AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Still. When Hadley started making it her mission in life to piss you off, I was terrified. I made some stupid choices based on that fear, and I wasn’t a very good friend to her at first.”
Hating the frown etched on her face, I tuck a finger beneath her chin and tilt her face up until I can plant a kiss on her lips. “However, you found your lady balls and became the friend she needed you to be.”
“Hadley deserved that,” she murmurs.
“It was because you were such a good friend to her—especially when I was still being an asshole—that drew me to you,” I murmur against her lips, echoing her statement from a moment ago.
Her smile reaches her eyes, making them shimmer in the bright light of the bathroom. “Are you confessing to having actual feelings for me back then, Hawk Davenport?”
I chuckle at her playfulness. “Maybe.” Pressing another kiss to her lips, I pull back only enough to whisper, “I’m confessing to having actual feelings for you now.”
I feel her smile against my lips. “Good, because I have actual feelings for you, too.”
Chapter5
EMILIA
Imust have dozed off at some point, leaning against Hawk in the tub, as the water is now tepid, and only a few bubbles remain on the surface. I can feel the steady rise and fall of Hawk’s chest against my back, indicating he must have fallen asleep, too. However, I note all this absent-mindedly, cataloging the information but not actually processing it since all of it is overshadowed by the six-foot-five man crouched beside me, his honey-brown eyes staring at me like I’m a puzzle he can’t solve.
“Wilder,” I murmur. Already, the soothing effects of the bath have drained away. Simply his close proximity has my body tensing, chasing away the last remnants of peace from my nap. However, it’s not his nearness that has me on edge. I’m used to feeling off-kilter around Wilder; I even get some sick sense of enjoyment from it. It’s the wild look in his eye that has me momentarily fearful.
I know Wilder isn’t like other people. He feels things more fiercely. Clings to those feelings like they’re his favorite childhood toy. It can make him unpredictable. Dangerous, even.
Only this look in his eye is new and terrifying. In part because it’s directed at me.
What the heck could I possibly have done to anger him now?
Is he pissed that he had to put aside his hatred toward me to come save my ass? Because I didn’t ask him to do that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so goddamn grateful that he did, but if he thinks I’m going to just lie back and let him punish me for that, then he’s got another thing coming.
I’ve been placating. I’ve been understanding. I’ve let him use my body and take what he needs in order to feel better because I know I’m the one who burdened him with his pain, though there’s a limit to what I’ll endure. And after today, I’m not feeling very accommodating tohisneeds.
“What are you doing?” I ask in a tired voice, watching him warily.
His eyes search my face, a candidness visible behind the wild veneer that I’m not used to seeing. His demeanor today has thrown me off kilter. Back at the bunker, when I expected him to be cold and stand-offish, he wasn’t. He was a surprising comfort in my moment of panic.
It was… weird, yet it was also exactly what I needed from him.
Seeing him like that, the promise he made, gave me hope that we can resolve our issues. However, it also shifts the ground beneath my feet, and now I don’t know where I stand with him.
He reaches out a long, thin finger and presses it to my lips, silencing anything else I might say. “I still hate you,” he says quietly, being careful not to wake Hawk.
I guess that’s where I stand, then. That’s great to know. Just the reminder I needed.
His finger is still against my lips, which is the only reason I don’t give voice to my sarcasm. However, the words disappear in a puff of smoke as his hand lowers, his finger slowly coursing a path down my throat and along my collarbone before moving to the tops of my breasts, visible just above the level of the water.
Everywhere he touches burns, as though his finger is a live wire, shocking my system back to life. All I can do is watch him while his eyes hungrily follow the path of his finger as it dips beneath the water.
A soft sigh escapes me when he cups my breast in his hand, kneading the skin with his fingers. The noise catches his attention, drawing his gaze to mine, and something unexplainable passes between us. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but it feels as though it encompasses everything unsaid between us. It’s deep and meaningful, inflated withwhat if’sandcould be’s, but coated in sharp thorns that will readily draw blood if you go too close.
Whatever it is becomes charged with heat and passion when Wilder’s fingers move to my nipple, working it into a taut peak and pinching it in a way that brings my pussy to life and makes her realize she’s starving.
His own gaze darkens at the rapture on my face as I drop my head against Hawk’s shoulder and push my breast more firmly against his hand, begging for more. A voice at the back of my head warns that I must stop this now. It can only end the way it always does with Wilder, and I’m in no position to handle that right now. And yet, I don’t stop him. Perhaps it’s because Hawk is here—albeit asleep—but something about this time feels different, and it’s enough to fill me with hope.
A hope that drives my movements as I part my thighs in a silent invitation. Wilder greedily eyes the gap between them, though he doesn’t immediately move to give me what I’m asking for. Rather, he moves to my other breast, teasing it until I’m fighting not to squirm in Hawk’s lap, barely containing the sounds of my pleasure and growing need.
When his hand finally dips between my thighs, my hips buck. My ass pushes against Hawk’s crotch, and I sense the second he wakes. His breathing hitches, and his arm that’s loosely wrapped around me tightens.
“Mmm, what do we have here?” he asks, his voice coming out deep and gravelly. He pulls his arm back so his hand slides along my abdomen, while Wilder’s thumb brushes over my clit. I can feel Hawk growing hard as he nuzzles my neck and kisses his way along my shoulder.
