Hawk curled behind her, tucking her head under his chin, and watched Gia retrieve her underwear and slide it on. “Sorry,” he felt compelled to murmur. “I lost it a little bit at—”

“Shh.” Gia disappeared behind the wardrobe door and reappeared a moment later wrapped in a silk robe. She slid onto the bed and ran her fingers lightly through Jeni's hair. “If you want to demand power over others, then it's your obligation to learn when a moment is about you, and when it should be about what someone else needs. There's satisfaction in both, you know. Selflessness and selfishness. People who only appreciate the latter can't be trusted with power.”

Too bad the world seemed fucking full of them. “As long as you got something out of tonight, too.”

“I got to see her happy.” Gia smiled as Jeni turned her cheek toward her stroking hand. “Take care of her, Hawk.”

Or else hung between them, unspoken but unmistakable, a threat no wise man would ignore. “Is this the part where you tell me you'll stab me in the dick if I hurt her?”

Gia laughed softly. “Of course not. I haven't done my own dick-stabbing in years, darling. I'd have one of the bouncers do it.”

Jeni didn't open her eyes, but she did reach up and touch Gia's wrist reprovingly. “Be nice, Giovanna.”

“I am being nice.” Gia lifted Jeni's hand to her lips and brushed a kiss to her palm. “Are you staying here tonight?”

“If it's not too much trouble.”

“It's your room, love.” She settled Jeni's hand back on top of Hawk's before leaning over to brush a kiss to his cheek, too. “Just promise to have breakfast with me. And I have something for you to deliver to Dallas, if you can.”

The corner of Jeni's mouth quirked up. “Anything.”

Gia's lips were still close to his ear. “Keep an eye on her while she comes down,” she murmured, before pulling back. Her nails trailed across his cheek in a shivery caress that could have been affection—or a reminder of her warning.

Hawk imagined the line between affection and violent protection was pretty thin where Gia was concerned.

She gathered her clothes and shoes and then slipped from the room, leaving Hawk with an armful of drowsily content woman. “You doing okay?”

“Mmm, perfect.” Her eyelashes fluttered. “That's never happened before.”

“What hasn't?”

“No pain.” She turned in his arms and looked at him. She was still dazed, but the glassy look in her eyes was slowly slipping away. “I didn't know it could. Not for me.”

“You mean getting fuzzy?” He smoothed a hand over her hair, trying to tame the tangled strands. It was impossible—she was disheveled, changed by what had passed between them even though he hadn't left a single mark on her this time.

“Never without the pain.” She touched his jaw. “You are magic.”

His lips curved up. “I'm not. I'm just the luckiest man in the world. Because you trust me.”

“Yes, I do.” Jeni snuggled closer, curling against his chest. “With my life.”

Her life. Her body. So much already, but Hawk was greedy. Selfish.

And he was after her heart.