Page 178 of Damaged Protector

He placed one of them around my left nipple with expert fingers. “I can adjust the tightness with this little slider,” he said, demonstrating.

The pinch was exquisite, and I moaned, feeling him harden against my stomach as he clamped my right one. Hawk smiled darkly at his handiwork and tugged the chain, making my back arch sharply from the bed.

“Yes! Do it again,” I begged, and he did, but this time, he leaned down to lap softly at my rock-hard peaks while he pulled on the chain.

“You like that, baby?” he growled, and I nodded, feeling dots of perspiration pop up near my hairline. His mouth sucked hard on the tip of my nipple. “Use your fucking words, Bee.”

“Y-yes, I like it.”

“Good girl,” he said, straightening and reaching behind him. He wiggled the striped dildo at me, and his grin turned wicked. “Why don’t we get mister twisty in on the act?”

Oh, sweet hell. I’m not sure I’m going to survive this night.

“That was a damn fine meal, Shiloh,” Cam’s dad said, leaning back in his chair and patting the small pooch of his belly. I adored my Uncle Sean.

His daughter-in-law smiled and waved a hand toward me and the man seated next to me. “Mallori and Hawk brought most of the side dishes. I just did the turkey and dressing.”

“My friend Bode made the desserts,” Cam added.

“That pecan pie was the best I’ve ever had,” my father praised, and his posture mirrored his brother’s. It was amazing to see how much they resembled each other when they were side by side. Dark hair with a smattering of gray. Bright blue eyes. Strong Irish jaws.

My mother eyed me across the table as I spooned up another bite of creamy banana pudding with cookie crumbles on top. “Do you really think you need to be eating that, Mallori?”

Hawk tensed beside me, but I just said, “Yep, I might even have seconds,” and smiled through another bite.

She’d started in on me from the moment she and my father had arrived this morning for our early family Christmas dinner at Cam and Shy’s house. First about my short hair, and then about dancing. And now I was apparently a fat-ass.

I’d had a FaceTime session with Merrit and done my bumblebee meditation before we came over here, and I was regretting not making Hawk meditate with me. Hell, maybe he should talk to my therapist as well because his tension increased with every verbal jab my mother threw my way.

“Karen,” my father said in a low voice laden with warning.

Nervous eyes darted around the table surrounded by my family—my mother and father, Uncle Sean, Hawk, Cam, and Bella sleeping in Shiloh’s arms—as Mama clamped her lips together… for all of five seconds before she had another outburst she couldn’t seem to contain.

“I can’t help it, Brian. Just look at our daughter. She’s done that… thing with her hair, and I’m sure she’s put on at least five pounds.”

“Six,” I corrected, licking the back of my spoon. It was kinda fun being a smartass to my mother now that I knew she couldn’t control my life anymore.

“Cut it out, Karen. I think she looks fantastic,” my father said, tossing me a fond smile across the table.

“I agree,” Shiloh, ever the peacemaker, added. “That haircut is so flattering on Mal. She has the perfect face for it.”

Mama’s face took on the approximate color of the cranberry sauce in the dish in front of her at being overruled. “And she’s living with that man,” she snapped. “Aren’t you going to say anything about that?”

I could feel the heat radiating off Hawk, and I gripped his hand beneath the tablecloth, feeling the white bandage there.

Dad gritted his teeth and pulled up the sleeves of his royal-blue sweater. “No, because our daughter is a grown woman. She’s happy and healthy. She had all A’s in her first semester of school, so she’s obviously doing well. There’s nothing to complain about.”

My mother’s eyes widened as anxiety ratcheted its way around the table. All eyes were on the arguing couple, and Shiloh stood and left the room, presumably to put Bella down.

“I can’t believe you, Brian. Don’t you see what’s happening? Mallori is… changing.”

“That happens when kids grow up,” Dad gritted out. “Now drop it. This is not the time nor the place for this discussion.”

“Oh, no, I will not drop it. I won’t stand for this.” She focused on me. “You are coming back to Pennsylvania if it’s the last thing I do.”

Hawk mumbled something under his breath, and I moved my hand to his leg for a quick squeeze as Shiloh breezed back into the room with a fake smile on her face.

“Anyone want more dessert?” she asked, obviously attempting to break the tension filling the room. But my mother was not to be deterred.

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