Page 98 of Cross To Bear

“Look after her tonight, brother,” one man said. “She pushed herself too hard.”

“She shouldn’t have,” Hawk rumbled.

“But she’s going to. You won’t stop baking her nice things to eat.”

“Could you do those cinnamon scroll things again with all the icing because… What?”

“Shut up. Just shut up.”

“And Maddie’s not going to stop wanting to look after us. That’s what love is, looking after each other. So make sure she sleeps well and one of us will stay home with her tomorrow and make her lie around on the couch and rest.”

“Me. I’ve just got tattoo drawings to work on with no bookings in the studio. I can do that on the couch as much as anywhere.”

There was some kind of gentle argument about that, but my mind no longer tried to follow the conversation. I dropped down into a velvety darkness, not recognising anything until I was moved again to be laid down on a bed.

Hawk’s.

I could smell his scent now, woody with kind of a pine needle tang to it, and it soothed me in ways it hadn’t before. A long sigh escaped me and I felt myself falling deeper into sleep, but not before hearing him say one last thing.

“Sleep well, my mate.”

He settled in behind me, cradling me against his body, making me feel warm and safe.

Chapter 56

Crash

"Get dressed in something easy to take off,” Maddie told me.

It was a bit over a week since Hawk’s big dinner and somehow I just knew I would be the next one to get the ‘Maddie’ treatment. I grinned at my girl from where I stood in my doorway, silently reminding myself to collect on the bet. Bjorn thought it’d have to be Razor next, because he was already mated to her. Razor thought it might be Bjorn, but my boy, Hawk, he said me, so of course, I backed myself one hundred percent. Fifty bucks and I didn’t have to do the dishes all week? Fuck yeah.

“Why?” I asked, stepping closer, loving the way Maddie’s pupils blew wide when I did.

Her lips parted for just a second as she took me in. I’d just jumped out of bed, had only a towel wrapped around my hips and she seemed to be taking in every single tattoo Bjorn had worked on before shaking her head.

“You want your surprise, don’t you?” Her eyes narrowed, which just made my grin widen.

“So what do we have planned?” I asked, my hands going to the knot in the towel. “And why do I need to be able to get out of my clothes easily? You got something saucy in mind?”

“I did.” She raised my spirits and crushed my dreams with two words. “I was going to get you to wear one of these devices that’s supposed to blow a guy’s mind while we went for high tea at a fancy restaurant.” My mouth went dry as I mentally started to picture what she meant. “It doesn’t have batteries, but apparently it hits the prostate each time you move, giving guys what they called a super O.”

“An Aneros?” I croaked out.

“You know what that is?” She peered at me more closely. “I was trying to get revenge on you for your cinema stunt, but I didn’t know if you were into butt stuff.”

“Ah…” Did I tell her? I didn’t really have to, my stupid pale skin making my red hot blush super evident. “I plead the fifth.”

“That’s American,” she said. “There’s no right to silence in Australia. You know I was just joking, right?”

“Right, so, something easy to strip off. I’ll be right back.”

Then I slammed the door in my girl’s face. What the actual fuck? My heart was pounding way too fast, and I was feeling all sweaty and shaky, completely off balance. This was not the cool, calm and collected front I wanted to present. I tugged open drawers, grabbing out handfuls of clothes and tossing them on the bed to sort through, when my door opened slowly.

“So, is everything OK?” Maddie walked in on her own volition because she’d finally had the cast removed. She was still a little shaky on her pins, but she made her way over to me, forcing me to stop my frantic wardrobe overhaul. “Something I said got to you?”

“Just excited you picked me next,” I said, moving in and pecking her on the lips before dropping the towel. But my girl looked down, and while the lips might lie, my body couldn’t.

“You’re into the idea.”

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