Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (23 page)

It didn’t take him long to find her in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She was tugging some dusty bedding to the floor. From the position she was in, bent over the bed, Hawk was treated to a view of her pert little ass shifting and shaking with her movements. He felt heat stirring in his gut. Walking on silent feet, he reached out to grab her hips and pull her sharply back and into his body.

She froze in surprise at first, but as soon as she realized who was holding her so intimately, she relaxed, rocking her hips into his and tempting him to tear her clothes off and take her where she stood. He pulled her up and spun her around so rapidly she almost lost her balance and fell backward onto the bed. But she clutched his shoulders, steadying herself against him just in time. For a moment they just stood there, bodies pressed together, mouths inches apart. Then Claire reached up and pulled his head down far enough to claim his mouth with her own.

Surprised but pleased at her aggression, Hawk responded to the tentative caress of her lips over his, parting his mouth slightly and letting her dainty tongue lick over his lip before sliding inside to play with his. Before things got too far out of hand, Hawk pulled his mouth from Claire’s. “Much as I’m enjoying this, sweetheart, we need to get things situated before dawn breaks.”

He could see Claire knew he was right. The next hour was spent pounding the mattresses to get the dust out of them, searching for and finally locating some extra blankets stored in an old trunk in the second bedroom, and ensuring that the windows were completely covered. With Brady’s help, they dragged the mattress from the second bedroom down the stairs and into a room that must have been a library at one point.

After the sleeping arrangements had been taken care of, they sat together in the kitchen making idle conversation until Claire began yawning. Hawk knew she was about done for, so he pulled her close. Saying good night to Brady, he led her upstairs and helped her strip out of her clothes. Once she was settled in the bed, his own clothing quickly followed, and he joined her, pulling the blanket over them both.

Without hesitation, she turned into his arms, raising her mouth for his kiss. He gently pressed his lips to hers, keeping the touch soft and undemanding, knowing that she was worn out and needed her rest.

He cuddled her in close beside him, and it wasn’t long before they were both sound asleep. Sometime later, Hawk awoke to the feel of soft hands caressing his stomach and an even softer pair of lips making their way across the skin of his chest. Opening his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a small, pink tongue darting out to taste his nipple, which immediately tightened in response.

“Claire? What are you doing, baby?”

She chuckled softly. “If you have to ask me that, I must not be doing it right.” Then her hand closed around his hardening cock, and he didn’t ask anything else, just enjoyed the feel of her eager hands as they aroused him to a fever pitch.

When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he stopped her. Pulling her on top of him, he arranged her legs on either side of his hips. “Ride me,” he demanded.

She raised herself up and positioned her body so that the tip of his erection was just nudging against her opening, then she slid down, taking him deep inside the tight, hot pussy. He gave her a moment to get used to his fullness then he wrapped his hands around her hips and starting moving her. She soon had the rhythm, and he increased the pace, loving the expressions that flickered over her face at the new sensations she was feeling. He reached up and cupped his hand around her breast, plumping it and tweaking the nipple before turning his attention to its twin.

The hardened tips speared into the air, making his mouth water with the desire to taste them. But he didn’t want to sacrifice the view he had. And it was quite a sight. Claire was obviously caught up in the moment, her head leaned back and her long, blonde hair a silken curtain down her back, swaying with each movement. Suddenly she leaned forward and caught his mouth with hers, plunging her tongue deep to play with his. Hawk reveled in this new, demanding side of his lover. She was strong, female, and in love, and it showed with each bold stroke of tongue and fingers and body.

She asked and he gave, his heart full to overflowing. She broke the kiss and pushed back up, her fingernails scraping trails of fire down his chest and over his abdomen. He reached forward and found her hot pussy with his fingers. He stroked over her clit, her own motions aiding in his quest to give her what she was straining toward.

She arched into his touch, quickening the speed and depth of her thrusts until she let out a keening cry and came, her pussy clenching tightly around his cock.

Then he was pulling her down and flipping her over, taking over as the dominant lover that he was at his core. There was no gentleness in him now. He pounded into her, the worry he’d felt over the danger she’d been in earlier finally getting its release. She was his, and no one was going to take her from him. He’d kill any man who tried.

He stared down into her dazed eyes and felt like howling. She was so gorgeous lying there, accepting everything he had to give. His strokes slowed, and he lowered himself to cover her completely. Moving his legs outside hers, he pressed hers tightly together so that she was holding him deep inside her, squeezed tight.

Her eyes widened at the new sensation as he began a slow, irresistible attack on her senses. He kept his thrusts short and shallow. His breathing was ragged. Their faces were so close he could see tiny flecks of gold in the blue of her eyes. Her pupils were dilated, her skin lightly sheened with sweat. He bent down and licked her. He whispered, “Bite me, Claire,” and felt the sharp sting of her teeth as they pierced the flesh of his chest.

Then he bit, too, sinking his fangs into her throat and drinking the sweet, sweet blood that flowed from her veins into him. He felt her coming again, and this time he joined her, pumping his climax into her welcoming pussy.

He rolled off her, lying on the hard mattress, and felt her stirring beside him. She moved to lay her head on his chest, and he raised a hand to caress her side. He experienced such a feeling of peace and contentment that he couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming, even though he knew that he was wide awake. How had he gotten so lucky as to have found her?

He had thought that his heart had died with Ahawi and Inola. He’d believed that he could never feel for a woman what he had felt before for his dead wife and daughter. Though he had envied Ty when he had found his Libby, there had been a part of him that had felt a measure of comfort that, even though he would never feel such love again, neither would he feel the pain of loss. What a fool he had been. As if the love wasn’t worth the risk. As if he had any control at all over his heart.

He studied his feelings for Claire and compared them to those he’d had before. He knew that he’d loved both women, but he’d been a different person when he’d loved Ahawi. It no longer brought him the same pain to think of her and their daughter. It had been so long ago. And even though he would always love them and always feel the grief of their loss, it no longer cut him to the quick and left him a bleeding wreck of scattered emotions. Claire had done that for him. She had reminded him that he hadn’t died with them and that they wouldn’t have wanted him to spend the rest of his days alone.

“You all right?” A sleepy murmur came from beside him, and he pushed his thoughts aside to turn to the woman who had changed his world.

“Of course.” He pulled her tighter against him and dropped a kiss on her mussed hair. “You?”

“Mmmm.” She arched against him in a long, sinuous stretch. “I’m wonderful. I love you so much, Hawk.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

“Do you think we’re ever going to just be able to relax and have a somewhat normal life?”

He smiled. “Depends on what you mean by normal. But, yeah, in a week, maybe less, we’ll have Cass back with us in Biloxi, and we’ll be doing boring things like washing dishes and arguing over who has to walk the dog.”

“Do we have a dog?” Her voice held a lilt of surprise.

“Yes, we do. In fact, we have two.”

“What kind are they?”

“They’re mutts. I rescued them from the pound.”

She sighed. “I like that. I like mutts. Do you want to get married, Hawk?”

“Absolutely. I want to tie you to me in every way possible.” On that he had no doubt.

“Good. I never thought I’d get married, you know. Especially after I was turned. I guess I never even thought much beyond just finding Cassidy.”

“What about before? Didn’t you ever dream of a big, white wedding and a bouquet of roses when you were a little girl?”

He felt her shrug. “Not really. Most of my dreams centered around circus animals.”

He let out a bark of laughter. “Circus animals?”

“Umm-hmm. I was going to run away and join the circus. I would be the lady who rode the horse standing up. Or maybe a lady lion tamer, snapping my whip and making the lions jump through hoops of fire.”

“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you, baby? What other secret fantasies do you have locked away in that very unusual brain of yours?”

“You’d be surprised at my fantasies, Hawk.” Her words were becoming slurred, and Hawk knew that she wasn’t far from falling back to sleep.

“Oh, I don’t know about that, sweetheart,” he whispered, knowing that she’d drifted off. “I have some fantasies of my own. And together, we’re going to fulfill them all.”

The next time that Claire woke, it was dusk. She felt Hawk get up out of the bed and raised her head in time to watch him step into his jeans and zip them.

“What time is it?”

He turned to sit on the bed beside her and bent down and gave her a soft kiss. “It’s just six. Why don’t you stay here and get some more sleep? I’m going to go down to check on Brady and see how our guests are doing.”

She looped her arms around his neck and tugged gently. “Why don’t you come back to bed instead? I promise you won’t be sorry.”

Hawk allowed her to pull him down for another kiss, and she relaxed against him, enjoying the leisurely exploration. He pulled back and nuzzled her cheek. “Oh, baby, you don’t know how tempting that is, but I’m going to have to take a rain check.” He stood and gave her a wicked glance. “And believe me, I’ve been thinking about those fantasies of yours. I think you should pick one to share with me. You be thinking about that, Miss Persuasion.”

With that parting shot, he left the bedroom, pulling the door gently shut behind him. Claire snuggled back down into the bed, burying her face in the pillow that still smelled like Hawk. She dozed for a while, drifting in and out of dreams of making love with Hawk, but finally got up and began pulling on her clothes.

By the time she got downstairs, he was at the kitchen table with his laptop open and his cell phone against one ear. He smiled when he saw her enter the room and pointed to the ice chest which stood beside the sink. She opened it and saw that it was filled with a fresh load of ice. Grabbing one of the bottled bloods, she opened the drink and then stepped out the back door and onto a rickety porch, studying the disarray of the yard and thinking about what the coming night would bring. She took a long swallow of the blood.

A voice behind her startled her, and she turned to see Brady walking toward her from the far end of the porch. “How are you doing, Claire?”

Claire cocked her head to one side as she studied the man. This vampire was one of Hawk’s most trusted employees. And so far, from what Claire had observed, it was easy to understand why.

“I’m doing pretty good, all things considered, Brady. I never did thank you for what you did last night.” She squelched the memory of Buck’s head exploding and focused on the fact that the man before her had saved her life. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

He brushed aside her thanks. “I was just doing my job.”

“Well, you did it damn well, and I’m grateful.”

He smiled at her sharp tone. “Then you’re welcome.” He took a few steps closer. “I always wondered what kind of woman Hawk would fall for.” His eyes studied her quizzically.

“Yeah? And what did you think she’d be like?” Claire was curious. After all, Brady knew Hawk very well. He had insight into the man’s character that Claire was lacking.

“Well, the guys and I always figured she’d be some kick-ass fighter, you know. A real ballbuster.”

Claire smiled at the description, and a picture formed in her head of some wild-eyed Amazon, a gun in either hand and a figure straight out of a magazine centerfold. “Hmm. I guess I could see that.”

“But I have to say”—Brady’s southern drawl was very pronounced as he dragged out his words, and Claire began to see the ladies’ man that hadn’t been apparent before—“you suit him down to the ground.”

She took another sip of her drink and let her eyes travel to the distant line of trees that marked the end of the house’s property. “Even though I’m nothing like what you thought he needed.”

Brady shook his head. “I didn’t say what he needed. Just what I thought he’d pick. But I guess he was smarter than I gave him credit for and picked a woman who could soothe his rough edges rather than someone who would only make him harder.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You know, Hawk doesn’t like to talk much about his past, but we’re all aware that he lost a wife and child a long time ago. It made him tough. Hard. You make him softer. I just…don’t hurt him. He means a lot to me, and he’d kill me if he knew I was saying this to you, but…”

Claire reached out a hand and touched his arm. She felt the corded muscles that showed how tense he was at the conversation. “I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry.” She was oddly touched to know that, despite the fact that it was obvious Hawk considered himself a loner, he had friends who really cared about him.

Brady cleared his throat. “Good. So, um, I understand that you’re from Atlanta. Ever go to any Braves games?”

Claire felt a little off kilter at the change of conversation but attempted to hold her own end of a conversation in which she was totally lost. She’d never really paid too much attention to professional sports and barely suppressed a sigh of relief when Hawk joined them, effectively halting the conversation.