Page 52 of Darkness Bound (Night Prowler 5)
Hawk called her name again, angrier this time, and when she didn’t respond, he bolted after her. His immense speed brought him in front of her in a heartbeat. She stopped short, glaring daggers at him from only a few feet away.
He said tersely, “You can’t see. You’ll hurt yourself. You have to follow me.”
“I’d rather eat a pile of shit than follow you.”
This line was delivered with zero emotion or expression; it was just a stated fact that had the blood rising in his cheeks. He studied her face for several moments.
“You’re angry with me.”
“Your powers of comprehension are remarkable. Congratulations on your acute grasp of the obvious.”
His lips tightened. He folded his arms across his chest.
“Oh, not happy? If I recall, not two minutes ago you told me—so nicely, I might add—you’d rather I be the cold-hearted bitch you thought I was. Well—done. Here she is, Bitch of the Century!” Jack spread her arms wide in a “ta-da!” gesture.
He snapped, “Stop it!”
“You stop it!”
“You’re acting like a child!”
Jack felt as if her eyes would pop out of their sockets. She yelled, “I’m acting like a child? You just punched three guys in the face because you thought they were making fun of you!”
He shouted back, “They were making fun of me! Because of you!”
“What?” she screeched, livid. “How was that possibly my fault—”
“It’s your fault that I’m here in the first place, babysitting, when I could be doing something a little more useful with my time!”
Jack gasped in outrage. “Well I’m so sorry I’m infringing on your precious time! No doubt you’d rather be spending it with Luiza—”
“It’s your fault for writing that article and pushing us into a corner and forcing our hand!” he shouted over her, stepping closer. He was furious, breathing hard, his eyes blazing green fire. “It’s your fault that I’m all upside down and inside out and can’t tell my ass from the end of my nose!”
“It must be hard since they both look alike!” Jack yelled, shaking in rage.
Hawk, vibrating rage back at her, stepped even closer and got right up into her face so they were staring at each other like two fighters in a ring waiting for the bell to sound.
He shouted, “And it’s your fault for making me feel all these . . . horrible . . . feelings!”
Then he reached out, grabbed her, pulled her against his chest, and kissed her.
For a moment there was nothing but cold shock and breathlessness. She was so stunned she didn’t even close her eyes. His mouth was hard and unforgiving against hers, a solid pressure without softness, but then he opened his lips and slid his tongue against hers.
Cold shock was replaced with white hot, encompassing heat.
His taste was velvet soft and complex and lovely in the way of pure, natural things, like sunshine and starlight and clear running water, or the sweetness of a summer peach plucked right from the tree. It was the same as the first time she’d tasted him, and she reveled in it the same way, wondering beyond the sudden rush of pleasure how anything could taste quite so delicious.
Her arms wound up around his shoulders. Her lids slid shut. She pressed herself against him, her anger forgotten, and he moaned into her mouth.
The kiss went on and on, rough and deep and greedy and wonderful, until she was so flush with desire she ached.
He had calluses on his hands, she remembered that from when she lay naked beneath him at the hotel and he’d peaked her nipples simply by brushing them with the rough pad of his thumb. Now those hands were cradling her head and bottom, crushing her against him so tightly their bodies were nearly as fused as their mouths,
so tightly she felt the straining hardness of his erection, pressed against her lower belly, straight through their clothes.
She broke away first. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He didn’t open his eyes, and he didn’t release her. He just held her like that, breath ragged, lips parted, a tremor running through his chest.
She watched as he slowly came back to himself. He swallowed, licked his lips, his lids drifted open. He blinked as if he didn’t know where he was, but then his eyes cleared and a new look came into them, replacing the warm haze of only seconds before.
