Page 27 of Snagged By Hook

Her words were cut off with a bruising kiss. He pulled his lips back, not breaking eye contact, and spit in his hand. She couldn’t look away from his eyes, even when he touched her clit and started working her body.

“I don’t need to hear what we’re not or what it doesn’t mean to you.”

His fingers disappeared, and his cock thrust all the way to the hilt. Still staring into her very soul, his green eyes flared when he bottomed out. Both of his tattooed arms snaked under her shoulders and gripped her throat. Overlapping his thumbs in the front, she felt them tighten as he pounded into her.

For the first time, he broke eye contact and seemed to watch his own hands. When he leaned down to whisper in her ear, she exploded into a million multicolored shards of light.

“I know what we are and what it means tome.”

He emptied into her once more before loosening his grip. Rotating them, he took up the big spoon position.

She was boneless and floating when sleep finally claimed her.

Nova no longer needed an alarm to tell her it was time to rise and shine. She used to avoid mornings at all costs, but after having June, that internal clock kicked—“Fuck.”

Nova shot up out of bed at the same time she slapped the bed next to her to tell Hook to hide or climb out of the window or make himself invisible. Anything other than letting her daughter catch him in her, um, his bed. They needed to figure it out if he was going to stay, but not in the morning when she had been well and truly fucked.

But she’d slapped just that—bed, not man.

Looking around, her clothes were picked up, and the room righted from its chaotic condition last night. The only clue was the fuck rumpled sheets.

Dipping into the bathroom to brush her teeth and a few other morning necessities, she slipped on a pair of bicycle shorts and a ratty Death Angel T-shirt.

Waking her daughter up was still one of her favorite activities. Even though she wasn’t little anymore and was more than capable of rousing herself, Nova would treasure it for as long as June allowed it.

Something about the routine of it all soothed some of the mom guilt she felt. Even when things were bad, their routine remained the same.

“Rise and shine, Bug. It’s time to greet the day,” Nova sang as she flung the door open. Her daughter was sitting up in the bed, reading silently. That had never happened. Maybe her daughter would wake before her by a few minutes and be sitting up rubbing her eyes, but never wide awake like that.

“How long have you been up, sweetheart?” Nova was a little sad she didn’t get to tease her awake.

“Ever since Jeremy left on his motorcycle. It’s loud.”

Busted.

“Um.” What could Nova say? Her daughter may be mature for her age, but she wasn’t that damn mature. June loved Jeremy, but surely she still missed her dad and wouldn’t really understand.

June closed her book, popped out of bed, and raced to the bathroom. While she handled her morning business, Nova set about straightening her room.

“So, pancakes or French toast this morning?” Nova asked over the sound of the sink as she made the bed.

A garbled two-syllable answer floated through the air. Nova laughed to herself; she already knew the answer. It was Sunday. Sunday was always French toast with powdered sugar and strawberries.

Nova opened the bedside drawer to deposit the book, and a small silicone-looking frog caught her eye. It wasn’t something of June’s—she should know, considering they had so little these days. She lifted it by the clip, and as she did, it twirled in the air.

She gasped.

It was one of those tracker tags with her name engraved on it.

Nova’s brain tried to rationalize it. Maybe Hook had done it to keep June safe. She quickly dismissed that. Hook would’ve told her, she was positive.

With her back to the bathroom, she stared at the device in horror. She didn’t realize her daughter was done until she spoke.

Nova jumped. Gathering her calm so her voice didn’t waiver.

“Where did you get this, honey?” It was all Nova could do to keep the horror from her voice and not interrogate her daughter as if she were a criminal.

June looked down at her feet, and her bottom lip trembled. Nova knew for sure then that she wouldn’t like the answer.

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