Page 78 of Wife Number One

An uncomfortable prickle spread along my spine. I rolled over. “Whatever. Tell anyone else and I’ll deny it.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I closed my eyes again, and this time, a wave of exhaustion hit me hard. I let her quiet breaths and the heat from her body lull me into the sleep I’d been so desperately craving.

23

KARA

Iwoke early to a brilliant pink-and-gold sunrise spearing through the trees of the woods outside Hawk’s bedroom window.

And to his warm body hard against the back of mine.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to risk waking him. He’d been exhausted when he’d brought me to his bed, and had fallen asleep nearly instantly. While I’d huddled on the far side of the mattress and cried silently until I’d eventually fallen asleep too.

Hawk mumbled something in his sleep, and his arm flopped across me, drawing me closer. Slowly, he thrust his hips against my backside.

He was hard.

I bit down on my lip, my brain short-circuiting with a mixture of fear…

And something else a whole lot more pleasurable.

He was so very warm. And his bed was soft and comfortable. The couch had been cold and miserable and lonely.

Hawk’s bed was the complete opposite.

I knew I should have woken him. Or moved away, but I was already on the edge of the mattress, and there was nowhere for me to go unless I got out of bed completely.

I didn’t want to sit alone in the main room and remember that my sister was dead, my daughter was scared of me, and I had nowhere to go.

So I closed my eyes and pretended I wasn’t awake.

Hawk thrust his hips again, and his palm flat to my belly. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to wake and realize I wasn’t Amber or Kiki or one of the other skinny club girls he normally had in his bed. They didn’t have an ounce of fat on them. He’d feel the difference soon enough.

But in his sleepy state, he clearly didn’t notice. His hand slid up beneath my shirt to cup my breast.

I fought the tightening in my chest, keeping my breathing slow and steady.

His thumb rubbed absently over my nipple, and instantly it hardened for him.

Nice feelings spread from his touch, taking me by surprise.

He buried his face in my hair and the back of my neck, his deep, slow breathing telling me he was still mostly asleep, even if he was touching me like he wasn’t.

His hand left my breast, and I wanted to cry for the loss of his touch.

But then it slipped below the waistband of my skirt, and without any warning, straight into my panties to cup me between the legs.

I swallowed down a gasp of shock, fear threatening to rise inside me, the way it did every time Josiah touched me.

Except his touch had never felt like this. It had never been gentle.

Hawk’s fingers found the tiny bundle of nerves between my legs and circled it gently, nudging at it with his fingertips while his hips rocked against me from behind. The two actions slowly started a rhythm, one Hawk clearly knew well enough to be instinct.

His finger swept lower, through the slick wetness that had formed between my lower lips, and then it slid inside me.

I gasped, my eyes fluttering closed at the foreign feeling of pleasure instead of pain.

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