Page 84 of Savage Guardian

Hawk curled his arm around her waist, pulling her curves into his six-pack abs. Her hands braced against his heated, hard body, she trembled.

He leaned down, brushing his nose against hers before placing a soft, heart-shattering kiss on her forehead.

“Please—let me explain. Just…give me ten minutes to get this out and, if afterward you still feel that way, I will leave you alone. It’ll rip the heart out of my chest, but I will do it, because all I want in this life and the next is for you to be happy, Fae.”

Struggling to rein in the tears at his words, Fae couldn’t deny the bone deep need to hear him out. She needed to know what had made him so defensive, so against love and trust, that he’d hurt her so badly repeatedly. She’d known there had to have been a reason….

Swallowing, she swiped at the tears on her cheek and nodded.

Loosening his hold on her, Hawk took a small step back, still in her space, still taking up all the air in the room. The scent of leather and motor oil and man, a heady mixture that pinged all her nerve endings at once.

The relief in Hawk’s eyes nearly made the tears start once more. God, this was so hard! He was battling against her walls with weapons she’d never seen before, and her fortress was crumbling.

You want it to crumble. You want him to invade your life, capturing you, and never letting you go.

Hawk began pacing, his movements agitated. Lacing his fingers together behind his head, he dragged in a long, deep breath and began.

“My parents divorced when I was five. My older brother Liam was already being groomed to take over the title from my father, but I was the spare, so my father really had no interest in keeping me around. No, he wasn’t a cold, distant father, but he put too much stock in legacy and titles. So when my mother divorced him, I went to live with her in L.A. Now, let me tell you a little about my mother. She was Norwegian, a model who banked on her looks and sexuality. When she met my father at a party in New York, she decided that being married to a Scottish earl would offer her the lifestyle and security she wanted. There was no actual love between my parents. My mom only wanted what my dad could offer her, so, when he stopped letting her run off and party, she decided the fun was over and filed for a divorce. I didn’t know any of this until I was a teenager, but by then I’d already met many ‘uncles’, and saw my mom seduce and drain many foolish, lovesick men. I promised myself that I would never fall for a woman like that, that I would be smarter than my father.”

Oh Lord, I know where this is going….And that made her stick to her stomach.

Hawk had stopped pacing by then. He was standing in the middle of the room, vacant gaze pinned to the floor, his body tense. The urge to go to him, to wrap her arms around him and offer him comfort was so strong she actually took a step. He continued before she could take another one.

“I met Shannon my junior year at Harvard. I was there studying business, just like my father had before me. I didn’t live with him, hadn’t spent much time with him over the years, but I still wanted to make him proud. I still wanted to be part of something my family could take pride in. Shannon was a senior, a year older, and she was gorgeous.”

Fae winced at that, her eyes dropping to take herself in. Chubby, plain, awkward, and now bruised. She was as far from gorgeous as possible on a good day, but right then, she was a jack-o’-lantern.

“And she knew she was gorgeous, too. She came up to me at a party and introduced herself. She was all charm and elegance, and I was seduced—the idiot kid thinking with his dick. I didn’t know it then, but she’d targeted me. She’d heard about my family, the money, the title, and she wanted in on that. We dated for almost four years, and I thought she was the one I was going to marry, so much so that I’d brought one of the family rings back from a trip to Keswick to give it to her. Thankfully, I’d come home early…and caught Shannon in bed with my brother.”

At Fae’s gasp, Hawk offered a mocking smile.

“That was my response, too. Shock. I couldn’t believe she would betray me. But, looking back now, I could see the signs. She always seemed interested in Liam was doing, where he was going, who he was with, and if we would be meeting up with him. But it really wasn’t her I should have been watching….”

“Your brother?” Fae took a shot in the dark, scowling when Hawk sighed, then nodded. “What did your brother do?”

Hawk sneered. “You mean besides fuck my girlfriend for two years?”

Two years? But Shannon and Hawk had been together for four years….

“My brother is the oldest, so when my father dies, Liam will become Laird Liam McGregor, Earl of Kentweith. He gets the title, the entailed properties, and all the fame and fortune that comes with it. He was the golden boy, the number one son, but that wasn’t enough for him. For some reason…he hated me. He hated me for what he didn’t have. Freedom. I could do what I wanted, be who I wanted, because I was the spare. So, he took something from me that meant the most—not that Shannon fought all that hard. She was after the name and fame all along, anyway, and what better way than to snag herself a future earl?”

“She used you to get to your brother?” Fae growled, sour anger rising to burn in her throat.

“At first, she thought she could ride me for all I was worth, but once she met Liam and he put the charm on, she realized she could do better.”

“Bullshit! You are infinitely better than some spoiled brat with a tiny dick—and you know he has a tiny dick if he has to show he’s the bigger man by stealing his own brother’s woman.”

Hawk’s mouth dropped open, his eyes comically wide. Then he threw his head back and roared laughter into the ceiling.

Fae couldn’t help but grin as well.

“Fuck, baby, that’s hilarious…but you’re biased. You’ve never met Liam.”

Fae snarled. “And if I do, I’ll pop him in the mouth and call him out to his face. He’s an asshole, and as you know from personal experience, I don’t deal with assholes well.”

Hawk’s smile faltered, guilt making pained grooves in his forehead and around his mouth.

“You’re right. Iaman asshole. Because I let my brother’s jealousy and Shannon’s greed taint everything I thought I knew about love.”

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