Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
“Why did he try to kill you?” I ask, trailing my fingers over the scar to see if there’s anything unusual about it. Hawk has many prominent marks on his body, and I hope not a single one is ever added.
He shrugs and swirls his fingertips along my spine. “We never liked each other, and I made a joke he took real personally. He got my cellmate to lead me someplace private and attacked me when I was about to get a hand job. Kinda stung being betrayed like that. I always stood by the guy, but clearly he didn’t like me back the same way. Or was just offered something more valuable than my life,” he adds with such bitterness in his voice, a drop of it could spoil a whole barrel of cherin.
There’s definitely a pattern I’m seeing about betrayal, and I can only hope he will give me his trust regardless. “Did you… love him?”
Hawk swallows. “I wouldn’t have killed for my ex if I didn’t love him. As for the guy in prison… not sure if it can be called being in love, but it sure was as close as I could get to it in that place. I trusted him.”
“I killed for you. Do you trust me?” I look into his soulful green eyes, worried that I might be coming off as needy, something my mother could always spot and prod at.
Hawk smirks. “I think you killed the smith both for me and yourself, but it’s a good start. Do you think—” He stalls, swallowing as I process the burn of his first comment. “Do you think you could love me?”
It’s like being struck by an arrow dipped in a blend of illegal love potions. It’s him who sounds needy, and he’s just as embarrassed about it as I am about my desire for affection. All at once, I know how wrong my mother has been to scold me for wishing someone would always have my back, because I would never fault him for wanting my love. And if he deserves that, why would I not? If I don’t see that as a weakness in him, why would it be a flaw in anyone else?
My heart beats so fast when I press my lips to his and let emotion take over instead of logic. “Would you believe me if I said I already do?” I whisper, drowning in his eyes. If this is how I feel, why should I hide it? I already trust him more than I do my family.
When his eyes brighten, filling with stars, I know it was the right thing to say.
“You do? Really?” he asks, rolling us over, so I’m flat on the furs, and he’s on top of me, stroking my cheek with tenderness someone with hands as big and calloused as his shouldn’t be capable of. He presses his forehead to mine and exhales, as if I’ve offered him the relief of fresh water after days of being stranded at sea.
“I'd kill for you even if it wasn't to my benefit. I give you my body in the most intimate ways, and I adore yours. I care deeply for your feelings, and I want to bring you joy. I'm jealous of every man you've been with, and I'm itching to make you mine forever. If that's not love, what is?” I run my hands down his sides, half-lucid with how much I treasure him. Can he feel how fast my heart is beating?
Hawk smiles. This time it’s not a grin, but a wide, honest expression of utter joy. “Nobody’s ever said it to me like that. You don’t know what you’ve just done, handsome prince from the Nightmare Realm,” he whispers and holds my wrists down as his smile turns predatory. “Because now you’re mine, and I’ll make sure you don’t even look at another man again.”
The buzz inside makes me breathless. I love being at his mercy, tiny under the weight of his massive body, because I know he won’t actually hurt me.
“For you, I would wade into the River of Souls, even though you would have surely drowned me. But I would see those tattooed arms, a glimpse of your green eyes, and there would have been no other for me.”
Hawk strokes my face and gives me another kiss. “That’s so strange, but I think I dreamed about… a girl version of you when I was bleeding out after that lowlife cut me open. I was drowning, trapped in black water with so many other people, and then this one person grabbed my hand from the shore. Hair like yours, but longer,” he says, smelling it as frost spreads over my heart. “With her help, I climbed out as other people grabbed her legs and dragged her under the waves. And then I finally woke up.”