by Tarah Scott
There had been no pressing business at Leland Industries, so she’d left her assistant manager in charge for the day. “I—”
“We can always use extra help,” he cut in, “and it’ll give you a chance to have a little fun.”
The dig was out of cell phone range, but Liz had no worries about Nancy’s ability to keep production of the Linda Bellmont clothing line running on time at the factory. Still, Professor Hawkins didn’t know that.
“That dress won’t do,” he said before she could refuse. “At least, not given the crowd we have here.”
She startled. Not given the crowd?
“I have an extra pair of coveralls you can use, and I’m sure we can scare up a pair of sneakers or work boots. Last thing you want to do is ruin the leather on those loafers.”
“I’m not an archaeologist,” she insisted.
He placed a hand to the small of her back and started them walking alongside the dig. “Maybe you should become one.”
“I… That’s ridiculous.” Her mind reeled at the feel of his hand on her back. She flushed, her pussy tightening with awareness. “I’m too old to consider a second career,” she managed.
“Nonsense. You could have your degree in four years.”
In four years, she would be pushing fifty.
“I would be glad to help,” he said.
Liz stumbled. His arm shot around her waist and he yanked her against him. Her shoulder pressed against the solid wall of his chest. A mental picture rose of her breasts crushed beneath that dark expanse, her arms and legs locked around him as his cock slid in and out of her channel in full, long strokes. She jerked her gaze up to his. He stared back, dark eyes intense as if reading her thoughts. From the corner of her eye, she registered the young woman who had straightened from her kneeling position beside the middle section of the dig and was staring at them.
Liz pulled free. “I, uh, I’m sorry. You’re right, these shoes aren’t meant for an archaeological dig.”
A corner of his mouth twitched, and she narrowed her eyes in warning. He sobered and started walking again.
When they’d passed the dig and started up the incline toward the cars, he said, “I have to ask, I didn’t give Emma the wrong impression, did I?”
“Wrong impression—no. It was a complete misunderstanding on my part, all me. She had no designs on you—and didn’t think you had designs on her,” Liz added in a rush.
“That’s a pretty big misunderstanding.”
Despite his casual tone, Liz had the distinct feeling the wheels inside his head were going full steam in an effort to piece together what had happened. He couldn’t possibly guess the truth. Could he?
“Chalk it up to age.” She laughed.
“Age?”
He slid his gaze down her body. Her nipples tightened and she prayed they didn’t poke past her bra and against the cotton fabric of her dress.
He lifted his eyes back to her face. “If your mind is in as good a shape as your body, you can’t use that excuse.”
She gasped in surprise, but he didn’t give her a chance to say anything.
“How did you come to this…misunderstanding?”
Her heart jumped into an erratic beat. “Like I said—age.”
He studied her for a few seconds. “Maybe it’s best I ask Emma.”
“No!” Liz burst out, then quickly added, “I mean, you’ll only embarrass her.”
“Embarrass her? I doubt that.” He lifted his brow in question.
She narrowed her eyes. Coming here had been a mistake. “I overheard a phone conversation and got it all wrong. Let’s leave it at that.”
“You’re not playing fair, Liz.”
A flush of warmth dug bone deep. He said her name with an intimacy she couldn’t remember ever having heard in a man’s voice. She shook her head, unable to get a word past her lips.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“I couldn’t repeat it even if I wanted to.”
A predatory glint lit his eyes. “Had to be pretty scandalous to get you down to the campus ready to kill me.”
“You might want to be careful,” she muttered. “The desire to kill you is still simmering.”
His gaze bored into her. “Simmering is exactly how I want you, sweetheart. Until I get you hot.”
Chapter Four
They reached the parked cars and Hawk was certain Liz would bolt. He placed a hand on the small of her back and felt the same tremor he’d detected a moment ago when he’d touched her. Last night’s escapade had left her skittish, but he was betting the age difference was what had her worried. He would dispel that fear soon enough.
“I’m really not sure about this,” she said.
The tremble in her body had reached her voice, and he wanted like hell to bury himself in her, balls deep, and kiss her until that tremble turned into a shudder that rocked her body with orgasm.
“We could use the help,” he said.
They reached his truck. Hawk stopped at the passenger side and opened the door. He glanced in the direction of the dig. From this position, they were completely out of sight of everyone. He manoeuvred her between him and the door.
“I—” she began.
“I should have an extra pair of coveralls.” He leaned past her to the passenger side floorboard, and she pressed back against the edge of the seat. He grabbed the duffle from the floor, then paused and looked at her.
She stared, clearly uncertain of what his advance meant. He would have thought she’d have men crawling all over her. Surely, she couldn’t misread his desire. Desire? Hell, this was all-out lust. His chest nearly brushed her breasts. He hadn’t forgotten the feel of her lush body against his last night when he’d kissed her. The jolt of desire had startled him, and he’d been as close as he’d ever come to fucking a woman he believed was working the wrong side of a deal. But she wasn’t with Vance Reid, so, when he did finally get her into bed, he wouldn’t feel guilty about taking his time making her come again and again, then doing the same thing as often as she’d let him.
Hawk released the duffle, straightened, and traced a line down her cheek where a lock of hair moved in the whisper of a breeze. “You’re quite beautiful.”
Her mouth parted in surprise and the uncertainty in her gaze deepened. Hawk’s grandfather swore Hawk had the supernatural sense that ran among the men in his family. Hawk hadn’t put much stock in the old superstitions, but by the time he was fifteen he’d given up denying his uncanny ability to sense what other people felt. Last night, when he’d mistaken her for a prostitute, that ability must have been out to lunch. Right now, however, the awareness hummed through him like a live wire that insisted Liz Williams wanted him as badly as he wanted her. The sense was also telling him she would talk herself out of her feelings for him the moment he was out of sight.
He leaned into her and brushed his lips against hers. She clutched his shoulders. Desire streaked through him, hardening his cock. Hawk drew her closer, forcing back an uncharacteristic compulsion to crush her to him. He flicked his tongue against her lips. She opened for him and he swept inside, tasting, sucking, thrusting as he would inside her pussy, if she’d let him. He wanted to taste her, all of her.
She tentatively brushed her breasts against him, then slid a hand up his neck and fisted fingers in his hair. Hawk cupped her ass and lifted her so that her mound was level with his erection. He braced her against the seat and slowly undulated his hips against her, careful to find her cleft and fit himself to the folds. Her breath caught, and he thought he would come in his jeans.
She abruptly pulled back. “Professor—”
“Hawk,” he said with a hoarse laugh.
“What?”
“My friends call me Hawk.”
“Hawkins,” she murmured, then, “Hawk, I think—”
“No thinking, Liz.”
She wiggled, and he tightened his grip on her ass.
“You don’t understand,” she said in a breathl
ess voice that threatened to send him over the edge.
“I understand perfectly, sweetheart. You’re worried about the age difference.”
“An age difference you’re not up to speed on.”
“Not up to speed on?”
He gave his heart a moment to slow, then lowered her feet back to the ground. When he leaned a shoulder against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest, her gaze followed the action, then jerked back up to his face. His cock pulsed. Yeah, she wanted him.
“Fill me in,” he said.
She hesitated. “I’m not forty.”
“So you said last night.”
“Try forty-four.”
He tried not to laugh. “Is this where I’m supposed to look shocked?”
“Twelve years is a huge span,” she said.
“Twelve years?” he repeated. “Who told you my age?”
Startlement flickered in her eyes, and he realised he’d caught her. “That’s what you overheard Emma talking about, wasn’t it?” Liz tried to shove past him, but he straightened from the door frame, blocking her way. “What did she say, Liz? How good-looking I was, what a good lay I was? How perfect I might be for her mother?”
“No,” Liz snapped. “If she’d said that, I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself at the school.”
“But she said it when you spoke with her afterwards, didn’t she?”
Liz’s gaze flicked past him, and he knew she was gauging a dash for her car.
Hawk wrapped his arms around her. She jammed her hands between them, but he drew her close. “Are a few years age difference going to stop you from getting to know me?”
“A few years?” she sputtered.
“Statistics say women outlive men by ten years. Women don’t even reach their sexual peak until their forties, then they stay there for decades.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re making that up.”
“Am I? Look at you, sweetheart. Your body is humming. You’re a wet dream come to life.”
“I—I am not.”
He cut off the words with a kiss. Her mouth moved beneath his in a half-hearted attempt to continue the argument, but he thrust his tongue past her lips. She leaned into him, and he groaned. Hawk lifted her onto the seat and stepped closer so that his shaft pressed flush against her pussy. He cupped a breast and kneaded the flesh through the thin fabric of her dress.
Hawk slid a wet kiss down her cheek to her neck. The sun had brought out a taste of salt and desire. Her head fell back and he continued downwards to the V-neck of her dress. He swiped his tongue between the fabric and her skin, then along the luxurious velvet rise of her full breast. She squirmed, and he loosened his crushing hug and coaxed her arms around him. God, how he wanted those arms and her long legs wrapped tight around him when he pistoned into her channel. They would both come hard. He slipped a hand under her dress.
Her head snapped up. “Someone will see.”
“They’re too absorbed in the dig.” He kissed her breast through the fabric.
“You can’t be sure,” she insisted.
He kissed the other nipple. “I know these students. They won’t come up for air…until I do.”
Her mouth parted in a silent gasp.
“Trust me,” he said, and slipped a finger between her lace panties and curls.
* * * *
Liz gasped. What was she doing? Exactly what she’d sworn she wouldn’t do; throwing herself at her daughter’s young professor.
Because you trust him. Liz startled at the unexpected thought.
He bent his head to the spot where her neck met shoulder. His warm breath washed across the sensitive spot he gently nibbled. Her senses blurred. He slid a finger into her folds. Liz clamped her legs together. Her thighs tightened around his waist and her mind registered the throb of her clit against his rigid length. She reflexively pulled back, but he grasped a thigh, keeping her tight against him.
“No.” His hoarse whisper sent a shiver through her.
Liz remained stock still at feel of the long digit that played at the entrance to her channel.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured. “I could fuck you right now.” He drove his finger inside.
The invasion caught her off guard, then pleasure followed hard and fast. She gulped air. His finger rammed in and out. Desire raged through her. His head dipped and he sucked a nipple through her cotton dress. Tiny tendrils of pleasure spiked from the sensitive bud. He thrust harder. Her mind muddled. She should stop him. Her heart pounded. Liz braced her hands on the seat behind her and pulsed into his finger.
He released her nipple, then pressed his mouth to her ear. “That’s it, sweetheart.”
Heat rocketed through her at the sound of his deep voice. Her clit tightened. God. She was close. Hawk pulled her skirt waist-high, and Liz jerked her head up to see him staring at her curls, eyes dark with desire as his finger sawed in and out. He yanked his finger out. She jolted with the sudden loss, but he dropped to a squat before she could respond, and covered her pussy with his mouth.
His tongue swept up through her folds. She swallowed a groan. He parted her pussy lips wide and closed his lips around her clit, then sucked. Liz trembled, eyes glued to him as he sucked harder. Pleasure crashed through her from the inside out. She couldn’t prevent a cry and clamped her legs tight around his head. He didn’t miss a beat, his sucking rhythm pulling, pulling, pulling until she spiralled out of control. Orgasm burst through her. Her body clenched. Liz drove her fingers into his dark hair as a second spasm rocked her, then a third, smaller orgasm tightened her body before relaxing.
Pleasure subsided. He gently kissed her pussy, licked, and kissed again, then drew her dress down over her legs. He stood and drew her close. Liz collapsed into his embrace without resistance. Hawk hugged her, and she breathed deep of his earthy scent, immensely glad for the comforting warmth. Then embarrassment heated her cheeks. How could she look him in the eye? What about Emma?
Liz groaned and straightened from him. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sure as hell not.” He draped an elbow over the open window. “I’ll do that again the first chance you give me—and more.”
She tried not to fidget, despite awareness of her cream-soaked thighs. “This shouldn’t have happened in the first place. And on the side of the road, for God’s sake. It can’t happen again.”
“Nonsense.” He grasped her chin with two fingers. “You’ll get over the embarrassment soon enough.” A corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that sent butterflies skittering across her stomach. “I promise.”
“Professor—”
“Hawk,” he corrected. “You can’t think of calling me ‘Professor’ after that. Get up.” He gave the side of her leg a gentle pat.
She rose on unsteady legs, and he reached for the duffle. He set the bag on the seat and pulled a pair of grey coveralls from inside.
“Let’s get these on you and do a little digging.”
“Really, is that a good idea?”
“The best I’ve had all day.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek, then lifted his brows. “Almost.”
Chapter Five
Liz lay with her stomach to the ground, digging inch by inch in a twenty-four by twenty-four inch plot. The tedious work had allowed her mind to replay and replay what had happened between her and Hawk, and she couldn’t deny why she’d done it—or how badly she wanted a repeat performance. He’d risked his life for hers, a possibility not every woman got the opportunity to test, and he was honest. Package that in six feet of bronzed steel, and she didn’t stand a chance. Coming here had been a huge mistake.
A shadow fell across her and she glanced up. Hawk stood over her.
“Lunchtime.” He lifted a soft-cover cooler. “I’ll share.”
Sun glared behind him in a blaze of orange that emphasised his angular face and the patch of tanned chest visible above the open collar of his white shirt. Her pulse skipped a beat. She had to quit now, while she still had the
ability to do so. He bent, and Liz glimpsed determination in his eyes as he grasped her arm. Awareness jumpstarted her heart when his fingers tightened and he pulled her up. He kept a light, but firm hold as she stepped over the twine that separated the dig from the rest of the desert. Liz glanced at the students who sat cross-legged in the shade of the nearest pillar. They were absorbed in food and each other.
“Hawk,” she began.
“Over here,” he cut in, and led her toward the pillars on the opposite side of the small compound.
He stopped within the broad strips of shade cast by the cluster of large stones.
“I really think—”
“It’s lunch, Liz. What do you expect to happen?” Her cheeks warmed, and he laughed. “Fair enough. But you can relax. As much as I’d like to pick up where we left off, I won’t touch you in plain view of the students.”
Her stomach gelled. There was no missing the implication that, once they were out of sight, he would touch her again. He gently urged her to sit and she complied, as much out of a desire not to embarrass herself as the fact that she feared her legs would give way. Hawk opened the cooler and pulled out a napkin, then laid bottled water, barbecued chicken, cornbread, fresh tomatoes and chocolate chip cookies on the cloth.
“You do come prepared,” she said.
He grinned. “A man gets hungry out here.”
“So does a woman,” she had to admit.
“I didn’t bring plates,” he said. “Just dig in with your fingers.”
She opened a bottle of water, dribbled a few drops on her hands, then wiped them on the dusty coveralls, only to have the dust turn muddy.
“You spend enough time out here and you’ll have dust in your veins instead of blood,” Hawk said.
Liz grimaced. “I think I’m halfway there.”
She grabbed a chicken leg, then leant back against the stone and bit into the meat. The tang of the barbecue sauce burst across her tongue. “Perfect.”
He nodded. “Nothing better than cold barbecue.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Liz said, “I’m surprised you’re in the field. Isn’t bioarchaeology conducted in a lab?”
