Page 49 of Snagged By Hook

When the water started to chill, he used his foot to turn the faucet on as hot as he thought she could stand. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the shampoo bar and gently rubbed it into her hair. Placing it aside, he massaged her scalp, and she sighed.

Using the cup on the side of the tub, he rinsed her hair before lathering the washcloth and washing her body. She relieved him of the cloth and scrubbed her face. After about three minutes, he stopped her. She was scrubbing her face and neck raw.

Nova held the washcloth to her mouth with his hand still over hers, and she wept. “He said the vilest things about my daughter. He was going to sell her and then use her to breed more kids to exploit. That was his plan. I can’t comprehend how a father could even think such things.”

It took everything in him not to shush her. Each word was like a bullet ricocheting around the bathroom. Piercing his heart and hers too.

“Fathers can’t, Nova. Not real fathers. That man was no father.” He may not know what a father was, but if getting bounced from foster home to foster home to group home to group home taught him anything, it was what a fatherwas not.

Nova sniffed and dropped the washcloth. “You’re right, Hook. You’re more of a father to June than he ever was.” He inhaled her words like oxygen. Nova stood and turned before she lowered herself back into the water.

Her body never failed to entice him, but she wasn’t ready for that kind of attention yet. Hook never felt so flawed as he did in that moment. He’d always dealt with things with either violence or sex. Even if what he was dealing with was the same thing. He was a sick fuck, but he wouldn’t taint Nova with that. If Barbara had taught him anything, it was that he was not a slave to his body, he was its master. He willed his dick not to respond.

Nova wrapped her body around his, resting her cheek on his chest. “Thank you.” He whispered against the crown of her head with a lazy kiss. No one ever thought about him the way Nova did.

“It’s true. You’re not only the father I’d choose for her, you’re the man I’d choose for me.” Her words were sleepy and relaxed. He hated to disturb her, but he needed to see her eyes. Erase his ridiculous insecurity that she didn’t realize who she was speaking to.

Lifting her face gently, he met her gaze. “You don’t mean that, Nova. You’re hurt right now.”

Her expression was confused and angry.

“First of all, don’t ever tell me I don’t know my own mind, and second, stop doubting your worth. Just because no one else can see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You said you claimed us earlier. Did you not mean it?”

“Of course I meant it. It’s just…” He didn’t know how to explain how he backslid after seeing with his own eyes that Brent wasn’t Casey. But he had.

“I’ve had my obsession under control for years, but…” Fuck. How could he phrase it so she didn’t think it was her fault? “I have to protect June, and knowing Casey is still out there, I can’t sleep.”

Hook lost focus momentarily as Nova caressed his cheeks.

“I am sitting here plotting to take a man’s life for crying out loud, Nova. I am not the good man you think I am. I will scorch the earth if it means keeping you and my little girl safe. Do you understand that?”

When he focused on her face, she was smiling.Smiling.

“How can you smile? The man who wants to fuck you senseless, even after what you just went through, told you he is premeditating murder, and you’re smiling?”

Hook stood them up in the tub, snapping the towel down from the rack, and wrapped it around Nova. She still smiled at him, almost like she was drunk.

Lifting her straight up, he carried her to the bed. Setting her down just enough to flip the comforter back, he dried her hair a little and wrapped the towel around her head. He then coaxed her under the covers.

She still smiled. It worried him.

“You’re in shock. I’m going to call Joanie. She’ll know what to do.” He walked off to dry himself and find his phone.

“Hook?”

He walked back to the bed and raised the phone to his ear, waiting for Joanie to answer.

Nova sat up and took the phone away. Ending the call and tossing it aside.

“I’m not in shock.”

“Yes, you are.” He leaned over her, reaching for the phone.

She wrapped her arms around him before he could reach it.

“What did I tell you about knowing my own mind?” She spoke softly and tugged at him. He allowed her to drag him down. He shifted to land on the bed rather than on top of her.

Hook was genuinely puzzled when he gazed into her eyes. He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. She looked perfectly fine, better than before. Even the exhaustion was pushed away, but he knew it couldn’t be gone.

---