There was a real chance she could fall for him, and part of her was terrified of what exactly that could mean. She’d never been in love.

  Was this finally the time where luck was on her side?

  14

  Hawk couldn’t think straight, not with how intense his arousal was, not with the flavor of Felicity on his lips and tongue, or the sound of her moans in his ears.

  He gave one last swipe of her pussy, starting at her tight little hole, and dragged his tongue up her slit and to her clit. He sucked on the bundle of nerves hard, feeling her body shake, and lifting his gaze up to watch her chest arch, her breasts thrust out. Her nipples were hard, turgid and pink, causing his mouth to water even more.

  He forced himself to pull away and ran his tongue over his lips, sucking off the last of her juices. She was sweet and musky and tasted like his.

  Mine.

  That one word was a roar inside of him. He looked at the way she was spread out on the bed, her hair fanned out around her, her expression full of ecstasy. She was ready for him, wanted this. He wasn’t going to make her wait any longer.

  He reached out and grabbed himself, his fingers wrapping around his girth. Hawk started stroking himself from root to tip. Pre-cum started to form at the crown, and he used that as lubrication. A groan ripped from him at how good it felt.

  Her legs were spread and he couldn’t help but stare at her pussy, at the way her lips were parted, at the sight of her tight hole.

  He wanted his cock buried in there, wanted to thrust hard and fill her with his seed. He wanted to pull out and watch as his cum slipped out of her, soaking the sheets underneath.

  “I need you, Hawk. Be with me. Take me.” She moaned those words and he couldn’t control myself any longer.

  He didn’t even want to try.

  He moved into position between her legs, placed the tip of his dick at the entrance of her pussy, and then stared into her eyes. For a moment time stood still, nothing else mattered, nothing else moving through his head. He was too far gone to think rationally.

  And then he thrust deep in one move, burying himself to the hilt and groaning out as she squeezed her pussy muscles around his dick. He’d come before he’d even be able to control himself, before he’d even be able to prolong this.

  She held on to him, her nails digging into his flesh. Something in him snapped and he closed his eyes as he really started pounding into her, swinging his hips back and forth, thrusting himself to the hilt before pulling back so just the tip was lodged in her.

  His balls slapped her ass, the sound of their wet sex filling his head, filling the room. He was going to come and there was no way to stop it, no chance for him to even control himself. But he wanted her to get off first. So he opened his eyes and reached between their bodies to place his thumb on her clit, rubbing it back and forth.

  “Come for me, Felicity. Give it to me.” Sweat started to bead down the length of his spine and he prayed she would get off soon because he couldn’t control himself any longer.

  She dug her nails even further into his biceps and then cried out, her head tipping back as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth. He felt the rhythmic pull of her pussy clenching around him as she came, as she tried to draw the cum from him.

  And that was his breaking point.

  He slammed into her especially hard, his balls slapping against her damp skin as a roar was ripped from him. He pumped all his seed deep inside of her, making her take every last drop. He tried to keep his eyes open, but the pleasure was too intense.

  And when she’d sucked him dry he collapsed on top of her, his mouth right by the side of her throat, his breathing harsh. She painted against him and wrapped her arms around his body, both of them spent, exhausted.

  He rolled off of her so she could breathe and lay on his back as he stared at the ceiling. His dick was damp from her arousal as it lay against his thigh, still semi-hard. Hell, he probably could’ve fucked her again.

  Hawk turned to her, lifting his hand up and cupping her face, forcing her to look at him. She wore this drugged-like expression, a small smile covering her lips.

  “Do you really want to know how I feel?”

  She licked her lips and nodded.

  “It’s hard to put into words, Felicity,” he whispered. “But if I had to say something, it would be that I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you.” He leaned in and kissed her before she could respond.

  She didn’t have to love him, not yet at least. He knew in time that would come. She was here with him now, giving herself over, and that was all he cared about.

  She was all he cared about.

  15

  Another morning after and Felicity stared down at the arm across her body. They’d fallen asleep after having sex another three times. Her body was on hyper drive and she felt good in all the right places. Only now, she had to get out from underneath him.

  She wasn’t good at the morning-after routine and she just wanted to get some space. Wriggling out from beneath him, she tried to make as little sound as possible. Every few inches, she paused, expecting him to wake up. He clearly was a deep sleeper because he didn’t move nor did he make a sound.

  When she finally got clear of his arm, she let out a sigh of relief and blew out a breath. That didn’t help, though, as she looked back. He was still sound asleep. She got to her feet and there was no mistaking the rough sex they’d had last night. She hadn’t been able to stop shouting for more, or begging for him to give it to her harder.

  Hawk hit all the right spots without even trying.

  She tried to grab her clothes as quietly as possible while ignoring the bed or at the very least the occupant in it. Once she had her clothes, she went to step out of the room but gasped as she was suddenly caught around the waist.

  “What the hell?”

  Hawk dragged her back to the bed, forcing her to drop her clothes in the process.

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “And I thought you weren’t going to try and sneak out again. It looks like we’re both wrong.” He stroked her nose. He settled between her spread legs, and the evidence of his impressive arousal pressed against her thigh.

  “I like this,” she said. “You being the big strong man, stopping me from leaving.” And she did, it gave her a thrill.

  Running her hands up his arms, she let out a little gasp as he nipped at her neck. She loved feeling him surround her.

  “I didn’t want you to leave in the morning.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No. I like waking up with you.”

  She giggled. “You were asleep, Hawk.”

  “Actually, I was awake. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up but then when I saw you were, I wondered if you’d take the chance and try to evade me again.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. You’re cheating.”

  “I’m doing what a guy needs to do.” He kissed her again and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Do you need to head into work early?”

  “Not today. Rebecca is working on the parade float. She has gone all out this year. She thinks it’s going to bring us lots of good luck.”

  “It’s a lucky time of year.” He kissed her hard, and she slid her tongue across his lips, melting at the strength he was showcasing.

  “I can’t think when you’re doing that.”

  “Good. I don’t want you to think. I don’t want you to even concern yourself with anything.” He growled against her mouth, trailing his lips down her body, stopping at her tits.

  She cried out as he bit down on one hard nipple before moving to the next. She loved his mouth on her, and she didn’t want him to stop, not to ever stop.

  “I could get used to this,” he said.

  “Used to what?” She wrapped her legs around him, wanting him to slide inside her so badly.

  She’d never been the kind of woman to be so wanton but with Hawk, it was like he answered every single need inside her, and she couldn’t contain herself anymore. She’d been denying these parts of herself for so long and there was no way out.

  He took possession of her mouth as his cock slid through her slit. Each glide up, he bumped against her clit and she couldn’t think, but why the hell would she? Not when he was proving to be so fucking amazing in bed.

  It’s more than that.

  She shut off the part of her brain that wanted to analyze every detail. Right now, that didn’t have a single part of her life. She was closing it off, shutting it off.

  “You, here, forever.”

  She groaned as his cock moved to her entrance and his words? What did they mean? Nothing was making any sense to her, at least not right now.

  Hawk slid inch by inch within her. He was so incredibly slow that as he filled her, she was startled by how hard and deep he was. She didn’t want him to let go, not ever.

  On the last inch, he slammed hard, and it felt so good. Scoring her nails across his back, she couldn’t help but smile as he touched a part of her no one else had.

  Opening her eyes, she stared up into his.

  He was watching her intently.

  “You didn’t hear a single thing I said, did you?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. She ran her hands across his body, touching him. “What did you say?”

  There’s no way anything could feel or be as good as this. He was amazing, and she was putty in his hands.

  Biting her lip, she tried not to get distracted. With him balls deep inside her, it was next to impossible.

  He stroked her cheek, pushing her hair back off her face and she waited, hoping he’d say whatever he needed to say.

  “I want you to be mine, Felicity. I want you to belong to me. Not just for sex either. I want you to be mine forever.”

  16

  Felicity sat down just as they put the final touches on the float.

  Rebecca took a step back and placed her hands on her hips, looking very smug as she stared at the finished product. Then again, they had every right to be proud. They’d worked their assess off.

  The float had turned out better than she could’ve ever imagined. It was a giant cupcake, decked out in greens and whites, with sparkles galore. The bakery name was on the side of the cupcake, and it looked like it had been written in frosting.

  It was cute and peppy and she loved it.

  “I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but damn, that is one nice looking float.” Rebecca looked over at Felicity and grinned, and she couldn’t help but smile in return.

  “It looks fantastic. I had my doubts that we could pull it off, but it looks incredible.” Felicity stood and walked over to where Rebecca was. They stared at the float for a few more minutes, some of their friends and volunteers scattered around the warehouse, picking up the extra stuff they’d used to create a masterpiece.

  “I think this is going to be one of the highlights of the parade.”

  Felicity looked over at Rebecca. “We certainly worked our asses off on it.”

  They stood there a moment just admiring their work.

  “Want to go grab something to eat?”

  Felicity nodded. “Yeah. I’m starving.”

  “Good, because I want to hear all about you and Hawk. You’ve been pretty hush-hush about the whole thing.” She grinned and slipped her arm through Felicity’s.

  They headed out of the warehouse and walked down the street to where the small soup and sandwich café was. Once at a table, they ordered their drinks and food.

  “So things are going good with Hawk, I assume?”

  Felicity cleared her throat and nodded, unable to keep the grin off her face. “Yeah, things really are, which surprises me.” She saw the way Rebecca furrowed her brows.

  “What surprises you about it?”

  Felicity leaned back in her chair, the waitress coming by and dropping off their drinks. She wrapped her hand around the glass of lemonade, thinking about how to best word this. “I feel like I’ve had these negative feelings toward Hawk simply because I saw him as competition. I never saw myself letting my buried feelings come forth. I never allowed them to.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m surprised how everything has transpired, how fast things have seemed to move.”

  “Yeah, but it’s a good kind of fast, right?”

  She nodded right away and looked up from her lemonade glass to see Rebecca watching her intently. “Yeah, it’s definitely a good kind of fast.”

  A moment of silence passed between them. “And you’re happy? He makes you happy?”

  Felicity grinned again and nodded. “Yes, he really does. As crazy as this may sound, I feel like I’m home when I’m with him.” She felt her face heat, knew that it was as red and bright as a tomato. But she didn’t care. This was the truth.

  “Do you love him?” Rebecca became somber in that moment. Felicity didn’t need to think about it to know how she felt.

  “I do, and as insane as this may sound, I feel like I’ve always loved him, just never let those emotions fully grow because I had this preconceived notion of him.” She exhaled. “Does that even make sense?”

  “Yeah, it makes perfect sense.” Rebecca sighed. “I hope one day to fall in love like you. I need a happily ever after for sure.”

  They both started chuckling.

  Their food arrived and they ate, talking about the parade, the shop, and plans they had coming up for introducing new baked goods into their everyday menu.

  “What about macarons?”

  Felicity scrunched her nose. “Those are a bitch to make, and I haven’t made any since culinary school. I think I’d need to practice before we put them on the menu.”

  “Good point,” Rebecca said over a mouthful of food. “Wait, what if we created our own spin on it?”

  Felicity lifted a brow. “I’m intrigued.”

  Rebecca took a drink of her water before continuing. “What if we made them macaron pastry sandwich-type things? Like house-made cream in the center? We can even mix up the cream flavors. And the ‘macaron’ sandwich part can be a flaky pastry?”

  Felicity grinned. “Sounds interesting. I like it. We could add fresh fruit in the mix too.”

  Rebecca nodded. “Mm-hmm. I love it.”

  For the next twenty minutes they continued to think of new items to put on the menu, and Felicity got more excited for the future of not only the shop growing and flourishing, but also of her life with Hawk.

  It was funny to think that not that long ago, she’d looked at him with jealousy and disdain, but now she wanted to run into his arms and tell him all about the plans they were making for the bakery.

  How things had changed.

  She loved Hawk, and she wanted to tell him. She just hoped it didn’t scare him off.

  17

  “What do you think?”

  Hawk smiled at his dad, who stood in front of the float he’d made. The entire float was designed as a table, with models of the food Hawk served. On top were the two of them in papier-mâché. His father had gone all out this year, and Hawk knew it would stand out in the parade.

  “It’s amazing, Dad.”

  His father laughed. “So, am I going to be a grandad any time soon?”

  “Wow, you really know how to go in there.”

  “You don’t think I’ve seen that goofy laugh on your face, and not know exactly what it means? I felt that way about your mother.” His father didn’t look sad anymore when he talked about Hawk’s mother.

  “I … I’m in love with her.”

  “It feels good, doesn’t it? Being in love. Finding that one special person to finally be yours.”

  “Yes, it really does.” Hawk glanced across the road, but of course there was no sign of Felicity.

  She had yet to give him a response to his request for them to be more than sex. After he asked for more, she’d kissed him, and they ended up having sex again, without either of them talking about wanting more.

  He gripped the back of his neck, knowing he wanted an answer but in order to get it, he had to be patient.

  “If you want to go over there, I understand. I want grandkids some day and the only way to get that is for you to give them to me.”

  Hawk laughed. “Don’t you think you’re talking a bit soon for kids?”

  “Nah, not at all.” His father winked at him. “Go over there. Go and talk to her. It can’t hurt, you know.”

  “Wow, you’re giving me time off.”

  “Go and see your woman. Talk to her. Tell her what an awesome granddad I’d be.”

  “I’d probably scare her off.”

  “Don’t go making the woman do all the work. I know you’re supposed to give them space and stuff, or in this new era of dating, they’re the ones that are supposed to chase you.” His father wrinkled his nose. “I don’t agree with that. Women need to be loved and if they give you a chance to be part of their lives, take it. I know I did with your mother and I don’t regret a single day I spent with her. I love her so much and will always love her.”

  “You know, Dad, she’d want you to move on,” Hawk said. He hated seeing his father alone.

  He looked up. “I know, son. When I’m ready, I will.”

  “What is holding you back?”

  “I’m holding myself back.”

  “Why?”

  “Son, I loved your mother. I devoted every waking moment to making her happy. My love was that strong and that powerful, I couldn’t imagine myself with anyone else. That love will never go away. I will never allow a woman to feel second best. When I know I can move on, and that I can give my new partner all of my love without guilt, then I know I’m ready. Until then, I will not break a woman’s heart. This world is already a shit hole. I don’t need to add to it by being one of those men.”

  Hawk was never prouder to be his father’s son than in that one moment.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “No, thank you, son. Now, go, and see if you can win that girl for good. Great grandad material right here.”