by Violet Paige
“Congratulations on the big win.”
“Thanks, baby.”
I liked it. I liked it too much, maybe. The pet names. The possession. The way he made me feel like I belonged right here next to him. I looked at Hunter. And somehow this child was part of our equation. I just couldn’t figure it all out. My heart was all over the place.
“Hey, I’ve got to shower and then I have press.”
“Ok, are we still taking Hunter to dinner?”
“Wouldn’t miss it. Give me an hour, ok?”
He leaned down, pressing his perfect lips on mine. I nodded. Truth was, I’d wait as long as it took. I was so head over heels for this guy I didn’t know what to do.
He walked toward the locker room. Hunter tossed the ball in the air.
“Let’s go.” I reached my hand out. “We can wait at Hawk’s apartment.”
“Cool.” Hunter seemed relaxed. Happy. Content.
And I felt my happy heart start to break. Because after today, he had to go back to the home. Back to a parent-less existence. Back to the place that stole the light from his eyes.
25
Kane
I looked at the boy tucked under the gray guestroom comforter. He looked small and helpless in the massive heap of pillows. I picked a few up and tossed them on the floor.
Julie walked up behind me.
“All ready for lights out?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Bed time is eight o’clock. We both have school in the morning.”
I liked that school teacher tone she had. I wondered if I could get her to use it in bed.
“Give us a minute?” I asked her.
I could tell she didn’t want to go. She probably wanted to set up a sleeping bag and sleep next to him to make sure he wasn’t scared. He was fine. The kid was stronger than she gave him credit for. I knew. I was this kid.
“Ok. But if you need me, Hunter, I’m in the bedroom next to yours and Hawk will be on the couch.”
I rolled my eyes. Like fuck I was sleeping on my own couch. I knew she was trying to set some kind of moral example for the kid, but he’d be asleep in ten minutes. By morning, my ass would be on the couch. Tonight, that woman was mine and in my bed.
“Thank you, M-miss … c-can I call you Julie now?”
She gasped. “Oh my God. Really?”
He nodded. “Is it ok?”
She pulled him into a hug. “Yes. Yes, of course. Julie. Call me that, honey.”
I was pretty sure I saw her eyes mist over. She turned quickly and ran out of the room.
“Did I do something wrong?” Hunter asked.
“Nah. I think you did something very right.” I sat in the empty space next to him. The bed creaked under my weight.
“Thanks for inviting me to the game today.”
“Sure.” The game ball was next to him. He hadn’t let it out of his sight. It sat next to him at dinner. I remembered doing the exact same thing. This kid and I had so much in common.
I wanted to tell him about my conversation with Savannah. I wanted him to know I was trying my damndest to get him. To give him a family. And maybe that included Julie too.
“You’re going to win the next one too, right?”
“No one wants the Sharks to win more than I do.”
“But you’re supposed to play on Christmas Day aren’t you?”
I scratched the back of my head. Where was the kid going with this? I felt like he was a tiny interrogator holding a flashlight in my eyes. He was good at it, too.
“That’s the plan,” I answered.
“Oh.” He took handfuls of the comforter and balled them up in his small hands.
“You worried about something, Hunter?” I asked.
“No.”
“Hmm. You sure?”
“I just want to sleep.”
I reached over to turn off the light. “If you need anything, we’re here.”
He turned on his side. I touched the top of his hair lightly before closing the door behind me.
Julie sat on the couch, clutching a glass of red wine. She stared into the small flames crackling in the fireplace. The loft was a big man cave, but with this beautiful woman on my couch, the fire, and the kid tucked in, I felt like I was living in a damn white-picket fence movie. It felt like a home.
“He’ll be out in five minutes.” I grabbed a goblet and poured a full glass. “That is one tired kid.”
“He loved watching you play. The whole thing.” Her feet were tucked under her. “He was mesmerized by everything.”
“What about you? Was that your first Sharks game?”
She nodded. “It was sort of amazing watching you out there.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know about your little fan club.” She smirked slyly.
The wine tasted sweet. Not really my thing. “You saw them?”
“Who could miss those girls? Is it always like that?”
I thought I heard her voice change. She was jealous. “It’s the AFA. Women are part of it.”
“I see.”
I placed my glass on the table in front of me. It was there on my lips again—I wanted to tell her about Savannah’s assignment. I wanted her to know I took all of this seriously. Hell, I was trying to become a father. Something I never thought I wanted. And I sure as hell didn’t think I’d start with an eight-year-old.
But I couldn’t get her hopes up either. I had to wait until I had actual information to share with her. I changed the subject.
“I think you need to know what the ground rules are as long as you’re staying here, baby.”
Her eyes flared. “Excuse me?”
“I have rules.”
She laughed. “Let me guess. Do they involve handcuffs or blindfolds?”
Damn, my cock twitched. “No, but that can certainly be arranged.”
She hit me in the shoulder. “What are these rules, then?”
“Number one: when you’re here, you sleep in my bed. Number two: when in my bed, if I find a shred of clothes on you, I’m taking it off.” I saw her swallow hard. “Number three—”
“There’s more?”
I nodded. “Number three: I want you at all my games. Every single damn one. You understand?”
“Really?”
I chuckled. “You sound like Hunter.”
She blushed. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say about any of this. It’s surreal. You. Me. Hunter.”
She didn’t know how fucking surreal it was. She had no damn clue.
“Number four: no other men.”
She blinked. “I’m not sleeping with anyone else, Hawk.”
“I didn’t say you are. But you won’t again.”
She gulped the wine. “And you?”
“Are you asking if any other women are going to be in that bed?”
She nodded slowly. “I saw them today. I couldn’t help but wonder. This is new. This is … what is this?”
“It’s us,” I answered.
“And the women?”
“Did you hear rules one through four?”
“Mmmhmm.”
I took the wine from her hands and placed it next to mine. The flames bounced off the glasses. I’d never promised a woman I’d be faithful. Shit, I never wanted to be. I liked to have my choices. I liked fucking who I wanted to when I wanted to.
But Julie had changed that. I hadn’t even explored half of what I could with her. Saying that to her was something different. I was scared as fuck.
“You need to hear me say it? You need me to tell you? Or is your pussy still swollen from this morning? Does your clit still feel where I kissed it? Are you still wet from when I fucked everything I had into you?”
She nodded, climbing into my lap. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
Her legs straddled my waist. Her mouth landed on mine and she kissed me softly at first before her tongue took over.
Fuck, this woman could kiss. And the things she could do with her tongue were pure sin.
“If there wasn’t a kid sleeping down the hall, I’d bend you over and fuck you in front of the fireplace and watch you come over and over as the flames ripped through you. But instead, I need you to go into my room and take off your clothes.”
I nudged her off of me. My cock was as solid as a rod of stone. I was sure the kid was asleep and he’d never hear us, but I couldn’t take that chance. The things I wanted to do to her needed to be done in the dark.
She rose from the couch, her eyes filled with lust. Her hands went to the edge of her shirt and she tugged until the fitted Sharks shirt was over her head. I stared at her breasts bobbing over the lacey bra.
“Don’t you break a rule,” I warned.
“Or what?” she taunted.
“Or else you’ll have to bend over the bed and wait for me.”
She reached behind her and unhooked her bra. The straps fell from her shoulders. She let the pink tip forward, exposing her tits.
“It’s hard to learn so many rules at once.” She sashayed from the couch. “But maybe with a little encouragement I’ll be better at it tomorrow night.” She looked at me wickedly over her shoulder.
“Now it’s not just bending over. You’re not listening, baby. I want your legs spread wide. By the time I get there, your fingers better be coated in your sweet honey. I’m going to lick every finger and make sure.”
She whimpered as she hit the bedroom door. She closed it behind her and I reached down to soothe my cock for a second.
I was exhausted after the game. Exhausted after fucking all night. But Julie brought out a new energy in me. A hunger that couldn’t be fed. A thirst she couldn’t quench until I was buried inside her. Until I saw that look in her eye. Until I thrust my cock deep inside her and felt her come on me over and over.
I downed the rest of the wine and rose from the couch, stretching my legs. I took my time turning off the fireplace and turning off the kitchen lights.
I hesitated outside of the door and almost broke through it when I heard her whimpers coming from inside. There was just enough light that I could see her hips jutting forward as her fingers dipped in and out of her.
I locked the door behind me, dropped my jeans, and peeled the shirt off my head.
“Oh, baby.” I walked toward her.
“This turns you on, doesn’t it?” Her face rushed with ecstasy as her fingers dove between her legs. Her head rocked back and I inhaled sharply when I saw her beautiful fingers massage her clit before being sucked inside her.
“You have no fucking clue how much. I could watch you fuck yourself all night. Or I could do it myself.”
26
Julie
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 this man.
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 who’d stolen my heart. 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 my 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 ge
t 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.
27
Kane
What the fuck? I stood in the empty school hallway like an asshole. She was pissed. Livid. Devastated. I didn’t know what the fuck it was. Not what I was expecting.
